After a stop at a Wanaka Coffee Bar for a take-away cup of Flat White (the New Zealander's term for Cappuccino we left for Te Anau.
It was a beautiful ride over the Crown Mountain range past green hills, valleys and farm land. We stopped to take pictures along the way.
We passed through the historic town of Cardrona which is now a ski resort and encountered The Kingston Flyer on its way from Kingston to Fairlight. The train is a vintage steam train that was established in 1878. It now carries tourists on the 30 minute run between the two towns.
We reached Te Anau in early afternoon.
Te Anau is on the eastern shore of Lake Te Anau in Fiordland, the southwestern most region in New Zealand. The region is about the size of New Jersey. Lake Te Anau is the largest lake in the South Island and second only within New Zealand to Lake Taupo. It is our "launching" place for our three-day hike in the Hollyford Track.
We checked into our B&B which overlooks a cattle ranch directly on to the lake.
Afterwards, we returned to town for a briefing on our upcoming hike.
We follow a course along the Hollyford River in the Fiordland National Park which is a World Heritage Area. Our first day's walk will be 10.5 miles, the second day, 7 and the third day, 5.
There are a total of 10 people on the guided hike. Two others, a couple from Australia, were at the briefing. The others will be driving down from Queenstown.
After learning what to expect and what to take (on our backs) we went to the Redcliff Restaurant to celebrate the beginning of another adventure.
Jerry could not resist photographing the New Zealand Green-lip muscles.
I'll be schlepping my iPad along on the hike but doubt if our lodges will have wifi. We'll do more blog posts when we're back.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment