Friday, 20 December 2013

Day 5- Dunedin- Te Anau

We left our excellent accommodation in Dunedin and headed south west towards our next stop, Te Anau.  Thanks to the hospitality of Jane and Logan, we had a bucket of Cranberry and white chocolate "Cookie Time" cookies to munch upon as we travelled.  Cookie Time cookies are a New Zealand icon, and very enjoyable too!.  At the suggestion of our host from Dunedin, we deviated from our planned route to visit "Nugget Point" a coastal site with particular rock formations and also home to a penguin colony.  Nugget point was "nice", but not spectacular, and there was not a penguin in sight, so we jumped back into the car.

We had a slight disagreement with our GPS upon returning to the car. She (The GPS), wanted to take us across some unsealed roads, but we wanted to stay on the bitumen.  After a short discussion we decided to trust the GPS and headed onto the unsealed roads.  50km later, we were finally back on sealed roads, and a town we recognized on the map.
We are still not sure if we took the long way, or the short way, however one of the benefits was that we got to travel through more of the countryside, fields of rolling green hills, herds of sheep and even a rabbit or two.

Shortly after lunch we arrived in Te Anau, a town of approx 2000 inhabitants in the Southern Fiordland.  Te Anau is situated on the shore of Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand.  Te Anau is also a major starting point for many tourist activies in the Southern Fiordland, treks along the milford or other walking tracks, and boat trips along Milford or Doubtful sound.  Its a beautiful town, so before dinner we went for a walk along the shore of the lake.
In summer, there is accommodation for up to 4000 tourists, and no less that 24 different motel or hotel chains.  Some of these are up for sale, so Mazz has been busily reviewing the business opportunities and costs associated with each busines, after all, the Sakovits family might be in for a change of occupation in the near future.

1 comment:

  1. Wow again some spectacular views. Didn't know they had fiords in new Zealand too. Guess who will be the first to visit if you found a business in new Zealand?

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