Te Anau, NZ
Well folks, surprise, surprise… We are back into it! If your poison was simply to follow us on our Camino adventure, then now is your chance to bail out. (unfollow us, or whatever you have to do). Otherwise feel free to see what unfolds on our next “little” adventure. We say “little” as this adventure takes place on our “doorstep” (New Zealand) rather than across the other side of the world in Europe and will only last 14 days 😦 not 8 weeks! Also, rather than covering 800km (Ok 800km minus the 20 we cheated by catching a cab!). We will be lucky to cover 100km over 2 walks. The first being the famous Milford track (4 days) and the second being the Routeburn Track (3 days). The latter is highly recommended by the locals and some say is even better than the Milford (We’ll have to see about that!).
We will have a short break between walks and enjoy everything that Queenstown has to offer and will be joined by our 2 lovely daughters over the Easter break (I think we might be taken advantage of?).
Both walks will be attempted as “Independent” walkers. None of this hot showers and 3 course meals that most people opt for with the guided walks run by the Ultimate Hikes Company. (Mind you, they are the ones that will probably be rescued first if we are unlucky to be stranded by a typical NZ natural disaster – let’s hope we don’t see one of these on this Adventure!)
So as an Independent walker, we have to carry all our gear, including food and have chosen to take our own cooking gear, minus the tent, as we get to sleep in huts with approx 50 bunk beds, no showers, no hot water and today’s temperature when we arrived was a cool 10C. Expected overnight lows to be zero! Or lower! Luckily we have our ultra light sleeping bags? Good for… 7C not -7C… Hmmm could be interesting.
We flew into Queenstown late afternoon. A spectacular approach as we could see mountain peaks poking their heads out from above the clouds before descending through the cloud layer and flying down a valley with mountains either side before landing and pulling up just short of the picturesque lake that Queenstown is built around.
After the nervous wait while the NZ customs official finally gave us the nod to allow us to bring in our Aussie made freeze dried camp food. Yum! (A plug for Strive Foods of Tasmania – after road testing the typical freeze dried food that most camping stores have to offer, we came across Strive Foods and found their product to actually be eatable. Unlike the other brands out there!)
Once we were out, we headed straight for Paper Plus? And purchased a local NZ SIM. 5 min later dialled home without worrying about Telstra gouging us with outrageous roaming fees! (We love you Telstra!)
We picked up our cheap car rental (well they picked us up, as being cheap they couldn’t afford a stand in the Queenstown airport). And soon we were off and away in our zippy little Tiida heading for Te Anau.
Note, Jenny is already asleep, I’m waffling on as usual, so need to wrap this up! Tomorrow we start the Milford track so no more blogging for a couple of days and then I’ll tease it out over a couple of days.
Our host, Ray, at the Shakespeare BnB is brilliant and recommended a great restaurant where we enjoyed a “mulled” red wine (Great for warming you up). Before filling up on the local Lamb and Hereford meats cooked to perfection at the Redcliff restaurant.
Off to bed. Apologies for the photo’s. A little slack as haven’t pulled out the camera, so straight off the trusty iPhone.
Jenny and Stephen's Travel Adventure 
15 Responses to “Te Anau, NZ”
How fantastic! More adventures for the intrepid walkers! We wish you great weather. Have fun on the Milford Track. Wish we were doing it too! I have walked the Routeburn some years ago and it was wonderful but a little damp from memory!
Look forward to further updates, have a great walk. Hope the weather is kind to you. X
Enjoy!
I’ve bought some StriveFood, they do look yummy, but are heavier than other brands so might not be able to take them on the Larapinta. 😦
Cool 🙂
Have a wonderful walking trip. Looking forward to the blogs to come.
We are so happy you are doing these wonderful trips together when the opportunity to do them arises. Have a great time ! Mum and Dad
Excellent news. Karin I remain circa 3-5 years behind you. Have the Campino firmly on our ‘to do’ list and likewise Milford and Routeburn. Will continue to monitor the blog. Have fun.
Good to see you are back on the Camino since you bombed out on the last attempt Mr & Mrs Matheistein!!
Have your last hearty meal before you move onto the dehydrated stuff eh Bro!!
I can recommend sux fush fungers, chups and some skum mulk!! Hope you didn’t have too many problems with the bags at the ‘chickin counter’ either … why you have to take them there I have no idea. Remember when you are out there on the track, pooring rain (11++ Metres pa!!) and its sub zero at night remember combining body heat is the only way to survive … just take one sleeping bag!!
Await tall tales but true with bated breath!!
Mark
Mark, you’d come in handy over here to help us with the native dialect. We are really struggling to communicate with the locals. Luckily they have a good sense of humor!
Forgot to say if you get a chance and want a good steak in Queenstown go Flames. Botswana Butchery is the place to go for romantic (albeit a tad on the pricey side) meal.
Walked past Flames and found myself salivating with the flame grill smells! Will have to check these out!
Have a great walk and look forward to see lots of photos.
Sue & Jeff x
Thanks everyone for your comments. Appreciated muchly!
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