Te Anau - A large lake in a beautiful area

After nearly a full days travel we arrived at another I-site office (a re-occuring theme throughout NZ) at 18.30 to a beautiful lakefront surrounded by mountains. A quick twenty minute walk to our guesthouse later, followed by the realisation that the shops were due to close soon followed a mad dash almost back to where we'd come from in order to buy supplies. Our first night in Te Anau was spent enjoying a Tuna-Tomato Pasta dinner and fighting the cold. We were just glad we were prepared for the coldness and had just about enough layers to keep warm; at least the guesthouse had heaters too - not something we've been used to so far in our travels!

Lake Te Anau is New Zealands second largest lake and the largest in the South Island, and it is beutifully surrounded by some great mountain ranges of the Southern Alps. With the daytime weather a lot warmer than night-time we took some pre-prepared sandwiches and made off for a walk around the lake. An afternoons walk with a lakeside picnic was a great day to spend our first full-day exploring New Zealand countryside, the only downside was the knowledge that we walked to the entrance of one of NZ's most famous walks (a meagre 4 days) without the time to do it as we had to depart for our next destination Milford Sound the very next day. Still, it was great to see the lake, and experience New Zealands tramping grounds.

Te Anau - A large lake in a beautiful area

Te Anau, New Zealand