Did you get the post card?

We have been on holiday for a couple of weeks. You won't have got a post card from me, I do this instead, but Nicky has done some so you never know your luck. We have been down south again to see Claire and Ryan and some more of the south island.

As opposed to doing a chronological account of our two weeks, I will try and make a little more interesting with a question and answer format, as if, dear reader, we were having a conversation.

How was the weather?

The first week was sunny and shorts, we had four days with some rain in the second week, one of them torrential. As all the locals advised we used this day to go to Milford Sound. The waterfalls on the way were stunning, but when we got there we couldn't see a thing so had cups of tea instead.

Who did you see?

Well Claire and Ryan of course as we had our first three days in Dunedin. They joined us for most of our activities. In the "middle" weekend they came over to Te Anau and stayed the Saturday night, as did my niece Rachel who lives in Wanaka. We saw C&R again at the end of the holiday as we had Friday night in Dunedin. We probably saw a number of famous people too (or Hobbits) but as I no longer have my finger on the pulse of popular culture, I didn't recognise any of them. Having said that, we did meet the sister of the woman who made Mrs. Weasley's self-cleaning frying pan for The Burrow set for Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets film. She was working in the Te Anau cinema when we went to see Spotlight (with yummy cheesecake) on the Monday night.

How was the accommodation?

We stayed in the Quest apartments in Dunedin which we grew to like. We enjoyed the space and their central location. In Te Anau we stayed in a PSA (Nicky's Union) holiday home. Even though it was only two bedroomed, it can accommodate 8, so it was just about right for the two of us. It was clean and comfortable and had a fully fitted out laundry. I really enjoyed using the tumble dryer in the rain. This was also centrally located, but everywhere in Te Anau probably is because it is not very big.

What did you do?

Funny you should ask, as we did a number of things. The first Monday was a public holiday for Waitangi Day, so we stared off our break with a three day weekend. This included a train trip up the coast to Waitati, visits to the Cadbury Chocolate factory and Dunedin Chinese Gardens, and watching the Chinese New Year celebrations and fireworks. We had almost a whole day at the Otago Museum which was really good, and included a planetarium visit with C&R. The museum has a nice café too. On our return to Dunedin we enjoyed the farmers market again and part of a pipe band competition. We ate our market purchases in Port Chalmers, which is a great spot with a neat Maritime Museum.

Te Anau was mainly walks and trips, and much shopping for food and blue cotton thread. Our first walk on a sunny afternoon was from the DoC information centre to the Control Gates, a round trip of about 4 hours. The Control Gates moderate the flow of water from Lake Te Anau to Lake Manapouri, where a large hydro-electric power station is situated. Fortunately the return trip was cooler and much more comfortable.

The following day we drove to the Keppler Track car park (near the Control Gates) and walked through the beautiful beach forest to Brod Bay, and back again. Even though it was another sunny day, the tree canopy provided ample shade to make this 5 hour jaunt a very enjoyable experience.

We had a drive to an observation point with C&R which provided great views over Te Anau and the lake. The following day we said goodbye to C&R in a car park in Pearl Harbour (honest, it's a ferry terminal on Lake Manapouri) and Nicky, Rachel and I (just the three of us) got a water taxi across the lake so that we could do the circle track. The taxi-man (Mike) said he would come and pick us up in 4 hours, though we may need longer so give him a ring. We did. We needed another hour and then only made the rendezvous two minutes ahead of schedule. In the first third of the walk there was a long steep climb which took us about two and a half hours, but we eventually got to the top and enjoyed the spectacular view. Coming down was easier and not as steep. We celebrated with fish and chips at a lakeside café back in Te Anau, and so that Rachel could head home on a full stomach.

We booked a boutique cruise on the lake. The cruiser can carry up to 12 and is skippered by the very friendly Pete. Nicky and I were the only passengers, so we had a very personalised 3 hour trip across the lake to where we could disembark and walk through the beach forest to the hidden lakes. On our return to the cruiser we had hot drinks and muffins, and were visited by the sandflies.

It takes about 5 minutes to drive from one side of Te Anau to the other, so were intrigued to find a 2-hour $20 tiki tour of the settlement. This tour is operated by a very affable chap by the name of Heath, who has a 10 seater mini bus for the purpose. We were the only two passengers again, so Heath came and collected us from our holiday home. Our bus trip was even more personalised than our boat trip, took almost 3 hours, and culminated with Heath joining us at our place for a pot of tea and bar of chocolate. It was just brilliant and very enjoyable.

Te Anau is the nearest "departure point" for trips to Milford Sound, up the Milford Road. We took ourselves up the road in our trusty hire car (the Jucy-mobile Rupert) so that we could go at our own speed. We stopped at various notable places on the way, but the further we went the heavier came down the rain. This made the waterfalls stunning, but by the time we got to the sound all we could see was a wall of mist and rain, so didn't venture out on a boat trip. Another time.

Our longest trip was the drive along the Southern Scenic Route from Te Anau to Dunedin. The 460kms took us eight and a half hours and covered some glorious coastline and countryside. We didn't stop as often as we would have liked, or see as much as we wanted to, so hope to do the trip again in the future over 3 or 4 days.

What did you eat?

We had both a breakfast and a lunch at the Sandfly Café in Te Anau which we greatly enjoyed. Claire and Ryan fed us with lovely veg lasagne on our first night in Dunedin (it was great to see their new house and hear their plans, and we met the cat!). We took them to The Esplanade in St Claire on our second night and had a great meal. Ryan and I particularly enjoyed our espresso, vanilla and ice cream desserts, and Nicky and Claire had more glasses of port and dessert wine than we were expecting, one of which we seemed to get for free. It was a great evening.

We had another brilliant evening the following Saturday when we took Claire, Ryan and Rachel for dinner at The Olive Tree in downtown Te Anau. Nicky and I both had very succulent smoked salmon steaks, and Claire and I shared a chocolate pudding dessert. The staff were great and did as we requested with the entrées/sides - brought them with the main courses. We enjoyed sharing the fries and stuffed mushrooms. We really enjoyed the food and felt it was very good value for money.

For our last morning in the south we had bacon and eggs with the Otago Daily Times in Ironic, a café just across the road from Dunedin's famous railway station.

What was the worst thing?

Nicky got very heavily bitten by the bugs after the rain came, resulting in some poor sleep towards the end of the holiday. What we don't understand is why they didn't got for me, like they usually do.

What were the best three things?

We had two sessions in the hot tubs near the lakeside at the Top 10 holiday park, each accompanied with a bottle of dessert wine. Sitting in the warm relaxing water looking out over the lake and waving at the bemused Asian tourists walking by was brilliant.

One clear night we took blankets outside and lay on the ground gazing at the stars and the Milky Way. This was particularly good after the planetarium presentation as I could remember some of what we had been told, so could see Gemini as well as Orion. Fantastic.

Our decision to stay in one place and not use the car very much was rewarded by a real sense of getting to know Te Anau and some of its inhabitants. We really warmed to the place and the people, didn't find it overly expensive (as I had expected it to be). Many prices were similar to what we pay in Auckland.

We had a really great holiday.

Take care, Rick