Te Anau

This was our bonus day in Te Anau after deciding not to go to Stewart Island yesterday. A brilliant day although a bit cool in the morning (3 C). It warmed up nicely to the low 20's by the afternoon.

We decided to go for a hike on the Kepler Track.

This is a circular track that takes 3 - 4 days to complete so we had to do a "there and back" tramp of 14 km from Rainbow Reach to Moturau Hut, one of the bunk houses that people doing the complete loop can stay in. Here is a map of our hike.

We started off crossing a suspension foot bridge over the Waiau River.

From there we entered a truly mystical beechwood forest. Everything was covered in a vivid green moss. Apparently, some scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed on this section of trail.

We met a friendly South Island Robin.

Chris blended in with her green fleece, where's Waldo?

There were some wetlands along the way.

We reached the Hut after an hour and half. Interesting facility with a communal kitchen and 40 bunks that you rent for $36/night.

It was situated on the shore of Lake Manapouri which gave us the opportunity to rest and soak up the scenery.

Hiking back we got to marvel at the green carpet again.

From here we stopped in at the Te Anau Wildlife Centre to see some of the rare birds. Apparently, they were not up to coming out of hiding during the sunny warm weather and one of the few species we did see were two Canada Geese. Never seen those before!  Did see a Kea.

After supper we went for a bit of a drive looking for some sunset views different than last evening. Went by some beautiful farmland and ended up on the shore of the lake for tonight's sunset shot.