Lake Manapouri and Te Anau

Travelling west and south from the Queenstown region, you drive through gently rolling and flat farmland, and occasional areas of red tussock. Eventually, you reach Lake Te Anau and, further south, Lake Manapouri. The grassy landscape and climate along the eastern sides of each lake is quite different to the bush-covered west sides, which are part of the Fiordland National Park. The eastern side is fairly dry, while Fiordland has extremely high rainfall. Both lakes have a small town on their eastern shore, although Manapouri is tiny it offers numerous Manapouri accommodation options; Te Anau however offers a greater range of activities (such as water sports, tramping), comfortable accommodation with picturesque views at the Fiordland Hotel and places to eat.

The Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre is at Te Anau; and the town is the focus for visitors taking trips into Fiordland or tramping along the various tracks. The Kepler Track starts at Te Anau, as well as a number of shorter walks; however visitors should come prepared for the climate (in one 28 hour period in 1995, 700mm of rain fell in this region).

On the outskirts of Te Anau is a Native Bird Sanctuary, where visitors can see examples of the shy native bird’s close-up, including the very rare Takahe (blue chicken sized bird, large red feet, red beak. Very slow, in a number of senses - hence nearly extinct)

Manapouri and Te Anau are both extremely deep lakes; and as stated, within Fiordland National Park. The lakes were formed by glaciation in successive Ice Ages, resulting in steep mountains and valleys often plunging uninterrupted to the lake bottom, which is usually well below sea level.

Fiordland is an absolute must for visitors to New Zealand. The scenery will never fail to leave you stunned, no matter how many times you go back.