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October 17, 2009 - Te Anau

By Melissa Markham on October 18, 2009 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we got up slowly. Daniel was tired and had a few complaining muscles after yesterday's adventure. Katrina and I were ready first, so we even got to get in an extra game of pool. When I was growing up, we had a pool table in our basement and I would spend hours there. I am not as good as I was back then, but it was still a lot of fun to play.

We left Fox Glacier around 10:00 and began the long drive to Te Anau (without stops, it was a 6 hour drive). Along the way we stopped several times to take photographs of amazing views. It rained off and on in between bouts of sunshine.

We saw sheep, cows, deer. We walked along the Tasman Sea and found some beautiful rocks and loads of driftwood. We saw green fields, icy crags, and rolling hills/mountains covered with everything from Evergreens to tufts of grass. We drove through valleys, admired rivers, streams, and waterfalls, and saw a rainbow. And we took photos of rain in a valley below, then later drove through those patches of rain.

We checked into the Fiordland Hotel into a family suite. It was clean and pleasant, very 'no frills'.

We ate dinner at a restaurant called The Ranch. I had New Zealand venison on wild mushrooms). The restaurant had an American West theme and it was packed with people! There were paintings of Native Americans on the walls as well as a painting of the Magnificent Seven. Kind of made us feel like we were at home.

After dinner, the kids and I went to check out the 'solar heated' pool. And believe me, they weren't talking about solar panels. The kids turned into popsicles the instant they hit the water. But the spa was wonderful and very warm! They also enjoyed jumping on the trampoline in the kids play yard area. Then we played Kings in the corner and Katrina and I practiced our bubble blowing skills.