Here comes the rain again...

After a lovely breakfast in Queenstown, we set off for Te Anau - calling in briefly to Arrowtown in an attempt to capture some images of the Autumnal leaves.


True to its word, no sooner had we entered the Fiordlands than the first spatterings of rain hit our windscreen. Along the way to Te Anau, in seemingly the middle of nowhere (in a Red Tussock Conservation Area to be overly-specific), was a Hills Hoist. Just standing there, in the middle of a field, with a single white towel on it. Odd really.

We made remarkably good time to Te Anau, so took the opportunity to seek out some more substantial wet-weather gear for our trip to Milford Sound. The most flimsy of the raincoats available was sitting around the $90 mark. Being one of the wettest places on the planet, I guess we should have anticipated that it would be a seller's market. We have decided to stick with our glamourous red emergency ponchos. Lake Te Anau is deceptively deep. So deep in fact that the staggeringly high Skytower in Auckland would have about 100 metres of water above its tip, if it were to be dunked into the deepest section of the lake.


For dinner, we decided on the Frontier-inspired 'Ranch Bar and Grill'. The meals were artery-hardening (and obviously delicious). A commonality in uniforms would have apparently been out of place on the frontier, so our waitresses were wearing a combination of Rugby jumpers (the Highlanders of course), tracksuit pants and thongs (jandals). Admittedly, they were lovely and treated the kids really well. A favourite response for any of our requests were the words 'Sweet As' (pronounced 'Switt Ez'), something akin to 'I understand your request and assure you that it will be no problem to comply with your wishes'. The ales available consisted of Speights, Speights or Speights - it IS the taste of the Southland after all. The parochialism is quite strong here, not a trace of the West Coast brew, Montieths, could be found in the place. I opted for the Speights of course, not wanting to offend locals who felt a kinship with Vikings.