Arrowtown to Te Anau

Packed and out of house by 9.30 am; drove 100m to an historic Chinese Settlement where information boards tell the sad story of early settlers prospecting for gold - apparently they were hard working and kept to themselves but swelling numbers brought resentment from NZ Europeans; a formal apology was issued by NZ government in 2002 for the discrimination and poor treatment of these Chinese men!  

The drive to Te Anau was dry and hot and the red tussock landscape not as pretty as the green pastoral scenes so typical of NZ.  In fact it was so barren that we couldn't even find a tree to shelter under for a picnic lunch, so pressed on and arrived at our next bach in Te Anau at 1 pm and had lunch there.  And it was HOT!!  We all just rested for an hour or two; late afternoon we ventured out to the Wildlife Centre to look at birds - takahe, kea, kaka and parakeet are to be found there.  The boys had a paddle in Lake Te Anau - NZ's second largest lake.

Above: an out-of-the-window (ootw) shot; can't remember where or what!  Below: my parents were amazed at the fact of a young white girl doing a task that would normally be assigned to a completely different group of people in SA :)

Above: On the shores of Lake Te Anau.  Below - kakariki (red crowned parakeet).

Our bach in Te Anau; below - a gentle sunset.