Honeymoon – Kepler track, takahe and ending up in onsen hotpots

We started the morning with a water taxi over Lake Te Anau to Brod Bay. Trouble was, the water taxi wharf was underwater, so we had to climb up the front of the boat, into the hatch, all from the beach which was fun. Today our tour was kindly given to us by Pauline, Eileen and Joe. The guided walk took us on the kepler track back to Te Anau. As we started, we were in the kiwi zone! And it was clear from all of the burrows under the trees, our closest to a kiwi so far. The walk started with lots of crown ferns, mosses of every colour and dense rainforest. 

I do love morning coffee, we were supposed to stop at a picnic bench with a toilet. However, the bench was completely submerged and the toilet was actually an island surrounded by flood water. So instead we stood in the forest, drinking coffee and eating homemade biscuits. 

During the walk, our path was often flooded, so we had to take detours through the bush and you could tell why there was so much moss, it was soaking wet! At the dam we saw 3 native falcons soaring and landed directly in front of us which was amazing. We also spotted a wolf spider. We wandered around the wildlife park which takes in birds that need rehab and then put back into the wild. We saw the takahe (ground dwelling), woodpigeon, kea, bellbird, red crowned parakeet and tui. The guide Catherine was fantastic, and the 11km walk was glorious. 

Lunchstop in Te Anau and then it was time to hit the road to Queenstown and back to crowded streets and buildings. However, the drive to Queenstown was amazing, just like stepping into a set on Lord of the Rings. The sun was shining, the lake sparked and the mountains are huge! 

Arriving into Queenstown was a bit of a shock, there are people everywhere! We are staying at Bumbles backpackers, in a double room off of a dorm full of men. Now I’m going to feel really old, but me thinks they don’t have an early night on a Friday. Queenstown really is a ‘youngsters’ town. So, instead, we went to Onsen hotpools thanks to Jen and Jemma for a candlelight hot tub, on the side of a mountain looking over the Shotover river. We had our own room, our own barrel hot tub, 40 candles around the room and a window that opens out completely so we were sat outside in our own personal hot tub for 1.5 hours! It was sheer bliss.