Te Anau

Te Anau Sunrise

While staying with the Tyrrell Family in Kurow we told them of our plans of doing the Milford Track. Amber mentioned that she had an uncle in Te Anau we could stay with and do some work. We arrived at Syd Slee’s house on April 19th after leaving Murray and Jenny. It was about a 4 hour drive from North Dunedin south and west to Te Anau. Te Anau is a small town located on the edge of the massive Lake Te Anau and borders the massive Fiordland National Park. The house was built on a hill overlooking the lake and fiordlands beyond and was only a stones throw from the edge of the lake. Devon and I enjoyed a great view from our bedroom. 

Syd Slee is a retired sheep farmer who still owns two farms a half hour south from Te Anau in Blackmont. The farms are now run by their respective manager and Syd checks up on them every fort night. Syd used to live on a house on one of the farms and used the Te Anau place as a vacation spot. Syd and his partner, Heather, are now in the process of making the Te Anau place their permanent residence and the farm house the new vacation home, I don’t blame them. Devon and I got to spend part of the day on the sheep farm. Syd and his farm manager Steve showed us around the place. Steve took us up the hill to move some sheep with the dogs. It was incredible to see how Steve commanded the dogs and how well they listened and executed his orders. We were both impressed!

Duke "spooking" aka barking to move the sheep

Steve giving orders to Sky to circle right

Devon and I feeding one of the "pet" sheep

Dogs ride in the back

Steve and Ollie

One of the many things Syd and Heather needed help with was oiling all of the wood surfaces inside the home. These included base board runners, window sills and frames, door frames, doors, walls, and some ceiling. So Devon grabbed the fine sand paper and oil brushes and began our oily and toxic onslaught on the home.

Syd and Heather generously bought us two tickets to the Te Anau Glow Worm Caves as a sign of their appreciation for our hard work. We took a boat cruise across the lake to the caves. Our tour group only had nine people so the tour guide let us take some pictures on the way back through the cave. The tour included an informative hike through the cave system with a pitch black boat ride to see the glow worms.

In exchange for a full days work Devon and I spent a whole day walking part of the Kepler Track. We hiked up to the summit of Mt. Luxmore which rewarded us with a fantastic view of fiord lands, lake, and Te Anau. Devon and I wanted a good walk to prepare ourselves for the Milford Track and we definitely got it after the 30k hike up and down the mountain. 

These are two of my favorite shots of Devon

Devon and I were missing Mexican food really badly and Syd and Heather had never had any before. We saw a win-win situation so Dev and I made tacos for Syd and Heather for dinner one night. It lacked some authenticity but we did our best and the tacos turned out delicious. It was great to have a little taste of home for a night.