We Have Reached Te Anau

The picturesque township of Te Anau is the main visitor base for the glacier-carved wilderness that is Fiordland National Park. It provides a wide range of accommodation including lodges, hotels and campgrounds – all of which I have experienced in previous trips to this area when I have visited before and hiked the Milford and Routeburn Tracks.

In fact, the town is best known as the starting point for the drive to Milford Sound or an alternate trip to Doubtful Sound.

Our drive today was a relatively short one – a little over 150 kms. Before leaving Invercargill, we took some time look around the city. It’s a bit of a non descriptive place but two sights stood out for us.

One was Invercargill’s water tower which has been described as an architectural treasure and a prime example of Victorian architecture. I have never seen such a grand water works edifice as this. It was built originally as the primary means of pressurising the water supply system for the city, but the tower now only performs a “back up” role, for when there are water supply disruptions from the main supply in the city.

Over the years, some deterioration in the tower’s appearance has occurred, particularly the removal of the cupola in 1934 and more recently the eroding of brick and plaster work. To preserve the structure against further deterioration and to commemorate its centenary, work was done to restore the structure to its former glory. This interior is not currently open to the public, however it is a must see to admire this beautiful building from the outside!

The other sight was the magnificent war memorial.

Following the end of the First World War the Fallen Soldiers Memorial Committee was formed to raise funds for a memorial to be constructed that would include the names of Southlanders who fought and died overseas in the Great War.

The memorial took the form of a cenotaph similar to the one constructed in London. This design takes its name from the Greek words kenos, meaning empty, and taphos, meaning tomb. With so many New Zealanders buried in other countries it provided a place for families and loved ones to grieve and pay their respects. The structure was built from local Bluff granite which was seen as important as it was hewn from local hills.

We then followed the highway towards Riverton. Nearly 200 years old, Aparima Riverton is the oldest Pākehā (White) settlement in Southland and one of the earliest European settlements in New Zealand. Before the arrival of Europeans, it was home to a substantial Māori settlement called Aparima due to its proximity to the ocean and river as well as the abundance of kaimoana (seafood). A Captain John Howell established a whaling station here in the mid-1830s and married a high-ranking local Māori woman, allowing him to acquire much land. Today, a large memorial beside the Aparima River estuary commemorates him.

A little further on, we saw a signposted turnoff to a beach called’ Cosy Nook’ and decided that the five kilometre distance to it might be worth our time. It was a quiet little cove with rocky headlands and a few ‘baches’ (shacks) on the northern edge of the bay. It was very picturesque and worth a few photos.

On the road back to the highway, we found a herd of cows with one near the road staring at me. I stopped to take a photo and the whole herd came running across to me. I have often fanaticised about being a ’chick magnet’ but it never occurred to me that I might be a ‘cow magnet’!

At one stage, the road ran right next to the coast and we came across a location called McCrackens Rest. It is a lookout and rest area perched on the edge of the cliff with commanding views of Te Waewae Bay and the tiny one million year old Solander Islands, formed by the eroded skeleton of a volcano. According to Maori legend, the Solanders are the broken tooth and crumbs tossed aside by Kewa the whale, when it chewed between Stewart Island and the mainland.

Further up the road, we found the Clivedon Suspension Bridge. The bridge was built in 1898-99 to span the Waiau River and replaced a punt which had operated since the early days of settlement. At that time the river was often swift and dangerous (the flow has now been severely reduced by hydroelectric development on nearby Lake Manapouri).

A single lane bridge, it was originally used by horse and cart traffic and later by vehicles. It remained in operation until 1978 when a new bridge was built 130 m downstream to cater for traffic to and from the Manapouri power project.

There was very little to see until we reached the lakes near Te Anau except for an old school house in the middle of a paddock. It was Otahu Flat School.

Located on the Southern Scenic route between Manapouri and Tuatapere, the one room school has recently been restored to its former glory. The school had one teacher and was first opened for pupils in 1914, just before WW1. It closed in 1942. I imagine that it would have been a very remote place for a teacher to work. The nearest town would have been many kilometres away and a young woman teacher would have needed to be very independent in a place like this

We continued to our destination at the town of Te Anau passing large flocks of sheep and along avenues of Pampas Grass along the roadside.

We are glad that we booked our accommodation in advance as every motel in town is displaying a ’no vacancy’ sign. We were happy to settle into our room early and get some washing done for the first time since we arrived on NZ.