Rest Day

This was an enforced rest day as the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise we wanted to do was fully booked tonight so we had to wait until tomorrow for that. Instead we satisfied ourselves with the delights of Te Anau.

We walked along the lakeside to the DOC office to make sure our date change for the Kepler Track was successful (we shifted it to give Scott's sore knee time to heal). It was. We are booked to start the track on 17th April and are camping for two nights and in a hut for the last night. It will be our first three night hike.

Our next stop was the Te Anau Wildlife Centre where they had quite a few birds that had been rescued and were being looked after and bred here. In the centre they had rare takahe (including a really old one called Alpine who lies in very odd positions and people often think is dead but you are warned not to worry if she looks odd!), various parakeets, waterfowl, kea and a kaka who, before she was rescued, hads been kept in a tiny cage and forgotten how to fly. Boo. It was fun and we watched Alpine for ages but the morepork was missing. I guess that's good as she may have been released back nito the wild. We've heard plenty at night but haven't seen one yet.

After the park we wandered back in to town through the Ivan Wilson park and then to the Fiordland cinema to watch Ate Whenua (Shadowland), a film shot over tens years, mainly from a helicopter, showing parts of the Fiordland moast people don't get to see. It was an awesome film and the cinema itself was custom built to screen the film and was super comfy with wide, soft seats and arm rests and a little table for your wine or coffee, served to you in the cinema.

That was pretty much all Te Anau had to offer so we spent the rest of the evening in the hostel reading and eating. There was a super snorer in the room next to us whose low pitched rumbles penetrated the wall. Grrrr.