South Island trip Part 3: Te Anau /Manapouri /Queenstown

We based ourselves in Te Anau for 4 days, travelling to Milford and Queenstown on day trips. Te Anau was a lovely little lakeside town with very nice views of the mountains in the background.

Te Anau



Manapouri
Manapouri is 20 mins from Te Anau - I drove there to catch the ferry which goes across Lake Manapouri for the Manapouri power station tour.


Onboard the ferry across Lake Manapouri, with the Kepler mountains in the background.



Arrival at West Arm, Manapouri power station


It is New Zealand's largest hydro electric power station and built deep underground. There is no road access and the building of the power station was one of NZ's greatest engineering feats.


This tunnel took us underground to the power station.


Wilmot Pass - view of Doubtful Sound



Queenstown
Reputed to be the steepest lift in the Southern Hemisphere, the gondola takes you high above Queenstown for amazing views of Coronet Peak, The Remarkables (mountain range) and across Lake Wakatipu.



Alice, Jacob and me with view of Queenstown and Remarkables.


Jacob and me having fun on the luge.


I couldn't get enough of the view of the Remarkables. It was really amazing.




Queenstown bay




Next - the Road to Milford, and Milford Sound (my favourite part of the trip!)