Te Anau on the South Island
Finished up our time in Queenstown now off to Te Anau (pronounced, “Tay Aanoe”) and a day trip to Bluff. Te Anau was chosen because it will be the jumping off point for our overnight cruise through the fjords. We elected to go through Doubtful Sound on a small boat, 12 passengers plus 2 crew, to have a more personal and intimate experience in the lesser traveled fjord. Milford Sound was our other option but it seemed too commercialized.
Te Anau is a small town located next to the largest lake on NZ’s South Island, Lake Te Anau. Lake Te Anau covers some 344 km2 (85,004 square acres!) making it the second largest lake in NZ and the largest lake in the South Island. Not as commercialized as Queenstown but still plenty of backpackers and campers. Located just a short 2hrs drive from Queenstown, we arrive in no time.
Baby’s!!!!
We’re met at our rental apartment by Karen who showed us the in’s and out’s of her abode. Best thing is the clothes washer with clear instructions on how to operate it. Now I can catch up on my laundry duties!
Nice home, little dated but clean and comfortable. And with all the rivers and streams around town, we have a chance to go fishing. Collette caught the first (and only) fish near Queenstown so the race is on. Te Anau has a “Trout Observatory” that charges $2NZD to enter so if things get real tough for me, I think I can buy one! Observatory, that’s different.
Unpacked, did laundry and took a drive along the river scouting out potential mega-trout zones. I’m sure there are plenty that the locals know about but we temporary Kiwi’s have no idea. The guy at the sporting goods store said we should try by the dam, but that didn’t work. He also said we should try a couple of spots on the river, but that didn’t work. And he said if that fails, we should try Countdown, the grocery store, that worked!
Damn! Even caught the first weed!
So, our fishing tour actually became more of a driving tour of southwestern NZ. The countryside is a mix of mountains and rolling hills with mostly sheep, cows and deer (domestic, not wild). After noticing lots of deer farms (ranch???) we asked about and learned that deer was a real cash crop a few years ago. First a little history…..
Deer were introduced in NZ in the late 1850’s. Seems the only mammals on this island were bats so the Europeans imported a few for their hunting pleasure. Next thing, the place is overrun with red deer, thousands of them! And we all know what deer do to crops and landscaping, they eat it, all of it. Just seemed natural that hunting deer for a bounty came next. Now it gets interesting!
Not satisfied with just shooting deer and hiking up the mountain to get the tail, someone got the idea they could use this thing called a helicopter to shoot the deer, jump out (yes, jump out) cut off the tail and collect the bounty. Much faster….but not much safer! But wait, it gets better..
If the Gov’t will pay for deer tails, why not raise them and bring in the cash, with less danger! Keep in mind that the original idea was to thin them out, not entice people to raise more, but never mind that objective, there is money to be made in deer booty! All they needed were deer.
That’s simple, tons of the critters in the mountains, just fly the helicopter close, shoot a net over it and I’ll jump out (yes, jump out, again) and tie it up so we can lift the deer back to the farm. Probably more information than you wanted but that’s how the domestic deer farmer got started. Of course, a good thing can’t last forever so once the market was flooded with deer, prices crashed and so endeth the lesson.
Today the deer are raised as a food source sold locally and to the export market. If you want to learn more about these “helicopter cowboys” you’ll need to come here and chat with the locals. Really a fascinating story.
Had enough driving and no luck fishing so back to the homestead for the evening. Good thing we didn’t plan to catch our dinner!