NZ Day 5: Te Anau

Day 5 was a busy travel day: flight from Auckland to Queenstown, picked up our campervan, and then drove to Te Anau where we ended at our first "Holiday Park." Holiday park is a glorified name for campground or campervan park that come in all shapes, sizes and features. Each night we would pull into the park to our designated spot and plug the van in so we had power. We would prepare food in the community kitchen/bbq area if we hadn't eaten already and follow it with showers and bedtime. There weren't any bathtubs in the community shower room in any of the parks so showering with Elodie in your arms was a bit tricky but manageable. She was such a trooper.

We traveled the entire south island in a campervan staying at Holiday Parks along the way - and it was awesome! This particular model had a bed up top (that we used for storage), and then the table below folded down to create a big double bed for Joe and me to sleep on. The only problem was Elodie. The company gave us a 'pack and play,' but there was hardly any room inside to put it. So we crammed it in the small space at the foot of our bed... which was in front of the door. So this basically meant that once we put her to bed, we were stuck inside the camper van for the rest of the night. The other annoying part of this was that we (hubby) had to assemble it every single night and then take it down to store in the morning.

Here she is standing in the space we put the pack and play every night.

And then here is the view the other direction (our bed).

So as you can see... it was pretty cramped! But nonetheless, we still really enjoyed the NZ camping experience. You probably think we saved a lot of money traveling the country this way...? But that's a common misconception. By the time you add up rental fees, fuel, insurance, plus the expensive nightly campground fees it might have ended up being more expensive than had we rented a car and stayed in hotels. But yet this is the option that the majority of tourists end up choosing to do in NZ. It's really a relaxing way to see this beautiful country. You can be a bit more flexible and travel at your own pace, explore hard-to-reach places that don't necessarily have accommodations, and it also gives you a single place to call home for an extended period of time - no packing and unpacking every single day as you move from hotel to hotel! Traveling by campervan really gives you a great deal of flexibility and freedom. Plus, you're able to keep food in your refrigerator at all times - which was especially helpful with Elodie!

So as I said above, our first stop of the south island was Te Anau - a beautiful little town bordering Fiordland National Park. It's basically the gateway to the the famous and breathtaking Milford Sound (which I will be writing about in the next post).

Te Anau was basically just a pit-stop for us to spend the night since it's really the only town between Queenstown and Milford Sound. There wasn't a whole lot to do there other than walk the trails near the lake, explore the touristy shops, and enjoy the beautiful surrounding scenery. It's a great camping spot and perfect place to relax, but our main objective was to continue on to see Milford Sound.