Being stalked in Te Anau

If you have never been to Te Anau, try to get there! It is truly amazing. The Te Anau Lake is one of those formed by glaciers that dumped loads of rocks and gravel to form long ridges. When the ice melted, lakes formed behind the ridges. The lake is 65km long and covers an area of 344 square kilometres. It is 417m deep. The area is well known for the almost extinct, flightless takahe birds and trout.

I thought it would be good if we stayed at the Top 10 - on the map it seemed like it was the closest camp site to town, literally just down the road. As soon as we arrived, a grey, four legged visitor came to inspect the newcomers. Then he/she (female cats can be even more territorial than males) started to follow Ferrari around and chasing her.

I tried to intervene by throwing water at it - only a temporary fix. Usually as soon as the sun goes down Ferrari is outside creating her own adventures, but that night she spent most of it inside. Halfway through the night there was a siren-like meow that instantly woke me. Grey cat was chomping away on Ferrari's gourmet Temptations without her permission. Just before sunrise the next day, Ferrari sneaked out carefully. Around 10am after using the tracker app, I found her outside the Park through another property, over a road, in a community park. She came running towards me and followed me enthusiastically as I walked back to the park. The moment she saw Grey Cat, she went the other way and I had to start another search. Needless to say I had had enough, I cancelled our booking for the next two nights as diplomatically as I could and went to Lake View, about 2km away. This is a much bigger park and we got a site near the back where there were heaps of trees and bushes, and yes, we did have a view over the lake! Ferrari settled and I could go on my day trip to Milford Sound the next day without worrying about her getting chased around.

There are various ways to explore the lake: by boat, helicopter and sea plane.

Te Anau information centre

Fiordland is the only place in the world where you will find wild Takahe.

A plaque beneath the statue states that Quintin Mackinnon (1851 -1892), a surveyor, explorer and guide along with Ernest Michell were the first Europeans to track overland from Te Anau to Milford Sound. Their route became the world famous Milford Track.

Ferrari's stalker

Much happier when I can do the stalking!

Ferrari's attention was captures by the little rabbits at our Lake View Park.