We touched down Queenstown airport and were greeted with the amazing landscape and the cooling 21 degrees air. It’s not often airports are located in places with mountains and hills surrounding it. We got our rental cars from AeroDrive and headed to Te Anau which was about a 2 hours drive away. The drive there was winding as we travelled along the highway around  Lake Wakatipu. The lake is huge and it took us almost 30 minutes to go pass it. We were travelling at tortoise speed while locals zoom pass us and swerve around the bends. It was definitely a test of my sister’s driving skills! Below is a short time lapse video I took on the highway.

Our decision to base ourselves in Te Anau was probably a wise decision we made throughout the trip. People often choose to stay in Queenstown and than drive 3-4 hours down to Milford Sound for a day trip and than head back to Queenstown afterwards. That wasn’t ideal because it was definitely going to be tough on my sister who was the only driver for our trip. Anyway, Te Anau is a much quieter town as compared to Queenstown and you don’t see throngs of tourists everywhere which was a relief. Groceries were much cheaper in Te Anau and we saved a few bucks stocking up our food supplies there. Not only that, Te Anau is much closer to Milford Sound – an hour and a half drive – and you have to give yourself at least an hour or two just to stop and take photos at the different MUST SEE spots along Te Anau-Milford highway. That I will talk about in my next post!

We stayed in Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park and Motel and the staff were very helpful in orientating us to the place. Kiwis are generally friendly and laidback people. The town centre was just a 5 minute drive away and the Department of Conversation (DOC) office was also nearby. It was convenient to us that the DOC was just minutes away because that meant that we could collect our tickets easily before heading down to The Divide to start our Routeburn Trek. The town centre has a everything from supermarkets to bookshops to outdoor gear shops. Food was quite limited for us because it’s rare to find halal places but we just survived on fish and chips mostly when we eat out. 

There are many short treks around Te Anau. We decided to check out Lakeside Walk which connects to the start of the start of Kepler Track. We underestimated the distance we had to trek and foolishly did not bring our lunch along. So we stopped at the start of Kepler Track and headed back to where we parked our car. I was pretty disappointed that I could not see at least a part of the Kepler Track. It’s okay there is always a next time.

  Spotted three hikers at the start of Kepler Track and I was wishing that I could join in their adventure!

Walking amidst the trees were pure bliss with the cool wind from Lake Te Anau blowing at us and the trees. We knew what to come for us through the trip would just get better judging from this simple trek.

I finally could whip out my Olympus OMD-E 10 and snap pictures. I had my 25mm prime lens throughout the whole trip. It was too much of a hassle for me to change lens and I preferred a fast lens to capture any unexpected moments. The downside however, I couldn’t shoot wide landscapes photos and that’s such a bummer. Having a really love hate relationship with my camera now.

A dream without a plan is failure. Hence, here’s is my first step in materializing my dream. Putting my thoughts and plans in a blog will make sure I’m committed to this crazy plan of mine. And what’s this plan you may ask? It’s to leave everything behind and embark on a working holiday visa in NZ aka taking a gap year there. This urge to leave and try something absolutely out of my comfort zone didn’t just come out of nowhere. I guess many things contributed to this insane idea. Already having battled through anxiety and depression makes this not such an insane idea at all when you’ve seen far worst. Being at the lowest points and seeing how fragile your life is makes me reevaluate what I want in my life.

Nature heals and having travelled to New Zealand last December, I fell in love with the country. I told myself “I’m turning a quarter of a century this year, and when else am I going to have this chance to embark on a holiday visa?”. And so the dream was born. Knowing that many others have done it too and there is a plethora of resources online that are available to tap on, I feel like I can do this you know? To do it alone or with friends, I have no idea. Not everyone wants to drop everything they’ve built here in Singapore and start anew somewhere else. Not everyone has the luxury of time and liberty to do it.

Every individual’s life story is different and is written at their own pace. I can’t bear to write mine without a crazy adventure in it. So here’s to new beginnings and I hope to be able to document my journey towards making this dream a reality.