Te Anau Winter's Morning
I loved painting this landscape. Lake Te Anau is such a beautiful location. It is in the deep south of New Zealand, and is the gateway to Milford Sound National Park. The town is small and very quiet, but it has everything you need, shops restaurants, hotels and bars. The scenery is simply very beautiful and peaceful.
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Te Anau New Zealand
From Lake Te Anau you can travel northeast to Milford Sound as a day trip. The distance is 118 km, allow 2 - 2½ hours (plus stops).
You will soon realize that in this part of the world the journey is just as good as the destination. The road trip is fantastic. There are many great walks you can do, but if you are looking for some quick spots to see on the way, there are two that are a must see. First is the Mirror Lakes. You will need the weather to be very calm but it is a sight worth seeing particularly if there is a bit of snow on the Earl Mountains. Another great stop is Pop's View lookout on Milford Sound Highway.
Currently, The only way to travel on land to Milford Sound is from Lake Te Anau, but a proposal was made to build an 11.3km, single-lane bus tunnel that would connect Queenstown to Milford Sound and cut down the travel time. Fortunately, it was rejected by the government. There is also debate raging over a possible monorail impacting the area.
I really hope it never happens. Te Anau benefits from tourism because it is the gateway to Milford Sound. Creating a new access route from Queenstown to Milford will mean a loss of revenue to Te Anau township, which seems very unfair to me. I didn't mind driving to get there from Queenstown, and I loved just how peaceful my stay was. If you are planning on visiting the South Island of New Zealand, take some extra time to visit Lake Te Anau and Milford Sound.
Lake Te Anau, Winter's Morning
Artist Statement
This scene that I painted is just little along from the township. I really loved the contrast of the sky. The light sweeping clouds from above, combined with the low lying heavier clouds rolling in from the south that gave an impression of uncertainty as to what the weather was going to be like for the day and really gives the painting life and energy.