The townships of Te Anau & Manapouri are the gateways to the Fiordland National Park – the largest out of the 14 National Parks in New Zealand. No trip to New Zealand is complete without a visit to the Fiords. Spending 2 nights in the mouth of this renowned National Park can introduce you to the grandeur of Milford Sound, unique nature’s creation of glowworms, over 600 of formed tracks for hiking and many other key attractions!
Between Te Anau & Manapouri, our choice was to stay in Te Anau as the town center and pick up points for our tour operators were about 5 mins drive from our Airbnb accommodation. I really enjoy staying in Airbnb accommodations. It feels more personable to chit chat with locals and learn more about local culture & lifestyle. Sign up here to get $50 credit on your 1st Airbnb travel if you haven’t already used Airbnb.
We stayed at Mel’s and Rosco’s home known as Te Waka Lodge during our trip to Te Anau. We were pleasantly surprised to see this well maintained and aesthetically appealing home very close to the Te Anau lake.
The room offered is a private cottage that is neatly done and is equipped with all the modern facilitates. It was a very spacious room with a functional kitchen and all the necessary equipment like microwave and utensils. The cottage had a private parking and big open air balcony. It was indeed home away from home. Bad accommodations can indeed ruin your vacation. After a long day of tourism you really need a real bed and where you can crash, get a good sleep, recharge and step out again!
Mel and Rosco were great hosts and helped us with the necessary know how of the town. They gave us the privacy and had shared their contact numbers for us to reach to them when in need. We were leaving early from Queenstown on 2nd day and were pleased to see that they had defrosted our car in the morning without even requesting for it. It was such a nice gesture by them. Given a chance, I would definitely revisit them again. If you ever visit Te Anau, do check out their home on Airbnb. Once you sign up, you can use this direct link to book the accommodation.
And yeah, needless to say, visiting New Zealand is a lifetime experience. I will share all about it very soon!
This makes me want to travel so badly! I cannot wait for 2018. It’s so on my list
This is stunning! I definitely want to add this to my travel list for 2018.
Omg stunning photos!!! Te Waka Lodge Looks like one fabulous place to visit!!! If I’m ever in the area, I know where I need to stay
What an adorable place! I love cozy cottages like this that have so much character and aren’t just cookie cutter hotels! I would love to stay here!
Wow, I am so loving this private place to stay. This is so beautiful and looks really satisfying. Space and the open balcony is awesome, too. Thanks for the review.
What a beautiful place! I would love to go there some day. It looks like you guys had a great view and I love the little cabin.
How gorgeous! I have never been to New Zealand, but I have always wanted to visit. Your post makes me want to visit there even more!
Te Waka looks like it’s such a cozy place to stay! All the scenery you got to see is incredible, especially Mirror Lake.
Waka Lodge is so beautiful with natural surroundings. As I love nature, I would love to spent my time here.
That looks like such an amazing place to visit. Fantastic post.
This looks magical and the Airbnb lodge so pleasant! I’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand, and LOVE watching the ancient war dance of the Maori people, Haka. I can watch renditions on YouTube all day.
My husband has been to NZ and has said it is BEAUTIFUL. This looks amazing and just so tranquil!
WOW that lodge looks gorgeous and like such a beautiful weekend getaway! I’m jealous, I want to check it out so badly!
What a gorgeous place to stay! I would love to stay there. looks peaceful and calm. Something I could very much use right now! – Jeanine
Oh I loved this. WHEN I go to New Zealand (not if), I will certainly have this on my list to visit. The photos are incredible. Thanks for sharing!
Amazing place that I would love to visit soon! <3 Also that lodge is soo freakin' cozy! <3 I would sit there and watch Netflix all day haha
What a fun place to stay! We live in Arizona and don’t go north to see the snow often enough.
What an amazing place to visit! I have never been out of North America, but have always wanted to travel to New Zealand – when I was in high school we had an exchange student from there and it sounded like an incredibly place to live.
Oh, this looks wonderful. I’ve never been to New Zealand, but I’ve always wanted to go.
Those mountains look absolutely gorgeous! New Zealand is most definitely on my travel bucket list.
That looks like such an amazing place to visit. I am due for a nice vacation. This would be idea.
Wow! This looks absolutely beautiful and cosy – my favourite places to stay! I am yet to visit NZ even though I’m just across this ditch in Australia but I would love to plan a trip soon
Those views are amazing! And I love that little ‘piglet’ in the garden!
I remember my friend going to New Zealand a few years back and she had the most incredible time. I like the sound of the national park and the lodge looks rather cozy as well x
New Zealand is in our travel bucket list. I think after looking at the pictures of Fiordland National Park, I think I need to bump this up in my list. Mirror Lake is stunning!
WOW! This is absolutely gorgeous!! If I ever make it to New Zealand (fingers crossed! I really would love to visit), I’ll keep this place in mind. Thanks.
That looks like such a wonderful place to stay. I love that view, absolutely beautiful! I’ve always wanted to travel to New Zealand. Hopefully someday!
I have always wanted to see the glow worms ever since I read a post about them. It’s fascinating! This place is breathtakingly beautiful and it would be crazy to miss it. The places you stayed at are all so lovely as well.
Beautiful beautiful place. My friend’s brother just moved to New Zealand and I soooo envy him!
This looks so beautiful! I am sure it is a wonderful place to vacation. I will have to show it to my hubs to add it to out must travel too list.
It is so funny to talk about defrosting cars when it is 90s here. I would love to go to new Zealand but not in their winter. Looks like you had good lodging on your trip.
Wow! That mountain view is incredible! Would love to visit there someday!
It would be amazing to visit New Zealand. This place looks beautiful and perfect for a stay.
Stunning! If I ever get the amazing chance to visit, i’d absolutely love to visit. Def. looks like a must see place!
I grew up in the middle of nowhere (like three hours away from a hospital nowhere) and for some reason people from New Zealand were always moving there to help out on the ranches. Everyone was always super friendly so I’m not surprised you had great hosts! Look forward to hearing more about your trip, as I still haven’t been myself!
I have a good friend in New Zealand right now and I have been swooning over her pictures on FB and Insta. If I ever get there, I would love to stay here.
I can’t believe how beautiful Fiordland National Park is! The photos are as pretty as postcards. Te Waka Lodge looks like it was a cozy place to stay while you were there. I’m excited to read more about your trip to New Zealand! x
What a beautiful country and an equally picturesque lodge. Beautiful pictures too!
That was so awesome of them to defrost your car!!
The lodge looks so amazing. I know I have really wanted to go to see New Zealand for a very long time. It would be so awesome.
New Zealand has always been on my list. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip! Thanks for sharing!
Definitely. Having comfy resting places make a difference when traveling. This looks like an amazing place to visit and a great lodge to help one relax.
wow, this lodge looks so comfortable and amazing!! how much I want to visit New Zealand now!! those photos are great!! Thanks for sharing!
This place is so cute. And the nature around it, so beautiful. It’s always nice to get away to a place like this.
The pictures look amazing and it sounds like you had a very nice stay! I’m from the United States and I love visiting all of our different national parks and so I feel like it would be really fun to expand my list to other country’s national parks too.
What a lovely place to stay. And the cottage looks cozy with picture perfect surroundings.
I can not wait to make my way over to New Zealand. This lodge looks absolutely stunning and cozy. And those views!!!! <3
What a cozy lodge. It looks so picturesque and I bet it’s fun to stay there. Can’t wait to read more about New Zealand!
What a lovely place to stay in such a beautiful part of the world. I love the room size and the hosts sound to be really wonderful. If going there, I would certainly stay there and I am looking forward to reading about the rest of your stay in NZ.
Wow! That looks amazing and cozy 😊