A Room with a (Cloudy) View

The rain finally overpowered the revelers in Queenstown last night. After the fireworks, the crowds began to thin and clusters of people began stumbling up the hills back to their houses, hotel rooms or cars - wherever they were sleeping. Within a few hours, the downpour got louder and the competing music died away. By the time we woke up this morning there was a steady roar of water and a thick blanket of clouds washing away the night and offering up a clean slate for 2013.

Weather reports are calling this an unusually severe storm. Heavy rain, strong winds are expected into tomorrow. Rivers, lakes and streams may flood. Roads are closing from rock slides and everyone is bundled up trying to figure out if there actually are "indoor" activities to do in the Southland of New Zealand.

We slept in to the sound of the rain and had a nice leisurely breakfast and chatted with other guests at the B&B from Australia and an American family (from CT) now living in Shanghi. By 10:30 we were packed up and ready to migrate to our next hotel in Te Anau. The trip would only take two hours - and we were not put off by the rain obscuring the views, because we know we have to drive back that way in a few days when sunshine is expected.

The weather prevented us from shaking off the sleep today. The drive seemed long, even with the espresso stop halfway. When we arrived in Te Anau, we stopped and had a nice lunch at the Olive Tree Cafe.

Te Anau is the outpost town for Milford Sound. It's small, slow and outdoorsy, with a tinge of touristy. It seems very peaceful after four days in Queenstown. Today, everyone was bundled in cafes and shops trying to stay dry.

After lunch we headed up to our gorgeous B&B. Prospect Lodge was one of the places I was really looking forward to on this trip - and it has exceeded expectations. It is about 5 minutes outside of town, and up a long country, gravel road on the top of a hillside overlooking Lake Te Anau, the mountains and the town. It's only two years old, but the couple who run it have been operating B&Bs for more than 20 years. Everything is modern, white, clean and glass. There are only two rooms - and we have the one on the end. Two of our walls are floor to ceiling windows overlooking the hills, snow-capped mountains, the lake and the town. We have our own deck with a table and chairs (that we'd definitely use if it wasn't pouring) and, it seems, the entire world to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

The common area includes a large farm table where we'll enjoy breakfast in the morning, couches, more floor to ceiling windows and indoor and outdoor fireplaces. And with only two rooms, the innkeeper has the ability to think about every little detail - including our complimentary bottle of red wine, the china tea cups and French press in the room, and the apricots and coconut chocolates that she left in a dish on the nightstand for when we came back from dinner.

 

 

As soon as we got here, we fell asleep for two hours. Surrounded by windows, listening to rain and wind fighting against the house. It felt decadent, but deserved. Then we awoke and called family to wish them a Happy New Year back home. A short time later, we headed down to town for dinner. And now we're back, reading and blogging and about to head to bed. It's so quiet here, it may be hard to sleep. I'm looking forward to being lulled away by the constant rain - and I'm hoping to wake up to less of it tomorrow. From what we hear, tomorrow will be on and off showers, but the sun will return to us by Thursday. We have a big hike planned for tomorrow - although it will be difficult to top the view from our beautiful room.

Watching a storm roll in across the mountains, from our room.