Bill and Robin's Adventures Down Under: Braemar Sheep Farm

We left Milford Sound early on Thursday morning (January 24) and drove to a beautiful lake district for a quiet night (this after the backpacker lodge). The view from our room was glorious and it was a very modest motel. In fact, I commented that if this had been the US, there would be Ritz Carltons and Westins everywhere.

This was a travel day basically so we spent most of our time on our bus, fondly named Bruce! With all the winding curves and steep drops, we were quite happy to have Bruce and our excellent driver, Ben.


View from our little motel onto Lake Manapouri

Bruce...our very special bus!

After a long day of driving -- by the way, most people including us, don't realize what a huge country New Zealand is. With limited roads, it takes a long time to get around mountains and lakes-- It took us many hours of driving(some on gravel roads) to come to our home for two nights-- a sheep farm, in the middle of nowhere, with thousands of sheep, beautiful scenery and the brightest stars I have ever seen.

Our hut is on the left

Braemar Station is very modest. It is actually a shearer's station during the season with a variety of bedrooms crammed together in a small house. We were fortunate to stay in a cute little hut away from the main building (and the bathrooms!) but it was wonderfully quiet and peaceful with views to die for! The million-dollar views made up for the fact that we had one bathroom for all 14 of us, which we could reach only by walking outside in the middle of the night in total darkness!

Here are a few photos of the views from our hut and also our hike in the Mt. Cook area during our stay here.

Mountains everywhere and a very tired Robin

Glacier River to cross (we walked over 3 suspension bridges)

Friendly Kia bird

Our challenging but beautiful tour was coming to an end, so we celebrated our last evening with a picnic, overlooking the gorgeous mountains. Ben and Christina did it again with grilled lamb chops, veggies and salads. Topped off with the quintessential New Zealand dessert--a pavlova cake!