Day 12 – Lake Tekapo

Number 1 surprise of the day – we’re supposed to be moving to a cabin, but Hubby says ‘Swop it for 2 extra nights camping – it’s the same price!’ The weather forecast for the next 2 days is excellent, with a front scheduled to move in tomorrow afternoon. So we’re booked in to Lake Tekapo for the next 2 days. The plan is that today we’ll see round Lake Tekapo then tomorrow we’ll head to Mount Cook for the day.

Lake Tekapo

The first thing we did was to have a late breakfast with our next door neighbours, and invite them to a Dinner Party! They’re a Kiwi and a Portugese Angolan, recently moved from Jersey (Channel Isles) to Nelson, and both have motorbikes. Lis has a Suzuki SV650, anf Jorges (pronounced George) has a Guzzi. One thing we’ve found is little sports cars and motor bikes are always good for starting conversations!

At 11:15 (it was a very late breakfast!) we decided we ought to do something.

So we headed towards ‘The Church of the Good Shepherd’. This is on the lakes edge, just the other side of the village. The church is quite plain, but very pretty. There is a big picture window at the back of the altar, that looks directly over the lake. Just down the road is a monument to all the working farm dogs in New Zealand. As we know from our friends farm just how hard these dogs do work, I think it’s very fitting.

Unfortunately both the church and the monument are a stopping place for bus-loads of Japanese tourists. So you have to pick your time or you’re fighting for space and decent pictures.

Next it was off past the road to Mount Johns Observatory and down the western side of Lake Tekapo. Lake Alexandrina is off to the left hand side of this road – there’s a gate that needs opening and closing, and the track is gravel, so we drove further on as far as we could on tarmac, to the point where the road goes between Lake Tekapo and a tiny lake called Lake Macgregor. We parked up, and took a slow walk along the lakes edges – very peaceful.

I’d bought some Maryland Chicken in Methven, and there was much too much for us 2, and by adding a couple of sweetcorns and a bag of potato wedges there was more than enough for 4! So we had a very pleasant (if slightly windy) evening with our neighbours and a few bottles of wine before wending our way back to our respective tents.

One thing we’ve noticed about each lake are the different colours. Lake Tekapo is an aqua blue, Lake Alexandrina is a deeper, darker blue. Tomorrow, on the way to Mount Cook, we’re going past Lake Pukaki. This is a milky blue. And the glacier lakes up there are a grey-white. (I know – we’re in tomorrows travelogue already – but I don’t want to split the bit about lakes up!)

Next day: Day 13 – Lake Tekapo to Mount Cook and back