Day 14/15 NZ - 14-15/1/2011

We left Christchurch after a late start – Mandy’s Birthday is our excuse – and set out for Lake Tekapo. The drive for a while out of Christchurch was VERY flat for a while especially in comparison to the rest of the trip. We headed for route 72 which was listed as the ‘scenic drive’ and the further we got, the more it lived up to its name. In particular Rakaia Gorge/river. We saw a glimpse of a view of this on the left and I had to turn around to check it out. This involved 5km drive down the mountain and then back up again but it was definitely worth it (photo). The photo doesn’t do it justice. From here on it was a spectacular drive with new views and beautiful scenery all the time. Eventually we saw some snow covered mountain and wondered if we had seen Mt Cook. All this continued until we reached Lake Tekapo. What an amazing place. The colour of the lake is a sky blue colour (which I must research to understand why). We had cracked a sensational day where upon reaching Lake Tekapo, there were no clouds and it was around 25 degrees. What a perfect day for Mandy’s birthday!

We found our spot in the camping area, raced down to the shops to book a table at one of the restaurants and then started to have a look around. There were lots of people enjoying the water on such a nice day. The little church next to the lake was small but nice and it has a view of the lake out a large window behind the pulpit. I actually asked the priest if people listened to his sermon. He laughed.

After a nice shower, 6.30pm arrived which was our prearranged time for a skype call with Terry. It was great to see him and have a chat for a while. We didn’t want to move the camper again so we walked the 15 mins to the restaurant along the side of the lake. Our table was on the grass outside and we had front possie for a view of the lake – very nice. I had my first ‘stone-grilled’ steak which was rather yummy. It gets dark very late here so we walked back at dusk at around 9.30am.

It was a fantastic day for a birthday – have I said that already?

Day 15

After emptying all the tank – the smelly one included, we set off for Queenstown. A few k’s down the road, we caught our first sight of Mt Cook (we didn’t actually see it yesterday). It’s different country out here. The area around the mountains if very flat and then seemingly out of nowhere a steep mountain rises up and it is very steep. So, the road to Mt Cook alongside Lake Pukaki was easy and not windy at all. After about 50 k’s of this road we reached the Hermitage and stopped for a coffee and a look around. You can see the blue tinge on the glaciers and it was clear enough to be able to see the top of most of the mountains.

The drive from Trizel (50k’s south of Mt Cook) was rather boring in comparison to what we have experienced. So much so, Mandy finally managed to write some postcards while we were driving. This was partly due to the fact that it had become quite overcast. We arrived at Cromwell and the scenery started to pick up again. In particular the Kawarau Gorge was rather speccy to say the least. The road follows the river flowing through the middle of what it a fairly narrow valley and it is quite weird as you seem to be always going downhill but the river always seems to be getting lower compared to the road. Sounds logical except the river is flowing the other way – seemingly up hill. One of the things I am always surprised by is the amount of water flowing and the the pace of its flow. There were some jet boats available along this river and I am pretty keen to have a ride on our way back in a few days – we’ll see.

A short distance out of Queenstown we passed another place where people intentionally throw themselves off a bridge with a rubber band attached to their feet. This one was the home and origin of the bungy jump. Not as high as others but VERY well frequented. I cannot understand why people want to do it. I have no interest AT ALL, especially at $180 for about a 10 second adrenaline rush!

We reached Queenstown and it probably has about 500,000 beds available and there are young people everywhere. A very nice city with lovely surroundings. The rest of the day happened in this order (approximately).

-          We found our camping spot - $50 a night – YIKES!

-          Booked another spot for tomorrow night at Milford Sound and a boat cruise for Monday morning

-          Went to the supermarket to stock up

-          I got stung by a European Wasp on the back of my neck – ouch!

-          Jumped in the camper for a drive around for 30 minutes

-          90 minutes later arrived back at the camper for dinner at 8pm.

Another great day!