Lake Tekapo is a beautiful lake again surrounded by mountains and is a glacier fed lake. Basically, when we refer to glacier fed lakes, we bring up that point because glacier fed lakes are the most beautiful shade of blue you'll ever see. They are completely unspoiled and a real sight to see. Lindsey had been up here before with Whitney and fell in love it, and after I saw it, I understood why. Because it was so rainy when we arrived, we settled in and read a little bit. After a short time, the rain eased up enough for us to run outside to Lindsey's apple tree (see her previous blog in www.pharmingwithkiwis,blogspot.com) and gather a bag full! Apparently the tree had become a popular spot since she had been there three weeks prior because the apples were scarce. But like a total hoss, she climbed basically to the top of the tree and started chunking the remain apples at me. That night, we basically just cooked, trip planned, and enjoyed a warm hostel common room.
The next morning, we saw that the forecast was much better. It was supposed to be fairly cloudy, but no rain was expected, so we decided to start the morning off with the hike that we'd planned to do the day before. It was basically just a 2.5 hour tramp up to the top of the hill that overlooks Lake Tekapo and back down. At the top, there's an old observatory that was originally built by the US as a spy station but is now just an observatory. There's a cafe up at the top so we decided to stop for some coffee! We had to wait around for 20 minutes because New Zealand in general starts late (we got there at 940 and it wasn't open yet...), but it was worth it. Great coffee, and on the way down, the cloud cover was lifting a little bit and we got some great views. When we got to the bottom, we got in Mo! (our car) and headed to Mt. Cook, only a few hours away.
*Randomly, they have a statue that is a dedication to the sheepdog right in Tekapo. I took a picture in honor of my favorite sheepdog, Ted.
Mt. Cook is a spectacle to behold. It's something like 3700 meters tall and is just gorgeous. The mountain range around it was used to film the Misty Mountains in the LOTR movies. Below Mt. Cook is a glacier named Hooker glacier. Yes, it's ok to snicker. We did a small walk (only about 2ish hours) up to the glacier and back. After we got back, we set up camp. This was our first night of tent camping together in NZ (and coincidentally my first night of legit tent camping ever), and it was COLD. I mean, my goodness. We cooked our dinner on our little stove, immediately washed dishes, and trotted over to our tent. Before we got in, we took a good look at the Southern Sky and I was blown away. It was one of the more beautiful things I've gotten to witness. No lights anywhere near to disrupt the viewing, and the Milky Way could be seen very clearly. Had it not been close to freezing temperatures, I would have insisted on sleeping outside so that I could stare forever. However, it WAS close to freezing, so we got our butts in our tent and into our sleeping bags, It was an interesting night! Lindsey and I both slept plenty throughout the night, though often in spurts, and we woke up to the sound of rainfall at 630 the next morning. We made the very fast decision to get up, pack up, and get out before the rain got really going, and we were successful! Wake up to departure time in the car was about 15 minutes. I felt good about our speed. It was a really fun night and well worth the frigidness.
Cheers!!!!!!
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