Take a peak at Tekapo
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2008
1
7
17
Trip End
Jul 10, 2008
Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand
Friday, June 13, 2008
The scenery started to get more alpine as we headed further west. Soon the rolling plains gave way to amazing valleys and giant peaks. Often on the sides of the road you could see were people had piled up rocks in some sort of rock balancing pyramid. I gave it a go and managed to knock someone elses hard worked creation all over the place.
We got to Tekapo just after nightfall and struggled to find somewhere to stay. The Kiwi Experience (basically a big backpacker bus full of Brittish gap year students) had pulled into the sleepy town and comandeered the only decent hostel. So we settled for a hut that looked like it had a good view over the lake, the only problem was it was too dark to tell.
About the only thing to do in Tekapo is go to the local ice-skating rink, which we did. There's hot pools there too but they'd turned them off either due to lack of heat or lack of bodies. I got as far as putting the skate boots on and suddenly memories of past broken legs and pain flooded my head and we figured the rest of this trip wouldn't be as much fun with me in inevitable traction. So we scurried back to our warm hut and watched DVD's.
The next morning we got a beautiful breakfast seat looking over the lake. We popped down to see the only tourist attraction of note, a stone church, and I got in trouble for taking a photo in a church with a dozen signs saying "No Photography!" Why not? I bet God's a fan. Plus this church had an incredible view past the altar looking up the lake toward Mount Cook.
And so, onward again, heading for Queenstown.
