Beautiful Lake Tekapo

March 24, 2010


Well best laid plans don’t always pan out – often for the better! Today we woke to rain (of course all the towels and bathing suits were hung outside to dry) and packed up for our first foray into the real wilds of New Zealand. Our plan was to head inland South about 400 km into the Southern Alps to camp at Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. We made it ¾ of the way to Lake Tekapo as the winds and weather were too fierce at the peak for camper vans. As it turned out this was a stunning place to stay. Lake Tekapo is a long glacier fed lake at the foot of the Southern Alps. It was created during the last glaciation and has the most amazing milky turquoise blue colour as it is filled with rock flour from the glaciers. The nearest equivalent is Lake Louise in Banff.

Our campsite is on a small bluff overlooking the banks of the lake, it is cold and windy here but the view is unbelievable. This area is also known for the darkest and clearest skies in all of New Zealand so the University of Canterbury maintains an observatory complex with 5 domes on the peak of Mount John which overlooks our campground. Mount John is a “roche moutanee” mountain which means it was carved and rounded by the glaciers as they passed over it and it sticks up right in the middle of the basin so it has 360 degrees of visibility. It is a short (1 hour) but steep climb to the top (wimps drive up) for the most spectacular views all around as well as the best night sky viewing in all of New Zealand. At the top the winds were literally howling there were storms all around us in the mountains but we were in a little island of sunshine. Along with the observatory there is a beautiful little café right at the geodetic peak where we sipped hot chocolates and got some respite from the wind.

By now sunset was approaching so we headed back down for a bit of barbecue at our camp. We had to break out the warmer wear as it was getting quite chilly. After supper we trekked just up the road to the hot springs. There three pools of various temperatures from warm to hot to really hot, helped us to soak the days adventures away. Tomorrow we pull up stakes again and head further south to Queenstown where I suspect I will run out of superlatives to describe the beauty of New Zealand.