Lakes and Mountains

Last night, Wednesday, we had planned to walk back into Christchurch but as we were about to leave the wind got up and was really strong so as we had done a lot of walking the decision was made to stay and eat in the hotel and we had an excellent meal.
Woke up this morning to blue skies and as we had quite a lot of driving ahead of us we had a full English breakfast to set us up for the day. Leaving Christchurch was relatively easy as it was well signposted for our route heading south. The further we left the city behind the more the traffic diminished, it really is quite pleasurable to drive out here with little traffic and good quality roads - very few potholes!
We stopped for coffee at a nice little town called Geraldine and had a laugh when we used the loo for the walls were covered in Monopoly money and album covers notably Pam Ayres and Mrs Mills (older readers may remember her!). It also had a glitter ball! The town was well served with shops and we found a lovely garden walk where the local residents had planted rhododendrons and azaleas which as its Spring here were in bloom.
Our next stop was Lake Tekapo which was quite stunning with remarkably turquoise water. This is quite a popular area for backpackers and holiday homes.
We thought Tekapo was good but about twenty miles further on we had a “wow” moment when we crested the brow of a hill and had our first glimpse of Lake Pukaki where the water was an even brighter shade of turquoise but was set against a background of snow capped mountains, quite wonderful. We took some photos but they really don’t do it justice.
We are staying tonight and tomorrow night at Mount Cook where we are self catering and there are limited options there so the advice is to buy what you need at the nearest town Twizel (great name) which is about 40 miles from Mount Cook. We bought all that we needed plus our new favourite ice cream Memphis Meltdown which are great.
So tonight we are at Aoraki Mount Cook Village which is a small gathering of a large hotel, motel (us) and hostels in the foothills of the mountains and consequently is very cold. We walked out for dinner this evening wrapped up in jumpers and coats slightly different to a couple of weeks ago in the Cook Islands!Read more