Lake Tekapo
After the Worlds Steepest Street hat-trick our next stop on the way to Lake Tekapo was at the Moeraki Boulders, a number of huge spherical stones, found strewn along a stretch of Koekohe Beach near Moeraki. These boulders are grey-coloured septarian concretions (oh yes!) which have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mudstone coastal cliffs.
Our next stop was near the Benmore Dam - our driver seemed a bit obsessed with Dams as he must have talked for about half an hour about them. We made another stop to get a view of Mount Cook in the distance across a lake.
We arrived at the village of Tekapo and headed straight for two of the most photographed things in New Zealand - The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of the lake and the statue of the Collie Dog.
We made our final stop at the hostel which was about a 15 minute walk out of town right on the lake front - hence its name The Lake Front Backpackers Lodge.
We sat outside in the sun for a while taking in the scenery. Later in the afternoon we walked up Mt John where there were more great views - you could see for miles in every direction. At the top of Mt. John there is an observatory - there was a Japanese astonomer who showed us inside although we weren't supposed to be there and he didn't speak much English - it was all computerised and he had some good digital images of the night sky up on the walls.
As the hostel was in the middle of nowhere we'd done some shopping and a few of us cooked a meal together. The TV only had 2 channels and the video selection was poor so we actually ended up playing scrabble and cards - I lost at both!
Next day I went on another walk up to a place called Cowans Hill where there were loads of rabbits. I got a bit lost at the top as the trail markers dissapeared but eventually got back on the right track.
Next day we had a bit of a late start before setting off to Christchurch my final destination in New Zealand. We made one quick stop at a place called Geraldine and arrived in Christchurch just after midday.
Our next stop was near the Benmore Dam - our driver seemed a bit obsessed with Dams as he must have talked for about half an hour about them. We made another stop to get a view of Mount Cook in the distance across a lake.
We arrived at the village of Tekapo and headed straight for two of the most photographed things in New Zealand - The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of the lake and the statue of the Collie Dog.
We made our final stop at the hostel which was about a 15 minute walk out of town right on the lake front - hence its name The Lake Front Backpackers Lodge.
We sat outside in the sun for a while taking in the scenery. Later in the afternoon we walked up Mt John where there were more great views - you could see for miles in every direction. At the top of Mt. John there is an observatory - there was a Japanese astonomer who showed us inside although we weren't supposed to be there and he didn't speak much English - it was all computerised and he had some good digital images of the night sky up on the walls.
As the hostel was in the middle of nowhere we'd done some shopping and a few of us cooked a meal together. The TV only had 2 channels and the video selection was poor so we actually ended up playing scrabble and cards - I lost at both!
Next day I went on another walk up to a place called Cowans Hill where there were loads of rabbits. I got a bit lost at the top as the trail markers dissapeared but eventually got back on the right track.
Next day we had a bit of a late start before setting off to Christchurch my final destination in New Zealand. We made one quick stop at a place called Geraldine and arrived in Christchurch just after midday.
posted by Phil at 11:41 PM
4 Comments:
Fantastic scenery - again! The boulders pic though has to be my favourite so far! ;-)
Love Jen x
Alright Boss
Where is the picture of the Collie dog then as in intrigued?
When are we going to see more?
Jen
x
best so far was the bungee. Trying to look cool just did not quite cut it Phil. But then again I would not have the bottle. I was telling Ali about you missing the magic Bus in OZ but she says they have an equivalent there?
Dad
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