Who says you can't go back?

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On Good Friday, after a good breakfast of hot cross buns, we headed west out of Christchurch and joined the Inland Scenic Route 72 just past Darfield. This is a much nicer drive into the Southern Alps than the more direct routes. We were re-tracing our route taken over four years ago (Easter 2005) as chronicled in this very same blog. To that end, after passing through Rakaia Gorge, we detoured to Peel Forest in order to do the 'Big Tree Walk' - an amazing still native woodland, full of big trees (mainly giant Totara) and lots of fantastic NZ birdlife - Silvereye, Bell Birds and huges NZ Wood Pigeons among the highlights...

After our walk, we stopped to pick up lunch in Geraldine and then continued on our journey to Lake Tekapo stopping for a brief roadside picnic. We arrived mid-afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to see that the snows had come early and this northern part of the Southern Alps was covered in white. We checked into a backpackers and then packed our walking bags with warm clothes and headed around the lake to climb Mt. John (1031m). The ascent was excellent - we quickly reached the snow line and were tramping through foot deep snow. Upon reaching the summit, upon which there is an Observatory set up to observe the world-class light-pollution-free night sky (which we learned has been nominated as an UNESCO World Heritage Park - no joke), we were pleased to discover that the cafe was open and serving steaming hot coffee and chocolate.

We remained at the top until the light began to fail and then circumnavigated the summit before heading back down to the Lake to check out the new geo-thermal hot pools which have recently opened at the foot of the mountain. We spent a pleasant hour relaxing outdoors under the stars (and resting aching muscles) and then headed back to the town for dinner in a restaurant.

The best Good Friday ever!

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Photos

Big tree
(Totara)

Leaving Tekapo
Lindis Pass

Comments

[GH]

I think in the name of equality you should also have your photo taken next to a particularly small tree