Day 5 Lake Tekapo

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I headed out for Lake Tekapo some time in the morning. I was sad to leave since the hospitality at the Big Tree lodge was so amazing. Lee said "Sad to see you go mate" in his thick NZ accent. I forgot to take a picture of the lodge, I also forgot my 12 bottles of beer I had bought. Lee called me about 10 minutes out to tell me I left the beer, I told him it was all his. The ride towards Lake Tekapo was very scenic. Gigantic mountains behind rolling green hills with sheep and cows oblivious to the scenery. I stopped quite often to take pictures. I am almost tempted to not even take pictures anymore. You just can't capture the full effect of actually being here. To stand up and just look all around you. Anywhere you look there is something spectacular. I arrived in Lake Tekapo around noon. The city consists of one main strip with a gas station, grocery store, souvenir shops and restaurants. I checked into my hostel first thing. I wasn't allowed to officially check in until 3:30, so I just booked a room. I took some pictures of the lake and headed into town for some lunch. I finally found a place that was somewhat unique to New Zealand, at least to my knowledge it is. It was called stone grill. They serve you pieces of meat that are barely cooked on a 400 degree celsius (752 degrees fahrenheit) piece of stone. Then you cook the meat to your liking and eat it. I enjoyed my lunch on a picnic table on the lake. After lunch I went to the local i center.

The i centers are just places where people can get an idea of what there is to do around the town. The woman told me of a couple trails to hike, the observatory at Mt. John, and a hot spring pool. I also got directions to the Church of the Good Shepherd which is a pretty famous monument in New Zealand. First, I headed towards the church and took some pictures. It is a pretty small place that is still used as the local church. It is located right on the lake and there is a giant window that overlooks it. I then put on my hiking shoes and hiked a trail that the woman had told me about. I followed the trail up a river that can be used as rapids. Right now it was pretty dry but I guess the city can control the water flow and when they open the gates they flood it making it a good rapids. I walked up the mountain for a couple hours, it was nice and relaxing. It wasn't steep at all and I just leisurely walked up. I walked pretty far out, nobody was around and you couldn't hear anything from the town, it was nice. I then headed back towards town. I checked into my hostel and grabbed my bed. I then decided to hike up to the top of Mt. John and book the tour of the night sky. I wanted to drive up after my few mile walk, but I didn't see a road leading up to it, so I hiked it. At this time it was about 4:15 and I wanted to eat at the cafe at the top. The sign said the cafe was closed at 5:00 and the hike was supposed to be 45 minutes so I started my way up. Unlike my previous hike, this one was pretty steep, and stayed that way all the way until the top. Every time I turned the corner I thought I would see the observatory, but the walk just got longer and longer. On top of that I was trying to beat the clock and get to the top before the cafe closed. I finally reached the top at about 4:40 and I ran into the cafe. The girls working it were already closing it down, I had missed my opportunity for food. They were nice enough to sell me a $4 juice, so I drank that and rested at the top. I then found out that you can't book the night tours on the mountain, you have to do it back in town. So my trip was somewhat pointless. Since I was already at the top I decided to watch the sunset, the sun slowly fell behind the mountains and I headed back town the trail. I then went back to the stonegrill restaurant and had dinner. The choices are pretty limited here. Either that restaurant, fish and chips/junk food, or chinese and thai food. I went and booked my night sky tour for the next day. The woman said there is a man on the mountain that helps you with your SLR camera and has different lenses to help you take photographs. I decided to spend the rest of the night at the hot pools. It cost $16 to go into the pools and another $2 for a locker. There were three pools, 36 (96.8 F) degrees, 38 (100.4) degreees and 40 (104) degrees. I jumped between the two cooler pools. It was nice to lay in the warmth of the pools in the cool air, and to look up at the sky. The stars were pretty bright and visible despite the lights. I met a few people from Alberta, Canada while in the pools. We just talked about our trips. They were heading to Australia afterwards, and the youngest girl was spending a year there for a working holiday.

After the pools I headed back to the Church. I wanted to get a picture of it with the stars in the background, trying to recreate what I saw online. It was really dark and somewhat scary being out there by myself. I heard a noise behind me and there was an Asian couple trying to have a romantic moment by the church. Looks like I ruined it. The pictures didn't really show the night sky very well. I think my cameras aperture is too small. I need a better lens, but they are so damn expensive I can't afford it. I headed back to the hostel and sat in the living area. I met a few people. A guy from Ireland, Ian, a girl from Alberta Canada, Jacqueline, a swiss girl who's name I didn't get, and the person who worked here. Ian owned a business in Ireland, a frozen food distributer. Jacqueline has had multiple jobs. She was in the army, a waitress, and a few others which I can't remember. The girl who worked here invited us all to a party at her house tomorrow night, I think I am going to go. After the swiss girl and the girl who worked here left we sat around and talked, had a few beers, played cards and twister. We did some star gazing and played with the cat that was in the hostel. We finished the night off with an episode of Flight of the Concords and I almost immediately passed out.

At around 2am I headed to my room, there were six other people already sleeping so I had to attempt to be quiet. I went to bed in the same clothes I had been wearing all day because I didn't want to wake anyone up by changing. I of course had the squeakiest bed in the place.

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