A quick trip around the South Island

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On a potential search for a wedding venue (and for a wee holiday) Caleb and I flew into Christchurch, rented a car, and started our journey. We visited Waipara and Akaroa, and then headed down to Lake Tekapo (where we saw the Church of the Good Shepherd and some amazing scenery) and Mount Cook. We went on a few walks at Mount Cook - up the mountain was the best... ok just kidding we didn't climb Mount Cook. We walked to see Hooker Lake and Hooker Glacier and the Tasman Glacier. Not as impressive after my climbing Mount Cook joke but it was very scenic.

Next we drove down to Wanaka and then onto Queenstown, hitting up a bunch of vineyards around Cromwell. The day after we arrived in Queenstown I was very excited when it started snowing in the streets of the town - which doesn't happen that often and was very pretty. We started heading out to Arrowtown (to see some of the churches we had heard were nice) when the snow started coming down a lot heavier and we noticed the car in front of us sliding around the road quite a bit. The car in front tried to pull over (but its rear end kept sliding back towards the middle) and we opted to stop. A few four wheel drives and cars drove past, some of which went sliding across the road into a bank. The radio informed us that a massive cold front had come in and that roads all around Queenstown were in chaos. This was also when we learned we had not been provided with chains by the rental car agency. We waited for a few hours until finally some snow ploughs and grit dropping truck things came through and we made it back to Queenstown.

The freezing weather continued for a couple of days, preventing anyone from driving or flying out of Queenstown (our flights were cancelled) or from flying into Queenstown for the winter festival. In a clear patch we did manage to visit the last of the churches and complete our mission (with chains on the car). We hung around the airport on standby until finally a flight was not cancelled and we managed to get on it and get back to Auckland before I went bankrupt!

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Photos

Akaroa
The view down over Akaroa

Church of the Good Shepherd
Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo
from the observatory

Lake Pukaki
at dusk

Hooker Lake (and Mount Cook)
Too chicken to stand any further out on the lake.

Stream
by Mount Cook village

Lake Pukaki again
(the next day)

Driving to Arrowtown
Hmmm... starting to snow quite heavily!

Road chaos
Stuck.

Queenstown after the snow
Lake Wakitipu

Lake Hayes
After the snow hit Queenstown

Ducks
Frozen (not literally) in a pond looking over Lake Hayes

Chapel by the Lake
Overlooking Lake Hayes

Roaring Meg
Outside Queenstown

Comments

[carina]

wow!!- quite a photographer arent we?! if you ever want to give up Law, why not be a photographer?? :)