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Published: March 5th 2010
Whilst Billy went to pick up the car (in Christchurch), I was left to pack the tent! Fortunately it was not raining and, despite being in Fiji for 2 weeks and not camping, I had remembered the knack of packing.
What a pleasure it was to see the sun. Now I know we had just returned from a 2 week stint in the sun, but I was expecting it to rain in New Zealand. But so far so good.
We had a three and a half hour journey ahead of us, and once Billy returned with our trusty Toyota Corolla, we hit the road. We passed through mainly farms and there were plenty of sheep along the way. And slowly we started to see the beginnings of the Mount Cook range (part of the Southern Alps) in the distance.
Our first stop was at Lake Tekapo, a stunning turquoise blue, glacier fed lake. After having our lunch, we walked along the lake. It really was a beautiful sight especially with a Church of the Good Shepherd situated just on a hill off the lake, which is a perfect setting. We managed to get our photos just in
time before the place was swamped with buses of tourists (Chinese and Contiki)
We still had another hour to get to our campsite and by now we could see that the clouds were gathering and more importantly in the direction we were headed. We passed Lake Pukaki (another glacier fed lake) which was not as blue as Lake Tekapo - it was more of a milky blue, but it was just as beautiful to look at.
It turned out that our campsite was at the other end of the lake - kind of slap bang in the dark clouds. ‘Oh great’ we thought, we knew this sight only too well, and expecting the worst we continued our drive into the ominous, dark clouds. We managed to get our tent up (without getting too wet), in record time!! We could not see Mount Cook because of the clouds, but we were hoping that the weather would clear for us the next day. We were situated about 20km out of the actual Mount Cook village, so we decided to head into the village to get a feel for the place and hopefully catch a glimpse of the mountains. Unfortunately, the
Mueller Lake
Billy holding a small iceberg.cloud was too low and with the rain it was impossible to see much, so we went into the Tourist Info centre to see what the weather forecast for tomorrow would be, and to get an idea of what activities we would like to do, and then made our way back to our campsite.
The weather was not improving, so we decided to call it a night and hope for the best in the morning. WELL................................................. did the wind blow that night? Goodness me I seriously thought our tent would blow away. But Billy assured me that we would be fine, and we were!! But it was not a good night, and I don’t think either of us got much sleep with the tent wobbling in the wind. But we survived!
The following morning (probably thanks to the wind), we had the most amazing view of snow-capped Mount Cook and the surrounding mountains, plus the moon was still shining! This was the first time we got to see our surroundings, and wow, we were in such a beautiful spot what with Lake Pukaki below us and the mountains ahead of us. There were a few clouds about, but
we were hopeful that we would have a good day!!
We decided to do a guided kayak of Lake Mueller (a lake formed from the Mueller glacier). Billy and I shared a kayak, which was just as well, cos we were paddling directly into the icy wind. Fortunately we were given waterproof jackets, which made it easier. It was a unique experience as we kayaked passed icebergs right up to the glacier and with the mountains towering ahead of us. We thoroughly enjoyed it and were blessed with the good weather (as they had to cancel their trips yesterday and were forecasting rain for the next 2 days).
After our kayak, we went on to do a 3 hour walk through Hooker Valley to the Hooker glacier. It was a pleasant walk, passing over 2 suspension bridges but by this stage the clouds were beginning to come down the mountains and along with it the rain. We however, still managed to get glimpses of the mountains and this spurred us on. By the time we got to the glacier, the wind was quite gusty (felt gale force to me), so we didn’t linger too long - took a
few pictures and headed back. Even though it was blustery, the scenery made up for it, and we were glad that we had made it to the end. I still cannot get over the beauty. We were eager to see more, so we decided to do one more walk (which turned into 2, much to Billy’s horror).We made our way to the Tasman Lake - to see the Tasman glacier (New Zealand’s largest). We first walked to the lake to see the icebergs - which were quite a size, and then we climbed a steep hill to see the glacier. It was an impressive sight with the mountains all around us, we were lucky enough to see the other side of Mount Cook (that was not covered in cloud) and the sun was shining on this side of the mountain.
We were quite exhausted by this stage but also quite pleased with ourselves with all that we had seen and done, and that the sun had shone for most of the day. We made our way back to our tent, in time to have dinner and then collapse into our sleeping bags.
I have heard that New Zealand
is meant to be a lot like Scotland, and I have to agree. However, (please block your ears all our Scottish friends - I am sorry) I think it may be a bit more beautiful (if that is possible). I think this is because of the constant backdrop of the mountains along with the turquoise blue lakes. The days feel a bit warmer, but the atmosphere is not the same as the Scottish hospitality. We make our way to Dunedin next which, I am told, is meant to be the Scottish side of New Zealand - we will see.
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Hayley Bruton
non-member comment
Sherbet! How stunning! All I can say!!