Tales of Tekapo

I’ve been meaning to write this for ages but knew it wouldn’t be a short post so needed the time to give it the proper attention. Come with me, if you will, as I take you back a couple of weeks now to when I went on my little jaunt down south.

  My journey began on the Sunday morning when I moved my stuff from Moa Point to my new house in Mt Cook. I spent a little time unpacking before Jen drove me into the city to get the airport bus. My flight was about 4pm and I was there in plenty of time. It was such a strange experience not to have to face all the security I’ve been used to in Europe. I checked my own bag in and not once did I have to go through a metal detector or have my hand luggage put through x ray. It was basically like getting a bus. You could take as many liquids as you wanted (even on the way back from Christchurch where they did have a detector and x ray the liquid wasn’t a problem). Being British I almost got stressed at the lack of security!

My flight was smooth and once in Christchurch I picked up my backpack and headed out to get the bus into town. I ended up getting a shuttle in the end as the bus was going to be a while and the shuttle driver offered me a special rate – it was raining so I wasn’t going to pass. This also meant that I was dropped off at the hostel door. I checked in and plonked my stuff in my room and headed down to make dinner. I’d brought all my food with me as I wasn’t sure about shops in Tekapo and didn’t want to be worrying about buying stuff at night in Christchurch. I met a couple of other hostellers whilst cooking (though I can’t remember the name of the girl and I never found out the guys name) and we ended up watching Red Dragon together later on. It was a new experience for me to feel a sort of bond and be relaxed with strangers in a strange place, and to top it off I actually slept well too – in a shared dorm!!

On the Monday morning I got myself up and dressed and went to get the Intercity coach from Worcester St. I nabbed myself the front seat (though I later realised on the wrong side – the mountains were on the opposite side on the long road south) and settled back for a gorgeous drive out of the grey cloudy Christchurch and into the sun of the Canterbury Plains and Mackenzie Country. The driver (as is customary with InterCity) regaled us with tales of NZ and the history of the towns we were driving through and I listened with one ear as I had my ipod in the other.

We stopped in Geraldine for a refreshment break (I can’t help thinking of Peter Kay every time I hear the name Geraldine) and I munched on one of my brunch bars in the sun looking forward to the next part of the drive as we’d just turned inland and were about to head into the foothills and then the mountains.

 The scenery was stunning and only got more so as we got closer to Tekapo. I hadn’t been sure what to expect weather wise up there – I knew there’d been heavy snow recently but didn’t know if it was still on the ground. In fact a lot of roads had been closed so I was lucky that they were all open for my visit. The snow started to appear by the road about half an hour from Tekapo and by the time we reached the town there was white everywhere.

 I don’t know why it amazes me that the roads were clear, perhaps it’s because they’re single lane roads and go through the middle of nowhere and I put them in the same category as country roads in Britain, plus who could possibly clear them? but they obviously have their stuff together (a lot more so than Edinburgh!) The pavements were cleared for walking and gritted and I was very relieved especially with my backpack.

When I alighted from the coach the first thing I did was take in the view. It was glorious. I wanted to be able to capture it there and then and wrap it up but I just took a couple of shots

 before heading up to the hostel.

 I dumped my stuff in my room and headed back out with camera in hand to walk round the lake. I went and picked up a map from the post office, popped into the office of the tour I was going on later to make sure I knew what time to be there and then headed off round the lake.

 I had intended to walk along the west side to see what could be seen but I made it as far as the hot pools and discovered it was pretty icy from there on in and so decided to turn round and head back, plus my camera battery had died so I needed to charge it up for the evening.
I headed back to the hostel and read for a bit which entailed me putting on a few more layers as it was freezing and the heater wasn’t up to much. I could have gone and sat by the fire in the lounge but I wanted my own space and it wasn’t that bad. A little later I heated some soup for tea and then headed back to the tour office to pick up the tour to the Mt John Observatory. I was really excited about this as we were going to be looking through telescopes at planets and stars. In the end I was felt a bit let down as the moon was really bright which meant you couldn’t see a lot with the naked eye and the telescope seemed blurry to me. The only thing I saw with clarity was Saturn and that looked almost unreal. I did learn how to navigate by the stars though (in case I should ever need it!) and the view from up there was amazing. There were snow covered mountains in every direction. Thankfully I would discover a similar view the next day and this meant I could take pictures!! It was extremely cold and so they kitted us out with these huge red arctic jackets which in itself was an enjoyable experience. Sadly there are no pictures of this. I got back to the hostel about 10pm and was straight to sleep.

On the Tuesday I had the luxury of a lie in and finished the book that I’d been reading (The Winter Rose – great read, but read The Tea Rose first). I then had made my mind up to go for a walk and see a part of Tekapo that I hadn’t seen before.

I didn’t know where I was going to go but I set out with my map and necessities and followed my feet. I’d thought about going up the hill behind the town but I wasn’t sure what the walking would be like so I was open to other options but my feet took me that way anyway and up I went. I tried to follow the path but lost it pretty quickly and decided just to go up the nearest incline to see if there was a view. It turned out there wasn’t so I wandered off and somehow came across the path a little further into the forest.

 I followed this away from town and after I’d been walking uphill for a while I turned round to see I’d come above the tree level in one directions and was looking over a plain backed by mountains. I hurried further up, glancing back every now and then to see if anything else came into view. I came to the top of the path and saw it didn’t go to the top of the hill (or so I thought) so I scarpered up onto a bit of rock to get a better a view and discovered that there was a 4x4 track going off at right angles to the path and leading further up and back in the direction of town. So I followed this and after a few minutes came to the trig point at the top of the hill. I can’t describe the view, and the photos in no way do it justice, but I remember laughing in my awe of it.

 

 

I’m used to having a view in one direction but this was 360 with something different at each turn. If you ever come to New Zealand you should stop in Tekapo for a night. Very few people do – they seem to see it as a good place to rest on the way to Mt Cook or Queenstown – and that makes it even better because you can go for a walk as I did and meet absolutely no one. The world is yours. But I digress.

Once I’d spent who knows how long taking photos and video and soaking it all up I decided to follow the track further and see what other views could be discovered. There wasn’t going to be a huge change in what I could see but I always have the urge to go round the next corner just in case the different perspective opens up a whole new scene (hopefully you understand what I mean). I ended up following the track as far as it could go and these are some of the views I saw.

I wandered back slowly trying to take everything in and eventually made it back to the path I’d left. I now saw this continued into a field and from the map it showed it joining up with the main highway and coming round back into town. I wasn’t sure how far it was to the road or how long the light would last but once again my feet just carried me away as did the prospect of a new horizon.

So I followed the path to the highway and then along the side of it, across it and down to the side of the lake (with a few detours as once again the path was not clearly marked).

By the time I reached the lake the sun was just above the mountains on its way out and mist had started to form on the water. The trees by the lake were very photogenic and I’d been trying to capture the russet colour throughout my wanders. I don’t think I ever managed it but this shot has to be one of my favourites.

 I spent a happy and peaceful half an hour strolling up and down the shore of the bay taking photos and listening to my favourite tunes on the old ipod (theme from Local Hero was in there obviously). When the sun finally disappeared I headed back towards town sticking to the lake shore when possible and took many more photos on the way.

To finish the day I treated myself to a burger and chips from the take away and snuggled down in my room with an episode of glee. I spoke to mum and dad briefly and then had an early night as I wanted to be up and about on the Wednesday to try and get a picture of the Church of The Good Shepherd without any campervans in it. This did not happen and I’ve come to the conclusion that this can’t ever be achieved as even the postcards have them on. So I spent my Wednesday morning wandering the lakeshore and the town once more.

I had a little adventure with a local dog called Sam, my first look inside the Church and an early lunch to set me up for the trip back to Christchurch. The coach back was at 12.40 and was another lovely journey. The colours on the landscapes were so rich – I particularly noticed the deep ‘forest green’ of the fir trees.

If I’d been driving myself it probably would have taken 3 times as long as I would have been stopping to take photos every 5 minutes. Anyhoo we made it back to Christchurch on time and I hopped on the airport bus, checked in my bags and was up in the air and back in Wellington by 7pm where it was cold, windy and raining. I didn’t mind too much though as I’d had 3 days of sunshine and happiness and that was good enough for me. The End.