Snow Topped Mountains

Friday – June 14 –

We left Omaru and headed West into mountain country! We drove through Omarama (Jeff’s favorite name for a city) and Twizel, we stopped twice for chocolate and snacks (Jeff’s fault he was hungry). Then finally got to see the purpose for our tirp. We stopped along the road to see the Mount  Cook rising out of the lake that was fed by the glaciers. The really cool thing about the lake is that the water is baby blue, because the ice-melt from the glacier holds all of the sediment from the rock in the mountain that it carved away. It is a pretty incredible sight to behold, and really hard to explain, so check out the pics!

After stopping a few times for pictures along the way to the village at the base of the mountain, we finally got there around 2:30, which doesn’t sound too late, but considering the fact that it gets dark around 5:15, and the hike up the Hooker Valley takes two hours, we were in a hurry to get on the trail. (Jeff was freaking out being the responsible Boy Scout that he is.) After getting into the village, we got to the trailhead around 3:00pm, and bundled up because it was cold, and started walking. The hike up to the Hooker Glacier is relatively flat which is nice, and the payoff at the end is incredible. There are a bunch of bridges along the trail that are really pretty with the mountains in the back, and Jeff and I got to talk as we hiked. After about an hour and a half of climbing, we got to the glacier and the lake and it was gorgeous. I’ve been here before with Brittany and Jordan (check it out here), but it was nice to go up to the glacier with Jeff, because I knew he would love the hike.

me being silly with the glacier & icebergs

Jeff with some ice! Hooker glacier/Mt. Cook/icebergs behind him

After taking some pictures, we started back down the valley as the sun was slipping behind the mountains and got to the camper right before the sun completely disappeared.

Spent the night looking at this! Saw the Milky Way!!

As any good trampers (hikers in Kiwi) do, we went to the Chamois Bar and Grill, the only bar in the whole village, and had a few pitchers of Tui beer while playing pool. It was a great way to spend the evening after a long day of travelling. We left the bar and set up our camper at the base of the mountain, without electricity or heat mind you, and bundled up for the cold night ahead. The benefit of toughing out the ocld at the base of the mountain was the fact that there is no source of light where we were camping, so we got out of the car and looked up. The number of stars was unlike anything I have ever seen, it was so clear and pure that we could see the formation of the Milky Way along with the billions of the stars in the sky. The view was breathtaking, and a perfect way to end our day before we cozied up in the campervan for the night.

Saturday - June 15 – Tekapo

We woke up in Mount Cook to a rainy morning and all of the mountains around us here covered in heaps of snow. I’m glad we did our hike the day before, because if we had waited, we would have not been able to see the mountains around the trail due to cloud cover. We left the mountain past the really blue lakes to Lake Tekapo, which is also a glacier fed lake. The two areas we have been in are night sky reserve, which are a few places in the world where there is no light pollution and the stars are extremely bright. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see any of it because it was cloudy and rainy the whole time we were there. We got to Tekapo around midday and went to the Church of the Good Shepherd, arguably the most famous church in New Zealand. It is a very small church that only has a few rows of pews, but the backdrop is the blue lake and the mountains that surround it.

When we left the church, we walked around the town center, which is essentially a strip mall. Jeff went into the Lake Tekapo Tavern and made sure they were going to have the All Blacks match on the tv that night. When he asked the bartender, she sarcastically replied, “I don’t know, we might have table tennis between Ethiopia and Western Russia.” Everyone watches the All Blacks, but we’ll get to that in a little bit.

When we were done walking around the town, we headed to our campsite with the best possible view we could have asked for of the lake, and plugged in for power, heat, and internet. We hung out during the afternoon, which was much needed after so many days of running around. We had a really funny Skype conversation with Kristin and my dad, and finally did our laundry for the first time on the trip. I’m so glad we smell good now. When all that was over it was time for the rugby match.

We got the Lake Tekapo Tavern early around 6:30pm, as we were instructed by our bartender friend, and ordered our dinner along with a pitcher of Speight’s Gold Medal Ale, and settled in to watch the match. (Don’t worry, there was no table tennis to be found within 10 km of that bar.) Throughout our meal, slowly, the tavern began to fill up and become a little bit more raucous, until it came to a boil around 7:25, 5 minutes before the match was scheduled to start. It was awesome to be in a place that was filled with fanatic kiwis and cheer alongside them all. We had a prime spot in front of the screen because we got there early and we were just as loud as the locals. In the process of our cheering, we managed to put down another 3-4 jugs (pitchers) of Speight’s, we kinda lost count, and in the end the All Blacks were victorious with a 30-0 drubbing of the French. After the match, we went to bed and enjoyed the heat from our plugged in camper.

June - 16  -

We woke up to snow!!! We were parked in a holiday park with a great view of the lake, and when we woke up it was like a winter wonderland. I was wondering when Jeff would give me my Christmas present because it felt like Christmas time.

Where we slept and woke up to snow!!! 

view from our campervan window

We left Lake Tekapo and headed east towards the ocean again. Driving through the snow with Britzy was difficult but it eventually turned into rain which was nice. We got into Christchurch and walked around an area that is trying to rebuild from the earthquake.

 I wont write much about it because I was there about a month ago (read about it here) but Christchurch is sad and it is sad to see the destruction but there is hope, hope for a new a better city to come. Jeff and I walked around in the rain and finally went to dinner at my favorite Greek restaurant ever J. I think it is the only good thing in Christchurch at the moment! We then headed north along the coast to find a place to pull over and spend the night! Off to Kaikoura!