23.01.2017 Monday, Geraldine, Lake Tekapo, Lake McGregor, sunny, 20 degrees, 55km

In the morning in Geraldine, at Cafe Verde. Beautiful garden. Sitting in the pergola and enjoying (Malte playing in the garden). Drive from Geraldine to Lake Tekapo with a stop in Fairline where we have lunch. Arriving at Lake Tekapo offers a magnificent panorama: the turquoise lake and the snow-covered mountains in the background. Best sunny weather. No wind! Visit the small church by the lake (without an altar, overlooking the lake, candles, music) and then we drive to the starting point of our hike. It goes uphill (300 meters in altitude) to the observatory on Mt. John (1043m). The path mainly goes through the forest, Malte is doing well. Arriving at the top offers an impressive view of the lake with its turquoise water and the surrounding mountains with their peaks. The mountain slopes are only covered with dry grass, no trees. The surroundings of the lake are also a steppe. About 380 people live in the village itself. The observatory is one of the few in the world that has such ideal conditions: no light from the surrounding cities disturbs the view of the stars at night. Since the sky was cloudless today, we hope for a good view of the Milky Way, starting from darkness. Around 6:00 pm, we head to the DOC campground at McGregor Lake ($10/night). Great view from here of the snow-covered mountains as well. For dinner, we have stuffed pita pockets. A seagull steals the last small piece of pita, which leads to tears from Malte. Around 11:00 pm, the constellation in the sky is gigantic. The Milky Way is visible. And some shooting stars. We enjoy this view until around 1:00 am.