Day 25 - Lake Tekapo: My dream destination

08/01/2015

Now I've been traveling in New Zealand for 3 weeks. It feels like even longer and I'm glad I keep a diary because I'm starting to confuse my experiences when I try to remember them.

I'm having breakfast in my motel with my amazing poppy baguette, with blue cheese and tomatoes - a feast. At 9:30 am, I'm in the car feeling cold. 12 degrees! My drive takes me on Highway 72, which is a scenic highway, and that's why I went back to Rangiora, to do the complete scenic highway. But because you can never rely on the weather forecast in New Zealand, it's completely cloudy and it starts to drizzle. The wide view of the snow-covered mountains that I had last year is completely hidden from me, and I'm happy if I can recognize the cattle or sheep in the fields next to me.

I cross the Waikapapa River with a crazy green color, even in the rain.

By now it's 10 degrees and I take a break at noon in Geraldine, also to put on my zip-off legs. The heater is running in the car and my bare feet in sandals are freezing.

Diana, who has been on the South Island with her husband and their 11-month-old son Luis since January 2nd, sends me a Whatsapp that the sun is shining in Tekapo. It's kind of crazy that we - former colleagues from Stuttgart - will meet today at a campsite on Lake Tekapo. I leave Geraldine around 1:30 pm and I still have to drive through two or three passes in constant lousy weather until the first blue patches become visible and then: Bam! The stunning panorama of the snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps, which you can see wonderfully in the distance from a plateau at 700 meters. All cars pull over to the left and everyone takes out their cameras.

I soon look forward to the curve that excited me so much a year ago, because behind it, the incredible blue of Lake Tekapo appears below, just like last year, under a sky that is clear and blue. I first go to the Chapel of the Good Shepard and this time I also go inside for 5 seconds, forbiddenly taking a photo from the window at the front before another wedding is announced.

The Chapel is so small that you could spend a maximum of 10 seconds for a complete visit. So almost done. I take some photos outside that I took a year ago, but these colors are so incredible that you simply have to capture them.

Diana is waiting for me at the campsite and we go to her camper. It's a long thing, but not overly spacious inside. We drive together to Mount John, above Lake Tekapo. The road there closes at 6:00 pm, and we're there shortly before 5:00 pm. Luis takes a nap in the camper while we enjoy the view of Lake Tekapo with its glacial green color and the adjacent Lake Alexandrina. Since it's cut off from glacier inflows, the color is not as bright turquoise.

Back at the campsite, we cook spaghetti, I entertain Luis a bit, and it's slowly getting chilly here too.

When the sun is setting, I leave. It's almost 9:30 pm. I drive past the chapel, take a few more photos in this amazing light, and then drive the 58 km to Twizel.

Since Tekapo was completely booked, I have to drive to the next town. The drive is incredible: Now that the sun is gone, the sky and the mountains glow in all shades of red.

I have to stop several times on the highway to take photos. There's hardly any traffic anyway. When I see Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook still visible in the distance after nearly 50 km, I regret not leaving half an hour earlier. There are absolutely no parking areas here and it's now dark. So no tripod and photography. I take a few handheld photos and continue driving. I reach my motel in Twizel at 10:15 pm. It's closed. But there's a phone hanging next to the reception entrance that connects to the manager. He has left my room key behind a flowerpot at my feet, and I drive in the dark behind the house, across the lawn, and find my room.

The mandatory program is downloading pictures and then deciding where to go tomorrow. On the one hand, I would love to spend another day here, but on the other hand, I still have a lot ahead of me. So I look at the tips from Diana's old host parents and decide to go to Oamaru on the Pacific coast tomorrow. There should be a nice old town there and above all, penguins! I find a reasonably priced motel near the city center on Booking.com just after midnight and book it. I'm in bed by 12:30 am.

Daily distance: 330 km