Lake Pukaki and Tekapo

Tuesday the 7th til Wednesday the 8th of January: The drive from Wanaka to Lake Tekapo was wonderful, through green hills with lupins growing everywhere, passing rough mountains and on to open plains. When we arrived at Tekapo, we were a bit disappointed as the views weren't that spectacular (guess we are getting spoiled by now) and the little hike up Cowans Hill, that was meant to go for 1-2 hours, was a 15 minute stroll. The longer hike to see Mount Cook didn't seem worth it cause the mountain was veiled by clouds. So we drove back to Lake Pukaki and found a road on the eastern shore, that was quite remote. Stopping at a nice secluded place at the lake with no other people in sight, we enjoyed the silence, the view, a picnic and some skinny dipping 😁. The water was very cold, but it was just too nice not to get in. We spent the night in Twizel before driving to Queenstown the next morning. On our way, we checked out the Kawarau River, where some LOTR scenes were shot (pillars of the kings).