20/03/2018 - Late summer day at Lake Tekapo

On the day of departure, New Zealand's highest mountain was hidden in clouds. Therefore, we didn't hesitate and left the 'Mount Cook National Park' behind. Not much happened on the way. As a result, we arrived at our new accommodation, 'Lake Tekapo', by midday. We were amazed when we saw the color of the lake. 'Lake Pukaki' had already impressed us with its turquoise, but Lake Tekapo seemed to want to surpass it.
Our first stop in 'Tekapo' was an overcrowded church. 'Church of the Good Shepherd' is a cute stone building in a prime location. The view from the church is beautiful. Behind the altar is a large panoramic window, through which you can see the turquoise blue lake and the mountains behind it. Because of this, the church is (unfortunately) a classic tourist hotspot. On the day of the tour, we had to experience the struggle for the best pictures firsthand. It is strictly forbidden to take pictures inside the building. Therefore, some tourists almost stacked themselves in front of the church entrance to get the most beautiful and best picture. One of them did not hesitate to verbally shoot us away and push us aside. Unbelievable.
After the wild chaos, we checked in at the new campground and enjoyed the view of the lake from our bed.

The next day started with a queue in front of the showers and breakfast outside. The sun was shining brightly - it was the beginning of a wonderful late summer day.
In the 400-person village of Lake Tekapo, we planned a 'special' hike for today. There is a trail along the edge of the lake that leads to the top of 'Mount John'. We followed the route and after half an hour it started to go steep uphill. Fortunately, the pain in my toe slowly subsided. Nevertheless, we had to struggle hard because the sun was shining strongly on our heads.
After half of the way, we discovered the destination. There is an observatory on Mt John. The night sky in this region is one of the purest in all of New Zealand. No wonder - there are no major cities or other 'light polluters' nearby.
After about 90 minutes, we made it. We took a seat on one of the many benches on the summit and enjoyed the view. From up here, the lake was even more intense.
As a reward for climbing the mountain on foot, there was something very special. ;) Next to the observatory is a nice café with some treats. So we each treated ourselves to a piece of cake, which is not often available during our trip. We opted for a piece of carrot and cheesecake and also ordered a cool cranberry spritzer. Yummy! The cake was delicious and made us more than happy!
After the slightly different lunch snack, we descended. This did not along the lake, but through the nearby forest. The route was even steeper, so we were back at the lakeshore after 45 minutes. By now, some people had gathered here. A few were swimming in the water, others were lying on towels and sunbathing, and still others were sitting in their camping chairs on the beach enjoying the weather. We belonged to the latter group. :) After the hike, we packed up our camping chairs, Tobi put on his swimming trunks, and so we joined the others at the lake. Simply wonderful.
And what makes a relaxed (late) summer atmosphere perfect? Some guitar music. Another backpacker took out her guitar and started playing... Wow! Magnificent.
While I followed her music, Tobi went into the water. We enjoyed the wonderful, warm rays of the sun and relaxed for a while in our camping chairs.
Since the sky was largely cloudless, we decided to take star photos at night. We drove back to the chapel by the lakeshore around 10:00 p.m. and were amazed by the large crowd. About 30 star hunters had come and tried to showcase the church. This proved to be relatively difficult, as the car headlights of the newcomers kept destroying the pictures. In addition, a few inconsiderate people climbed over the fence and thus got in the way of those who followed the rules and stayed behind the restricted area. As beautiful as the starry sky was, we were quite annoyed by the whole situation and packed up afterwards.