Tao 14: South Island 7 – Twizel / Christchurch

Twizel is the closest town to Mout Cook National Park.  When we got there, most of the stores were closed. Luckily the grocery store was still open.  We managed to cook up something tasty for dinner.

New Zealand yams

Cooked yams, they taste like yams we are familiar with, but not as sweet

We were still sore from 3 days of non-stop walking, so the next day consists of just a little walking, and a whole lot of sitting in the car. At over 3700m, Mount Cook is the highest peak in New Zealand.  The 56km drive from Twizel to Mount Cook NP was a feast for the eyes.

View from Peter's Lookout toward Mount Cook NP

Approaching Mt Cook NP

We are almost there, Mount Cook is still hidden from view

View from visitor information center. The cabin is a replica of a climber's mountain shelter

There's Mount Cook in the middle

The clouds looked like rays of light shinning on Mount Cook

More of the mountains

The summit of Mount Cook is completely covered by ice and snow.  Each year people try to climb it for the challenge.  In the visitor center there are several folders that record the names of those who lost their lives climbing the mountain.

Climbing something like this is way too extreme for us.  I like to stand on solid ground whenever I can.  Nothing made of water is stable enough for me.

A close up of Mount Cook

Mount Cook/Lake Tekapo region is known for its ultra clear night skies.  We had planned to stay the night at Lake Tekapo and join one of the stargazing tours at the neighboring Mount John Observatory.  But rain was on the forecast, so we opted for a day trip.  The view from the top was still well worth the drive up.  The lake is a curious turquois color.  This color cames from “rock flour” brought into the lake from mountain streams.  These tiny particles in the lake water reflect sun light and gave the lakes in this region their unique color.

Leaving Twizel for Lake Tekapo

In Lake Tekapo, a familiar sight - California Poppies

View of Lake Tekapo from Mount John Observatory

A couple of the telescope domes on Mt John

Views from Mt John on the opposite side of the lake

We got to Christchurch late in the afternoon.  We knew the city suffered two serious earthquakes in the past year or so, but we didn’t expect the effect of the quakes to last so long.  Much of the city center was still closed off, and everywhere we went the damages from the quakes were still clearly visible.  As such there was not much to see or do in town and it was rather depressing walking around some of these half closed off streets. Still, there’s evidence that people here are trying to get back on their feet.  The city had built a shopping mall out of shipping containers painted in bright colors, and we saw plenty of tourists walking around in there.  Given time, the city will recover, but apparently it’s not going to be a couple of months, or even half a year from now.

The morning before our flight to Melbourne, we visited Akaroa, a town outside Christchurch originally colonized by the French.  It’s a quint little town, and is quite nice.  We found little to do here though.  Compared to Queenstown and Wanaka, it lacks the raw natural beauty.  We are content for a short stroll in the streets before taking off to the airport.

Statue of an artist in Akaroa

A Silver Eye on a flower. It's after the honey.

A flower without the Silver Eye :)

A bright colored toy horse

Mailbox

Akaroa Harbor

We returned the blue Camry that’s been with us for 4 weeks.  We put close to 4500km on the car. It never had any real problems.  My only complaint was that it needed new windshield wipers. We spent a long night in the Christchurch airport, and took the 6:15AM flight to Melbourne.

Stan picked us up from the airport.  We brought him some Gordon’s Gin that he asked us to buy for him from the duty free shops.  He’s very happy and insisted that we do not pay for the ride.  Knowing the liquor price in Australia ($7-8 for a beer), I could understand why he wanted to go through the trouble. Stan was amicable as ever and the breakfast was delicious as ever.

We knew our way around Melbourne by now.  After searching a bit, We found a excellent Chinese restaurant names China Red. Tracy would have more details on the place. Lunch was really good, so we planned to come back for dinner.  However our fatigue got the best of us.  We retired to bed early and slept for a good 13 hours.  That’s got to be a record for me, but not even close for Tracy.

Then it’s the grueling 30 hours or so to get back home.  After all this time, I’m really looking forward to it.  Although we’ll only be home for one weekend, it’s a good chance to reset our clocks and get ready for the next leg of our journey.  Home awaits, stay tuned for more.