Today was one of those days where I had to put the miles in; my route was from Akaroa on a lug sticking out into the Pacific on the east coast to Mount Cook which is less than 40km from the west coast as the crow flies.
Away after a chat with Mum, and onto the winding roads to climb me up and over the walls of the caldera to the extinct volcano that Akaroa occupies. Then Google Maps took me on a series of straight unnumbered roads until I joined State Highway 1. I then retraced my steps from three days ago when I visited Mount Sunday, so I had a coffee stop after a couple of hours at the same spot I'd had coffee on the way back from Mount Sunday.
As I continued south along SH1, I could see the mountains in the distance to my right, and they and I were definitely getting closer.
Onwards onto new ground for me, and I left SH1 to join SH79 which took me to Fairlie, and then SH8 bought me to Lake Tekapo at 11.30. Lake Tekapo has definitely been on my list of places to visit, and it didn't disappoint. I stopped at a scenic point, and then followed a sign to the famous Church of the Good Shepherd that is much photographed. There was a wedding there today, so I didn't capture any photos of that, but the lake was gorgeous.
The other thing Lake Tekapo is famous for is the lupins that form the foreground of so many photos of the lake. There were a few in bloom as we enter Autumn down here, so I felt that I had to capture that.
On the foreshore people have balanced rocks on top of each other, and they were all over the place. I found the tallest, which was taller than me, to get some photos:-
Then into town to do a bit of grocery shopping as I've been told that there isn't anything at Mount Cook where I'm staying. Then onto Twizel as I needed fuel, and I wasn't about to pay the prices being asked in Lake Tekapo! Twizel was about 45km further on, so after a couple of stops at scenic viewpoints of Lake Pukaki and the mountains beyond, I refuelled at the cheapest price that I've found so far.
A backtrack from Twizel of 10km, and I turned off onto the road to Mount Cook. As I drove the 40km, it was noticeable that I had very different views in front of me to behind me. Behind the hills were bathed in sunshine, but in front of me the Southern Alps were visible one minute, and the next hidden by rain. About 10km before arriving in Mount Cook village I caught up with the rain, and it chucked it down.
I was all checked in at 15:30 as the rain fell, so a cup of tea was in order after emptying the car during a brief break in the rain. There are a couple of restaurants here after all, so I didn't need to cater for myself, but that will make a nice change to eating out.
This place is stunning when the rain isn't falling, and I'm looking forward to exploring it tomorrow when I have a hike or two planned. I have my waterproof coat, and a backpack with a waterproof cover so rain isn't going to stop me! It reminds me again of our family holidays when we used to go out in all of our rain gear, and the other hotel guests were surprised that Mum and Dad were 'taking those poor boys out in this weather'.
I had planned to try some astro photography while I'm here in a light free environment, but it looks like the clouds have other ideas. I'll have a look a bit later to see if it's worth having a try.
The forecast for tomorrow is for wind, but no rain until the evening so if that turns out to be correct then my timing will continue to be good!
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