Caught glimpses of Southern Alps through cloud cover during the drive to Lake Tekapo on Highway 79. A few minutes before reaching there was a clear panoramic view of the Southern Alps with hundreds of Lupin wildflowers scattered along the roadside adding colour to the landscape.
A small quiet town of population 300, the township of Lake Tekapo and the Chalet Boutique motel where I stayed were far better than my expectations, and definitely worth staying more than the 1/2 hour that passing tour buses did. Therefore I cancelled the booking in Dunedin tomorrow so I could stay a full day here.
Lake Tekapo is largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north-south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand (the others are Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau). It covers an area of 83 km², and is at an altitude of 700 metres above sea level.
Day 2
From: Lake Tekapo
To: surrounding countryside
Between rain periods the weather was fine (if a bit grey) and the rapidly changing light conditions provided a variety of views of the surrounding mountains and the lake
The only place with internet access & computers to download photos from my digital camera was Tekapo Helicopters ($10 for photos to your own cd, $6 per hour for internet access).
View some of the photos I took of Lake Tekapo, lupin wildflowers and the rest of South Island
