Mount Cook and Timaru

After spending the night at Lake Tekapo we awoke to a BEAUTIFUL day! Finally with things appearing to go our way we didn't hesitate and almost managed to leave without eating breakfast. Acting much like the tourists we are we visited The Church of the Good Shepherd (famous location) down by the lake then drove up Mount John to the observatory with incredible panoramic 360 degree views... if it weren't for the bloody cafe perched perfectly on top -_-

Lake Tekapo

The Lads at Lake Tekapo

Given the perfect conditions we made a bee line for Mount Cook (Aoraki), the highest mountain in New Zealand in the hope of seeing it free of cloud... WHICH WE DID! The drive there was spectacular and more and more photo opportunities were used as we came ever closer. Upon arrival we did the hike down Hooker Valley (yes HOOKER valley, don't ask me why) and had such a nice walk. It feels very touristy on the path so we soon put an end to that by scrambling round the edge of the lake and climbing onto the glacier at the foot of Mount Cook. Good stuff! It was a warm night so we decided to camp there and thanks to the sheer lack of civilisation the stars are quite a sight!

Mount Cook

Next morning however we awoke to LOTS of rain. And Benjamin found that his tent positioning couldn't really have been worse as he awoke in the largest puddle in the surrounding area. Impressively bad call. So after some.. interesting porridge, and feeling very wet we drove to the east coast of New Zealand to Timaru! Really appalling weather all the way but we stayed in a nice hostel that night (Wanderers Hostel) and watched a French film called EXILS with some other travellers on their way to 'J Day' in Christchurch... J Day being an unofficial pot smoking festival. Nice. Was very impressed with Timaru actually, fantastic park to rival most you'd find in London! Lovely for a late night walk.

Mount Cook