Bit of a road trip day.
We left our overnight B&B in Timaru, which was excellent except for 'the woman' hovering about the entire time, and headed out over the Canterbury Plains to Aoraki (aka Mt Cook). This is a pleasant run, fast sweeping roads and much to my surprise, almost no climbing. The base of Aoraki is only 700m above sea level. the peak of Aoraki goes up another 3000m.
You are presented with stunning views the entire way.
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| Road from Pleasant Point to Lake Tekapo |
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| Lake Pukaki NZ |
On the way you come to Lake Tekapo, which is the most brilliant blue / green coloured crystal clear water. Judy was excited about going back to have another look at the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is right on the edge of the lake. Forty odd years ago she came here on a bus tour and the highlight was to view the lake from inside the church. the window behind the altar, instead of being the normal stained glass, is just clear glass.
Our first eyebrow raiser, apart from the lodges and houses everywhere and the huge carpark that you have to detour into, was the fact that the church-keeper shut and locked the door as we walked up the path. She proceeded to walk away muttering something about being back in 20 minutes or so. Now this place is busy, like a busload of tourists every five minutes pulling up, all wanting to gawp through the window.
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| Judy outside the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo, NZ |
Our second surprise was that they had stuck a 'No Camera' sign up, so the very reason you want to go inside was now negated. Just who do they think they are? If hordes of tourists taking photos inside the church is good enough for the Vatican and good enough for the York Minster and good enough for St Mark's in Venice, taking a few snaps should be good enough for the gentle folks of Lake Tekapo.
We wandered about and took a few snaps, including one of the reflection of the mountains in the famous window. Eventually our lady of the church keys returned and opened the door. I have to say it was so totally disappointing inside. Being only tiny, maybe 5m x 10m, the entire inside is swamped and dominated by this completely unchurch like window and the view it contains. We turned and walked straight out, as did everyone else. Honestly, they'd be better of just leaving it locked all the time, except for 4pm on a Sunday for worship by the faithful, availability of an appropriate Minister notwithstanding.
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| Mirror reverse of what you would see from inside the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tepako, NZ |
Being a bit narked by the whole thing, I grabbed a snap from outside the door, what a dag I am!
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| Inside the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tepako, NZ |
Enough already. On we went. from Lake Tekapo across to the end of Lake Pukaki and the 50km run up the lake to the base of Aoraki. At one stage we caught a glimpse of a very tall peak piercing the clouds.
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| Peak of Aoraki doing as its name suggests; piercing the clouds. |
Actually its just as well we snapped the protruding peak; by the time we reached the base the clouds had closed in and we could see almost nothing.
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| Aoraki / Mt Cook may or may not be behind the cloud... |
A second must visit for Judy was the Hermitage Hotel, which was once the only thing here, but which now is only part of a large complex of lodges and shops and things. We stopped for a coffee in the newest of the shops, the Old Mountaineers Cafe, opened by Sir Edmund Hillary in 2000 and something.
We wanted to recreate another 1970's picture, one of Judy sitting on the Heritage Hotel sign, Aoraki in the background. Unfortunately, they moved the sign at some stage and now its almost overgrown and certainly overshadowed by both the mountain and the hotel. The hotel is enormous compared to the one of 40 years ago. Actually, its the third iteration of a hotel on the site, floods and fire having claimed the first two.
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| Judy next to the Hermitage Hotel sign. Aaron NZ |
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| Latest iteration of Hermitage Hotel, Aoraki NZ |
Just as we were leaving the sun came out on one of the nearby peaks so we grabbed some consolation snaps which along with the stunning views of Lake Pukaki made for an entertaining drive back to Twizel.
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| Random peak, near Aoraki NZ |
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| Random peak, near Aoraki NZ |
From Twizel we headed back to the coast to Oamaru to complete our 420km journey. Oamaru is only about 80km from our starting point!
Good on us.
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