Lake Tekapo

After being stuck in Geraldine for a week, Monday was the day I could finally move on, next stop Lake Tekapo for 3 nights. I had to book my accomodation here a couple weeks in advance as a combination of the snow and the fact it's ski season makes it a very sought after destination this time of year. En route to Lake Tekapo however I stopped in the small town of Fairlie to visit the famous Fairlie Bakehouse to try one of their pies. I got the pork and apple one and it was as good as people have made out to me, absolutely rammed full of pork and even a piece of crackling on top! Whilst in Fairlie the weather turned however which meant I stayed longer than intended but it was a nice little place.

After the rain somewhat cleared I got a ride to Tekapo and what was rain in Fairlie was snow in Tekapo, and quite a lot of it. Lake Tekapo is a glacial lake lieing in the Mackenzie Basin. At over 700m above sea level, the area is prone to snow, but it also makes a great place to go stargazing, and if your extra lucky you can see the southern lights, the area classified as a dark sky reserve. After checking into my hostel I just popped down to the famous Church of the Good Shepherd before it got dark, although you couldn't see much in terms of scenery with it very cloudy and cold. The streets were also very snowy and icy making them incredibly slippery!

On Tuesday the forecast was better although when waking up visibility wasn't great. I wanted to go out for a walk along the lakeshore to this island, and thought despite the poor visibility I would go anyway. Luckily my gamble paid off and it wasn't long until the sun came out and the views were great of the lake with snowcapped mountains as the backdrop. It was fascinating as the township behind remained in cloud but as I followed the lakeshore it got clearer. Before long however following the lake got challenging and after climbing up these rocks I had no choice but to do an improvised abseil down this cliff face with some old wire I found to get to the other side.

A bit further along the lakeshore this rock face made further progress impossible without swimming round, so I instead headed inland, attempting a scramble up where a recent landslide had occurred. The sediment was very loose but by using roots and trees to support my weight I made it up the cliff. From here there was lots of snow which slowed my progress but I eventually made it to the peninsula where I got great views of the northern parts of the lake, as well as the island in the lake. From here I headed to the road. I decided to take a short cut to the road across a frozen wetland which luckily took my weight although it was very slippery!

When reaching the road I followed it to Lake McGregor and then round to Lake Alexandrina where I followed a path along the lakes edge to the other end. There was a lot of snow along this path. I then reached another road which I intended to follow up to the summit of Mount John to get back to Tekapo. This road was however private and the security guard refused me entry and told me to walk the long way round (which would have got me back to Tekapo in darkness). I was having none of this and instead walked up to the summit cross country and because the security guard was so fat he couldn't catch up with me to stop me. It was actually a more direct route to the summit. When reaching the summit the views were great with all the cloud cleared. I then headed down the other side, although the path was an absolute ice rink which meant I just walked straight down the mountain through the snow for more grip instead of using the zigzag path. I made it back to Tekapo at sunset so it was a pretty full on walk!

On Wednesday I had more of a lie in, before heading out to the nearby forest via the Church of the Good Shepherd and dog statue as it was a nice day. When reaching the forest I headed to Pines Beach where I got some great lake views as well as seeing a fair amount of bird life. I then did a loop walk round the forest although there was a lot of snow. When exiting I headed up Cowans Hill before heading back into Tekapo. It was a far more chilled out day to the one previous. Come evening there was also a great sunset although I wasn't luckily enough to see the southern lights during my time here. There was only a kp rating of 3 at best and you need at least 5 to create a geomagnetic storm. There was great stargazing opportunities though, with very few clouds in the sky so at least I saw the stars.