Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo

Driving to Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo in one day was an insane decision. It was about 6 and a half hours of driving altogether, thank god Tom became obsessed with driving that week. 

It was about 210km from Oamaru to Mount Cook village so we set off nice and early from our hostel in Oamaru. We had a couple of stops along the way, to have a break from driving and because the views were just too good to drive past.

We stopped briefly in Twizel, a New Zealand "Must See" apparently. If I'm being completely honest I'm not sure I would have put it on there. You couldn't see the mountains until you leave the village and I'm not sure that's enough to make the village itself great. 

We had lunch in Mount Cook village, visited the glacier, and headed back on the road to Lake Tekapo. I had been so excited to visit Tekapo but I think visiting it second was a mistake. We had been so blown away by Lake Pukaki that we were almost underwhelmed. Almost but not quite of course, Lake Tekapo was still spectacular. I just wish we had seen it on it's own day! 

We were already 330km into our journey, but we still had 190km to go. Driving from Lake Tekapo back to Oamaru was looooong. We were both starving as well and no matter how much we wanted to see the big yellow M appearing around the corner, it felt like hours had passed before we were finally sat with some food (after a day of sightseeing you're allowed to eat food that's the same world wide). 

This was such an insanely long day. We were exhausted and it was only when weeks had passed before we could actually appreciate what we had seen. It still feels too good to be real. 

*

There are a lot of "scenic spot" signs along the main roads in New Zealand. It feels like there's a little side road with a sign for waterfalls or lighthouses or mountains every few feet. 

When we turned off onto the road that led us here, we thought we would be driving for a minute or so at the most. Twenty minutes later, we reached a huge dam/water works. When I took this photo, I was stood in front of the car moments after we had parked it. 

We pulled up and gasped. I have no idea what the name of this place is but I mean, look at it. There were people fishing off the dam edge to my right and you can see in the photo the boat that was whizzing around on the lake. A completely surprising little spot.

It may have been the first time he had driven a car in 4 years but you wouldn't have been able to tell. It was so fun having our own car! I think this was the first time we've been on a road trip anywhere together, not counting driving to and from races or his house in the summer. We had so much fun driving around together! Definitely something we should do again. 

Lake Pukaki with Mount Cook in the distance. 

This was by far the best thing I saw over the six months away. The water was this incredible blue colour and it stretched out in both directions for what seemed like forever. Tom and I couldn't believe our eyes as we drove on that road alongside it. 

I saw this and understood what everyone meant when they called something "breathtaking" because wow. Just wow. 

What you can't see in this photo is the bus load of tourists taking selfie stick photos* and the old people trying to figure out their cameras just behind us. We pulled into the viewpoint car park on a whim and apparently so did half of the tourists on the South Island. 

(p.s. we both could have stayed and looked out at this view all day.)

*I will forever kick myself for not packing my damn selfie stick in my rucksack. I carried around boot cleaner for 6 months and forgot that. 

Mount Cook is the tallest peak on the right of the photo. We weren't actually sure which peak was the actual mountain, and we did try to subtly ask at the information desk but I don't think she thought we were that stupid and didn't answer us properly. In the end we just decided to hedge our bets and guess (I have since googled to double check - we were right). 

There was a walk we could have done that would have taken us to a stream or lake or something at the summit of the mountain. I think it went through that yelllowy green grass in the middle of the photo. As cool as that would have been, it was a three hour round trip and it was so warm that day, the woman we spoke to told us that unless we were prepared we should probably avoid it (we were most definitely not prepared). 

So instead of three hours walking and the horror of heat stroke, we found ourselves some rocks along the road to sit on. We had made ourselves a packed lunch and settled in to eat it. Eating tuna sandwiches while looking out on this was a bizarre feeling. We kept asking ourselves if what we were looking at was actually real! 

Oh god this was such a phenomenal day. 

Tasman Glacier was only a short drive from Mount Cook village, plus a 20 minute walk uphill into what felt like a tornado it was so windy. I don't know what else to say except my eyes were on stalks and I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. I still can't believe it. 

The view of Lake Pukaki and Mount Cook from a car park on the way to Lake Tekapo, and those are the only words I have because this still leaves me speechless. 

Lake Tekapo was beautiful. The lake was surrounded by a ring of mountains, and there was a tiny little church sat just behind this photo with a window looking out on this view. I remember standing in the church and thinking yeah, it wouldn't be hard to believe in an all-powerful being in a place of worship like that. 

It was just a shame that Tekapo happened to be one of the busiest tourist spots we visited in the country. Two buses packed to the brim arrived as we were walking back to our car, adding to the crowd of people already milling around.

We didn't end up with the best impression of Tekapo, the awesome view aside. It was just busy and crammed and didn't feel as personal as visiting Mount Cook did. 

It was a shame but even so, it was still an absolutely fantastic day. Long but incredible, and one we're' never going to forget.