New Zealand Part 4: Hooker Valley and Lake Tekapo

 The next day we didn't have much to do other than drive, so we went for a quick visit back to the bird sanctuary to see them in the sun, and then got some lunch. On the way to our next destination, we entered the high country and there were yellow fields and hills as far as you could see, often filled with black cows. 

Our next hostel was a quirky one. A guy had decided to turn his extra land on a sheep station into a hostel, so there were a few huts at the edge of one of these fields, with the kitchen and bathrooms each in their own. There were only four or five rooms, and it was very basic, but cosy enough. 

The reason for staying out in the middle of nowhere that night was that in the morning we could start out early to get to a very popular hiking trail. I'd heard parking could be rough as there are so many people who come to visit, so we set out before the sun rose once again and watched it come up spectacularly as we drove towards the mountains. 

We parked up and set off on the nearly empty Hooker Valley trail. It was an easy path, but the scenery was rugged and crossed over some rivers with more swing bridges. After a while, we reached the end of the trail where we had views of Mt Cook, or Aoraki, still covered in snow, even though it was the end of summer. 

Even though it was cloudy again, the glacier water meant the lakes and rivers were still blue. But the clouds weren't too bad this time, and we could see the tops of the mountain. We did another trail to a different viewpoint, and this was good too. 

 

I was feeling pretty cold this day, so after we got to our new accommodation at Lake Tekapo, we went to the hot pools which overlook the lake. It was the perfect day to sit in a hot swimming pool for a couple of hours and we warmed up nicely. 

For dinner we found some food trucks by the lake's edge and watched another sunset over the water while we fended off duck attacks on our food.

In the morning we went for a little walk around the lake, but it was still cloudy so we didn't get the bright turquoise waters I was hoping for, but it was very autumnal and pretty in a different way. We checked out the little church and they have a collie dog statue here honouring all collies for their work with the many sheep in this land. 

 

Then it was back to Christchurch to get to the airport for the next stage of our big adventure!

 

We got pods for the night!

We really liked New Zealand, but it really does depend on the weather. We were pretty lucky overall, but you never know. We just visited the South Island, and it took nearly three hectic weeks, but maybe one day we'll be back for the North one as well. 

Hope to see you for the next adventure!

Lots of love,

Emily and Mitchell

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