Tag Archives: New Zealand

Still in Lake Tekapo area.

Posted on by

Wednesday 8th August.

6.50 am still black outside, sunrises about 7.45 am at the moment. Rained most of the night that I could hear and very cold. Well wasnt long and then I realised that snow was falling onto the windows of the camper, so we went out and it was very steady fall, we could see thru the fog that Mt John had a fair bit of snow  laying on the ground from last night. So we got packed up and went down to the Good Shepherd Church and got heaps of shots, was so awesome. We fuelled up and started heading up to Mt Cook, there was snow everywhere. Got to Mt Cook where the turn off is to go to Tasman Glacier, low cloud and white with snow beautiful sight. It is 2.45 pm by now.The cloud covered Mt Cook but we did the walk up to Tasman Glacier, not a good view due to cloud but did see the icebergs floating in the Tasman lake. We have run into a couple from Tekapo when staying there so was nice to catch up with them. It started to snow heavy while we were up the tops so made a start to get back down to the car park. We then headed to Twizel, had a quick look around and carried onto Lake Ohau. We stayed at the Round Hut Bush Camp, freedom camping. Going to be very cold tonight so we tucked the camper van up under the trees, we are also under a mountain range.

Lake Ohau

Lake Ohau, very cold night but look what we woke up to, magic, and it’s free camping 🙂

Advertisement

Lake Tekapo.

Posted on by

Monday 6th August.

We had a fair bit to do and got away at lunch time. We headed down the coast road towards Temuka and turned onto Highway 8 for Tekapo. The weather is not great at the moment, cold, cloudy but meant to clear. Got some reasonable shots as we arrived into Tekapo of the Good Shepherd Church, then headed to book into the van park there, their prices have gone up, bit exe now at $40 plus $2 showers, bit steep really, but the park is nice, they have thermal hot pools at the end of the park in a new complex, hence the price increase I reckon. Well we got settled into the park, got some tea organised and the weather did start to clear. After tea we went out and checked the sky, ha-ha perfect for star trails, by this time it was 10.30 pm really cold, but had fun.

Got up at 6 am to see if a sunrise was possible and didn’t know what to expect, so we went out to Lillybank heading towards the ski fields and the moon was still in the sky as the twilight was in opposite direction, really beautiful. The sunrise was not fantastic but the prior was. Got back to van park about 10.30 am, had a feed then went out to Lake Alexandrina and Gregory. Got some shots out there, cloud starting to roll in and the rest of the day was foggy.

Snowing at Tekapo

Could not believe how beautiful cold could be, this is taken at the new look out at Tekapo on the main road.

Early Morning Tekapo

Went out to Lillybank road on the way to ski fields and it was pre dawn, time was about 5.45 am, as the sun does not rise until 7.45 am and it had to come up over the mountains to where we were.  Frost on the ground and very cold but no wind as yet.

Lake Tekapo from Lillybank Road

Good Shepherd Church in snow, Tekapo

Good shepherd Church in snow, always wanted to get a photo of this in snow. Magic, while it’s snowing didn’t feel that cold until we got a bit wet.

Christchurch, The beginning of our trip.

Posted on by

Sunday 5th August.

We arrived into Christchurch airport at 11.30 pm, got thru customs etc and was heading out to catch the hotel shuttle and my cousins were there, crazy people, but they came over to hotel and we all had a cuppa and chattered until about 1 am, they left and we got to bed as it was an early start in the morning. Up and off to pick up the camper van that was going to be home for the next 27 days. Once that was all sorted we headed to my cousins and spent two nights with family, setting the camper van up and getting the groceries, a phone, buy some Internet etc. Had a look around at the devastation of the suburbs, really sad to see, just like a war zone, roads are hard to navigate as some are still under repair; some are only one way and single lane and full of big holes.

Time of the earthquake, Chchc

This is just one of the buildings that we saw on our look around Christchurch, it even has the time of the earthquake like it’s frozen in time. The cracks and the gaps in the walls are real bad, so much scaffolding around the city and suburbs for peoples safety.

This is just one of the buildings that we saw on our look around Christchurch, it even has the time of the earthquake like it’s frozen in time. The cracks and the gaps in the walls are real bad, so much scaffolding around the city and suburbs for peoples safety.

Earth Quake Damage