Lake Tekapo to Christchurch - 12th Feb

Lake Tekapo (“take a poo” as we like to call it!) was the aim, and that is where we went! Took a little longer than we expected to get there, (Amanda slept most of it.....) but we were so glad we made the effort. The Lake is at the top of a mountain range and was formed by volcanic activity. Due to the minerals and rock-flour in the lake, it was the most brilliant blue colour we had ever seen, stretching for as far as the eye could see.

On arriving we decided to go to a tourist attraction called ‘Alpine Springs’ which was a set of 3 swimming pools heated natural from the hot springs in the area. Each pool is in the shape of one of the lakes in the area – complete with islands and bays. The first pool was 35 degrees and was lovely and warm – like a bath. The second was a little higher at 37 degrees. It was very relaxing in the areas of the pool that had shade from the sun. The last pool reached 40 degrees and was like a Jacuzzi bath – made your head light when you got in. The problem with going to the hotter pools was that you didn’t want to go to the cooler ones again...! 

We had not had the best of weather on the road to Tekapo but while we were in the pools, the sun shined the whole time, making the beautiful view over the lake even more inviting! It also unfortunately made Amanda’s face lobster red! Oops! (NO PICTURES ALLOWED) Alpine Springs is also used as an ice hockey and ski-resort in the winter. Hard to believe when it was so beautifully hot!

After enjoying an ice cream we jumped back in the van and drove all the way to Christchurch. We briefly stopped to layer up the after-sun and re-hydrate! We knew that our friend Julia was staying at a campsite near Christchurch but had no idea how to find it so thought that if we saw it we would stop there. As luck would have it, we decided to stop at the next site and it was the one she was at! After making tea (no masher = lumpy mash!) we parked up next to Julia and celebrated our last night with the van (and her last night with her car) with a beer and a glass of Martini (kindly donated by a Scouse lady who bought a bottle and couldn’t drink it - legend!) She had a Westie cross so we fussed her for a bit!