This shows our route from Christchurch on the right to the blue blob on the left on the lake.
Around lunchtime, we started to look for somewhere to stop. It took a while, there is hardly a lot to choose from, but when we were getting near Fairlie, there was a cafe with food and only a couple of other people. There must have been a group of cars behind us, because shortly, several other cars arrived. We all did the same thing: go to the obvious door, try to open it, read the words saying go the the side door, because of the gale blowing, and then enter. The most notable scenery on the drive was this tree at the restaurant.
We had lunch and a pause before proceeding to our destination, Lake Tekapo. We were immediately struck by the colour of the lake. One day, 2015 perhaps, there will be a foot bridge here across the columns, you can make a donation.
Tekapo was not quite as we had expected. It is reminiscent of a ski resort. There is not so much a centre as a line of shops along the main road. It does have a star attraction - the smallest church possible with the most incredible view and photography is forbidden. The other interesting feature is the Mount John observatory , which is a 'dark skies' site and offers night tours.
Our first stop was the church of the Good Shephard on the banks of Lake Tekapo. The church was closed at this time, but there were still plenty of people around taking photos of the view, day and night.
We walked the short distance to the town to check in for our trip up Mount John to the observatory that night, and the found dinner. The restaurant had a picture window over the mountains with constantly changing colours.
After dinner, we got ready for the trip up Mount John. There were clouds and it seemed unclear whether we would have good viewing. We had dressed for the cold, four layers, but accepted the offer of additional, mountain strength anoraks. It was just as well we started with a tour of the skies and were able to get good views of the moon and Jupiter through the telescopes, but cloud intervened after a short time.
This was taken for us using John's camera and is a moonlit view of Lake Alexandrina. It was only a 6 second exposure but you can still see stars clearly, the biggest is Jupiter. At 26 seconds exposure the photo was like daylight with colour and more prominent stars.
The weather suddenly changed to a gale with driving snow (it's summer here!), we then retreated inside the domes to see the telescopes, so not the best night to visit the mountain. The main Moa telescope is used to detect planets using the gravitational lens of an eclipsing star. It's driven from Boston!
The next morning, we went for a walk around Lake Tekapo, naturally joining all the rest of the tourists at the church. This shows the window which frames the magnificent view of the lake that can be seen inside (but no photos allowed).
After the snow of the night before, the mountains were particularly pretty and our camera memory cards are filling up fast! It is surprising how many people wear red anoraks which stand out on photos. Pat managed to avoid any in this photo of John on the shore.
We walked quite a way around the lake taking photos of the snow covered peaks that would appear and disappear as we walked.
In the evening, we returned to the restaurant of the previous day where we had more magnificent sunset views.
After dark, John went out to see what he could do with a clearer night for seeing stars. This is the church with the southern cross, to which New Zealanders are very attached, above it with the Milky Way. To the left the moon was rising so a good photo of the Milky Way was not possible. The church is lit up by John running round it with a torch!
The stars and Milky Way, taken in the opposite direction. You can just see Orion's Belt in the centre.
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