Lake Tekapo

What an amazing spot to spend Christmas if you can't be at home!

Lake Tekapo thro' lupins & Welsh poppies

Lake Tekapo has been very kind to us with hot sunny weather and beautiful scenery - turquoise lake, snow-capped mountains and a nice little view fom our deckchairs. One of our highlights was parking at the little fisherman camp/bach site at the southern end ot Lake Alexandrina which is a smaller lake alongside Lake Tekapo, chatting with a local and walking halfway up the side of the lake and back - so peaceful with not a sound apart from the birds and the occasional splashing of the ducks and uncommon southern crested grebes. I keep forgetting to say in my other blogs how amazing and plentiful the birdlife has been on our walks in the bush down here - a true orchestral symphony of sounds - oh to be able to identify more than the tui and blackbird chatter!

Trish the fish!

After the walk we drove midway up the lake where a little river connects it with an even smaller Lake McGregor - a few more houses/ baches and a nice little picnic area where we enjoyed lazing in the sun and having a couple of swims - once you got in it was really nice, MUCH warmer than the swim we had at Lake Camp and I suspect, because it is shallower, much warmer than Tekapo which the brochure says sits around 8-10°!

......and Len the water hen!

We drove up to Mt John Observatory and admired the view yet again but didn't do the night time astronomy viewing which would probably be very interesting with the skies here being one of the best places in the world for seeing the stars.