Lake Tekapo

When leaving Dunedin, we briefly stopped off to see the 'steepest street' in the world and had the opportunity to walk up it. As it was still only 8.30 in the morning and was raining, I was content to have a look, say 'that's nice' and return to the relative warmth of the bus. I'm beginning to give myself the impression of being a tad non-plussed at exciting sights and so should remedy this... It's not quite time for me to become a poe-faced misery.

We also got the chance to see some interesting rock formations on a beach and I was thouroughly more impressed with these, although I have forgotten the name of them - this is a problem that seems to plague me at present, but I put it down to so much happening all at once that details escape me... either that or I'm getting old.

The bus journeys are beginning to drag.... I like the fact that we stop off at places to see things we otherwise would miss, but the every now and then I'd like to just get somewhere. On this journey, our driver decided that we wouldn't stop at a cafe for lunch, but instead find somewhere nice to pull over and sit for a bit. I'm all for this if I actually have some lunch to eat -it was a little frustrating to sit, whilst my stomach churned with hunger, and watch others tucking into their various delights. A lesson learned on this one.

We arrived in Tekapo at about 3.30pm. The lake view from the hostel was stunning (must find some more adjectives really). I took a gentle (eh hem) walk up the Mt John to take in the views. Gentle walks in NZ terms generally mean they don't last long - this one, however, climed steeply up and I found myself sweating profusely within minutes. This was all made more painful by the fact that I walked up with a 20 year old Canadian girl who took it all very much in her stride.... How dare she. The view from the top was, well, stunning (again!).

Views of Lake Tekapo

After a night in a pretty crappy hostel and a brief pint in the local, it was off to Christchurch again on yet another bloody bus.... yawn.