Continued from Part 2 here
Read Part 1 here
Day 4 : Wellington - Christchurch - Lake Tekapo - Lake Pukaki - Twizel
After dropping off our rented Toyota Corolla at Wellington airport, we boarded a Jetstar flight to Christchurch at 8.20am. We booked a Jucy car online, but the pick up location is a few minutes away from the airport. We called Jucy to pick us up & take us to their office. This time we booked Hyundai I30, running on diesel. Diesel is cheaper in NZ & we were glad we picked this car since the fuel consumption is quite low.
From the airport, we decided to drive straight to Re:Start Container Mall to find lunch. As the name suggests, the "mall" are made up of shipping containers and there are boutiques, souvenir shops and a store selling All Blacks merchandise. Food are served from food trucks and you can find Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Lebanese and all kinds of food here. We had beef/chicken kebab for brunch since it was the only halal option we found. Christchurch is still rebuilding after the devastating 2011 earthquake. It was sad to hear that recently another earthquake happened near Christchurch.. There were construction sites everywhere we turned when we were there.
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| Re:START Container Mall |
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| Re:START Container Mall seating area |
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| Re:START Container Mall |
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| Stores in shipping containers |
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| Lebanese kebab for brunch |
On the way to Lake Tekapo & Lake Pukaki, we stopped by an alpaca farm & talked to the lady in the gift shop. Unfortunately the farm tour was fully booked, but she was nice enough to let us take photos of the alpacas & llamas on the farm. According to her, the animals love to stay in the shade & they would stay out under the falling snow in winter. Llamas are generally bigger in size than alpacas & the former has pointy ears.
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| Alpaca farm & shop |
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| White alpaca |
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| Llama |
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| More alpacas |
We were most excited to drive further down to the alpine lakes after looking at all the gorgeous photos online. The first word we uttered when we saw Lake Tekapo when we were descending the hill was "Wowwww!.." It was a scenery like no other, we practically ran towards the shore of the lake after parking the car. Lake Tekapo is a famous site for stargazing, and you will often see photos of Church of the Good Shepherd with gorgeous stars above it on Instagram. The water is, as usual, crystal clear. When we were there, there were only a few lupines in full bloom. If you visit the lake around the end of November, lupines cover most of the shoreline by the lake.
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| Church of the Good Shepherd |
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| Church of the Good Shepherd |
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| Crystal clear water under a cloudy sky |
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| Look at that viewww |
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| Skipping rocks on the water |
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| The Church of the Good Shepherd |
We didn't spend too much time at Lake Tekapo, since we wanted to try the fresh salmon sashimi from Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon shop before they close at 5.00pm. We literally ran into the shop at 4.55pm & ordered half kg of fresh salmon, to be eaten with soy sauce & wasabi on the picnic tables right outside the shops. This was probably the best picnic I have ever had, since we had the magnificent view of Lake Pukaki in front of us. Lake Pukaki is an alpine lake and it has that unique blue color because of the finely ground rock particles from the glacier.
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| Mt. Cook Alpine Salmon shop |
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| Sashimi 500g NZD30 |
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| Sashimi with a view |
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| Dig in! |
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| The distinctive blue color of Lake Pukaki |
Rain was slowly drizzling down on us & we headed towards our accommodation of the day, Mountain Chalet in Twizel. There are 1 queen bed in one room & 3 single beds when you climb up the stairs. There are also a cooking stove, microwave & fridge, perfect to cook (or warm up) a small meal. Beware though, the wi-fi here is limited, you will be blocked after you used up your quota. Twizel is usually chosen as a pitstop on the way down to Queenstown from Christchurch. Other than that, Mt. Cook National Park is only ~45 minutes drive away from Twizel.
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| Mountain Chalet in Twizel - our chalet & car |
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| Mountain Chalet in Twizel |
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| 3 single beds at the top of the stairs |
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| 1 queen bed in a room downstairs |
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| Living area |
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| Kitchenette |
We left for Lake Pukaki again, after the rain stopped. This time we stopped by a campsite where most campervans are parked. Later, at almost sunset, we drove towards Twizel city center to stock up on groceries at the local supermarket.
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| Lake Pukaki at almost sunset |
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| Perfect spot to park a campervan |
After dinner, we took our rest early since we had to wake up on time for the hike towards a glacier lake in Mt. Cook National Park. This part of the adventure is one of my favorites! Be sure to read about it in the next post ;)
Day 5 : Twizel - Aoraki/Mt. Cook National Park - Queenstown
Day 6 : Queenstown - NZONE Skydive - Te Anau
Day 7 : Te Anau - Milford Sound/Piopiotahi - Queenstown
Day 8 : Queenstown - Auckland
Day 9 : Auckland Harbour - Auckland Tower - Art Gallery
Day 10 : Auckland International Marathon - Karangahape/"K" Road
Day 11 : Auckland Bridge Bungy Jump - Queens Street - Possonby Street
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