Pristine Lake Tekapo

With the suspenseful ride seemingly miles away from ending, the turquoise blue waters of Lake Tekapo suddenly appeared over the horizon and my oh my was it breath-taking!

The lake was formed 17 millenniums ago, back in the primitive ice age, when the glaciers melted while its distinct turquoise colour can be attributed to glacial flour suspended in the water. The reflection from the lake made it much more impressive.

 

Driving into the holiday park which overlooked the lake with astounding views, we had a quick check-in before going to our tent site, located at the far end of the park, crowded with other sites nearby. All in all, that park had approximately 200 plus sites, and none of them were available. Imagine that!

Setting up the tent quickly to reveal the phone’s whereabouts, we found in right where my mom guessed it was, which resulted rants from her that would last the rest of the afternoon.

Hanging around at the park’s playground, I finally got to meet other kids, which satisfied me greatly before having steak for dinner.

With the sky clear for the night, we hope the weather would remain consistent for the night as we anticipated constellation of stars in the night sky. Our wish was granted.

That night, the sky was crystal clear, and countless stars could be spotted everywhere. Changing the camera’s settings, my dad tweaked the camera so it could capture the milky way galaxy, which worked like a charm. Since it could not be seen with the naked eye, seeing the galaxy live for the first time was jaw dropping.

Admiring the sky for the next couple of hours, we slept at midnight,

The next morning, we had the normal breakfast before doing our typical morning walks.

Today, we walked through the center of Lake Tekapo, first stopping at the historical Church of the Good Shepherd, an icon in the town. Built in the 1800s, it is an old building that had gone through many renovations to look modern and still conducts mass regularly.

After having our packed lunch there, we continued trailing out of town, in search for Lupins in the masses. In case you have no idea what’s that, it’s a purple flower that looks rather pretty and has a refreshing aroma my mom loves.

Just outside town, we found the grand prize. Following a trail that was supposed to lead to a beach and a ski area nearby, we came across Lupins in abundance.

Elated with our findings, we captured some pictures before heading back to camp, first passing by the supermarket to get some groceries and ice cream to cool down ourselves. I also tried the flying fox.

Back at the park, I hung out at the playground for the rest of the afternoon before doing some journaling. We had dinner and, looking at the sky, felt blessed that we came yesterday. It was cloudy that evening and seemed not to be differing.

Settling down for the night, we were faced with a new dilemma. Mount Cook or Wanaka? We had this problem as Cook had some fantastic views that topped Wanaka, but at the same time was having some rough weather forecast.

Of course, we preferred better weather as we did not want to face wet or windy weather, we just weren’t up for it. We would only make our final decision tomorrow.

Boxing Day Madness

Having not waken up at 6am for quite a while, we managed the predicament as we tried to leave as early possible to reach Christchurch before lunch time.

After a light omelette to soothe our stomachs, we got to work, quickly packing our possessions and disassembling our tent.

Despite having a couple of minor mishaps along the way, our things and tent were completely packed only 15 minutes behind schedule, which was a proud feat, supporting the fact we took nearly 2 hours to pack up the previous session.

Just when we thought we were all good, disaster struck nastily. My mom could not find her phone. And when we realise it was nowhere to be found, we saw a side of her we rarely saw, sympathetically for my dad, who was responsible for that belonging. Nonetheless, there was nothing we could do now as it was probably in the compressed tent. Now, we were 45 minutes late. Talking about a good head start on Boxing Day.

Worriedly looking for fuel in the middle of nowhere with a low tank that was only good for 30 more kilometers, we eventually arrived at the rural Arthur’s Pass village. After refuelling at their expensive petrol station, we made the 150km dash to Christchurch, hoping to get some time back, as we drove under the low cloud that gave away some surreal photos. Being a public holiday, we thought that there would be no problem.

Well, there was. The bad weather along the twisting state highway slowed us down a tad and finding parking at the outlet shop on Boxing Day is like a maze.

Through all that, we were soon out of our car, walking the streets of Christchurch on a cloudy day.

At the outlet mall, we first bought some sleek sunglasses before going on to Puma’s outlet store to buy some sports gear. It had a rather long queue.

With 2 hours of our 3-hour parking limit miraculously gone, we had lunch at Macdonald’s before resupplying on food and drink for our meals to come. That filled the 3rd hour, meaning it was ‘so long’ Christchurch.

Our next pit-stop would be at Lake Tekapo’s township, where we would find out whether mom’s phone was indeed in the tent, which worried us. Another agony was that apparently weather wasn’t so good either. We would have to find all of that out after the 2-hour ride that was still to come.

The Adventure at Arthur’s Pass

After a better night’s rest compared to the previous one, we woke up, ready for our next journey, which would lead us via the West Coast of the South Island all the way to Arthur’s Pass. A stretch of road which is smack bang surrounded by mountain ranges north and south, it was a hotspot for tourist, being a mere 150km from the bustling city of Christchurch.

Leaving at 11am, we drove the first easy 57km to the historical town of Murchison, where we had lunch and were also rather surprised that there was no data service available there.

Dismissing that unfortunate event, we got back on the highway, heading towards the city of Greymouth, along the West Coast.

Stopping at the town of Reefton to catch-up with the world as our heroic data service has returned, we also brought some food at the town’s supermarket before finally driving the distance to our destination.

For the rest of the journey, there were not many happenings, other than a small possible roadkill when a bird hit the bonnet of our car. Hope it’s alright.

Upon arriving at the holiday park, my parents set up camp while I was tasked to charge the devices’ batteries at the holiday park’s lounge, which was really well equipped that we would have and cook all of our meals there.

Settling down for the day after a late dinner, we got ready for our next tramp which would take us through the jungle…

The following morning which was Christmas Day, we woke up naturally, being the first guests in the lounge. With a hefty breakfast in our tummies, we got into our trekking suits, ready to explore the forest.

Once the quick warm-up walk around the park was done, we embarked on their one and only trail which would lead us to a historical Quartz Mine.

Venturing through 2 creeks, we soon realised that this trail was going to be a hap-hazard one. Not only was the track barely obvious but there was a lot of bush to! We had a bad feeling that we were going to be stranded soon enough.

Thankfully, the second half of the trek was wide with pride, which was a welcome surprise for us. For the next half an hour or so, we would continue the ascent to the mine which would sadly disappoint.

At the entrance of the mining site, you could see some fancy but rusty mining tools that were used back in the 19th Century. However, the only other thing present was a man-made hole, which failed to impress.

Nevertheless, the thought of exercise satisfied us for the way down, where we would take a detour to visit a majestic waterfall, which would be a redeemer and highlight of the walk.

About 20 meters high, the fall was indeed a sight to behold as we cherished it before taking off for base. The waterfall also has some historical value, as there is a 200-year old native Rimu Tree in front of the spectacle.

Back at camp, we hung out at the lounge, feasting on some snacks while I binged on the Internet and wrote some journal entries.

With that iconic Christmas Day coming to an end, we had an early dinner, packed up a little and got ready to be early birds. The terror of Boxing Day was coming.

Camping at Catchpool Valley

Rimutaka Forest Park offers a lot of things to do – from nature walks to picnicking, you could do a whole lot of activities that could keep you resplendent for a long time! For us though, we were looking forward to camp at their scenic campground, Catchpool Valley! Just a stone’s throw away from a stream and a lot of nature trails. We were sure excited for our 2nd camping adventure!

After a good breakfast, we packed up and departed in our Mazda for the campsite, which is close to an hour’s drive! We first stopped by at the small town of Petone which was along the way. We went to Rebel Sports, a sports store to get more cricket gear and also bought some ice-cream for the hot afternoon and water from a grocery store to keep us hydrated during our stay!

We arrived in the early afternoon at the campsite and found a good empty space to set up camp! We got to work after filling in our camping details about our stay which we would hand to the DOC (Department of Conservation) Ranger later that evening!

The assembly of our tent was pretty quick since we were getting used to a method to make the tent standing the fastest. That was our 3rd time to setup our tent! In approximately half an hour, our accommodation was up and strong! However, since it was a really windy afternoon, we were afraid that our tent could plunge back to the ground any moment. Despite our fear, our strong pegging and the product’s good quality, lent our tent no trouble… although one of the poles dislodged twice from its position! Anyway, we fixed that and had some well-earned ice-cream while keeping an eye on the tent!

The stream nearby had extremely cold water, I reckon even colder than the water at Battle Hill’s stream! It might have been because of the strong cold breeze, but nevertheless, I was happy that I could get myself wet under the scorching hot sun. Unfortunately, unlike Battle Hill, there were very few deep swimming holes and most of them were upstream. There was also no high ground to jump from into the water! In the end I still had a great time exploring the cold waters and sunbathing!

As the sun slowly descended towards the horizon, I decided to abandon the stream since the water was getting cold and decided to join a group of small kids who were playing cricket and had a whale of a time for the rest of the afternoon!

For our early dinner, we had pasta as I babbled on about my new friends and the activities I did for the day! After that, I did a few more balls with my new buddies before ending our game.

As nightfall came, we enjoyed a supper of chips and I also did crossword with my parents before giving our fees to the DOC ranger as we ended an extremely enjoyable day!

The next morning, we woke up at 7.15am ready for a good and easy nature walk. Although I had a good night sleep, my dad was scared of last night’s strong winds and did not doze of well. In spite of exhaustion, he was also kind of ready to get up and about.

Although we had a cloudy breakfast, the sun soon illuminated the campsite and that gave us the all ‘clear signal’ to go trekking! Before we went off, we first unpitched our tent under perilous windy conditions and did it without any mishaps, fortunately. Once all our equipment were packed in the car, we left it at the camping grounds and went to the Park’s entrance, where there were an abundance of routes to try out.

We chose to walk through the Nga Taonga trail which was 45 minutes. In the nature walk itself, you could hear choruses of cicadas and also see many species of native trees such as the unusually tall Miro tree! There’s also a lot of ferns and fungi too!

Once we were at the other end of the trail, we were a little exhausted but still had a great time exploring nature at its finest! With that, we took the link via the stream without getting wet back to the campsite!

Before we left once and for all, I bade farewell to my friends and departed with a smile! Once again, I had an extremely magnificent camping experience!

Lavender Picking in Carterton

With the fine weekend weather, my parents and I decided to occupy ourselves with some lavender picking at the rural town of Carterton, just 16.2km South of the major town of Masterton. The lavender garden, called Lavender Abbey, is a couple of kilometres away from Carterton’s quiet town centre and houses a lot of lavenders that would really suit as air fresheners in your house. Since this was the last week for PYO Lavender programme, we decided to drop by to get some lavenders in the early afternoon after the usual church service.

At around 11.30am, we left Johnsonville, and rode along SH2 once again towards Greytown, dubbed ‘The Most Beautiful Small Town in NZ 2017.’ We were really enthusiastic to have our lunch there as the town has numerous restaurants that offer sumptuous cuisines from different parts of the world! The town is also pretty rustic and you could see several townhouses at the center that are now run as restaurants, antique stores or other businesses! Moreover, it is just a stone’s throw from Carterton, just 6km along the SH2! We arrived at the bustling town centre at around 12.45pm and ate at this townhouse restaurant called Swan Lake, which served Western and Seafood Meals. My parents ordered a salad and seafood chowder soup while I ordered a beef burger served with fries.

Since my parents were on diet, they did not eat the potatoes from the soup but we all enjoyed our food as I gobbled up my meal, ending up with a full belly! At around 2.00pm, we left the restaurant and headed forth for the Lavender Gardens themselves!

Since the distance was short, the drive was pretty quick although we nearly got lost due to GPS miscalculations and soon arrived at the garden! After getting all the scissors and rubber bands which would be used to harvest the flowers in bunches, my mom and I got to work at the scorching hot sun! (it was 30 degrees Celsius!!) Unfortunately, since the bees were pretty irritating to me as they came in the masses, my mom did most of the work. However, her solo streak paid off as we took home 2 big bunches of refreshing lavenders along with tons of pictures of us at the garden! The cost of each bunch was 5 bucks, which is very cheap compared to Singapore!

As we headed home with a good smell, we stopped by shop selling antiques before heading home sweaty for being under the sun for such a long time! It was worthwhile though!