Mar 21, 2013 - Lake Tekapo

Another very cold night with temperatures just above freezing was followed by another nice warm day. We drove to the town of Lake Tekapo on the lake of the same name. Population 500. Near Lake Tekapo is Mt John that has an observatory on its peak. We drove up there for a view of the surrounding countryside. We had Lake Tekapo on one side and Lake Alexandrina on the other from 1.029 metres up. Very nice. The road going up Mt John was very steep and windy. At the top of Mt John I saw a small reptile called a NZ Skink. Besides birds, the...

Feb 7, 2013 - Lake tekapo

Up early early today to go help (watch) chris the farmer do his chores this morning. We got up 6 and watched him milk his jersey cow. it was unreal how well trained his milk cow was. he opened the fence up, and the cow headed right over to the milking stable. Kara wanted to try milking, but he didnt hear us say she wanted to after he asked, so he quickly finished up. after milking we were treated to breskfast. Kara was in heaven as we were served toast, eggs and yogart. Chris didnt have any pigs, so i was shit outta luck on my bacon....

Feb 6, 2013 - Lake tekapo

Up early early today to go help (watch) chris the farmer do his chores this morning. We got up 6 and watched him milk his jersey cow. it was unreal how well trained his milk cow was. he opened the fence up, and the cow headed right over to the milking stable. Kara wanted to try milking, but he didnt hear us say she wanted to after he asked, so he quickly finished up. after milking we were treated to breskfast. Kara was in heaven as we were served toast, eggs and yogart. Chris didnt have any pigs, so i was shit outta luck on my bacon....

Nov 10, 2011 - Lake Tekapo

Okay the problem is our end. Will rectify this now so you should all get e-mail alerts. Those of you who haven't seen the previous ones I think if you go into the web page you will see them. That is if you would like to know what we have been up to so far. Long drive today - but beautiful location for our afternoon and evening and lots of space in this unit There is a mallard outside our glass door wanting to come in - Pat has fed him so he thinks this is good hang out. love to all

Jun 18, 2011 - NZ Blog Two - Lake Tekapo

Tuesday 14 June 2011 Christchurch After being woken by a strong 4.7 tremor earlier in the night (and yes the earth did move for us in bed) we were eventually up and at ‘em after sending our emails and blog. We decided to head out of the city (no surprise here) and take a drive to Akaroa which is about an hour or so south east of Christchurch and was colonised by the French and even now has a distinctly French feel with the street names and businesses having French names. The drive was very scenic and a lot more turns and twists and slower...

May 20, 2011 - Houston we have lift off!

We have just got ourselves organised after a less than positive start to our trip to New Zealand. Unfortunately our initial flight was cancelled but we were not informed. Fortunately Eva double-checked the flight times the night before and discovered that the flight did not exist. After a frantic phone call, it emerged that we were booked on a later flight. Great that we didn’t have to get up so early but bad in that we would now arrive too late to pick up our campervan, so needed to book a hostel for the night. The hostel was not the best...

Jul 24, 2010 - Boulders and Lake Tekapo

After our quick walk up the street we went to visit the Moreaki Boulders on some beach. Not entirely sure why they're there to be honest, think they were formed by the sea. We then continued on to Lake Tekapo - which is by far and a way the prettiest place I have seen so far. The lake iteslf is so still and calm and reflects the snowy mountains. There is also a really pretty church on the lakeside - the Church of Good Shephard. After a walk along the lake with Rita we came back and I headed to the hot pools/spa 3 minutes up the road from my...

Apr 29, 2010 - Une Odyssee Francaise...

Nous quittons notre wwoof a Waitati sous la pluie et c’est la premiere fois que nous nous mouilons en faisant du stop en Nouvelle Zelande. Avec les deux allemandes qui nous prennent, nous visitons les « boulders rocks », des etonnant rochers ronds sur la plage. Nous arrivons le soir a Geraldine, un petit village sympa ou nous restons deux nuits. Au lendemain de la seconde nuit, nous rencontrons, une famille francaise; Pierre Aymric, Geraldine (comme le village !) et Victoire. Nous partons tous ensemble dans leur confortable camping car en...

Mar 24, 2010 - Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo is quite possibly the most beautiful place I have seen so far. The lake is the most amazing shade of turquoise and surrounding the lake there are snow capped mountains and forests of huge green pine tree's. I spent a few days here walking some of the many trails and I took an absurd amount of photographs. This place is just endlessly photographable (and that probbly isn't a word!). There is a small church on the banks of the lake called the church of the good shepherd. It was built in 1935 and it has a huge window behind the...

Dec 7, 2009 - December 7

December 7 We got up to fairly sunny skies this morning. After breakfast we packed up and began our journey to Timaru. We had a leisurely drive down the coast and then headed inland a bit to come back out to Timaru. We stopped at the info centre to get directions to Josephine’s house and they let me call her. We drove to her place and visited for a while. She has a beautiful farm but it must take a lot of work to maintain which she does on her own. After we left we took Hwy 8 and headed inland. We stopped at a spot called Cave and had...

Nov 2, 2009 - Day 4 Monday - Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

Today our motorhome is delivered to the hotel at 10am.I’m a bit nervous as we’ve never travelled in a motorhome before and I chose to book with a smaller company called Discover NZ. I’m hoping that I made the right choice (with both the size of the motorhome and the company).Our 2 berth with shower and toilet Ford Transit pulls up. It is so clean it looks brand new. Paul loves it straight away, and once he starts to drive it actually wants one! It is a Turbo Diesel and drives like a car! Yes! I made the perfect choice, on both counts. We...

Oct 19, 2009 - Leiche im See

An diesem Tag fuhren wir, immer noch mit Greg, von Dunedin nach Lake Tekapo. Hatte ich bisher gedacht Franz Josef waere ein Kaff, lernte ich nun die Huettenansammlung Lake Tekapo kennen. Aber gestoert hat das wieder mal keinen, den die Lage des Dorfs an dem See und des Sees selber ist traumhaft. Das Wasser hat durch die Gletscherspeisung eine milchig-tuerkise Farbe direkt vor den immernoch schneebedeckten Southern Alps. Am Ufer steht die kleine Steinkapelle Old Sheppard. Das Motiv mit dem See und den Bergen im Hintergrund gehoert zu den...