Backpacking Part Five: Lake Tekapo and Christchurch
✒️ Written by: James
Lake Tekapo
We made our way from Mt Cook to Lake Tekapo / Takapō (the Māori name). The name describes both the lake itself and the little village situated on its banks. It sits bang in the centre of the South Island. It's most famous for housing The Church of the Good Shepherd - a quaint little stone church built in the 1930s. We saw it as we drove past, but didn't go to see it in person... But there are plenty of beautiful photos of it; it's arguably one of the most photographed of New Zealand's buildings1.
We were there at the wrong time of year to see the lupins in bloom... That would have been a sight to behold!
I was hoping to get a photo similar to the one above with the church in the foreground and the milky way in the background, because that's the second most well-known thing about Lake Tekapo: it sits in the heart of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve - The Southern Hemisphere's largest dark sky reserve2. The reason I couldn't get this photo is because we were unlucky enough for the sky to be fully blanketed under a layer of thick cloud for the entire time we were there... That didn't stop us hiking up Mt John to see the observatory though.
We got a little rained on but nothing too bad. Had the weather played ball, we could have come up and looked through one of the telescopes at night but alas, another time perhaps.
We stayed at Lakes Edge Holiday Park right at the base of Mount John. The cabin officially sleeps 6 but it was just us two! Having the lake itself right on our doorstep was great, because the water was very still and the views were stunning.
The above panorama is from partway up Mt John. I recommend viewing it in its full resolution here (9MB).
Our stay was brief yet pleasant. We'll definitely be coming back when the weather's more inviting.
Christchurch
We were only in Christchurch for a single night, so we didn't get a thorough feel of the place. Our initial impression was very positive - an arty, expressive city with real character. We would have stayed longer, but after 10 days of backpacking, we were desperate to get back to Malborough for a rest; to stay somewhere a little more permanent for a while.
We went to a ramen place called Tanoshi Christchurch which was delicious! We then went to see Project Hail Mary at the cinema which definitely lived up to the hype.
When we find ourselves back in NZ one day, we'll definitely be coming back to both Tekapo and Christchurch to experience these places more!
The End of our Backpacking Series
To celebrate our days traveling around the south island, we decided to make a video to briefly document all the places we'd been. Enjoy!