Lake Tekapo and Mt. Cook

We are now currently in Mt. Cook but just for a night. Mt. Cook glacier is over 11,000 feet and quite a beauty to look at. The Mt. Cook area is picturesque! It is fascinating just how many shades of blues and purples there are that make up the scenery of this place. We are here to see the tallest glacier in NZ. The sun was high in the sky all day and we were hoping to gain a tan again but I'm sure all we received was a little Vitamin D. Tomorrow we are off to Wanaka where we will stay for a week. It will be nice to stay in one spot for more than a few nights. It becomes overwheling to travel around so much. Another bus. Another hostel. It will be nice to settle in one place and Wanaka is supposed to be incredible with plenty to occupy our time.
Enough about future plans! The past 4 days we have been in a small town called Tekapo. When I say small, I mean incredibly small with only 500 residents. The lake is breathtaking and the aqua blue tint is remarkable. This beautiful color comes from the "rock flour" off the glacier. In Tekapo there is really not much to do and we were even limited with our grocery shopping. However the hostel we stayed at was right on the lake and we even snagged a lakeside room. Again we enjoyed many days full of sun though it wasn't quite warm enough to jump into the lake. The local ducks became our new friends and thought the pebbles we threw were food. This generated much popularity. We also went to local hot pools where we were able to soak in three pools ranging in heat from 38-40 degrees C. We also embarked on a short 1.5 hour hike (though it was straight uphill at points) to view the observatory on top of the mountain. The hike up generated a sweat and the hike down was a great ab workout. The rain decided to follow us that day (the only day it rained) but then decided to disappear after we finished our hike. Either way it was quite enjoyable. Many hours were spent reading, biking, lazing in the sun and playing with ducks. Lake Tekapo was very much like Alta Lake. We are coming to realize that many places in NZ are very comparable to places in WA. More updates to come. In our very near future is bungy jumping in Queenstown though and this brings about much excited and a little nervousness. Thanks for continuing to follow us!
~ The Traveling Duo

Biking around Tekapo

Tekapo

Classic

Hiking to the Observatory in Tekapo

Hiking

Half way

Almost there

Finally there and full of clouds and rain

Beautiful Lake Tekapo

...see the "rock flour"?

beautiful sunset in Tekapo

Mt. Cook from a far

Mt. Cook

and again...

hanging snow cliffs

look carefully and you can follow us...here is the order

Auckland, Paihia, Rotorua, Lake Taupo, Coromandel, Lake Taupo, Wellington, Piction, Nelson, Kaikoura, Christchurch, Tekapo, Mt. Cook and tomorrow off to Wanaka! ...what a mouth full!