Lake Tekapo

25 October

Most of our favorite trips have at least one time and place that stands out as extremely special. Today had such a moment.

First, let the record show that we safely traveled 3 hours by car from Christchurch southwest to Lake Tekapo and the town of Tekapo. We remembered to "keep left" the entire way.  And Jeff, who did virtually all of the driving, only turned on the windshield wipers once.

After arriving we decided to go to the "Astro Cafe" for lunch.  That's on top of Mount John. In a glass building with almost 360 degree exposure. Someone has a sense of humor as the welcome sign said, "No Littering   No Aliens   No Smoking."  

Clear views.  Snow-covered peaks.  An unbelievably stunning bright blue lake -- somewhere between aqua and turquoise, with a hint of copper from long-ago chemistry labs (Jeff remarked on the color of a certain toilet bowl cleanser, and while that's not exactly a bad description, it certainly doesn't do the beauty justice).  With a cute little tree-covered island.  A second, smaller azure blue lake.  Plants not unlike Central Oregon.  Clear air.  And a cloudless sky. Needless to say, we took lots of pictures.

Then we noticed a trail. Ok, truth be told, we noticed a nearby geocache and deduced, accurately, that the trail was the way to get there.  So we took a short but amazing walk and took lots of pictures, then found the cache, continued on bit taking more pictures.  And reversed directions to, you guessed it, take more pictures.  Although there had been others at the Astro Cafe, we had the trail entirely to ourselves.  There were birds singing, and while we heard them we didn't see them, which sort of added to the magic.

We got back in the car, kept left, and descended partway down, until a spot called to us.  We stopped, saw sheep, took more pictures, heard more birds.  

Tomorrow we will cross the 45th parallel.  Wonder whether the Kiwis have any signs like the ones in Salem that say (approximately) "45th Parallel.  Halfway between the equator and the North Pole."