Things went slightly downhill after that. I tried went to buy mascara but found the cheapest one to be 25 bucks and quickly decided to just be a little uglier for the remainder of our time here. There's no time for beauty anyway! Then we spent a big chunk of money on Shaggy. He needed a new seatbelt and some steering column adjustment. Oh, and a $140 oil change since that's how much you can apparently charge when you're on an island.
After spending all that money, we went grocery shopping and found our favorite jam in the whole wide world to be on sale so we bought 6 jars of it. This is after buying 6 jars of our better-than-the-rest-of-the-options peanut butter that was on sale last week. To be consumed only in emergency after the peter pan is gone of course. Gotta buy things in bulk when they're on sale!
Halloween was uneventful here. The only people to celebrate are college students looking for any excuse to party. Kids don't even trick or treat, and pumpkins are eaten here, not carved. So, we barely even noticed it was Halloween. In fact, we were looking out our window trying to figure out why all the students outside were dressed funny for awhile before we figured it out!
Saturday morning, we drove up to Lake Tekapo for a whitewater kayaking festival. The drive was almost uneventful, except for Craig pulling over quickly because "Something just flew off the roof!" Upon inspection, we found that the bracket holding the roof rack holding 2 borrowed kayaks is what Craig saw in the rear view bouncing to the road. So, we went and retrieved it, reattached it, and went on our merry way. This was, thank goodness, not nearly as exciting as when the boats flew off Craig's roof in front of me on our drive to Idaho.
Craig Setting Up Camp
We were just cresting a hill on Burke's Pass through the mountains when a beautiful, turquoise lake sprang into view. It was totally unexpected and we were shocked by its color. We were very excited to find it was Lake Tekapo, our final destination. Turns out, the color is due to what is called "glacial flour." The glacier picked up tiny pieces of sediment from the rock it scraped over. When it melted, it formed the lake and all of the "flour" is now suspended in the water, resulting in it's cool color. Amidst some ooh's and ahh's, we drove on to our campsite, set up the tent, and then went to check out the whitewater course. This is where Craig's expertise kicks in so I'll let him tell the tale:
I had just read about the "Tekapo Throwdown" last week and was glad we didn't have any plans for the weekend. The weekend was set up as a festival with beginner friendly competitions on a man made whitewater river. I have been to several of these fake rivers, so I knew generally what to expect. This was a pretty well designed river and the rapids were the biggest I had seen on a man made course yet. There were some fun features which made this is a great kayaking training site. I had no intention of entering the races but was glad to be able to get on some whitewater and dust off the cobwebs. It was a great feeling to be paddling again, especially on such a nice day. As a huge bonus I was able to paddle both days on the weekend! Hopefully, we can buy some boats and partake more frequently and do some rivers that will be fun for both of us!
Craig Heading Downstream
Happy to be Wet
After Craig paddled for a bit, we went for a hike near the lake. The hike climbed, pretty steeply, to the top of a mountain, providing excellent views. The forest was mostly spruce and fir trees, with lots of very fat rabbits at the top, above the tree line. It was the closest thing we've seen yet to a forest at home. We didn't spend too much time at the top because it was very windy. Instead, we descended and went to the hot pools near our campsite. There are 3 pools, in order of increasing temperature, all looking out over the lake. So, we hopped in between pools and watched the sunset over the lake, behind the mountains. Very relaxing :)
Hike Up to the Top
Lake Views
Sunset from the Hot Pools
After the pools, we planned to watch the All Blacks (rugby) game in the TV room at the campsite but the room was under the control of a person lying on the couch watching a movie with "The Rock." So instead, we retired to our tent with for a beer and a few games of Rummy.
Next morning, we went for a nice long walk along the beach for some more great views. The hike ended at The Church of the Good Shepherd where we attended Sunday morning mass. Well, the hike ended at the church and we took pictures of it. Seriously though, the church was really cool. It was a tiny, one-room stone building right on the lake. It had one window, directly across from the door, through which you could see the lake and mountains. Unfortunately , we were not allowed to take pics inside so you'll have to use your imagination. There was also a nice statue of a dog near the church, in recognition of all shepherd dogs working the local land. And, we saw some beautiful flowers and a very large pine cone on the way.
When we returned to the campsite, we packed up and headed back to the whitewater course for some more action. There was a cool trail heading upstream nearby so we decided to hike that first to see if the river was boatable. It was, and it was also beautiful. Same shade of green as the lake. We will definitely go back to kayak that part of the river. It was nice and easy, so I can do it too!
Sunday AM Church
Lake Tekapo
River and Lake from Above
Craig then paddled for a bit while I played photographer. It was fun for me to be able to get so close to the rapids (I was standing on rocks right in the rapid at times) to watch and take pics as Craig paddled by. After that, we took the boats back to the lake for another short paddle before heading home. The water there was amazingly calm and, again, beautiful with the snow-capped mountains in the background. And the weather was perfect, 21 degrees and sunny. I have a nice farmer-sunburned arm to prove it too. The sun is so strong here that you definitely need sunscreen at all times, even on rainy days. My face even got some color after 3 sunscreen applications.
Katie Paddling in the Lake
After that paddle, we were out of time and began our drive back to Duds. On the way, we passed another gorgeous lake, Lake Pukaki. This lake was even calmer than Tekapo, reflecting the mountains in the water. A quick stop for pics and then back on the road.
Lake Pukaki
We are feeling really lucky to have found this place and all of the cool places we've been so far that are so nearby. Hope we get to enjoy them all a lot more before returning home!
Lake Tekapo Pix!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment