South Canterbury, South Island, New Zealand 6 Dec 2008

We did a big day of driving and covered some 600km of roads around South Canterbury. We were on a bit of a mission to see Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo and while it was overcast when we set off from Kiapoi, once we passed over the first set of ranges we were surprised to find clear blue sky which meant a perfect view of Mt Cook, NZs highest mountain at 3755m. NZ has 27 mountains over 3050m high and 22 of them are in the Mt Cook National Park. This was our first view of the Southern Alps and the drive through the area known as ‘Mackenzie country’ was just stunning. The wild lupins were in flower and were incredibly pretty



Lake Tekapo is bluer than you could imagine and we had a perfect day for it.



At the head of Lake Tekapo is the Church of the Good Shepherd, built from stone and oak in 1935.



and these are views of Mt Cook from the Lake Pukaki. We were heading 53km along the left hand side of the lake to see Mt Cook from the Hermitage Hotel.







The drive along the edge of the lake was pretty scenic and I was having trouble keeping my eyes on the road



and at times we had to stop so we could appreciate the view and take some photos. The mountain in the middle of the photo is Mt Cook



We finally got to the Hermitage, a famous hotel in NZ and while it’s not much to look at, the views are incredible and Mt Cook is almost on its doorstep.



Mt Cook was at the top and inland of the big loop we were driving before heading back to stay close to the coast with a friend on mine from university. Hayley and her husband Ritchie run a large-scale dairy operation near a place called Waimate. One the way down out of the high country we passed these massive irrigation rigs in what’s known as the Mackenzie basin. They have awful droughts there and have installed these huge irrigation rigs to combat the natural dryness of the area. This one was the longest we saw and was estimated at over 1km long.



and saw that dairy farms had taken over what would have been sheep stations. As a result, we didn’t see too many of the below! This is a small herd of Merino sheep, the kind that produces the super-fine super white wool that’s used in many fine garments. Their natural grey colour is only about a centimetre deep and underneath that the wool should (if the conditions are right) be completely white.



I thought we’d be shattered after a big days driving but no, we were fine and it was great to see Hayley after all these years.