Day 15, March 4, 2017, Saturday:
LAKE TEKAPO MOTELS & HOLIDAY PARK:
This is our lovely apartment... we would have preferred to be at the Cook's village. This was an hour's drive [97 km] but of course a very scenic drive!
The apartment was on the shores of the beautiful lake Tekapo
HOOKER VALLEY HIKE:
This was our drivehttps://goo.gl/maps/WCFcPzhNDZLmcwHF9
We reached the trailhead at Whitehorse camping ground and started the Hooker valley hike.
We reached the end point after 2 hours... lovely hooker glacier and lake...
Everyone was having their lunch, we had the chocolates we had carried.
We then clambered down to the lake side... to see the floating glacier pieces up close...
We then retraced our way back... the winding path seen here... took much less than the 2 hours...
We drove to the visitor center,.. excellent views of Aoraki even from there...for those who can't hike!
We had our food and then drove back to the campground for our next hike
The grey debris is the remnant of melted/retreated glacier... sad! To the left of pic is Mt Sefton, 3151m high, just 7km south of Aoraki.
We had done 3 hikes in all and were mighty pleased!!
For sunset we drove to the nearby historic church at the city center... 5 minutes from our apt.
That was the end of a very beautiful day. We were so very thankful for the AWESOME weather which had made our long hikes so worthwhile!!
We did a short halt at Lake Tekapo
and then were on our way to Christchurch around 10 in the morning.
We reached the end point after 2 hours... lovely hooker glacier and lake...
Everyone was having their lunch, we had the chocolates we had carried.
We then clambered down to the lake side... to see the floating glacier pieces up close...
We then retraced our way back... the winding path seen here... took much less than the 2 hours...
We drove to the visitor center,.. excellent views of Aoraki even from there...for those who can't hike!
We had our food and then drove back to the campground for our next hike
KEA POINT HIKE:
Again this is also another glorious hike with views of the snow covered Aoraki just in front of us all the time as we hike...
The grey debris is the remnant of melted/retreated glacier... sad! To the left of pic is Mt Sefton, 3151m high, just 7km south of Aoraki.
We had done 3 hikes in all and were mighty pleased!!
CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD:
For sunset we drove to the nearby historic church at the city center... 5 minutes from our apt.
That was the end of a very beautiful day. We were so very thankful for the AWESOME weather which had made our long hikes so worthwhile!!
DAY 16, March 5, 2017, Sunday:
We checked out, took some pics of the clean apt as we always do when we leave...
This is the lake view from the front of our apt...
We did a short halt at Lake Tekapo
and then were on our way to Christchurch around 10 in the morning.
This is the map of our drive
https://goo.gl/maps/uzKRKruwomdBRYJG8
Arrived at Christchurch, checked in to our room at YHA again,,, we had spent a night when we landed in South Island before starting our loop drive. Here we were after a glorious trip ,,, for 2 nights at CC before our flight back to North Island and onward home.
Had food and drove to the lovely Willowbank Reserve
At $35 entry it's a bit on the higher side, but the animals and free flying exotic birds out there were AWESOME!
Wallabi here...
This Mother Hen was so aggressive... she followed us around with her brood for some food...
Keas busy feeding ... opening this is easy peasy for them, other birds can't get to this stash...
Took nearly 100 videos and here's the link:
https://goo.gl/photos/dwoLBX4dTcm2bivq7
We were happy this reserve was open till 8.30 pm. Since we had entered around 5, we were almost the only ones around, local families had wound up their visit on Sunday!
It was lovely having the whole place all to ourselves. As you can see in the video all animals and birds came close to us and interacted... the birds chattered away and danced for us! It was a special day!!
Next day we had a day trip to Aoraki which was great as well and a fitting finale to our FANTASTIC trip... report here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/03/new-zealand-trip-report-day-17-akaroa.html
Had food and drove to the lovely Willowbank Reserve
Willowbank Reserve:
At $35 entry it's a bit on the higher side, but the animals and free flying exotic birds out there were AWESOME!
This Mother Hen was so aggressive... she followed us around with her brood for some food...
Keas busy feeding ... opening this is easy peasy for them, other birds can't get to this stash...
Took nearly 100 videos and here's the link:
https://goo.gl/photos/dwoLBX4dTcm2bivq7
We were happy this reserve was open till 8.30 pm. Since we had entered around 5, we were almost the only ones around, local families had wound up their visit on Sunday!
It was lovely having the whole place all to ourselves. As you can see in the video all animals and birds came close to us and interacted... the birds chattered away and danced for us! It was a special day!!
Next day we had a day trip to Aoraki which was great as well and a fitting finale to our FANTASTIC trip... report here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/03/new-zealand-trip-report-day-17-akaroa.html
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