Dunedin - Lake Tekapo

Tuesday 19th January 2010

We were picked up 8.15am and headed for Baldwin Street, the steepest suburban street in the world. Gareth, Ali and I walked up the top, it wasn't too bad and then walked back down. Our next stop was the Moetaki boulders which were amazing and then a lake with views of Mount Cook. When we arrived at Lake Tekapo at 3pm the weather was glorious. I put on my bikini and headed down to the lake front with its stunning views. Gareth spent about 20 minutes in the sun and then had an afternoon nap! After sunbathing we played cards for a while in the garden of lake front lodge which is where we are staying. We then took a stroll into town, which is just one street with shops and a four square before heading back to start cooking dinner. The kitchen was really full but we managed to secure the microwaves to cook our jacket potatoes and two hobs to cook our beans and sausages. The meal was really good. After dinner and washing up we played a game of monopoly. It went on for ever but it was a really fun game. Jen S had Mayfair and park lane and cleaned everyone out of money and property. Gareth was bankrupt first and I was the third out of the five of us playing. Obviously Jen S won. We then all went to bed on our annoying squeaky beds!

Wednesday 20th January

We all slept really badly because the bunk beds are the squeakiest in the world. Every time some one moved it sounded like a mechanical machine was coming to life, I'm not exaggerating. Late morning we got up and had breakfast. We then made sandwiches for lunch as we were going for a walk up to Mount John lookout where several large telescopes are positioned to gaze at the night's sky. It started raining early afternoon so we hung out in the hostel until it stopped. We then started our afternoon walk. It took us about 1 hour to climb up the top of the mount. It was quite steep up the top but the views were really beautiful. We had lunch overlooking Lake Tekapo and the sun decided to come out, if only for a short while! Some guy who worked at the observatory told us to check out one of the large (in the top 50 in the world) telescopes which we did before heading back down to the lake front. On the way down there were lose rocks underneath and I went over on my ankle and fell down the hill a little bit. My ankle didn't hurt for the rest of the day but it did the day after. After our walk Gareth had a little sleep before we walked into town to buy our dinner, we got sausage and chips from the local chip shop! In the evening we played another game of monopoly, Gareth won this time, I came second. We then packed up our rucksacks and went to bed.