Karel, Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook!!!

Woo hoo....had a very hectic 3 days in Christchurch man. So didnt really take much pictures or anything. Anyways Christchurch was just like any normal city to me. Well but during that time there, I met this Czech Republic guy called Karel (pronwho was going the same way as me. So well we just travelled together then!

That's us together.

AND......I also bought a car there!! It's a 1989 Ford Laser. Comes with new tyres, wof till May and everything else working fine. It also has a 1.3 litre engine which means that it is fuel conservative.

A picture of my car and Karel

Anyways, we left Christchurch on Sunday (late cos Karel overslept and spent 30 frigging minutes eating breakfast when he was already 45 min late!!!). We finally left at 930am when we were supposed to leave at 8am. My initial plan was supposed to go down to Oamaru to see the penguins, but in the end, we changed my plans and went to Lake Tekapo instead. It is listed also listed as one of 501 must go places in the world from the book Ryan brought back from USA.

Talking about the drive there, we covered the distance much faster than what the map Desmond lent me indicated. And no I did not speed at all (haha must put this hear otherwise my mum will be making noise already). Max speed I went was 110km/hr when the speed limit is 100km/hr. Haha tons of cars were overtaking me like nobody's business.

Typical view you get when driving with the mountains right in front of you

We finally reached Lake Tekapo at around 1pm and visited the visitor centre. It's quite cool how every entrance to a town has a visitor or information centre. Haha shows how touristy NZ is. Anyways we checked out the various tramps around the area and finally decided to climb Mt Hutt and walk down via the lake.

It was a 1.5 - 2 hour tramp to the summit which surprisingly, we completed in 1 hours. Haha I think its cos of Karel pushing me all the way. I was really panting by the time I got there man. I tell you, the wind at the top was so strong, it would make the wind at Datuk seem like a breeze. I could even see white caps in the lake, which I think mean the wind was at least 10 knots, aka 30km/hr.

View at the top of the mountain of Lake Tekapo

View of the lake with a mountain behind

The view was so good on the way down we decided to just lie and relax for 15 min

After the tramp, it was still early and nothing much to do at the lake. So we decided to drive up to Mt Cook village itself. Mt Cook is the tallest mountain in NZ, but unfortunately we could not summit it cos it was too technical.

We stayed at the Department of Conservation (DOC) Camping grounds for the night and decided to do another the tramp in the morning which could take us real close to Mt Cook itself. Unfortunately, we were told not to walk up in the morning due to bad weather coming.

The sun just before it sets behind the mountains

Oh well safetly first, so we had to abandon the tramp and drove on down to Oamaru after this short detour. After about 3 hours drive, we finally reached Oamaru, where hey and presto they provide FREE internet, FREE pool table and FREE laundry!!!! Too bad I have already washed all my clothes and have almost nothing to wash now. Haha that also explains why I have so much time to write in the blog. Will be going to watch the penguins again later in the evening.

My iteneary for the next couple of days will be to Dunedin fora day for another break, before heading to Invarcargill via the Catlins to stay. Whether I go for the Stewart Island Tramp I will decide again over the next couple of days I guess.

Last but not least, I would like to thank the people who come down to send me off on Wednesday! Haha and of cos various other people like Desmond, Hui Fen, Jimmy, Gee Yong etc etc for all the advice and help given. Haha not forgetting of cos is my mum!! haha.

Its really great to be able to be here and seeing all these beautiful things (tho Jimmy says I will feel homesick after 2 weeks). Haha we shall see.