Lake Tekapo to Christchurch
It's our last full day of travel as we've got a very early flight back home tomorrow morning. We're keen to make the most of our last day, so one last hike is in order. We rise early, pack up the car and make the short drive to the start of the walking track. Courts and Jeff head off on the longer track (8km with a suggested trek time of between 2-2.5 hours) and our friends head off on the shorter one, due to extra kid weight they'll be carrying on the back.
The track is pretty flat and easy to begin with, but Jeff's taking it extra careful due to his not yet recovered ankle. Straight away we are treated to epic views of Lake Tekapo surrounded by snow capped mountains. After 2 and a half weeks we are still blown away by the epic scenery everywhere we go. No two places have been the same.
It's quiet on the track, other than the birds chirping and water lapping. Plenty of bunnies hopping across the track, too. We carry on and get to the steep bits, heart rate up, sweat on, gloves and layers off. The view gets better and better. We reach the top, inhale a few big ones and try and soak up as much of the view as possible. There is an observatory up at the top here.
We make our way down slowly (always more dicey than going up) and meet up with the gang.
For once we're actually hungry and head to the only open Cafe. Weird and strong coffee plus a very big breakfast, just what the doctor ordered for our final 2.5 drive back to Christchurch. We've not planned any stops for this one, other than a toilet and playground stop. The adults may have made better use of the playground than the child.
We get to the airport motel and are informed the airport shuffle will pick us up at 3:30am the next morning. Hoo boy. We return the rental car (2700kms later) and head out for an early dinner. We go back to the eatery we ate at on our first night in Christchurch. The food was good with many options. We all ordered something different to last time and were just as impressed. We also noticed that it was pretty busy for a Tuesday night. Seems like things are happening in Christchurch and it has the feel that it's only going to get better.
We take one last post dinner walk down to the river and reflect on the trip that was. Aside from being blown away by the natural beauty of everywhere we've been, we've also been impressed by how much of the Maori culture and language is incorporated into every day life here. And also just how friendly people are. Even more so than in Australia and it just feels like they want people to feel happy and safe. Good vibes all round.
We head back to the motel to pack and sleep, ready for our 3am wake-up and flight home. Thanks for having us, New Zealand. The pleasure was definitely all ours.
