Stargazing

Sunday 26th February

Now at Lake Tekapo and horror upon horror there is no wi-fi in our holiday home!  Thus there may be a delay in blogging.

Actually there is not too much to relay as we recover from the exertions of the previous days.  We were feeling rather good about our latest walk only to receive a WhatsApp from L1 to say he had run up the 2200 steps and gone further up!!!  Not the way to keep on the right side of your parents!!!

Our last evening at Mount Cook was spent at 'The Old Mountaineer's Café' which served good grub (salmon for OF1 and steak for me) as we watched the mountains change from orange to pink as the sun set.  They could have served up gruel and charged a king's ransom for the view alone.

Next morning we packed up again and drove past a film set where Reece Witherspoon and Opra Winfrey are making 'a wrinkle in time'.  Go and watch it and if you see a white Toyota in the background - that's us!  Our first stop was Twizel - we went round a couple of times - to stock up on petrol and cash.  It has a small parade of shops which included three coffee shops and a general stores.  The latter was quite remarkable as it contained everything you could have thought of and a lot more that you would never think of.  I was grazing when I saw a shelf and a box with 'Carcassone' on it...... then two versions of 'Ticket to Ride' and then all the other board games that we recognised from the Loughborough emporium.  Jake's Stores was a goldmine and we bought a small game with a Hobbit theme - we are in Hobbit Land anyway.

We then meandered to Lake Tekapo which is a small touristy village but with lovely views of the mountains.  On our itinerary this is labeled 'r and r' so that is what we are planning.  After a picnic by the lake we drove to the top of Mount John which is a sizeable hill and home to the university observatory.  Amongst the telescope buildings there is the Astro Café which has the most stupendous views.  We supped our beverages and had great fun people watching - the Chinese tourists were great value as they take a picture every 10 seconds, then a selfie, then a silly selfie, then a video.  After they sit down there is another frenzy of photography as a million images of the coffee are taken.  Amazing.  However, we did catch a little of the bug.... see image below.

It was time to collect the keys to our holiday home which is not in our top three.  It is a newly built one bedroom semi but is soulless (all white, no pictures, etc.) and at the edge of a building site.  Still it is in walking distance of town and has good lake/mountain views. 

New Zealand TV is not great but this one had a basic sky box so we snuggled down and watched 'Allo Allo and then an ancient Prime Suspect. We would have gone for an early night except for the live band in the village with the bass turned up until gone 11.30pm!

Today we have made it as far as a coffee shop with wi-fi and caught up on the big news that Gillingham won yesterday!!  First time in 18 games I believe.  OF1 not so happy that the Welsh rugby team lost to Scotland for the first time in 10 years.

Planning on strolling in the sun, painting and general relaxing today.  TTFN