Tekapo! Tekapo! Tekapo!

The most visited place during our road trip got to be Lake Tekapo.

Remember? The day before, we put up a night there, right? In fact, our initial plan was to drive straight to either Ashburton, or Christchurch. So when we passed by Lake Tekapo for the first time in the late afternoon, we stopped by to have a wee picnic and photoshooting session.
After which, we packed up and hit the road again, only to realise it was sort if late and we won't be able to make it to Christchurch before midnight.

So we made a U turn back to L. Tekapo, and checked into the nice little motel-backpackers inn. So that was hte 2nd time we stopped by L. Tekapo.

Fast forward to current day. Some background info, from Queenstown to Tekapo, we passed by Twizel, where we bought the fresh salmon; then we passed by the junction to Mt Cook, N.Z. highest mountain. I asked my two companion if we should pay a visit to Mt Cook, but they decided against it, as the plan then was to make it at least to Ashburton, if not Christchurch. Beside, 'it's just another mountain which happens to be the very tall,' qouted from Koo.

So guess what happened after a night sleep? The two decided that afterall, the mountain is the tallest one in N.Z., and had always been highly recommended! *rolling eyes* Some mind-flicking kids! But I was pleased at the decision nonetheless.

So we turned back from where we came from, heading Mt Cook, which was some 1 hr driving distance away.

The sky was getting cloudier as we came closer to Mt Cook region. When the tip of the peak first came into our sight, we couldn't stop screaming like crazy fans meet their idol. It was all spectacular and awe-inspiring.

it was like we were driving into the middle earth!

misty clouds drifting around the mountaineous terrain

We never regreted making all the way back to visit Mt Cook. It was all worth-while. We didn't go on the trekking tour as it would take at least half day and we weren't prepared to do that, plus we were broke. Simply by gazing out at the Mountain range from the bottom of Mt Cook was intriguing enough.

morning dews

See the mountain with 2 peaks on right hand side? That's Mt Cook. It was so cloudy most of the times the peaks were covered by thick clouds. It only cleared up once when Koo had gone to the washroom! Muahahaha!!

We had a casual and relaxing lunch and said sayonara to Mt Cook.

Little did we know the view of Mt Cook got better as we moved further away. We made several pit stops to take shots of Mt Cook from different perspective.

WAAAAAA!!!!

yeah! been there, seen that!

layers of landscape textures

And guess what? Here we are at Tekapo AGAIN! We stopped by AGAIN to have some wine picnic. And because yd wanted to take the perfect shot of Good Sheperd Church, but every times there were bunch of tourists and vehicles around it.

cheese, crackers, and dessert wine for picnic, wanna join us?

p.s. Something happened after the picnic and scared the living hell out of me! I must have had a little to much and got a little too tipsy that when we packed up and left Tekapo once again, I left my bag at our little picnic site, and didn't realise until 15 min later down the road. So we made a U turn back to Tekapo one last time to look for my missing bag. I was praying frantically to let me find my bag because though as much as I love NZ, I hadn't prepared to become an illegal immigrant in the country!

Thank God we had chosen a pretty secluded picnic spot. My bag was exactly where I left when we got back. Phew!!!