We must have needed our sleep that first night, as it was almost impossible to get up. Mind you, that could have been because if we had sat up any higher than 30 degrees above the horizontal, we would have hit our heads on the ceiling. Yes, we had decided to take the above-cab 'attic' for our sleeping quarters.
That said, it was around 10:30 am by the time we got ourselves out to the kitchen area to cook a big breakfast and discuss our travel plans.
Yes, that's correct - we had landed in the country without a plan of what to do or where to go after picking up our campervan. Neat, eh?
We decided then on the route kindly worked out by Raf, whose partner is a kiwi and had some good suggestions for a round-South island adventure. Once we bundled up Bertha, it was off onto the main south highway to continue the adventure into the lakes district.
A quick detour was needed first. For one, I had to get used to driving the rig in traffic. Thank god they drive on the correct side of the road here and everything about the traffic is similar to home (except the highway merging lanes that simply disappear without notice). Secondly, since we had picked up the van just before closing time the night before, there were two issues that could only have been fixed by the mechanic who had by then, gone home. We returned to the hiring place to avail ourselves of his services. We were rather met with a gruff and rough grease monkey Dennis who perfunctorily told us that we were basically idiots for not knowing how to operate the bent arm of the table, or the non-functioning keyless entry on the van.
After Dennis' special brand of Kiwi welcome, it was off down south, tooling along with our NavWoman (no kiwi accent for her unfortunately). The highway down ran through some of the flattest country on earth for about 2 hours ... Then we saw it.
Looming in the distance was the first of the snow capped peaks we had been so looking forward to seeing up close. It was a grand sight. Towering above the plains, it rose like a beacon of crinkled white against the horizon, beckoning us to a land that was now to become completely unlike that which we had left.
Our destination was Lake Tekapo, a stunning aquamarine lake at the foot of the snowy alps. Mt Cook was somewhere nearby. We would only realise the true beauty of the place in the morning, as we arrived road weary to set up camp in the darkness. The drive was was stunning, winding through foothills and past rivers, one lane bridges, and numerous rest areas. One of these within cooee of the snow, we stopped for an inbuilt cafe. All we needed to do was park, go out back into the hotel room to boil the kettle, makes some sammiches and take them outside to munch and slurp in the brisk cold.
Once at the campsite we went for a bit of a wander before cooking dinner, down to the lakefront and the winter recreational centre known as the 'hot springs and spa'. Beautiful place, where you could ice skate, snow tube, or take a dip in outdoor hot springs overlooking the lake. Not cheap though - to do all 3 would have been $64 each. Did I mention it was about zero degrees at that point?
After a lovely meal cooked expertly by ed on the campervan stove top we retired for the night.
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