Since Unc reached us a day late, we had to combine the first two days of our road trip into one. That meant it would be a full, busy day, but doable. We left Christchurch and headed south, stopping at another famous pie shop in Fairlie for a mid-morning snack. Then, we continued on to Lake Tekapo, where I went on the Physsoc trip at the end of my break. The water there is such a bright, clear blue color that it is not to be missed, and it was along the way, so we could stop there without losing too much time. The Church of the Good Shepherd is a picturesque stone church right next to the lake, so we stopped to take a few photos before continuing on.
We kept driving towards Wanaka, passing by Lake Pukaki and about four different rainbows. Once we got to Wanaka we drove through the town and went to Roys Peak, a day hike that I’d heard has one of the best views in the South Island. It was supposed to take about six hours to go up and down, and we only had about four until the sun was setting, so we walked quickly. It was very steep at first, but the middle was not as bad. There were several sheep and cows along the way as well. As we got nearer to the top, it got muddier and then we reached the area where there was snow on the ground. It also started to get cloudier around the top of the mountain, so for a bit the beautiful view was hidden.
As we got nearer to the lookout point at the top, we thought the view wouldn’t get any better because of the clouds, so we stopped to take pictures while we could. But, just as we turned around, the clouds started to part and a perfect opening was created so we could see Lake Wanaka, the town, and the surrounding mountains. It definitely was one of my favorite views I’ve seen here and I was so glad we did this hike.
Mom, Dad, and Lindsey decided to head back down from this point, but since we were only about a half hour walk from the lookout point, I wanted to finish the hike so Unc and I continued on. We got up to the top and the sun was just starting to set, so that combined with the hazy clouds around us made the view amazing. We quickly started back down so we wouldn’t have to walk in the dark too long. We ended up getting back down to the car park in about four and a half hours, so we made good time on this hike. We all stood out and admired the stars for a couple minutes (you can see so many more here than back in the US) and then drove the last distance to Queenstown, where we were staying the night.
Hammond Adventures 