New Zealand: Lake Tekapo

Because of our schedule changes to work around bad weather, we ended up with extra hours on the bus pass. So, we took a joy ride to Lake Tekapo from Christchurch, especially to catch the lupines flowering this time of the year.

While I was super happy to see the lupines, they are featured in all the promo photos, I was disappointed to learn that they are considered invasive.Lupines really seem to thrive in the area. What a shame!

We did have time to walk to the top of Mount John with a 360-degree view of snow capped mountains in the distance.

Scenic bus ride southwest to Tekapo.


When you see snow-capped mountains you know you're getting close.




Tekapo is a small town, built to serve tourists. It's right on the shores of Lake Tekapo, and the Mt John Track starts at the bus stop (more or less). And check out the purple, red, and white lupines. Not to mention the yellow and orange California poppies.










After a quick lunch by the lake, it's up, up, up to the summit of Mt John.




Wow! Great views to Lake Tekapo, the mountains, and the local observatories. Tekapo is an "International Dark Sky Reserve".










More Lupines.








The bus ride back to Christchurch.

New Zealand: Arthur's Pass

From Fox Glacier, we continued to Greymouth Railway Station where we met a waiting minibus for the ride east through the Arthur's Pass to Christchurch. We originally had plans to stay in Arthur's Pass to do some hiking. Bad weather killed that plan too. Arthur's Pass is not actually not that high 920 masl, but it divides the east and west coasts. The weather and flora changed visibly from wet to dry.

We managed to walk to two waterfalls during the Arthur's Pass stop. The highlight however is seeing the kea parrots at long last, though habituated, but not in captivity. Keas are the world's only alpine parrots, and known to be very smart. They know it too. The two we saw just hanging around the road as if they owned the place.

Let's get right to the Kea parrot video (1st below) and photos (2nd and 3rd).






The coastal scenery from Fox Glacier to Greymouth was amazing, and the timing of the bus "lunch break" allowed us to eat our picnic lunch on the beach in Hokitika.














Hokitika is a neat little town. It's right on the coast and has an old art deco cinema hall, a beautiful river estuary, and a funky beach.
















At Greymouth Station, the western terminus of the TranzAlpine New Zealand train route, we changed buses and headed east to Arthur's Pass, and then to Christchurch.










On the way from Greymouth to Arthur's Pass there is a place in the highway where the train tracks go right through the middle of a roundabout. What?!


Although there was some rain en route, Arthur's Pass was cloudy but dry, and we walked to a couple of waterfalls. Second below is a photo of the mountain pass. Not so impressive, but important as New Zealand's main lower route across the Southern Alps.












From Arthur's Pass, the road goes through mountain valleys, glacier fed rivers; then across the irrigated agricultural areas of the Canterbury Plains with seed production, lavender fields, cow pastures, sheep farms, and dairy operations, before reaching Christchurch.