Day 116 - around and round the lake

Wild camp —-> Tekapo 25km

Waking up surrounded by nothing but the wild was unlike anything I’d experienced on trail so far. I pulled my sleeping bag outside and sat cooking breakfast in the fresh morning air staring at the mountains. Why had I never done this before!?

A light wind had blown all the moisture from my tent - a dream when a wet tent can usually add a couple of kilos onto my pack weight.

John and I set off once again through the tussock, the gorgeous blue water of Lake Tekapo flanking our right hand side.

The views of Mt Cook national park continued as we walked down towards the water’s edge.

By 10.15am we reached the road and prepared ourselves for a long gravel walk into Tekapo. For some reason both John and I thought we’d be coming down to a highway… but highway this was certainly not - not a single car passed us for two hours.

The road followed the lake, so at least the views were pleasant. We stopped for lunch by the side of the road with about 5km to go until we reached the town.

Just as I’d pulled my chair out a car approached, and eager to get into town, John stuck his thumb out - the driver wonderfully beckoned him in. It was Easter holidays and John hadn’t been able to get any accomodation in Tekapo, so he was staying in Twizel for the next couple of nights. Josh and I had booked an apartment in Tekapo a few weeks ago - very glad we had walked exactly to schedule to make the booking accurate. I waved goodbye to John, knowing I’d probably see him at Lake Ohau in a few days and munched on my lunch just as a few spots of rain started to come down.

I continued along the road until the trail turned off onto a footpath right alongside the lake and I followed it all the way into Tekapo and the church of the good shepherd. Josh and I had managed to coordinate wonderfully and his hitch was arriving at any moment.

We spent the evening very relaxed at our Airbnb in Tekapo, mainly eating as much food as I could. We had a few drinks at a very uninspiring bar/restaurant and then headed to a Japanese restaurant for a feed. Tekapo had grown significantly since I’d been there four years prior with my friends Lucy & Joe. It’s desire to open eateries and shops so quickly had clearly been at the detriment of any sort of culture or atmosphere - sure it was beautiful in Tekapo but I certainly wouldn’t be running back there in a hurry. It was snoozetown.