The Final Leg, Sort Of [5/23-5/25]

The "old" church at Lake Tekapo

From Queenstown we headed along the west coast of the south island towards Mt. Cook.  It took a bit longer than it should have, though... apparently GPS has a funny idea of how roads work.  We told it we didn't mind a bit of unpaved road to save some distance, and it gave us about 30km of unpaved, 1.5 lane road through the mountains.  I guess it technically saved us a bit of distance, but probably took almost twice as long as it would have to just stick to the highway.  Oh well.  We attempted to stop by an observatory in the area, but it was closed to vehicles at this time of year, and we were all worn down enough that we didn't feel like walking to the top.  On top of that (no pun intended), the weather around Mt. Cook meant it wasn't worth the drive out there; it was cloudy enough that there wouldn't have been any view at all.  We decided to cut our losses and just head on to our lodging for the night, an old shepherd's hut along Lake Tekapo that had been converted into a guest house.  It wasn't fancy but it had everything we needed (minus the internet... surprise!), although the bathroom and shower were in a separate building.

12th Man representing at Lake Tekapo... Go Hawks!

Once we got settled in there, SIL attempted to rest up, and the bro and I headed in to "explore" the town.  There actually isn't much there, other than an old--though not as old as it looks--church, a bunch of vacation homes, and a small downtown area with a few small shops and restaurants.  After a few pictures along the lake we grabbed a quick dinner (overpriced, as always) and some wine, then headed back to the cabin.  I sorted through my pictures from the last couple days, sewed up a tear in my pants (mostly successfully, although I had to go back and do part of it again later), and then we broke out the wine and played cribbage until it was time for bed, with each of us managing to win a game.

The view from our shepherd's shack

The weather around Mt. Cook is a fickle thing, and decided to disagree with us the next morning as well.  Rather than waiting around in hopes that it would clear up, we decided to just head back to Timaru and rest up.  A quick trip to the grocery store for some dinner, and the library for some movies, and we were set.  I also managed to get in some laundry, which turned out to be the only time I did it on the trip... success!  Although it did mean I was kind of gross for a couple days, so... semi-success, I guess.  Went to bed early that night, and then got up early the next morning so the bro could drive me up to Christchurch for my flight to Auckland.

View from the room at the bro & SIL's house in Timaru.  It's alright, I guess.