Lake Tekapo and Timaru

 February 17th

Determined I was, to wake early to see the sunrise. Last night the cloud kept away and we had the most amazing stargazing experience. I was determined then to wake early to see the sunrise with Mount Cook bathed in a wonderful red glow. I was up by 6 am, door open and camera ready. Ian, bless him, not a complaint from him about letting in the cold air. I waited for an hour. A soft light appeared and a small cloud hoovered mid-point. It was magical but not what I had waited for. 7 am and a hint of red in the sky. I was to be disappointed because no deep red to make the mountain look on fire.

 Timaru, that was the destination for today. The van was due its warrant of fitness (MOT) and a garage was found at the town doing nothing but these tests. 

 A good 150 k drive was in front of us, and taking the SH8 from Lake Pukaki, the first place to arrived at was Lake Tekapo. 

 On route was more fabulous views and the Central South Island Charity cycle ride was also in progress. None of them held us up, in fact it all seemed very well organised with roughly 20 riders in 4 groups.

 

 

At Lake Tekapo here we stopped for a spot of retail therapy and to see if I could find earrings to replace those I lost.  Nearly, but not quite, the same ones found, still in the shape of the 'hook', these will do nicely

 

Three T Shirts were also purchased all for Ian.  A deal was on, buy three and get the fourth free. That fourth T Shirt was going to be mine, Ian didn't have the chance to choose another, I was already clutching  the one I liked in my hand!

This was the back of the loo in Tekapo. So much nicer than a boring grey building.

Outside the souvenir shop. Moa, Marino sheep and Kiwi.

 

Lunch was had beside the lake. A statue of a Collie dog with this inscription below it, stood proud overlooking the water.

I took this excerpt from History of Lake Tekapo

In 1855 James Mackenzie, a Scottish shepherd turned sheep stealer discovered the basin that now bears his name when he, with the help of his dog Friday, drove flocks of sheep inland to avoid being discovered.
Authorities were finally able to capture Mackenzie, but struggled to take control of the sheep due to his highly intelligent dog. It is alleged Friday continued to drive the sheep without his master's control until finally being disabled by the authorities.
A bronze memorial to working collie dogs, such as Friday, was commissioned in 1968 by local farmers and now stands on the shores of Lake Tekapo near the Church of the Good Shepherd.

 

Someone had been busy creating stone columns

Just love the colour.

We decided to take a different route to Timaru, veered off the SH8 and onto the Pareora Gorge road. Not much climbing to do and a bit windy, we have seen better gorges, still it made a nice change from miles upon miles of straight road.

As we neared our destination in the distance a huge plume of smoke could be seen. I wondered if this was a vegetation fire. To date I can find out nothing about it.

As soon as we arrived in Timaru we looked for that testing centre. We found it easily enough and joined the queue of 5 other vehicles to await our turn. Gosh, it all went remarkably smoothly and within 15 minutes the test was done, the Toy passed with flying colours and we were on our way to find somewhere to park for the night

The chosen area in Timaru was Caroline Bay. A car park near to the beach but it is also very near to the port. Here a huge container ship was being loaded. It's very noisy and not long after arrival we thought an explosion had occurred. The noise was deafening and everyone seemed to drop as if waiting for fall out. Turns out one of the cranes had dropped a container, by God it was loud. Hope nothing breakable was inside!

 So I expect tomorrow morning's post will be me bemoaning about staying here. Unfortunately there is nowhere we can freedom camp nearby so its 'put up or shut up'!