Four weeks ago, we went on a trip to Milford Sound to usher the new year and celebrate our anniversary. We left home on 30th December and began our road trip to the south, away from shaky Christchurch. As usual, the journey through the Mackenzie country was nothing short of spectacular. We drove through a picture perfect highway with snow capped mountains in a distance and fields of sheep as far as the eye could see.
After a three hour drive, we finally stopped at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo. The little chapel, named after the Good Shepherd of the New Testament, was built by the European sheep farmers to commemorate the ‘good shepherds’ of pioneering days. Despite being my 4th visit to the chapel, I couldn’t resist taking lots and lots of photos. Let me just show you the decent ones plus the ones taken from the previous years.
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| Summer 2010 |
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| Winter 2011 |
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| Summer - December 2011 |
After half an hour of photo shoot, we continued our journey. We had planned to stay in a cabin next to Lake Tekapo but most of the motels were fully booked. The only ones left were the expensive suites. It didn’t really surprise me ‘cos summer is the most peak season in NZ and it was the school holiday. The fact that Peter Jackson was filming a movie at the site also made the area even more crowded. Have you heard of the Hobbit? That’s the movie they were filming.
We had a quick toilet break at Lake Tekapo town area before heading straight to Omarama. It was getting pretty dark when we left and the kids were already getting restless. I looked at my watch and was surprised to see that it was already 9.15 pm. As the sun set deeper into the valley, we could see a ray of light piercing through the clouds. It was a magnificent sight. Hubby pulled over to take pictures of the glorious sunset and the kids were absolutely wowed by the view.
After a brief moment of 'wow' and 'wahhh', we drove another 10 km before we finally reached Omarama, our pit stop for the day. It wasn't hard searching for our chosen accomodation, the Heritage Gateway Hotel. After checking-in and getting our luggage sorted, I quickly prepared dinner for everyone. The menu: instant food. Ready made lasagna for the kids and noodles with veggies and fish for the adults. After a satisfying dinner, everyone went to bed, exhausted. Well, everyone except me.
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| Sleepy Alden |
I don't know what got into me but I just couldn't sleep. I was probably too excited about the trip to Milford Sound. After tossing and turning in bed for an hour, I decided get up and watch 15 episodes of Pretty Little Liars. That's how I ended up sleeping on the couch.
There was more excitement the next day but I'll save that part for the next post :)
