South Island Day 3 : 26 March 2018
Cloudy, windy, 23•C
Up at 6:15am, walked along the west shore of Lake Tekapo in the dark and waited for the sunrise. It was quite cloudy with just a bit of blue sky on the eastern horizon, so I thought it might turn out nice. But it did not expect the light show that we got.
Wandered back to camp once the sky had stopped glowing and had some breakfast, then left at 9:30am, stopped at the new 4 Square for some supplies then got some diesel ( 45 litres, $60 ).
We headed west out of town and drove to Lake Pukaki ( slowly at times behind people looking at the view more than the road ) then turned off to Mt Cook. Headed to the DOC camp at White Horse Hill ( $13 per person per night, toilets, no showers, fresh water ), paid for 1 night then found a spot to park. The camp had room for about 60 campervans in the main camp area, and another 100 in the day park area.
We relaxed for a bit, had some lunch then walked to the Hermitage for a coffee and cake, and wifi ( $5 for 1 day, no data coverage at the camp ). Walked back to the camp at 4pm.
Had an early tea then left at 6pm for the 1 hour walk ( 5km each way ) up to Hooker Lake. It was windy the whole up but really windy at the lake itself. Watched / shot the nice sunset on Mt Cook and then walked back at 8pm ( in the dark ), back to camp at 9pm. Rested.
