Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo

Last week Dave and I spent three days on a little trip. We drove 1.5 hours north along the coast, then turned inland at the Waitaki River. The 1.5 hour drive west to Twizel was absolutely beautiful, a river valley with mountains in the distance. We stayed in Twizel, and on the second drove north toward Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand (3,724 metres, 12,218 feet). Just outside of Twizel is an amazing view of Mount Cook with Lake Pukaki in the foreground. Here are a batch of photos of Mount Cook, beginning with that view across the lake. When we got up to Mount Cook Village, there was snow on the ground, so you'll see one shot with a snowman in the foreground, which we did NOT build!



Here are a few other shots of the mountains on the way up and back that we liked: 








We drove back toward Twizel, and right before we got to the town, we turned northeast toward Lake Tekapo which is renowned for a little church on its banks called the Church of the Good Shepherd. The view from inside the church is amazing. It's tiny, but a popular site for weddings. I wondered how a whole extended family could pack inside that tiny place. After visiting the church we went up a tall hill to a cafe next to an observatory, and you'll see a couple of shots from up there.







2 comments:

Kimberlee Conway Ireton said...

Lynne, My goodness! New Zealand is so beautiful!

Have you read Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge? A large part of it takes place in New Zealand; toward the end, one of the characters ends up on the far coast of the North Island (about as far from Wellington as you can get, I expect) and finds a Maori village there, along with a Catholic priest and a little stone church perched right on the edge of the sea. I imagined it looking very like the church in these photos.

Nazli Rizk said...

Beautiful photos! Prayers that your time in New Zealand is relaxing & refreshing....as you meet old friends I had written you an earlier message, but it dosappearedj.... Blessings to you Lynne & Dave