happylittlethings*: {New Zealand Aug 2012} Geraldine, Lake Tekapo

Two beautiful towns.
The views blew me away.

DAY 2
Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

The drive from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo was about 3 hours.
But with the many distractions along the way, we took longer than that.

We planned to drop by two towns before hitting Lake Tekapo.

Geraldine for Barker's jam.
(A dear friend and NZ-enthusiast, J, swears that they make the best jam she ever tasted and I MUST go.)

Fairlie for lunch.

I was still very new to New Zealand and didn't know what to expect from the towns.
What will the towns look like?

Once we drove into Geraldine, I fell in love with it.
It's so quaint. And... vintage-looking.
We passed a few shops before we reached Barker's and they all looked like the ones I see in my children's book.
I squealed.
The hubby shrugged.
I squealed again.

Well, the jam is yummy. :)

There is a bakery just beside the jam store (Barker's Bakery) and the hubby decided that since there was a Contiki tour there, the food should be quite good. Despite our plans and efforts to keep lunch cheap and simple (like sandwiches or pies), we ended up with these:

That's a lot for lunch, isn't it?
The staff at the Bakery are all so friendly.
In fact, I think the Kiwis are really hospitable.
I met the nicest customs officer at the airport.
And the girl who served me at KFC is such a gem.

I'm not used to long rides but the cool air and views made it a lot more bearable.

I couldn't keep my mouth shut throughout the entire drive because there was

SHEEP OVERLOAD!!

There were herds of sheep every other 500 metres we travelled.
(That's just my estimation. I'm bad with distance.)

No wonder the officer at the customs reacted the way she did.
She asked if we had a wishlist for NZ, anything we'd like to see or do.
I said sheep.
In disbelief, she said "Sheep?! That's all? I'm sure there's more!"
And I mumbled "But I really wanna see sheep. And stars"
It sounds silly as I am typing this out.
I hope she didn't hear me.

Hallo Sheep!!!!

We saw the lake almost as we were driving into Lake Tekapo.
Nice.

We stayed in Three Rivers Lodge.
Because it was very different from what I we imagined it to be (so sleek and modern!), we almost missed it.
Thank goodness we had a GPS. And my sharp eyesight at the most unexpected moment.

This is our room.
Isn't the view spectacular?

My jaws dropped both because of the fantastic view we have out of the window, and because the room is just. so. beautiful. The ceiling is high and has such lovely beams.
I wanted to jump onto the bed straight away.
The ensuite exceeded our expectations.
The heated floors, toiletries, tub and the shower with really good pressure added a lot of points to this accomodation.

And the hosts?
Simply wonderful.
We had plans to go to Tekapo Springs and Joanne lent us a towel each to bring along.

Let's look at the view again, shall we?
Ahhh....

I could stay in this room all day!

But we have to go out.
What's Lake Tekapo without a trip to the famous Church of the Good Shepherd, and the bronze sheepdog?

We didn't get awesome photos cuz it was cloudy.
But they are not too bad.
I'm glad I insisted on taking photographs even though the hubby was quite determined to take sunrise shots the next day. Because of the bad weather the next day, we didn't.

I'm glad I insisted on taking photographs even though the hubby was quite determined to take sunrise shots the next day. (Which we didn't due to the bad weather.)

Dinner was at Pepe's.
A half-and-half.
Hubby got his lamb, I got my salmon.
We were both pleased.

The sky was overcast that night.

No stars could be seen.

happylittlethings*

Doodles

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

{New Zealand Aug 2012} Geraldine, Lake Tekapo

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