Pictures from the South Island

We recently did a ten day road trip on the Mainland, down the east coast and back up the west coast. These are a fairly random selection of images, roughly in chronological order.

The first day we took the ferry across to Picton and followed the coast down to Christchurch. En route there were some stunning views of the Kaikouras. These are the same mountains seen from Wellington in the previous post.

We spent Fathers’ Day in Christchurch. Jenny and Sam are both overseas but they sent me home made cards and greetings electronically. I’ve recently discovered beer from a Christchurch brewery called Cassels and we went there for brunch with Denise, Janie and Gary. Both food and beer were excellent.

Continuing southwards to Tekapo we took the inland route to Geraldine where there was a fine display of daffodils.

Tekapo is a small town at the southern end of an alpine lake of the same name.

The main reason for going there was to see the night sky from the Mt. John observatory. The area is part of the world’s largest international dark sky reserve. The first night we were there was not good for seeing stars – there was heavy rain and no visible sky. The next day dawned brighter – this was the view from our motel.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is on the shore of the lake. It was built in 1935 as the first church in the area.

The area is known as Mackenzie country after the nineteenth century character James Mackenzie who is credited with opening up the area to European exploration. This is a monument to his dog.

We had lunch at the café on Mount John. There are about half a dozen telescopes sitting protected in their domes.

A kind old couple took our photo.

We came back that night and it was a magnificent display. The broad arc of the Milky Way was the centre piece. The Magellanic Clouds were visible as was Saturn (and it’s rings through a telescope). Words can't describe the wonder of the heavens. We had 90 minutes of star gazing with two very knowledgeable guides. The organisation we went with took a photo of the group – we had to sit still for 30 seconds while they played red light over us. 

The next day we headed south to Dunedin. We stopped for lunch at Fleur’s Place in Moeraki (where the boulders are).  

The experience lived up to the establishment’s reputation.

Stay tuned for fun and games on the West Coast ...