Another fine, sunny and calm day. Wow! We know it can blow like mad here as weve been in Tekapo a couple of times before in strong winds, so its not always faultless.
As always, we stopped at the bottom of Lake Pukaki to admire the view up the lake to the Alps beyond. They clear apart from a few clouds sitting on the back of the Alps on the West Coast side. The view was yet again, absolutely stunning. Mt Cook and other mountains alongside were snow covered and there was the layering of mountains in the front that you get when the sun sits in the North East.
After the dam at the bottom of the lake, we wound our way up hill and onto the plateau of the MacKenzie Basin which stretched far into the distance. What used to be just tussock coloured is now sprinkled with vivid green where irrigation has been introduced and other grasses and crops are planted.
Our first destination was the Mt John Observatory Hill to visit the Astro Cafe. Ngai Tahu now run the Night Sky Tours and charge $8 to drive up the road to the
cafe. This is to help with the maintenance of the road which is steep and winding. The view at Mt John has to be one of the best in the country and the cafe HAS to have the best view of any cafe in NZ. It looks out over the MacKenzie Basin, over glacial moraines, over lakes Tekapo and Alexandrina, and to the Alps as a backdrop. There was no coffee today for some reason or other but tea and other drinks were available.
There was a strange man at Mt John putting up two things that looked like fishing lines. I couldnt resist and asked him what he was doing. He was doing Ham Radio Like geocaching except the challenges were connecting to other radios in the world. He was pleased that I asked him.
Our next stop was lunch in the town and then a walk down to the lake and along the lakeshore. A new foot bridge has been built over the river which is a huge improvement. A new hotel or apartments have been built in front of the main street shops and it appears that most buildings on the main street have
The huge sheep stations around the Mackenzie could not have worked efficiently without the aid of these collie dogs
been given an update. The timing cannot be good especially since there are few tourists about. Landscaping has been done around the little church and there is a lot more parking about. Despite that, there still seems to be little in the way of general shops for the locals. The focus is still purely on tourism .There is a building boom happening above the town with many suburban type houses built and a new development happening above the camping grounds. But it is not reflected in the numbers of people so like other beautiful places, it is full of holiday houses. I guess with the Governments announcements this week to hit those owning multiple homes, a few people here could get double bitten. I always thought this town would another Wanaka, but its lacking something. Its hard to see what it is because its very attractive but its still flagging despite all the building. I need to visit again in 5 years to see whats happened.
So, back to Twizel, which despite its lack of fantastic lake views, does have great facilities and a good feel. We went to a pub across from the Mall and ended up having a long conversation with a couple of oldies from Cromwell. They had been farmers in Southland, then business owners in Arrowtown, and now their retirement in Cromwell which they like a lot. Its always good to chat with locals and get a feel for a place.
