Lake Tekapo

 The McMahon's are on the move - we have started our Southern Alps adventure. The itinerary is Lake Tekapo --> Queenstown --> Te Anua/Milford Sound -->Wanaka --> Mt. Cook (see map below). Jay finished his lecturing responsibilities last week, so now we can take longer trips and he can work from the road. The kids are still going to have school this week; I'm a little worried how that will go while we're traveling. 

Lake Tekapo

We left Friday, October 20th from CHCH and drove three hours to Lake Tekapo. Once we got situated at our Airbnb, we walked down to the lake for some exploring and breathtaking views! Lake Tekapo is known for its dark sky and stargazing, and we had reservations to float in the hot springs and watch the stars that night. Unfortunately, there was going to be 85% cloud cover, so viewing wasn't going to be great. We canceled that reservations and decided we'd just walk down to the beach late night to check out the stars over the lake for ourselves.  The other thing Lake Tekapo is known for is the Mount John Observatory that's run by the University of Canterbury (where Jay's teaching). 

Walkway over bridge to Lake Tekapo 

clouds sitting in mt. saddle

Who is this *almost* teenager?

Lots of fun climbing rocks in Lake Tekapo

I'm coming for you brother! 

Stargazing

At 10:00pm we trekked back down to the lake to layout and watch the night sky. Loaded with blankets, hats and gloves, and headlamps, we found ourselves a nice spot in the grass next to the lake where we snuggled up on a "bed" made of our Turkish towels and a fleece blanket we brought from the airbnb. There was a quarter moon, which made it a little too bright to see lots of stars. The cloud coverage wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; the clouds were mostly high and wispy. It was really the moon that was reflecting off the clouds which made it too bright.  I actually think the stars we saw in Pagosa Springs this past summer were better. (Shout out to Colorado :)) You really have to time the star viewing at Tekapo with the moon and weather, which makes it tough! Jay did manage to get this photo...

Stars over Lake Tekapo

Mount John Walkway Hike and Observatory

On Saturday morning, we packed up and drove a very short distance to the trail head at the lake to hike up to the observatory. The hike is about 1,000 vertical feet over 1.5 miles. It started exposed near the lake, but then turned into a beautiful hike that switched back through forest with glimpses of the turquoise, blue lake below. At the top there is a cafe, The Astro Cafe, where we got brunch and enjoyed the 360 degree mountain views. 

Beginning of hike, up a gravel road

peeking down at lake

Into the forest we go! 

The cutest hikers in Tekapo

These trees!
They seem like a hybrid of weeping willows and pine trees 

Final uphill to the top! 

Hello Mountain view! 

A picture that needs no caption

Pano view from the top

Cheeeeeeese

telescope time 

Is this for real?!

Selfie from the top

Is this cute, mom?

   

  

The Astro Cafe

Finn's drink from the cafe with the rings of Saturn - it's a "fluffy." Hot milk with marshmallows


Another great park with an awesome Flying Fox on the Lake!