Visit UNESCO Dark Sky Reserve - Lake Tekapo and A Short Hike to Mt Cook, New Zealand

Have you ever visited a place that make you feel like you are in paradise? Even though you never been to paradise before? You actually have no idea about it but suddenly you see a place and you said to yourself: this place is the place I want to be. This is a good place to spend the rest of my life.

Last Easter weekend we took a vacation to one of the great corners of New Zealand that we had not explored to date - Lake Tekapo & Mt Cook National Park in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is a famous destination among tourists, however, both my partner and I hadn't been there.

On Thursday, April 1, we worked a short day and boarded a flight to Christchurch. We landed in the afternoon and with a rental car we headed to the house of my friend @clarahuynh where we spent our first night.

The next morning, we left for the Lake Tekapo village, 238 kilometers to the west. The rain started after we left Christchurch and continued till lunch time. Luckily, when we arrived to Lake Tekapo in the afternoon, I could see the sun came out. Although, there was a bit of wind on the lake shore. Thankfully, I am the girl of Windy Welly so it was all good.

After strolling a bit and visiting the picturesque church on the shore - The Church of the Good Shepherd - we spent the late afternoon in a complex of hot pools (but not thermals) to rest. My partner had a neck pain from the night before and together with driving for more than 3 hours, it got worse as he couldn't move his neck. So he decided to come back for a message section in the complex hot pool while I prepared dinner for both of us.

The hostel we stayed is called YHA and it was built 2 years ago. I consider it as the best backpacker that I've stayed. Everything is so new and clean. And with the beautiful view of the lake, it was a perfect option for us when visiting Lake Tekapo.

Tekapo is a famous destination for star gazing at night. This region is a reserve of darkness, that is, a designated place to minimize all night light pollution and appreciate the beauty of night sky. We were so lucky that the night was clear and we could see the whole Milky way.

At that time I was really into the Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey so the moment I saw the night sky, I felt like I am venturing on a voyage in the imagination spaceship with Neil deGrasse Tyson to explore the universe. That was so cool.

Unfortunately my IP 6s was not able to capture the magnificent beauty of the night sky so I featured an online photo that shows a similar view when I was there.

Photo Credit: Daniel Tran

On our second day, I was so excited to see the sunrise so I woke up around 5 am. I made myself a cup of coffee and enjoyed the first sunlight of the day. When my partner was up, we walked to the lake shore and I could see the beautiful mist rising off from the lake.

After taking a relaxing breakfast, we then drove just over 100 kilometers to Mount Cook National Park, also known by its Maori name: Aoraki. It was in April (autumn time in NZ) but I felt very cold up there. I didn't dress properly for the walk. So we chose an easy hike to the Hooker Valley, which crosses streams and skirts receding lakes and glaciers.

When we reached the end of the road overlooking Hooker Lake, a boy was beginning his swimming challenge in the glacial lagoon (with huge chunks of glacier floating in the middle of the lake). He apparently swam to the center of the lagoon and came back within 15 - 20 minutes. It was a brave thing to do as the water in the glacier lake was cold, around 1C - 3C degree at that time. I tried to put my hand in the water and immediately pulled it out.

Although the hike is not very demanding, I was cold and tired. And we had an hour of route ahead of us to return to our accommodation in the Lake Tekapo village. So we decided to go back and enjoy the time walking around Lake Tekapo for the sunset.

Our last day is dedicated to climb Mount John, crossing a pine forest to the top where there is a complex of observatories and a cafe with a whole view of the lake. That day began a front of very strong winds, although the day was still clear.

After that, we drove to another side of the lake to enjoy a coastal walk in the Lake Tekapo Reserve. We wanted to spend time relaxing near the lake but the strong winds made it impossible. We had a quick lunch inside the car and then on our way back to Christchurch.

Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook are beautiful and I would really like to live here. Perhaps, it can be a future plan for us in the long run. For now, I will definetly be back one day to see the lupine flowers. I think it will be amazing to stand among them and enjoy a good view of the lake.

Also, there is another thing about this place that I want to find out. There was a subtle smell from some plants or flowers that is very similar to cannabis smell. I don't know what it was but both my partner and I could smell it often when we walked along the shore.

I've had a hectic day at work. After finishing my day, I was really tired and my brain wanted to shut down. That's why I want to write this post. It helps me to relax and allows me to live in the beautiful memores of lake Tekapo and Mount Cook. Have a good rest of your day, my friends. Cheers, Dora.