Day 2 – Rakaia Gorge and Lake Tekapo
After a leisurely breakfast, we decamped from Christchurch and took the inland scenic route towards Lake Tekapo and our final destination of Glentanner. This was a reasonable drive, but we broke it up with a stop off at Rakaia Gorge to hike part of the walk trail beside it.
The gorge is an impressive landform, and the river through it is a brilliant cloudy blue colour. The section of trail we hiked was a fine time, and we finished at an impressive scenic lookout.
Following this, we jumped back in the car and headed towards Geraldine. The weather during this drive was foggy and heavily overcast, obscuring any view of the nearby Mount Hutt and other features. We were actually feeling a little bummed out at the prospect of bad weather around Lake Tekapo. Then as we drove up through Burkes Pass, the clouds parted and the sun shone.
We honestly couldn’t have asked for a better dramatic reveal of the taller range of mountains around Mount Cook (Aoraki). We oooh’d and aaah’d all the way to Lake Tekapo.
We gawked at the lake, skipped stones, and then went to relax at the local heated pool. Niiiice.
Afterwards, we found an early dinner of burgers before heading back down to the lake to enjoy the golden hour.
Finally, it was time to head to our accommodation up at Glentanner. We organised ourselves for a very early start: we’ll be up at dawn tomorrow for a flight to a glacier near Mount Cook.