Lake Tekapo and Dunedin

Feb15, after saying goodbye to Robby and Ryan, we drove ~3hrs north to Lake Tekapo and checked in at a hotel about a block from the water. The lakes in this region are an unusual color due to the water being mostly glacial runoff.

The ‘Church Of The Good Shepherd’ was built on the shore of Lake Tekapo as an ‘interdenominational Christian place of worship’. While I’m not really sure what ‘interdenominational’ means, it is a lovely setting.

The next day we took a drive to Aoraki National Park. Aoraki is the Maori name for Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ. We did the ‘Hooker Lake Track’ hike, about 6.8 miles, round trip, through lovely scenery.

The park Visitor Center was amazing! Great displays about the geology and formation of the area, lakes and mountains. There were interesting stories about the people who settled the area, including Sir Edmund Hillary, a Kiwi, who was the first person to scale Mt Everest. He trained in the area and Mt Cook was one of his early climbs.

The next day we headed south east for Dunedin. Since it was a long drive, we stopped for lunch at a beach in Oamaru where Blue Penguins can sometimes be seen. We saw some sea lions and a number of gulls and cormorants, but no Blue Penguins.

After a nice drive through many farms and some along the coast, we arrived in Dunedin. The city was settled mostly by Scotts, beginning in 1848, and ‘Dunedin’ is ‘Edinburgh’ in Celtic. It is the second most populated city in the South Island and at one time was the most populated and richest city in all of NZ.

In the 1860s, gold was found near Dunedin. The population swelled and the region became wealthy. In the late 1860s and through the 1870s growth continued, the area industrialized and became a banking center as well. The first shipment of frozen meat from NZ to England was from Dunedin in 1881.

The railroad station was built in 1906 and is one of the city’s best known buildings.

The city center has some nice walking areas with many shops, bars and cafes. We were there during the university ‘orientation week’ with all the students returning after summer break. The place was very busy from early evening, into the night.

We had a very nice morning walking around in the Dunedin Botanical Garden. It has many ‘heritage trees’ like this enormous Beech tree. Many of the trees and flowers were labeled and the area was very well maintained.

The pic above was an area they called ‘painting with flowers’. Each plant was well chosen for the color (flower and foliage) it presents. Walking the gardens, or just going to sit and relax, is a great way to spend some time. And they are free and open to the public every day.

The next post will cover our evening watching Blue Penguins come home for the night, and our tour of Lanarch Castle.