New Zealand: part 7/7 - fifty shades of blue

 27/02/2020 

We're off towards lake Pukaki following the coastal route. Anna really wanted to see these "bollekes": the Mouraki boulders. Sea erosion reveals these spherical rocks of mud, pebbles and sediments created about 55 millions of years ago. It fashions a beautiful scene and once more reveals some of nature's wonders.

They are pretty serious about their boulders!

A turtle with her egg. 

And it's time to move on. 

It's once more an impressive drive along many dams. We visit the Aviemore hydro station. 

Before arriving at lake Pukaki, we had a glimpse of the incredibly blue water of lake Ruataniwka at Twizel.

Canals were dug all around the MacKenzie basin diverting water to generate hydroelectricity. Farming activities and fires have changed the landscapes drastically and the blue water contrasts in a magnificent yet compelling way with the yellow-dry landscape.

At lake Pukaki, we had a good view from the information centre. We also realised it's too far from our Airbnb at Fairly to come back here. We just haven't got enough time 😊😌 If you do plan a trip (post Covid), it's worth it to add another day I guess. 

This is what you can see when you hike up a little further, in a different season and with no wind 😮

We go on to lake Tekapo and add another "playground with a view" to our list. It seems to me there are always 3 kids enjoying the playgrounds 😆

On the edge of this lake, there's a cute little church: the Church of the good Shepard. 

So, the next picture shows our hiking area for tomorrow. 

First the incredible surprise of yet another awful Airbnb. It was the last place left under 300$/night! People have no shame in this country!

28/02/2020 We managed to make it work for us and are happily early on the road towards an epic walk on the less popular (but we can't see why!) Richmond Trail. 

The bakery at Fairly has good coffee and hot chocolate with marshmallows for the girls 😍

We started from the Campstream hut trail as the road is closed from here.

We've seen sooooooo many different blues during all our ocean crossings, discovery of remote islands, exploration of mountain lakes and rivers, but the blue in contrast to this dramatic landscape just takes our breath away (the strong wind also a little bit 😂). We really don't know where to look first!

And then it's 3 km straight up!

And amongst the 2540 pictures for this post alone, it's again so hard to chose...

At the beginning of the trail we head downstream for a while and have a pic-nic at the end of the world!

The girls thought they walked "enough" for now and so we decided to head down and promised them a swim. They would have been happy to swim in the lake, but mum and dad were also quite tired from all the hiking and we believed we deserved a few hours of soaking in the Tekapo hot springs 😳

29/02/2020 We're off towards the coast again and our last and final stop in New Zealand: Christchurch.

The last Airbnb we stayed in is so cosy, that we decide to just stay in the house all day 😅

There's some homework to catch up on and I found a 1000 piece puzzle, I'm determined to finish in 24 hours 😏

01/03/2020 The visit of Christchurch was better than I imagined. Skipped by many it's a trendy city with plenty of history. Lot's of traces still from the 2010 earthquake. 

Heavily damaged Christchurch Cathedral. 

"Everything is going to be alright" 😍

Canterbury college:

Wonderful college grounds, with beautiful gardens and a surprise demonstration of the acoustics. 

Good lunch, great visit and more time to chill before heading back to Brisbane. And we finished the puzzle 1 minute before really really really having to go to the airport!

See you very soon in Tasmania!