So we began our road trip on Saturday the 3rd, later than originally expected (I really hate packing). Our original plan was to drive all the way to Wanaka as a stopping point before Queenstown. However, with our late start and a few stops here and there, we arrived at Lake Tekapo around 6ish and figured it was a good first stop. Lake Tekapo was carved out by a glacier and because of the sediments, has a milky color, which is reflected by the sky and creates the most beautiful shade of turquoise. Can you tell I'm smitten with the lake? So we had a lovely dinner of cheese, salami, bread, and cucumber, which would later become the usual, before we went to the only bar in town. Turns out, we were practically the only young people there. Most people were over 50 but they had incredible live 80s music. Pretty entertaining.
Meet Bluebird, our beloved car
That night we slept in our car (Bluebird) right on the lake and we were so lucky to have it instead of a tent. It poured and hailed that night and I had an irrational fear that the lake was going to overflow. However, we awoke Easter morning to a fairly nice day and started off with a delicious breakfast of eggs on toast with bacon. Then we stopped off at the tiny stone church to barely look inside and "go to church for easter". After more gawking at the lake, we hit the road.
Pretty blue water makes me happy!
It didn't take long for our second stop. I saw a sign that said free food- 1 meter. Free and Food may be my favorite words as a college student. Turns out because so many people drive long distances in New Zealand, they have driver revivers. This one was by the State Insurance and we got free Coffee, Sausages, Cookies, Water, and an Apple. It was fairly exciting. Elyse also was super stoked because the Burt Munroe Motorcycle was parked behind someones car and she got to sit in it. Apparently it's a really famous story, I think the movie is called the Fastest Indian.
I swear I spend half of this blog talking about food.
After that short stop, we made one more in Twizel. We didn't really get out of the car, but we did look out over Pelenor fields (the battle in the 3rd LOTR outside of Gondor). We then came into Wanaka just before sunset. Wanaka is also incredibly gorgeous as a lake town. We enjoyed wandering around the craft fair before snacking on the beach watching the sun set behind the mountains. Wanaka was also used in LOTR for when Gandalf is riding the Eagle away from Orthanc. Overall, a perfect way to end the day. Then we found a "gourmet burger" place for our easter dinner. I originally thought it was pretty good, but that was before Fergburger (more to come on that). We planned out a general idea for the rest of our trip before retiring to the car.
However, our night's sleep got cut short. I heard Elyse say "Oh no" as I rolled over to see a light shine into our car. Turns out the parking lot that said no camping had slowly emptied throughout the night. We were now the only car and the bright light was the security guard saying the cops were right behind him and we should leave before we got fined. I drove at 4 in the morning out of town to sleep on the highway area and will from now on have a big fear about being woken up while sleeping in cars.
Beautiful Wanaka
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