We gassed up and headed inland. The drive to Lake Tekapo was gorgeous and even though it was a bit cloudy, the lake was still beautiful. I didn't expect this area to be established but it sure was with shops, lodges, and homes. We stopped and took pictures at a little lookout then went further down the road to the Good Shepherds Church. The church, with a pretty, rock exterior, looked out over the lake. This church and this scene is a popular photography spot. It was windy here and there were a lot of people around but we got some good pictures out of it. We left after awhile and drove towards Lake Pukaki, another thin long lake that leads up to Mount Cook. The drive around the southern part of it was beautiful. The lake was an intense bright blue color and there were green and yellow shrubs around it.
On our drive to Mt Cook, we stopped at a pretty lavender farm for a few moments. The drive along the length of Lake Pukaki was incredible. The mountains were unreal but up ahead in the valley towards what I thought to believe where Mt Cook was, were thick low lying clouds. We kept driving towards them and sure enough, we weren't able to see the mountain. I have been wanting to see it my whole trip and was also hoping to do one of the day hikes also. Mt Cook is New Zealand's tallest peak at 3,724 meters. It's a treacherous mountain that people have lost their lives on and few have summited. It was foggy, cloudy and heavily raining when we went into the visitors center. I was keen to stick around for awhile to see if the weather was going to change so we could see the mount but of course the girls weren't. We carried on back down the road.
We visited the clay cliffs which were on private property so we paid a small fee. At the end of a bumpy gravel rode, there stood a section of huge cliffs, carved out by wind and rain for years. We took pictures, had a snack and left. As we began driving through the Lindis Pass, there were beautiful purple and pink lupine fields on both sides of the road. We stopped for pictures and continued on. The pass was pretty but not what I excepted. The mountains were covered by small light colored shrubs, almost like we were going through the desert. Out of the pass and an hour further, we made it to Wanaka. We found a holiday park, had a quick dinner and went down to the lake. The two others hadn't seen the "Wanaka Tree" yet so we walked down to check it out. We sipped on wine back at the campground and went to bed after a bit.
