Hikes and unique experiences in the heart of New Zealand: Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook

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You had to live it to understand it, but constant movement wore out bodies and minds. Settling somewhere for two days had become a luxury for us. For sedentary Westerners, living like this, without landmarks or ties, was a giant step out of the comfort zone. When we stayed a single day somewhere, we no longer even took the suitcase out of the boot, just the few things we needed, the toiletry bag and the dirty laundry bag. We had it down to a fine art.

Complete change of plan. We'd intended to leave early that morning, but the weather turned our plans upside down. We saw in the New Zealand weather service reports that rain was forecast for our days in the mountains. It had already happened to us on the North Island, so there was no way we were letting it happen again in the south. We rearranged everything and left around noon for the centre of the island and Lake Tekapo. It was sublime; no other word can describe it. Arriving there, we were bowled over by the shape of the place. A big, massive lake surrounded by forests and mountains that gave it the air of a fantasy Canada.

As the sun had just come out, we agreed on a hike to the summit. The first part was extremely steep and as usual we arrived at the top soaked, but it was really worth the effort. We had a panoramic view over the whole area as far as the eye could see. We took our quota of pictures with both the camera and the drone and came down the other side by a two-hour path. The slope was gentler on that side and we took our time, hiking and chatting.

At the bottom, the sun was still high and we reckoned we had about thirty minutes left to swim and wash. Thanks to the lake, the area was very touristy. When you laid eyes on this place, everything in you screamed "holiday" and urged you to stay forever. The downside was that accommodation was out of reach, at least for our budget, and we'd decided to sleep in the car. We'd done it dozens of nights in Australia; nothing stopped us doing it again here.