Posts Tagged ‘boat’

January 2nd, 2010 Photo Blog 013 – Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

Greetings friends and happy new year to you all!

I have just returned home from a 3 week trip to New Zealand where Sonia and I spent our holiday period and as you can imagine I was like a kid in a sweetshop, spoiled with all the wonderous photographic opportunities all around me the whole time. We hired a camper van and spent the first 11 days touring the South Island, visiting many of the famous natural landmarks, including Lake Tekapo which has views towards Mount Cook.

A boat sets off into the misty blue Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo is fed by the southern alps and sits at an altitude of 700 metres. It covers an area of 83 square kilometers making it the second largest of three lakes that sit at the northern edge of the mackenzie basin. It is fed by glacial melt that contains finely ground rock powder which gives the water the distinctive blueness. I find it hard to believe that the colours in the above image are real, but as anyone else who has seen the lake for themselves will vouch – it really does look like this!

The Church of the Good Shepherd overlooking Lake Tekapo

A church sits at the edge of the lake, built in 1935 it was the first church in the Mackenzie Basin. There is an altar window inside which provides stunning views over the lake and mountains, but there were a few too many other tourists in there for me to want to go check it out close up. I took this shot from a distance up near the cafe and tourist info center.

The Winding Road

I do not think that I would be exaggerating if I were to claim that there is a stunning photo waiting to be taken where ever you are in New Zealand, so to prove it, above is a photo I took as I was about to cross the road back to the parked camper after getting my first glimpse of Lake Tekapo. Never has the old addage of “Always check whats behind you”  been so true as when you are in the wonderful country of New Zealand.

As you can imagine, I have a whole load more images from my first trip across the Tasman – so I am looking forward to selecting the picks and highlights and bringing them to you here on my blog in the days to come.

References:

Lake Tekapo @ Wikipedia