Lake Tekapo
Our first stop on our road trip was Lake Tekapo. We wanted to drive far outside of Christchurch, which was advised to us, and was the smart thing to do for safety. We also didn’t want to do too much driving on our first day of driving on the opposite side of the street, with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. Getting in the car made us think about who invented the first car with the steering wheel on one side, and who was the one who changed it to the other side? Is one way better than the other? Is driving on the left...right?
So we got into our Jucy rental, a sweet 2001 Nissan Sunny known as “El Cheapo” and headed towards Lake Tekapo. It was pretty easy to drive on the left side- especially with the sticker in the car that said “keep left” just as a reminder. The first problem came when we wanted to pull over when we saw a giant jumping salmon on the side of the road. Not only is the steering wheel on the opposite side- but the turn signal and windshield wiper levers are opposite too! That means every time we wanted to turn left or right- the windshield wipers came on in full speed! We got the hang of it.... eventually.
The three hour drive to Lake Tekapo was just an introduction to the beautiful scenery of driving through the South Island. As we left city life we entered a picture perfect road with snow capped mountains in the distance and fields of cows and sheep as far as the eye could see.
We finally arrived to Lake Tekapo where we had booked a small cabin for the night. It was getting pretty dark, so we would have to wait until the next day to see the lake itself. The town was very cute and small with a few lodges, one traffic light, and just one strip of stores including a few restaurants, a bar and a gas station. The sun was setting when we got there, and there really was not much to do there. We saw a brochure for a star-gazing tour, and decided that would be an interesting thing to do, and probably a lot to see in the sky out there. We met the guide at about 10pm. Since this was our first night in New Zealand we had no idea how cold it was... and it was VERY cold. Thankfully the guide had a car full of coats, hats and gloves which we piled on. We headed out on a path, away from the main street and stood lakeside to get the full darkness experience. Once we shut off our flashlights, and let our eyes adjust to the dark we were amazed as the stars seemed to appear and multiply and fill the dark sky. It was unbelievable, magical, something we had never seen before. The guide took out a laser pointer and literally used the sky as a natural planetarium for the lesson. The laser pointer was so high tech- it seemed as though it reached the stars themselves. Joey was thrilled to learn that the town of Lake Tekapo was trying to get the star-scape a designation by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
We learned many amazing things about the galaxy, the stars and constellation- things that were not covered in science class. The 2 hour lesson was one of the best experiences of the trip for me. One of the most special moments of that night, and of the trip was when Joey and I got to share a unique memory together. While looking at the same portion of the sky, at the same time, together we saw a shooting star. It lasted for just a moment, but in that moment we both gasped, smiled at each other, and made a wish.
We have been learning about different countries and different cultures, but this night we learned about something we share with the entire world, something universal. It was amazing to learn about something that we could always look back to- no matter where we are in the world. Any description or picture of the sky we saw that night can never really capture it's immense beauty. It was a sight and experience we will never forget.
We woke up early the next morning and got back on the road. We drove past Lake Tekapo in daylight and came across a magnificent site. The Lake was an icy blue sitting at the base of Mt. Cook the second highest peak in New Zealand. The South Island was already off to a picture perfect start.
