New Zealand: Week Five

We were up early to catch the bus taking us to Mt. Cook. Still feeling like a kiwi had crawled down my throat and had started redecorating, we reached Mt. Cook on another spectacularly clear day. Around Mt. Cook were several glaciers, though not as large as Franz Joseph or Fox on the opposite side of the south island. The adjacent Lake Tekapo captures the snowmelt from the mountains and mixes with the crushed rock, known as rock flour, to create an amazing turquoise colour. I had intended on treking the following morning, but as the kiwi had obviously not yet decided on the colour, I stayed around the Mt. Cook village and drank my body weight in coke.

In the evening we headed out to view the night sky. It was awash with stars, and we were able to make out the Milky Way, which I didn't realise was possible with the naked eye. We also saw Orion's belt (one of the few constellations I know), which was upside-down of course. I'm sure the budding astronomers out there were already aware of this.

This was my penultimate destination before reaching Christchurch where I fly to Sydney from. I can't believe my time here is already almost up. I have really enjoyed it here, met some wicked people, and had such a laugh (and not always involving drink either). I do feel like it's time to move on though. New Zealand is an amazing country, but sometimes a bit too quiet at times, which isn't always a bad thing I suppose. Christchurch itself, being the second largest city in New Zealand, does have more of a buzz about the place, and feels more like a city than most as it has older architecture, and seems better organised than others (Christchurch was one of the few cities to be planned from the start rather than growing naturally.)

So the next few days before heading off to Sydney will consist of chilling out in Christchurch, trying out the many cafes and pretty much doing nothing...