Yes, the lake really is that colour. Despite visiting Lake Tekapo three times it still amazes me every time, particularly in contrast to the dry, yellow landscape.
The town is a bit of a building site atm, but improvements can only go so far when some of the best views of the lake are from behind the Four Square supermarket. Yet again NZ town planning completely fails to do justice to amazing natural beauty.
Still they have a rather snazzy new bridge, leading over to the ever popular Church of the Good Shepard. Here fake wedding photos outnumber real weddings (though saw both this time). The in thing is for tourists to fly to New Zealand with their wedding outfits to get those properly photogenic wedding album photos.
The neighbouring Mount John provides the best vantage point over the town, though now at a cost of $8 (it was free pre November 2015). There is a strategically positioned cafe among the many observatories, this is the best place in New Zealand to see the stars.
Lake Tekapo is also a rather good spot for sunsets, as some clouds unexpectively appeared from a blue sky day.
Half an hour up the road from Lake Tekapo is another stunning spot, Lake Pukaki. There’s not much here other than the views, including on a clear day of Mt Cook at the end of the lake. I’ve been here three times in summer though and have yet to have a clear day!
Leave a Reply