Lake Tekapo trip (:

 was a really exciting trip! and this is my ultimate favourite photo of the trip

how cute can these trees get??? :D and the sky is gorgeous! this is not photoshopped!!! haha in fact, maybe the only untouched photo of the whole album :D hahaha

so we headed out early in the morning to catch the bus to tekapo

reached there at lunch time!

 had this bacon and egg quiche. looked pretty, but was nothing special actually, prefer the pies that i can get in school for the same price

 but the scenery was really gorgeous! i think that scenery needs to be seen with the eye to really be enjoyed haha, but it was really pretty to see the southern alps capped with snow against a really clear blue sky.


we then went to check in at our accomodation! haha it was a lovely place (:

shared living room with free hot choc, tea, coffee etc

 nice vintage pictures on the wall

 haha there was a big room and a small room. but the guys were paiseh to let us girls take the small room, so we got the BIG one :D hahaha


we wanted to go catch the southern lights and the night sky there. its famous and supposedly the most beautiful night sky in the world

well, there was a tour for 105 dollars per person that would take us up a mountain to see the stars. but well, the tour was fully booked, and also even if it was not, it was quite expensive.

so we decided to climb up there ourselves lol.

up and up we go, quite steep actually

 and in many places, there was a lot of snow and ice on the ground... slippery.

but yes! we did make it to a nice spot on the hill! not all the way up, we climbed for maybe an hour or so only. there was a nice bench. so we decided to stay there (:

 us girls kept eating cookies and choc to pass time whilst waiting for the sky to set

 all of took pictures with the backdrop! it's gorgeous!!! looks like a fairytale winter dream or something!!


then we started to get scared as the sky got dark... cos it would be pitch dark when we get off the hill, and its slippery with ice n snow. plus we have no idea about the dangers of wildlife or sudden storms. and we're a good hour plus away from the nearest human beings. haha, we also didn't inform anyone where we were, and we were getting cold... haha so we decided to call some friends and tell them where we were, in case we didn't get back they'd know to get ppl to look for us.

we considered getting off the mountain for safety reasons, but we were also very reluctant, and so we agreed to stay until a certain time only, and discussed the plan to get down afterwards, in pitch darkness with only 2 flashlights, one of which being my lousy 50 cent one. lol

and then there we stayed, 4 of us sitting on the bench, as the sky got darker and darker and the temperature dropped below 0. haha, we were freezing! the two of us girls kept EATING. my friend ate 5 pieces of bread! lol! i had 2 muffins, and a lot of cookies !


but the sky was really amazing!!!!! there were literally millions of stars in the nightsky, forming the dust band of the milky way. it was a very clear night, so we saw plenty of amazing things.

im convinced i saw the green flash of the Aurora Australis, but it didn't happend again after that ):


we set a time to force ourselves to get off the mountain, before it's really too late. and we were reallyyy frozen when we tried to get off the bench. toes were painful lol. we couldnt see anything. only me and another guy had flashlights, so we had to split into pairs and slowly inch our way off the mountain. really quite scary considering the narrow steep slopes. on some parts of ice, we crawled on our fours. haha

we agreed to be more serious as we got off the mountain, and really worked very slowly down the hill. at one point, i called the pair in front to stop to wait up for us. then suddenly my friend shouted ' OMG!, what am i seeing!!! UFO!'

and we all looked up to see three balls of light streak across the starry starry sky!!!!! it was amazing!!! (we googled it afterwards and we conclude that it was probably meteoroids) was so cool to see three fly across in unison!!!

 we did get off safely , and we went into town to get dinner (:

super super yummy japanese food (: plus we were so hungry and cold, it was like the best food ever!



was in conclusion an amazing night and adventure (: will never forget that sky, like diamonds glittering in the night

 

next day! we had american food. haha a really good burger and fries (:

 

 went to walk around the church of good shepherd for some touristy pictures

 met a cute cat who is probably wild! but very furry and fluffy and followed us for a while (:






then took a bus home to christchurch!

 container malls being built after the earthquake damaged the real malls

Vietnamese food for dinner (:


and that's the end of our lake tekapo adventure! (: