If you make a purchase through these links I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Lake Tekapo is famous for its turquoise water and stunning mountain backdrop.
I was lucky enough to fit in a three-day adventure there while in New Zealand in November I was in Whangarei packing up my my storage container and I jumped at the chance to visit my sister, Rosie, down in Christchurch. It is a well-known tourist destination, but was my first time going there. The small tourist town boasts a range of attractions; from hot springs, to star gazing, hiking, camping, and four-wheel driving, and it is the largest dark sky reserve in the world check out the Dark Sky Project.
After all, the major attraction of the area is the gorgeous alpine scenery and nature. DAY 3: Relaxing morning, explore the area and do a short walk, then drive back to Christchurch in the afternoon. However, this did not happen due to some crazy New Zealand weather. It was raining on and off in the afternoon when we arrived at Lake Tekapo on day 1, and the forecast for the next day was thunderstorms and heavy rain at Mount Cook, with a weather warning for the National Park.
After being in Auckland, with all the rain and cold, it was nice to arrive into sunny Christchurch. A lot warmer than Auckland, in fact. We then went to the Burnham Military camp where Rosie is based, and she took me on a quick tour of the army base, which was really interesting to see. We stopped for lunch at the Fairlie Bakehouse , a cafe famous for their award-winning pies, and, of course, I had to get a pie. For those not familiar with pies in NZ, they are meat filled pastries, and a very popular food with Kiwis.
The most common type is mince and cheese mince is ground beef , and you can get them basically everywhere. I got mince and cheese as a control pie to test for quality, and Rosie got a chicken and mushroom pie, but they had all sorts of interesting specialty flavours including Christmas turkey and stuffing, and pork belly and apple sauce.
