The place of colors

Although the weather was less than ideal in Tekapo it was still a gorgeous place to spend a few days. The color of the lake is a bright turquoise powdery blue color. I guess it gets that color because of the sediment runoff from the glacier. And then there are the flowers. Oh my, are the flowers amazing. When I arrived I went straight for a hike to a summit , because I knew it was going to rain the following day. It was cloudy and windy, but not yet cold which was nice. The wind was insane through. The views from the top were pretty. There are 2 different lakes in the area you can see from the top. The summit is also home to an observatory. Tekapo is known to have the clearest sky and the best place to see stars at night. I wanted to take the lakefront walk back, but it wasn’t well marked. The trail I was following eventually went on the other side of the fence. I could see the lake, so I decided to cut the grass and make my way to the lake. I would see some bunnies hopping around, and there was poop everywhere I was walking. I thought, “How many bunnies are there?” The mountain I was on became too steep so I had to backtrack a bit and that is when I ran into the sheep. Now I see where all the poop was coming from. After zig zagging down this mountain in the insane wind, I finally made it lake level. I still didn’t see a trail. The lakeside is all small rock, not sand, so I walked the rocks all the way back to the main town center. It was an adventure for sure, but being out in the wind for so long can take a toll on you. Since it was thanksgiving for me, I decided to make homemade mashed potatoes. I also cooked a pre-marinated steak and some asparagus. It was tasty, but I still prefer a traditional Thanksgiving feast. This particular lodge has quite a few Irish staying there that I conversed with. I explained Thanksgiving to them, and they replied, “You get two Christmas dinners?” And I said, “Yeah, basically.” I may have convinced some Europeans to now celebrate Thanksgiving. I tried to go see the stars that night, but it was a full moon. That means it was way too bright, and it was really cloudy. The next morning it rained until about 1. When the sun came out I went for a walk on the other side of the lake. The sun, the lake, and the flowers are incredible. I went to the Church and the dog statue, but there was way too many tourists. Once again it was extremely windy, so I decided to retreat back to my lodge and make an early dinner. I kept up with the Thanksgiving tradition and had leftovers for dinner. Yummy. I then went over to the hot pools and relaxed for a bit. For some reason, there was no wind there and it was so nice. I met a fellow solo American female traveler. This one was different from the previous female Americans I had met, because when she said she was American, it was said with a certain dignity, rather than unfortunately. We chatted a bit until the hot pools closed, and then she was kind enough to give me a ride back to my lodge. Today I head to Mt Cook where I should be going on a few incredible hikes. And if there is availability, I hope to go kayaking on the lake and get up close and personal with the glacier and some ice bergs.