Even though I am quoting ‘city’ here, the ‘city’ here definitely does not have the usual ‘city’ feel that we normally perceive. A Monday morning was still a quiet morning. There was not many car seen moving on the street. There were a few public buses, but they were mostly empty. Occasionally, we could see some office workers, walking on the pavements while holding their coffee and newspapers. Well, that was about all you can see to describe a ‘busy’ working morning. What happen to everyone else? I guess most of the people here work from home; OR maybe, making babies at home to fill up the city.
We checked out from Ibis Hotel by 8am and walked to an i-Site (name for NZ Tourist Information Centre) to have a few activity packages booked. We have chosen Milford Sound Nature Cruise, Te Anau Glow Worm Cave Exploration, Franz Josef Glacier Hike and Interislander Ferry, which will transport us from Picton to Wellington 20 days later. In just less than an hour time, Bernard had swiped away a few thousand Ringgits. Well, I was relieved for not being qualified to own a platinum card.
We then had our breakfast at a nearby food hall. I ordered a plate of Singapore Hokkien Fried Bihun from a Singaporean stall. The portion was huge, but for the taste, I could only taste pepper. We were rushing to pour the food into our throat as the parking system in the city only allow us to park our car at the same spot for a maximum of 1 hour. We shifted once and decided to not stay long in the city after the 2nd hour was up. It was too tiring and troublesome to keep shifting the car.
We stopped by a direct factory outlet, along the way heading to Timaru. Bernard bought a long- sleeved T-shirt and pair of outdoor long pants at a very good bargain. We also bought each of us a pair of waterproof hiking shoe. So, I no longer need to parade around New Zealand in my slipper with socks anymore!
We drove straight to Lake Tekapo after that. Passing through some neat and nice looking towns and Ashburton was my favourite.
After 3 and a half hour, we finally arrived. Lake Tekapo was stunningly beautiful; Good Shepherd Church was too charming to be described by word in the sunset.
However, YHA Tekapo was disappointing. This under maintenance hostel definitely needed to put in a lot of effort in order to maintain itself as a YHA (a so called 5 star hostel chain in the world) member. We were given an old shed outside the hostel main building, where you literally fall into the lumpy queen size bed once you open the room door. The only good point is our shed (or shack?) was just about 50m away from the gigantic Lake Tekapo. Having influenced too much by a documentary series , called ‘Monster Quest’ in Discovery Channel, I could not stop from thinking was there a monster living in the deep lake?
In the evening, we accidentally discovered Alpine Hot Pool, which is not too far away from the town of Lake Tekapo. This was so far the best activity since my arrival in the South Island. Soaking in the open air hot pools ( 3 separate pools respectively at the temperature of 36°C, 39°C and 41°C), surrounded by lush Alpine Forest. Looking upwards was an astonishing view of millions of stars glittering in the dark sky. This was indeed a very touching experience for us. You just can’t afford to blink your eyes, they were simply too stunning!
I love this place and was happy to know that their charges was so much lower than the famous Onsen Hot Pool in Queenstown. Alpine Hot Pool charges NZ$16 per pax per entry, for an unlimited hour of visit; while Onsen charges NZ$40 per pax for an hour. Of course, you may say that Onsen provides private pool. But what’s the difference between a private pool and a public pool when the public pool only contained 2 of us?
We had very simple dinner (toast + milo + Kiwi fruit + Apple) back at the hostel. Going to sleep now with a totally relax body!
Mount Cook and Queenstown lie ahead tomorrow! Hooray!
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