11 May LAKE TEKAPO - MOUNT COOK - QUEENSTOWN

The night spent at Tekapo YHA can only be explained in one word, HORRIBLE!

We woke up at 2 am, finding ourselves frozen in the chilly room. The dusty, noisy, tiny heater fixed at the corner of the wall would turn itself off after every 20 min. Its efficiency was just like many of our thugs' modified national cars, which produce much engine noise but speed nowhere. Even my Japanese car can accelerate faster in a totally quiet manner. Useless!

We could also hear the snoring from the guy next door. Crescendo and rhythmically, I couldn’t stop wondering who the brilliant orchestra conductor was! The misery was enhanced further when we couldn’t hold our bladder any longer and have to step into the cold outdoor in order to reach the toilet in the hostel. I ended up sleeping in my full winter gear, full pair of long john, long sleeve shirt, sweater, winter jacket, long pants, 2 pair of wool socks, a pair of knitted slippers and a winter hat! Who would dress up like that in bed except those who lying in the coffin during winter? Nevertheless, I still could feel coldness in the core of my bones.

After a much interrupted sleep, we decided to wake up at 7am. The sky was still dark and there was a half moon hanging above the lake. What a meaningful view to celebrate our survival.

I quickly fixed us a hot breakfast in the worn out kitchen. After 15 minutes, a hot meal consisted of corn beef fried with onion and eggs was served. We ate it with toast and hot Milo, the best drink away from home.

We strolled along the calm Lake Tekapo  before checking out from the horrible hostel, where even the hostel attendant was cold and neurotic! The conclusion was the nature was innocently breathtaking, but no more coming back to this miserable YHA .

We headed to Mount Cook and again, the view along the way was amazing, especially Lake Pukaki. The road was almost empty, except a few cars from the opposite direction after every 30 or 40 km. There was not a trace of human beings, other than thousands of sheeps and cows.

We reached Mount Cook at 12pm, when the aggressive sun was just above us. It was very difficult for us to take picture under this kind of sun light.

We also bumped into one human, finally. His name was Parvel, a Romanian traveler who hitch hiked throughout his journey in New Zealand. He first approached us to take a few pictures of him with the scenery. He did not have a tripod and did not know how to operate the timer of his Nikon DSLR. We ended up chatted for quite a while since he spoke in English that we could understand. The next destination of this friendly backpacker was Queenstown, which was also our next stop. However, we couldn’t give him a lift since we had just arrived, whereas he wanted to leave almost immediately after spending 2 days at this mountain site. We felt abit better after seeing him being picked up by a passing car not too long after we bid farewell.

The formidable Mount Cook looks calm and quiet, but the silent sun instead, showing us how wild it could be. I found myself suffering from sun burn when we reached Queenstown later of the day. Sun screen with SPF 130 had lost to the sun at Mount Cook.

The mountaineer spirit in Bernard was vividly shown in front of the majestic snow-capped Mount Cook. He kept praising the beauty of the mountain every 2, 3 steps he took. On the other hand, I hid behind his shadow to minimize the attack of the sun ray.

At about 2 o’ clock, we had our lunch (self-packed corn beef sandwich and cranberry juice) in a sparkling clean covered rest area. There was nobody else, just 2 of us, quietly munching the icy cold sandwich and the naturally chilled cranberry juice. Mount Cook was the only witness.

I felt nausea and lethargic during our journey to Queenstown. Not knowing that it was the sign of a heat stroke.

Vaguely, I remembered we passed through a place named Lindis’ Pass. The landscape looked very different from the normal pine tree scenery along the way. There were desert rocks and bewildering spiky plants along both sides of the roads. Were we in the set of Indiana Jones?

After a 4 hour drive, we finally reached the picturesque Queenstown at 6.30pm. Mercure Resort was a more decent place for mid 30’s adults like us. We had a spacious room with a king-sized bed overlooking the majestic Lake Punakaiki. What mattered most was the availability of a functioning but silent heater!

The Salmon Tomyam in one of the Japanese-owned Thai Restaurant in the town was unforgetable. Succulent glacier water salmon served with hot sour soup in a cold night. What could be tastier than this? Cheers to a wonderful Tomyam night !