Day 7 and 8

Date : 7 May

Day : Monday

Event : Getting ready to leave for Lake Tekapo. We rented 2 vehicles; 1 was a van, the other was a little hatchback. Neil and Kel were the designated drivers. Kel drove the little car and Neil drove the van. It was exciting and we didn’t know what to expect.

The journey south as we were driving was really beautiful. The land, the hills are so picturesque. So many sheep and cows! We reached the motel at Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo town was really small and quaint, with just 1 street of shops, a supermarket and restaurants. There were many tourists so you know that it’s really a tourist attraction/spot.

God Moment : gathering and worshiping by the lake. It’s breathtaking. One cannot help but stand in awe of God’s creativity. His touch of blessing on this country is something that is so very special. We begin to see and understand how great our God is and how great the works of His Hands are. We praise and give thanks and just truly appreciate Him. God’s beauty inspires praise and worship. There were new songs birthed and written here at this place. ;p

There were picture taken by the lake. It really look like we were in postcards. It seems surreal.

We also took time to watch the United DVD. Again, we learn that to do great things, takes a lot of faith and grace. We also had to learn to ration our food. We were on a budget and we needed to eat sensibly.

Date : 8 May

Day : Tuesday

Event : touristy stuff! We would go check out the tourist spots around the Lake and throughout the journey to Queenstown, the most beautiful place in the South Island. That was our next stop and it would also be the point where we would fly to Auckland.

We got up early, had our breakfast, and went to a little church and it looked like a little house by the lake. We took pictures there. (our next album, maybe?)I think 1 a.m. are such a bunch of posers, ha ha ha!

We took a drive up an observatory point. There we found that the land was like Marlboro country. Up on the point, there is a little café where you can look through a power telescope and admire the view or study the stars. The owner is a professional photographer and he had a photo album, with really impressive pictures. We took some more photos and the view? Marvellous!

Hopped into the cars again and off we went. We were on our way but we stopped several times to take pictures (?) we also stopped for fresh salmon – yummy! Save some for later. TJ and I shared our money to buy a pack of salmon. We went on and the further south we went, the more beautiful and awesome the country was. Rolling hills and mountains, clear, blue, streams, green and brown terrain; it was a feast for the eyes.

On our way, we stopped at Puzzling World. That was fun! We (Pc, Kel, Charlene, TJ , Cuz and me) went in though some of the guys didn’t .It was really interesting because the whole place is a big puzzle! My favorite is the room with the following eyes and faces, really cool! The other is the room that explains the technique the directors of the Lord of the Rings used to create the illusion of the different sizes between the hobbits and the humans.

We then headed to Queenstown. We got to the Bumblebee, a bed &breakfast place. Here, again we needed to watch our food. The place was small but cozy. The guys got a room by themselves while the girls had to share.

We went for a little stroll around Queenstown to explore it a little. We looked for a place to have dinner and found a little food court. It was good. We had northern Indian food. It was authentic, too. We all shared our food. We walked to the lakeside and took more photos. The water is so clear, it’s unreal. It’s just to pretty here.

It was getting late and around 8 degrees so we got back and watched a video – The Lord of The Rings. It was nice. It’s my favorite anyway.