Azure much?

We woke up at Mountain Chalets Motel, and as we were packing we sang Happy Birthday for mother who turned 60 before checking out.

We had breakfast at Shanty’s Cafe in Twizel, and then backtracked forty minutes to to Lake Pukaki for a walk along the shore. The weather wasn’t as epic as yesterday but still a very nice walk – and given better fit and more time we could perhaps have walked around the whole lake but instead after an hour or so of enjoying the views we headed further southeast to Omarama.

Solving world problems

Lenticular clouds over Mt Cook

Black wood – and apparently not by fire

As we drove on further we stopped at The Wrinkly Ram cafe, which had Merino clothing (not any significant discounts though) and lambs for Juni to meet and greet. What they did not have was warm food so drove further into Omarama to some rather run-down place which served hot stone meat to parents joy while Mona and I had the salmon.

As the afternoon progressed we started looking for accommodation and found a surprisingly cheap stay at Lake Hawea Hotel (split level suite for 160 NZD) which we booked without really taking time to do research. Turns out the view was amazing – perhaps not Lake Pukaki but still among, if not the, best nature view I’ve had from a hotel room. The split level family apartment layout suited us great and to top things off the high-quality restaurant was 25m from our door.

Enough photos on lakes, so here’s a photo of dad taking a lake photo from the balcony

We had birthday dinner at the restaurant where parents had something mainly consisting of meat and I got something asian – all were happy and we ended yet another awesome day in New Zealand.

First up on the agenda was Ashford Village, where yarn, wool and handloom weaving machines (the latter not for sale luckily) competed in focus. I however decided to invest in car-charger for iThings first, stock up at the supermarket and then meet parents at the nice café next to Ashford Village, Nosh.

Most of the hipster checkboxes were checked at Farm Barn Café

We then drove southwest towards Fairlie, and had lunch at Farm Barn Café, which had not only a lovely view but also toasts. It was now warm and sunny, so we took our time before heading onwards to lake Tekapo.

I don’t think photos manages to capture the serenity and beauty of Tekapo, the greenish lake with majestic snow-clad mountains in the background is best experienced by just sitting there and breathing.

This isn’t photoshopped

Parents had now checked in at Twizel in a Chalet so we decided to move on and passed Lake Pukaki, and if Lake Tekapo was serene and beautiful this was simply breathtaking.

Neither is this one.

More photos than needed were taken, we also just stayed and watched for a while – amazing and I was not surprised when I spotted a wedding photographer in action with this as backdrop. That said it was quite empty from people, I blame the early/pre-season but I could have stayed in a camper there for a few days if time wasn’t limited.

It’s time to remove the training-wheels and start driving on the left side of the road, feel the fresh air from an open window to experience Freedom. Given Juni’s newfound interest in crawling we decided to skip or at least postpone renting a motorhome and instead went for two regular cars and aiming for sleeping in places with wifi and bathtubs. Jucy seemed like the best alternative so we rented two “Styla” and headed back to the airport with another shuttle (Steve’s to be precise).

Since Jonte had lived in Australia for three years without a hitch (and rented cars multiple times) and even showed his Swedish driving license to authorities and that went just fine we wouldn’t be hassled when renting a car, would we? Of course we would. The small text on the back of the driving license explaining that the historic date is when you got the license and the future date is expiry date, also that the images depicting a car actually means there is a car. The woman at Jucy was despite adhering to the rules completely helpful since Jucy had a discount at a translator service (which I’d checked out before) so after waiting almost an hour and spending 104.40 NZD we were finally ready.

We were going for a shorter trip to Akaroa to see that – and on the way we stopped at Hilltop Tavern which was a nice restaurant with a lovely view (even given the grey skies and rain).

Akaroa looked awesome, and we took a stroll by the waterfront, but more or less pouring rain didn’t really seem like the best weather for the location. The weather forecast indicated this would go on for a few days so instead of waiting it out we headed towards Ashburton, home of high quality Ashford weaving handlooms to mothers delight

Mother booked a nice motel on the way and after an emergency drive to Burger King Mona and I had a nice hot tub with Juni – who enjoyed splashing more than relaxing though. And to have two humongous infrared lamps in the bathroom to create a tropical feeling is another idea I think New Zealand should spread.