NEW ZEALAND UNDER THE CLOUDS: DAY 3 CHRISTCHURCH - MT COOK

Wake up early to take bus from Christchurch to Mt Cook to Queenstown. We will be staying two nights at the Absoloot Value Accomodations. We only brought one suitcase as we left two inside Bealey Motor Lodge for two nights until we get back here on the 1st June.

Today the tour bus driver is David. He is a nice fellow. We are the only passengers in the bus today with the driver and one lady who seems to be his colleague. I heard the driver said that when we reach Mt Cook more passengers will be joining us.

Leaving Christchurch in the morning we travel through diverse farmland to Lake Tekapo, on the way we pass by Ashburton and stopped at Geraldine for breakfast, there we had soup and beef pie then on to Fairlie and Lake Tekapo, we went down the bus to take some pictures beside the lake where we can see the solitary Church of the Good Shepherd and take in the sights of the spectacular Southern Alps mountain range. David helped us take some pictures at the church and Lake Tekapo.

We take advantage of our time here to enjoy the majestic scenery and take more pictures. Finally we took time to enjoy a lunch of satay pork with rice at the famous Hermitage Hotel in Aoraki /Mt Cook Village set within a National Park. Following our lunch stop the tour continues south through the tawny tussock of the Mackenzie Country. We left Mt Cook behind and go towards Queenstown thru the village of Omarama, and visit to the Jones Family Orchard near Cromwell. Our tour concludes this evening in world famous Queenstown.

When we reach the hotel we cook maggi mee at the kitchen downstairs. When mom see that there is internet there she asked me to go online and contact my sister and the family to let them know that we have arrived safely. It costs $2.00 for half an hour. After half an hour which i cannot do much i remembered that the motel have free wifi so i went and asked the receptionist for free wifi password. After that we went out for grocery shopping at the nearby supermarket.

We bought some sandwiches and one packet of marinated chicken drumsticks for tomorrow dinner. The sandwiches is supposed to be our breakfast or lunch on the boat. But i am feeling hungry so i ate mine. Then i go facebook and also use skype to called them. After that i fell asleep.

Highlights of today journey :-

Canterbury Plains
Geraldine
Lake Tekapo - a stunning glacial-fed lake
Church of the Good Shepherd
Lake Pukaki
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
Mackenzie Country scenery

At Geraldine, Kiwi country cafe (according to the timetable) at 9.30am, we eat breakfast at the cafe. We ordered tomato soup to shared and one beef pie each.

The Hermitage Hotel at Mt Cook, satay pork with rice for lunch, $15.00 shared. The extra rice cost $5.00 we decided not to get extra rice. There is a lot of pork so we are full after finishing all the meat. We stayed there until 2.25pm.

For dinner we bought brocolli at the shop at Cromwell and cooked maggi mee. We saw many backpackers cooking in the small kitchen too. They cooked chicken which looks delicious. We decided to buy some chicken to cook too.

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