December 7

Drive to Mt. Cook past Lake Tekapo

I awoke early, at 5:30 AM. It was already becoming light, and birds were singing. I repacked my bags, separating tramping gear from my other stuff. I fixed toast and coffee for breakfast, with yogurt. I checked out at 10 AM, when the Trusty Rental man arrived with my car, a Mazda 323 with 95,000 km on it. On the way to their office, he told me I could leave the return day flexible as long as I called 48 hours in advance. He was a nice man, and gave me maps and showed me how to get to Mt. Cook. He told me I should definitely try the Shotover Jet boats when I was in Queenstown, since it was a really exciting ride. He also told me about a used camping equipment store, where I could pick up any camping supplies I needed, since camping could be an economical way to travel with a car.

I carefully drove away from the office, which was no problem at first since all the roads were one-way. I stopped at the camping supply store to look for a stove. I hadn't wanted to carry one on the plane. They had propane stoves for $38. I could get one new next door for the same price, so I did, together with a couple canisters. The stoves themselves were very compact and fit into tiny pocket-sized pouches. I noticed that MSR gasoline stoves were outrageously expensive, about $150 NZ ($100 US). They said you never see these used, unless you are lucky.

Driving on the left was going pretty well until I ended up in a traffic circle, which are confusing even at home. I couldn't figure out who yielded to who, so I settled for not hitting anyone, ignored the honking, and got out after twice around. There was a lot of construction along the way. The road passed through sheep pastures as it left town, separated by neat rows of trees. I stopped for lunch at a Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was reasonable, $6 for a two piece meal deal with both mashed potatoes and French fries, plus cole slaw, ice cream, and a drink. I ate it next to a table of mongoloids.

Soon, the road headed inland. I stopped for groceries, figuring they would cost a fortune in Mt. Cook. The country side was green and sheepy, with mountains rising snow-capped in the distance. Yellow flowers carpeted the hillsides, and the road was lined with pink and purple mountain lupins. If the road weren't so narrow, I probably would have pulled off and taken lots of pictures. I settled for two, one at a store where I bought a brownie. It had a nice view of sheep farms and mountains in the distance. There were more construction delays and cow delays, as livestock was hearded across the road.

I bought gas (petrol) in the last big town, since the rental car man warned me it would be expensive in Mt. Cook. Actually, it was expensive everywhere, about a dollar a liter here, or roughly 3 times as much as in the US. I had already used half a tank, $16 worth.

Around 4 PM, I arrived at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful turquoise glacier-fed lake, which stretched out far into the distance toward the mountains. On its shore was the Church of the Good Shepherd, a favorite stop for tour buses. It is a small, quaint, stone chapel with a picture window behind the alter, overlooking the lake. The back wall had a mural. I took many pictures there, and continued stopping for pictures along the road, which followed the lake all the way to the turnoff to Mt. Cook, and then that road followed the lake again, until it dried up higher in the valley.

I arrived at the YHA at 5:30, a half hour later than I had said, and checked into the dorm for $18 plus a $4 contribution toward my YHA membership. The hostel was a low, wooden building, paneled inside, and nicely designed. The common room had a wood stove, with a Christmas tree beside it. I picked up a few more things at the store, and cooked pumpkin-spinach raviolis with sauteed walnuts for dinner.

Around 9PM, a storm brewed up, with really strong winds that felt like they would blow the windows in. I packed my food for tomorrow's tramping. I was planning to climb to Mueller Hut, and hoping that the weather would cooperate. I had not been able to find anything too interesting to pack for dinner on my walk. I had found instant noodles and soup, and bought fruit and cookies too. Breakfast would be `fruity porridge' with muesli bars. Lunch would be peanut butter and marmalade sandwiches with bisquits. The storm was really ferocious outside, and I was not at all optimistic about whether I could proceed as planned in the morning.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.