28 January 2015 - Lake Tekapo, Mackenzie Country, South Island

There was little activity on the track this morning after all; just a lone trainer on his mount trotting rather than galloping, which I thought to be rather odd, since I thought trotting or pace training included the pulling of a sulky. The rider’s fluoro jacket bumped up and down past the rails on each circuit, distracting us from our breakfast, the sole disturbance to our otherwise peaceful morning.

We pulled out onto the Pleasant Point Highway and turned North West toward our day’s destination. Soon passing through this very pleasant little settlement thus named, we proceeded on toward Fairlie, passing through Cave, most likely named for crevices in the riverside cliffs, then into the hills up through Albury, past several substantial free-range piggeries where we were able to see hundreds of very contented pigs lounging about each with their own family hotel cabin. Imagine the disappointment they would experience if we had stopped by and told them how very different their future was to be? Still I guess it is all about living for the moment.

We stopped at Fairlie, a vibrant little rural town which serves the surrounding Mackenzie District farms. Its small population of about 700 belies the commercial activity of the weekday. As it lies on the tourist route between Christchurch or Timaru and Mount Cook and Queenstown, tourists often stop to utilise the facilities and to replenish their calories, just as we did. We popped into the busy and bright Bakery, the cabinets filled with delectable creamy expensive cakes and pastries, but decided that this was more for the latte brigade. Instead we popped into the Four Square which also has a bakery, and what a bakery it is1 We bought a very large savoury pinwheel bun, crisp on the outside, soft inside, full of flavour, in fact the best bakery item of its kind eaten for years and years, for about $2.40. That, with the day’s newspaper, still did not reach the price of one muffin or slice we might have brought in the more upmarket bakery.

Last time we were through here, we checked out the museum which was full of farming paraphernalia and explanation about all things agricultural. We both loved it, I for the facts and stories, Chris for the machinery out in the many sheds. Today Fairlie was but a refreshment stop so we pressed on after devouring the bun and cups of coffee in our own personal café.

West of Fairlie, the road gradually climbs from the 300 metres ASL on up over Burkes Pass at 703 metres ASL, a climb of 400 metres which astounded Chris and I when we noted this. Perhaps it had much to do with the new fancy vehicle we are travelling in rather than the plodding old Canter truck!

At the base of the pass is a small settlement of the same name, the real entrance to the Mcakenzie Country. It is named after Michael John Burke, a graduate of Dublin University, who discovered the passage which leads up into a wide high plain, in 1855.  This was an alternative route to the MacKenzie Pass, which the notorious alleged sheep sealer, James Mckenzie, had used to take his sheep into the Otago goldfields. The vast land of the Mackenzie Country was well known by Maori for its plentiful supply of wekas as well as eels in the streams and lakes. 

The Burkes Pass Scenic Reserve, administered by DOC, is a former droving reserve one kilometre to the west of the pass. Today DOC worry about introduced rabbits, lupin, broom and wilding conifers. It was the Russell Lupins we were looking out for today, those seen in their superb colourful profusion when we last came through so many years ago. Alas we caught sight of so few, and had we known these were really the only ones on show, would have stopped to enjoy them longer.

Back in the 1950s, Connie Scott of the nearby high country station of Godley Peaks, scattered seed along the exposed sides of the main highway. They have spread like weeds, which of course they are considered by conservationists, providing a photographers’ paradise. Alas they are at their best between mid-November and December, so we have well and truly missed them.

However we were still treated to a magnificent sight as we came up over the pass. The weather had alternated between just dull to drizzly rain all morning, and we knew this was promised for the next few days. Imagine, therefore, our delight at not only the vista of the Southern Alps with still a smattering of snow on the higher peaks, but the skies open to the sunshine. What a treat!

It is only a further 18 kilometres on through to Lake Tekapo and all the way our eyes were fixed on the beauty ahead and anticipation of all that to come. Arriving in Lake Tekapo, we headed down to the Church of the Good Shepherd situated on the lake shores. 

Only built in 1835, it was the first church built in the Mackenzie Basin, which to me proves this lot weren’t particularly God fearing. There had been a multi-denominational church built back in 1872 at Burkes Pass which apparently was enough for any necessary religious ceremonies. This at Lake Tekapo is the most photographed church in New Zealand and features an altar window framing the stunning views of the lake and mountains. Last time I was here, in December 2007, I made the faux-pas of taking a photo from the back of the little church up through that window and was quickly accosted by the caretaker who lurks to catch such miscreants. I did not make the same mistake again today, and besides, the signs warning against doing so are now much bigger and in several languages. But I have managed to find that delinquent photo in my archives.

Today there were at least a hundred other tourists there, so any photos had to include other photographers taking pictures of other photographers, and so on. All of which did not deter me; little does.

Just along from the church is the bronze statue of a New Zealand Collie sheepdog, commissioned in the mid-sixties by Mackenzie Country residents to recognise the indispensability of the sheepdog in their livelihoods. It too rivals the church as a photographic subject.

The lake itself is the second largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north-south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin, and covers an area of 83 square kilometres. It is fed at the northern end by the braided Godley River which rises in the Alps. The original outflow was at its southern end, into the Tekapo River. In 1938 construction commenced on a power station, originally scheduled for completion in 1943 but unfortunately World War II intervened.  The completed power station now known as Tekapo A came online in 1951.

Water from the lake is diverted through a 1.4 kilometre tunnel under the town to the power station, with the water originally being returned to the river. With development of the Upper Waitaki hydroelectric scheme in the 1970s, water is now fed into a 26 kilometre canal which leads to Tekapo B on the shores of Lake Pukaki, to the west which we will pass tomorrow.

In fact the whole hydro-scheme is all quite fascinating and is well explained in an information centre further south near Twizel, which we will also pass through tomorrow.

After escaping the throngs of tourists, we headed on through the busy resort town of Lake Tekapo, which apparently only has a population of 369 in the last census, but enough hotels, motels, hostels, B&Bs, et etcetera, to accommodate thousands. We parked up high above the camping ground which surely could accommodate a few more hundred, and ate our lunch looking upon the glistening blue waters of the lake.

We were still intent upon finding the Russell Lupins, this before we checked on line to see that the blooms were not supposed to linger after New Year, so we headed up toward the Mt John’s Observatory. Just a few kilometres up this road, which if continued on, will take one to Lakes McGregor and Alexandrina, and further, to Godley Peaks Station, we found the Balmoral Pasture Trial Area.  This Mt John trial site set up to investigate the pasture and development options for the high country under different levels of inputs from species, fertiliser, stocking rates and stocking methods, was a mass of colour when we came by in 2007. So much so that I recall a family of amateur photographers trying to capture the perfect picture of their baby, and to my delight I have also found that photo and am including it here. 

Alas today there were just a few straggly leftovers; still better one or two than none. Disappointed we headed back through the town to find this very new NZMCA camp on the south east banks of the lake. We are one of many many parties in and parked up in a flat spot to suit my husband’s wishes rather than mine. I would have preferred a more secluded spot, however I cannot have my way every time. I took a wander down to the lake and was delighted with the views, north to the mountains, south west to the town. What a lovely place!