Needless to say the sun came out on the day we were due to leave Queenstown. We opted to take SH6 north via the remarkable glacier-fed “turquoise lakes”.
Although the weather wasn’t perfect, it was considerably brighter than it had been and the lakes looked almost surreal. Sadly our photographs do not show New Zealand’s tallest mountain, Mount Cook, which was still hidden by cloud.
We ate our sandwiches in the Visitor Centre car park, where we were amused by a constant stream of Japanese tourists jumping on and off tour buses.
Further on, we stopped at the tiny, ancient-looking Church of the Good Shepherd. It was, in fact, built in 1935 in memory of the pioneer settlers of the Mackenzie region.
Nearby stands a rather charming monument in honour of the Collie Dog – without whom the farmers would not have been able to graze their sheep on the surrounding hills.
We stopped for a quick cup of tea in Geraldine, and arrived in Christchurch at around 5pm.
The Colonial Inn motel was one of the most comfortable we have stayed in so far. The room even had a fully-equipped kitchen so that we could cook our own bacon and eggs in the morning – luxury!
We dined in the Strada Café in Victoria Street. Then we found an Irish bar next door, serving truly horrid Guinness, and live music!