Lake Tekapo & Beyond.

We packed up our car, and our enlarged family (!), and headed for Tekapo.

The drive is about 4hrs, taking it easy, and we stopped on the way for a cuppa and a bite to eat.
The closer we got to Tekapo, the thicker the snow on the mountains became, and by the time we arrived, mid afternoon, it’s was really quite cold and windy.

We settled into our room, at the same place we’d stayed last time (we tend to be creatures of habit once we find something we like!), and then went for a wander around town, and got some supplies at the grocery store.

We decided an early night was in order, so after cooking dinner, headed to bed.
We were pretty tired, neither of us having slept very well the night before, due to electric blanket wiring, which we hadn’t thought about before we went to bed, and then we’d been too lazy to unmake the bed to take it off through the night – so spent the night with the uncomfortable damn thing digging into us!

We both hate electric blankets, and refuse to use them, no matter how cold it gets.

Next morning, we went for a drive around, as there were some houses that we liked the design of, so we decide to go and have a stickybeak, and get some photos taken.

We also drove drove around the general Tekapo area, and did the usual sights – so Larry could get his photo taken with Lucy at various spots – and also because we wanted to have a look at the improvements that have been going on in the area since we were last there.

At present they are busy doing some work on the foreshore of the Lake, and we are told that they are supposed to be finished in the next ten days, in readiness for the opening of the ski season – but from what we can see – that isnt too likely!
Who knows though  stranger things have happened!!

By the time we got back to the unit, we were sooooo cold.
We now definitely know what it means to be “cold to your bones“.
So we sat wrapped like mummies on the couch for about an hour, with the heater going – trying to get warm – with only a small improvement.
Then, following a bit of discussion, we decided that a bath was the way to go!
And it helped that the bathroom had heating as well 🙂

So we filled up the tub to within an inch of its life, with steaming hot water, and then one at a time, slowly submerged ourselves into it – yelping a bit here and there, due to the stinging from frozen extremities.
But after about 15 minutes each in nice hot water – both of our cores had finally defrosted, and we were able to get into our jammies, and maintain a sensible body temperature for the rest of the evening.

That night, it dropped to -7…..!

  

When we went out in the morning, needless to say, the car was frozen over.

We decided to have breakfast at one of the restaurants, figuring that by the time we had finished that, finished our packing, and packed the car -the it should be warm enough, and the sun high enough, for the car to have at least thawed out a little.

Thankfully we were right – and for the most part – the car was pretty ice-free in all the important parts, by the time we left.

We were on our way to Queenstown!