Lake Tekapo

The further we drove inland after leaving Peel Forest, the prettier the scenery became:

We crested a hill and all let out a "Wow!" as we began our descent into beautiful Lake Tekapo.

We checked into the holiday park in town.  The kitchen and restrooms were nice, and the scenery from our campsite was gorgeous, but the actual campsite left a little to be desired.  It was more dirt and dust than grass, and there was a busy walkway that ran very close to our tents.  But hey...the sun was shining!!  Hooray.  We couldn't wait to set up our damp gear and lay out our wet clothes in the sun to dry.

Shortly after we got things set up, I was standing near the front passenger door of Big Red and heard a hissing sound.  We soon discovered that there was a big screw in that front tire, causing it to leak.  There was enough air in the tire still to drive the van into town to have the tire fixed.  Phew!  Glad I was there to hear the leak in time!

Before long, it was time to make dinner.  The community kitchen was very busy!  As I worked on preparing our spaghetti, I kept looking around at everyone else's food thinking, 'Ooooh, I want what they're having!'  I always feel like I'm taking one for the team when I make spaghetti...it's not my favorite.  A sweet Asian lady was preparing baked salmon with asparagus, kumara (sweet potato) and some sort of coconut/rice dish RIGHT next to me (I mean, our shoulders kept touching).  If she hadn't been so close I may have tried to sneak a bite!

Hmmm, in this pic that Ray took in the kitchen, it actually looks like the lady is dashing off and has her back turned to me...dang, I missed my chance!

Just as we served the spaghetti at one of the outdoor tables, a beautiful rainbow appeared over Lake Tekapo:

After dinner, we settled in for the night.  It had been windy throughout the day, but the gusts really picked up steam after dark.  Our campsite was quite exposed, and our tents whipped and shook in the wind all night long.  We had previously planned to stay two nights in Tekapo, and although we were greeted with a beautiful, sunny day the next morning, we decided we'd pull up stakes and move along after one night.

Night #3, in the books!