“AH, NOTHING LIKE a good cup of tea”. These probably aren’t the words you’d expect to hear on a mountain range in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, but it accurately sums up the feeling around camp as twelve hikers shrug off their packs and sit down to a hot cuppa looking out over Lake Tekapo. We were satisfied and we were thirsty, but most of all we were happy to have arrived at our mountain home for the next two nights.
City to country and beyond
Just 10 hours earlier, twelve strangers had met by Cathedral Junction in Christchurch, wearing our hiking gear, carrying our packs, and filled with the excited anticipation for the week of hiking ahead of us. I’d only visited New Zealand once before and that was over 10 years ago. I’ve been dreaming of a return visit ever since and the opportunity to join a seven-day hiking tour was too good to pass up. Run by Adventure South NZ, this tour is called The Best of the Southern Alps, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
After we’d been collected by our guides, Rob and Tereza, we quickly left the city behind us and drove across the Canterbury Plains towards Lake Tekapo and the start of our hike. Before long, the minibus windows were filled with expansive views of the Southern Alps/Ka Tiritiri o te Moana. Clocking in at nearly 500km long, this impressive mountain range runs almost the entire length of the South Island.
A brief stop by Lake Tekapo allowed our group to get our first proper look at the mountains ahead of us; the turquoise waters of the lake ripple in the
