Otago, Mt. Cook, Lake Tekapo, Akaroa

Once we left Dunedin, our first stop was the Otago Peninsula. Otago is known for being the "Wildlife Capital" of New Zealand. Otago is home to many different rare and beautiful birds and animals, such as the royal albatross, hooker sea lion, yellow-eyed and blue penguins, and southern fur seals. We wanted to see as many of these unique animals as possible so we drove throughout the peninsula to the various spots that these animals would be. We first went to Taiaroa Head, which is the home of the royal albatross colony, an endangered species. The wingspan of a royal albatross is usually around 10 ft! It was such a beautiful bird. Afterwards we drove to Sandfly Bay, which is where the sea lions and penguins usually hang out. I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't massive 400 lb sea lions basking in the sun. There were so many of them. We must have seen about 15 sea lions on this small stretch of beach. I had never seen such a unique animal in it's natural environment. At some points the sea lions were moving around a lot and fighting with each other. We had read that the yellow-eyed penguins usually come ashore after 3 pm, so once it hit 3:00 we began anxiously waiting to see a penguin. And just like clockwork, we saw a penguin bobbing in the water. We waited and it slowly came onto the beach and was just walking around. It was amazing!




After we left the Otago Peninsula, we drove north to Mt. Cook, which is the highest mountain in New Zealand at 12,316 ft. We drove past the beautiful Lake Pukaki, a glacial lake, whose waters are this unbelievable turquoise color.


Once we got to Mt. Cook we hiked around the Tasman Glacier area before retiring to our sheltered campsite near Mt. Cook Village. We cooked a really fancy dinner of pasta, broccoli, and hot dogs topped with tomato sauce. The next day we did the Hooker Valley Track, which leads you throughout a valley to Hooker Glacier and gives you incredible views of Mt. Cook. It was a beautiful hike and it was even quite warm for a change.



We drove straight to Lake Tekapo after finishing the Hooker Valley hike for a relaxing evening. It was sunny day and most of us spent the afternoon writing postcards and enjoying the scenery. Lake Tekapo is well known for the small Church of the Good Shepherd, that sits on the shore of the lake. The Lake Tekapo area is also known for having the clearest skies, and it was definitely true. At night we could see millions of stars and even the milky way. It was so cool to become familiar with different constellations only found in the southern hemisphere. The night sky at Tekapo was unlike anything I have ever seen before.


We ended our trip in the South Island by driving to a small town called Akaroa on Banks Peninsula, which is just south of Christchurch. We camped at this eclectic backpacker's place called Purple Peak Retreat. But it was a great last night as we all relaxed and drank hot chocolate and watched The Hangover together. Overall, it was a wonderful trip!