So today Thursday we returned to the lakes we had whizzed past yesterday!

The valleys all the way inland are lush and green with many animal farms. We saw pigs horses deer cows bulls lamas chickens alpacas….And many sheep farms.

First stop was a vintage antique shop. We saw loads of car memorabilia there.

Lake Tekapo was a beautiful turquoise colour because of all the salts washed down the mountains into the water. It was so windy, but a warm wind like being in a hairdryer! There weren’t many people around today and not much traffic. We stayed there for a while and ate our sandwiches.

The road then leads on to turquoise blue lake Pukaki. At the end of this long lake you can see Mount Cook. BUT it was shrouded in cloud😔

The wind was so strong there were lots of waves lashing down on the rocks. You could mistakenly think it was the seaside!

We stayed there for ages sunbathing and enjoying the scenery.

The road back to Timaru passed 2 more lakes that were formed by dams. Their water was deep navy blue in colour and people were on kayaks and small boats enjoying themselves. We were quite tired by the journey it is a long way to travel so we slowly headed back to Timaru. We did stop for a double ice cream that turned out to be a triple serving!

The Maori paintings were on the distinctive chalk cliffs at Duntroon. They were barely visible and had been tampered with in 1900s and some removed.

There was a large baby bird laying on the ground, I think it was a bird of prey because of its size and beak. It must have fallen down the cliff face. It didn’t look very well I hope it’s parents found it after we had gone. Well that’s all for today. We are staying around Timaru tomorrow, a day on the beach and around the town xxxxx