After leaving Akaroa I took the inland route along the foothills of the Southern Alps towards Mt. Cook. I stopped at a number of landmarks on the way.
Rakaia Gorge, I thought I was all gorged out after Australia but this was particularly beautiful.
I spent 2 nights at Mt. Somers camp site a really quiet spot. My van is similar to the one I had in Australia but slightly smaller.
I stopped to walk up this river to Sharplin Falls. The river was in full flow as we have had a considerable amount of rain.
A pretty footpath through woodland along the river bank to the falls.
I did not visit Mt. Somers (1687m) as I was told that there is not much to see unless you are a climber.
The tops of most of the higher mountains are snow covered.
A view of the mountains across Lake Tekapo, There are a series of large lakes here with dams all generating hydro electric power.
Mt. Cook (3754m) almost 4 times the height of Snowden. A very difficult climb even for expert climbers. Sir Edmond Hillary was quoted as saying he was very surprised that anybody had succeeded.
A view from the back.
This is just to show that I was there. The lake behind me is full of slush and the lumps are small icebergs, although melting at present this is the foot of a glacier.
Below is an area of rock that has been eroded by water, the blue colouring can be seen, when this mixes with the water in the lakes and rivers it becomes bright blue.
Today I visited Timaru, a small seaside town about the size of WSM with a shopping centre 4 times the size. I found 4 good bookshops in the main shopping mall. I was looking for a copy of Janet Frame’s “To the Is-Land” the first of her biographical trilogy “An Angel at my table” I read these about 30 years ago and I still think they were the most moving books I have ever read, As I will be driving through her home territory near Dunedin very soon I thought I would like to read them again.
I was surprised to find buildings closed because of earthquake damage 200km south of Christchurch.
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