Day 2 : Christchurch - Tekapo

With the aid of our GPS, we drove to a supermarket to pick up groceries - New World Fendalton was the one we chanced upon. We had to buy food as we intended to cook our own meals.

Then we went to McDonald's to have our dinner before we set off for our journey. We ended up at McDonald's Riccarton. It is located next to Westfield Riccarton, which we eventually found out is the most happening mall in Christchurch at the moment.

I opted for a burger which was not available in Malaysia - a Mighty Angus.

Mighty Angus

The burger

Taking a peek ....

The Mighty Angus is a beef lover's delight. Packed within a soft sourdough bun are a succulent thick prime Angus beef patty, cheese, red onion rings and mouth-watering, tangy relish. The thick beef patty has a finely marbled texture that is rich and juicy. It was really yum.

After dinner, we popped into the Westfield Riccarton Mall for a short while, and then set off for Lake Tekapo. It was but 5.30 p.m. but it was already dark. We were thankful for the GPS because if not for it, it would have been difficult to find our way around in darkness.

Tekapo is in the Mackenszie district, South Canterbury and 226km away from Christchurch. It is a famous spot for star-gazing. The entire journey took us about 3 hours and 20 minutes. We passed small towns like Ashburton, Temuka, Timaru and Fairlie. In the darkness, there was not much of the landscape that we could see. However, we were surely captivated by the brilliant stars dotting the night sky throughout the way.

It was very cold that night. I had myself wrapped up in 3 layers and I was shivering uncontrollably. Perhaps it was because my body had not acclimatised itself to the wintery weather. We were glad when we finally reached our destination, and checked into Tailor-made Backpackers, Tekapo.

There was a common kitchen, dining area and lounge where guests could cook and eat their meals. All utensils were there. All we had to do was to make sure that we washed and dried them after we used them. We proceeded to cook spaghetti, as we intended to pack it for lunch the next day.

Minced beef with onions, fresh white button mushrooms, fresh chopped tomatoes
in a tomato-based sauce

Cooking the spaghetti

Ta-da!!

We had some for supper. It was quite yum as the ingredients were very fresh.

Our room was a dorm - 4 to a room. There were 4 beds, and thankfully, the heater could sufficiently keep the room warm. Hot water bottles were also provided in case guests were still cold. There were 3 common shower rooms and 2 toilets outside to share.

We gritted our teeth and did our ablutions in the cold, and then tucked into bed.