When I got back to Australia, I checked out Blurb.com with the intention of making a photo book for my family in time for Christmas. As I browsed the website, I had an idea. Why not use all of my Instagram photos in a book? They truly tell the tale of my Tiki tour, of all the emotions I was feeling as I traveled from Kaikoura to Tekapo (and to all the stops in between).

One emotion that I felt throughout my trip was happiness. Not only was I getting a dream trip around an amazing country, but I was helping to show that Canterbury deserves a starring role in any South Island itinerary. Yes, the earthquakes and aftershocks have laid Christchurch low, but it and the Canterbury region as a whole are still very much open for business. With this book, I felt I had an opportunity to help even more. Not only would I be able to reach more people with the message that they should visit Canterbury, but I could also donate all proceeds from the book to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

You can preview my book below. Please consider purchasing it as a book (AU $31.99 and up) or an ebook (AU $6.54). Every purchase will go towards helping the people of Christchurch rebuild their city.

A Tiki Tour of Canterbury by Kristin Repsher | Make Your Own Book

It’s hard to put into words my thoughts on the nine days I spent in Canterbury, New Zealand. Never before have I had such a jam-packed travel schedule where I’ve been able to experience so much about a location in a short period of time. And if you hadn’t guessed it from my other blog posts — I loved it. Yes, it was so busy that sometimes I didn’t have a chance to think, but it was one of the best trips I’ve ever had.

My itinerary made me truly appreciate the diversity of Canterbury. It’s not just Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains. It’s much larger than that, stretching from the blue Pacific to the golden hills of the Mackenzie Basin. Everywhere you look there are mountains, some snowcapped, some that men dream about conquering. It’s such a scenic place that I took over 3600 photos in the span of nine days!

Thrillseekers Rafting

Pegasus Bay Winery

Canterbury offers such a wide array of experiences as well. The adventurous will find plenty to sate their daredevil appetites –perhaps with a rafting trip down the Waiau followed by a bungee jump above it. However, there’s plenty for those looking for a slightly calmer time as well — it’d be hard to pass on wine tasting in the Waipara followed by a relaxing soak in the hot pools at Hanmer Springs.

Speaking of diversity, I tried so many different foods while in Canterbury that my stomach must have thought it had died and gone to heaven. Mexican, French, Asian, steak, lamb, seafood, fudge…you name it, I probably ate it. It was all delicious, and I’m going to struggle trying to find any meal better than the duck a l’orange I had in Akaroa.

And who can forget the wildlife? In just over a week, I was lucky enough to see three sperm whales, a pod of 200 dusky dolphins, many swooping albatrosses (and some other sea birds too), some fighting eels, many small pods of very endangered Hector’s dolphins, baby New Zealand fur seals frolicking in rock pools, eighty little penguins having a happy hour in the middle of Flea Bay, and a sheep in a hi-vis vest. Had I stayed longer in Mount Cook, I might have been lucky enough to see a cheeky kea — although perhaps only seeing a stained glass version was a bit safer, given their destructive curiosity!

None of these experiences would have been the same — or in some cases, they wouldn’t have been possible at all — without the people of Canterbury. I met so many interesting, friendly, and helpful people along the way — both fellow travellers and locals. Maurice’s Maori Tour in Kaikoura was truly a standout in this respect, because I felt like I learned more about Maori culture and the local people in a few hours than I’d ever known before. Elsewhere in Canterbury, I got a chance to sit down and chat with hotel owners, tour guides, and restaurant chefs about anything and everything New Zealand (with the obligatory questions about my braced knee thrown in). I heard so many interesting stories and got some great tips to help me along as well. With so many people to chat to, I never felt alone.

Which place had the best combination of all of these things? Which was my absolute favourite? It’s such a hard choice…but if I had to pick one, and only one, I would choose Tekapo. It’s such a spectacularly scenic place, but to top it off, some of the experiences I had there were mind-boggling. I’d been admiring mountains on every leg of my trip, but on the Grand Traverse flight, I got to look down on them, watching as the snow blew off their peaks. And everywhere I went, I’d been gazing at the stars, loving how many I could see compared to home, but in Tekapo, I got to see them in a whole new way — from the observatory. In no way did I ever think that I would see Saturn — rings, moons, and all — while I was in NZ!

That said, every place I visited — Kaikoura, the Waipara, Hanmer Springs, Akaroa, Geraldine, Tekapo, and Mount Cook — had its own charm. I genuinely enjoyed visiting all of them, and I often found it very difficult to leave. If I ever got the chance, I would pay each and every place a return visit. I’d love to go back and do some of the things that couldn’t possibly fit into my very full itinerary, but I’d also be happy trying some of the same things again (especially dolphin swimming — hopefully I’d actually be able to get into the water if I went again!).

So, even though it all seems like a faraway dream — something that must have happened to another person, even though I have the pictures and writing to prove it was me — it was such a good dream. It reaffirmed how much I love New Zealand and proved to me that Canterbury should always have a starring place on a South Island itinerary.

I’d like to thank Wotif.com and Canterbury Tourism for all the hard work they put into planning my Canterbury Tiki Tour. They helped me with any questions I may have had along the way and were generally just awesome! 

When I reached Geraldine on my drive back to Christchurch, I was struck by the change from a few days before. When I saw the town on my way to Tekapo, it was through a dull drizzle that reminded me very much of England. The town was still pretty, but the weather very much inspired me to stay inside. This day was the complete opposite — I wanted to get out of my car and wander past the old buildings, tasting various goodies from shops as I went. However, this wasn’t to be because I had a flight to catch, so I continued on through the town.

On the other side of town, I was presented with a choice — do I take State Highway 1 back to Christchurch, or do I take the Inland Scenic Route? After a bit of poking around on my GPS (which refused to actually find a GPS signal), I found that the scenic route was 30km longer in distance but supposedly only 9 minutes longer in time. Both routes would get me into Christchurch with plenty of time for my flight, so I was sold. The Inland Scenic Route it was.

What a great choice that was! It was great driving; there were very few cars going in either direction, and I only encountered one campervan that I needed to pass (who kindly pulled over before I had to overtake). The speed limit was the same as the highway and the only real slowdown I hit was a patch of roadworks that stretched for a few kilometers. Otherwise, the main slowdowns came from me stopping on the side of the road to take photos (which I had to limit so I didn’t end up being late).

I made two really interesting stops along the way. The first was before the turnoffs for Mount Hutt Village and Methven, and I stopped because I thought it would be a good opportunity to take photos of the mountains with some orange and red trees in front of them. I thought the campervan in front of me was stopping for the same reason, but it turned out that they’d spotted something that I hadn’t: a couple deer. These weren’t just any deer either — they were deer with some of the most impressive antlers I’ve seen in a long time. One had at least seven points!

My other stop was at Rakaia Gorge, where the waters of the Rakaia River flow underneath the Rakaia Gorge Bridge. As I drove downhill towards the bridge, there was a turnoff where I could stand and watch the river stretching before me. It reminded me very much of Hokitika Gorge on the West Coast in that it had a pearly baby blue colour that just doesn’t seem natural. It also had a very different appearance to most other rivers in Canterbury (and even from its own appearance further downstream) because it wasn’t braided — that is, running in very narrow streams across a vast area of rocky riverbed.

I tried to make a few other stops around Rakaia Gorge in search of a perfect viewpoint of the river, its bridge, and the mountains behind. My stop in a small carpark just after crossing the bridge was successful, and it gave me an amazing up-close view. I even saw the Discovery Jet, a jetboat ride that takes you through the gorge itself. My other stop, in the carpark for Discovery Jet where I hoped to get a view from river-level, was not so successful because the carpark was full of water. I was worried about taking my little car through it, so I turned around and continued towards Christchurch.

Soon, I found myself back in the outskirts of the city, filling up my car with petrol and preparing to return it before flying home. I was happy though, because by taking the Inland Scenic Route, I’d made the most of my last day in this beautiful country.

The Inland Scenic Route runs from Christchurch to Geraldine via Mount Hutt Village. From Christchurch, take SH73 to Darfield and then SH77 towards Mount Hutt. From Geraldine, take SH79 north and then turn left onto Geraldine-Arundel Drive, following the signs for the Inland Scenic Route.

When many people think of Lake Tekapo, they think of a brilliantly azure lake that is unlike any other. The next thing they probably think of is the Church of the Good Shepherd, a small stone building that stands on the lakeshore and provides wonderfully scenic shots from both the inside and the outside. The church, first built in the Mackenzie Basin, lives up to its billing — it truly is a stunning location, and I certainly felt like I could have spent hours taking photos of it from every angle, framing it with golden tussock and the blue waters beyond.

There is one problem with the church though — everyone else wants to take these photos too. Tekapo is situated almost perfectly halfway between Christchurch and Queenstown, so it provides a very convenient stop for nearly every bus that passes through. This means that the area is swarming with bus passengers from morning to evening.

This was most obvious when I went inside the church. I couldn’t wait until the busloads of people left because I arrived 15 minutes before closing time, so I squeezed into the main aisle with at least 20 other people. There were signs around the church asking people to take care and be respectful because this is a place of worship, and for the most part, the crowds took this to heart. However, they didn’t seem to be respectful of the other people around them, because I was elbowed and had multiple people shove in front of me so they could get a photo of the altar standing before the glittering lake. I’m happy I went inside, but I wish I’d had the time and space to be a bit more contemplative.

Outside of the church, I felt a bit less claustrophobic. I spent quite some time just ambling around, taking in the beauty of the place…and snapping a few photos when there was a break in the flow of people.

Only a short walk away stands the statue of the working dog, which was built in honour of all of the sheep dogs that work so hard on the surrounding high country stations. One such dog, Friday, was owned by James Mackenzie, the notorious sheep thief after whom the area was named. Apparently, long after authorities had captured Mackenzie, they had trouble rounding up all of his sheep because Friday had continued herding them. Such is the dedication of the sheep dogs that the farmers felt they deserved a memorial statue…and what a view that statue gets to look out on each day.

I found the waterfront area around the working dog was much quieter even though it was only an amble away from the church, but I was lucky enough to find an even quieter time to visit when I popped over before breakfast on the morning of my departure. The parking lot was dotted with only a few cars, and the people wandering around the church were quiet enough that we could hear the vacuuming that was happening inside. Everyone was respectful of other people’s space and got out of the way so other people could have unobscured photos.

Just as importantly, it was early enough that the morning light hadn’t lost its golden tinge and steam was still rising from the lake slightly to the east. The grass was coated in a fine layer of crystals left by the frost from the chilly night before. It was an almost magical scene at which I couldn’t help but stop and stare. Seeing this, I understood why so many people flocked to the church. However, I also felt sorry that they couldn’t experience it in this way because, by the time they got there, the frost would have melted, the sun would be much higher in the sky, and the buses would have arrived.

So do I recommend going to the Church of the Good Shepherd? Absolutely — it’s one of the can’t miss spots in Tekapo. If you can, though, try to pick a time when it’s a bit quieter — early in the morning like I did, or late on a moonlit night — so you get to experience the site as it truly should be.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is located on Pioneer Drive in Lake Tekapo. The church is open to visitors from 9am-5pm in the summer and from 10am-4pm in the winter, but the grounds are open at all hours. Worship services are held every fourth Sunday from 11.30am-12.30pm.

Everywhere I stayed on my trip around New Zealand was outstanding, but I was still pretty excited about staying at Peppers Bluewater Resort. It sounded like such a relaxing place to stay, and it really helped that plenty of people had raved about it to me before I got there. I would tend to agree with those people — I really enjoyed my time at Peppers and would definitely recommend it to anyone staying in Tekapo.

First of all, the location is fantastic. It wasn’t right on the water as I thought it might be, but rather, on the other side of the main highway. However, the entire resort is elevated above the level of the highway, giving the rooms in the front block of units (and some of the higher ones in the back blocks) stunning views all across Lake Tekapo. At sunrise, I stood on the balcony and watched red and orange outline the silhouettes of the mountains then saw the golden tussock all around me light up in the golden early morning light. It was a great consolation for having to be up that early in the first place!

You could walk to many places in Tekapo from the hotel, as it is situated only a few hundred meters down the main road from the village centre. The Church of the Good Shepherd is a bit further but is still easily walkable.

The service was outstanding as well. When I arrived, I had a plate of chocolates and various other goodies waiting for me on the table, along with a note describing all the different amenities the room had to offer (like an espresso machine!). They even provided me with a pair of binoculars for looking out at the surrounding area! Also, importantly for me, I was able to call reception at about 5am to sort out a replacement internet card (mine had expired).

The room itself had everything I needed, plus much, much more. I didn’t use the included espresso machine (so I couldn’t test their claim that 40s would give you the perfect coffee), nor did I use the TV or various other assorted electronics. I did try to use the air conditioner, without a lot of success (although I’m sure if I called reception they would have explained it to me). I wanted to leave it on a low heat overnight because Tekapo was a lot colder than my other destinations; however, it seemed like even when I put it on 28 degrees, it was still pumping out cold air. Obviously, I didn’t know which combination of buttons to hit to make it work like I wanted!

Everything I did use was great though — there was a huge coffee table for spreading out my array of cameras, memory cards, and hard drives that I had to transfer between each night and the couch was comfy. The bed itself was incredibly comfortable and had enough soft sheets and blankets on it that I wasn’t cold despite not being able to work out the heating situation. The bathroom came complete with bathtub and shower, and I could have stood under the shower for hours (especially after coming in freezing from the hot springs!).

Each morning, I ate at the breakfast buffet in the main reception/dining area. It was a typical buffet with both continental and hot breakfast options. They also had a wide array of juices, including kiwifruit juice (which was good in small amounts). Even if you’re not eating breakfast at the hotel, you should go to the patio outside the dining room just to see the reflections in the pond.

Overall, even though I was quite busy in Tekapo and didn’t get to spend a lot of time at Peppers, I really enjoyed my stay there. In combination with Tekapo Springs, it would be a perfect relaxing retreat from the grind of daily life.

Peppers Bluewater Resort is located on State Highway 8 in Tekapo. Rooms can be booked through Wotif.com.

After following a jam-packed itinerary for eight days, I was excited about the prospect of spending a relaxing evening in the hot pools at Tekapo Springs. But before that, I was hoping to try out a few of the adventurous activities on offer, including tubing down the first summer tube track in New Zealand.

I ended up getting to Tekapo Springs slightly later than I’d planned, so I arrived just as the sun was setting. Sad that I’d probably missed the last of the tubing, I asked at reception if there was any chance that the track was still open. They weren’t sure, so they called over Mike, who handles marketing at the newly rebranded hot springs (which were previously known as Alpine Springs). He was very friendly and really interested in all the other things I’d been able to do in the area, so we had a great chat as he walked me around the facilities and over to the tube track.

This track, unlike the winter track where as many as six kids could fly down the hill at once, is designed for one tube. It goes down a pretty decent incline and has a few hairpin turns before you slowly slide to a halt. Because the surface isn’t all that slippery on its own, the tubes have to be painted with a film of lube to get them going…but boy, do they get some pace! After my first run, the guy working the tube ride said it was the fastest the track had been in a long time…so of course that meant we needed to go again, this time as a double (where we each held on to the other’s tube). The added weight gave us so much momentum that I thought we might go flying off the side! It was great fun though.

As I was putting on my helmet prior to the tube ride, Mike came over again and said an appointment had opened up at the day spa, and would I like to have an hour-long massage? The answer was a resounding yes! Since I finished on the tubes just before 6.30, I had time to hop in the pools for a quick soak before my treatment.

The three hot pools at Tekapo Springs are at three slightly different heights, so people in each pool can have unobscured views of Lake Tekapo both during the day and on nights where the full moon lights up the lake. All three are named after large lakes in the region. As you move further away from the lake, the pools get warmer, with the coolest being around 36C and the warmest around 40C. For my short soak, I chose Pukaki, the middle pool.

One thing I noticed about Tekapo Springs was the relatively small number of people there compared to Hanmer Springs. As a whole it was less crowded and quieter in the pools. I much preferred it this way.

When I jumped out of the pool to go to my massage, I also realised how much colder it was in Tekapo than it had been a few hundred kilometers to the northeast in Hanmer. Brrr! It wasn’t quite freezing, but it must have been close as my car was coated in a layer of ice the next morning.

The massage was exactly what I needed after eight days of very exciting, but somewhat tiring, travel. In an hour, Petra (a Slovenian trained as a physiotherapist) got rid of much of the tension in my back, neck, arms, and legs (yes, even my bad knee!) while we chatted about traveling around NZ. Afterwards, I was incredibly relaxed and thought the perfect way to follow it up would be with a nice long soak in the hot pools (something Petra wholeheartedly agreed with).

Even though I also had access to the many other facilities at the hot springs, including the ice rink and the saunas, I chose to spend the last hour before closing time switching between the two of the three hot pools. I wish I’d had more time to explore everything that Tekapo Springs has to offer, but I was perfectly content just lounging and trying to strike that perfect balance between the chill of the autumn air and the heat of the bubbling pools.

I found that Tekapo Springs struck the perfect balance between fun activities and relaxation. I would be perfectly happy spending an entire getaway to Tekapo here, especially in the winter when everything is coated in a fine layer of snow.

Tekapo Springs is located at 6 Lakeside Drive in Tekapo and is open from 10am-9pm daily.  The hot pools and Tahr Bar & Cafe are open year round, with the ice skating open from April to September. The summer tubing track is open from October-June and the snow tubing is open in the winter months.

One thing that really stuck out to me on my itinerary when I first saw it was the Glacier Explorers trip on the Tasman Glacier lake. It’s something on my ‘travel bucket list’ — well, kayaking on a glacier lake is, but this is close enough. I was excited about getting the chance to get up close and personal with some icebergs.

Our guide was a bit concerned about my ability to even make it to the lake because the second leg of the trip, after the scenic drive through the Tasman Valley from Mount Cook Village, is a 1.5km walk over loose gravel. I was willing to give it a try because I really didn’t want to miss the experience and because my leg has held up pretty well on this trip.

The walk really wasn’t as bad as the guide made it out to be. The first half was on a decent path; the second half was on gravel but didn’t involve any sharp declines so I wasn’t concerned about slipping and falling. The scenery was amazing — there were mountains all around us but it still often seemed like we were in a sparse, almost lunar landscape because of all the loose moraine. Parts of it struck me as being very similar to the Tongariro Crossing, albeit with a lot more mountains.

Once there, we put our belongings we didn’t want to get wet in the shed (they pointed out there is a chance we would get wet, although it hadn’t happened in 18 years of boating the lake). Then we were handed our lifejackets and divided up into the three boats that would be heading out.

Unlike Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki, which are glacier-fed lakes, the Tasman Glacier lake is a dull grey colour because there is still such a high concentration of rock flour in the lake. In fact, our guide pointed out that one iceberg hadn’t moved in a month and they suspect the reason is because it got stuck on some rock flour which glued it to the bottom.

The first order of business once the boat had drifted out onto the murky greyness was the safety briefing, which was pretty standard except for the first point. Our guide asked us to put our hands in the water until he counted to ten, and then veeeery slowly began counting.  By the time ten came around, I was quite uncomfortable — not surprising, given the water is 1C at most. This did a very good job of showing us why we shouldn’t be trying to swim in the lake (although I would have been willing to take his word for it, given it’s a lake with icebergs in it).

As we motored around the lake, we learned all sorts of interesting facts about the Tasman Glacier and its terminal lake. The glacier is currently 27km in length but is receding up the valley at a pace of about 300m per year. The lake is a product of the recession of the glacier; the wall of moraine that holds it in at the far end marks the length of the glacier just before the lake formed (6km further down the valley from its current terminal face).

Near where we launched at the end of the lake, we pulled up around a few icebergs and were given the chance to touch the smooth ice. Some of us broke off pieces so we could taste iceberg water; we were told it would taste a bit like dirt due to all the suspended rock particles but I thought it tasted nice and fresh.

Then we sped over to the other side of the lake, taking in the spectacular views of Aoraki/Mount Cook and all of the other mountains in Mount Cook National Park. Once we stopped near the terminal face and our wake dissipated, the water was glass and perfectly reflective of the mountains beyond.

Even though the glacier is much smaller than it used to be, it’s still a very impressive natural phenomenon. We weren’t allowed too close because there can be large events of ice shearing off where the only warning is a huge cracking noise before ice comes bubbling out of the water underneath the glacier. Our guide has been on the lake when this happened and said it’s perfectly safe — provided you’re not too close in the first place.

Unsuspectingly, our guide saved the best for last. As we sat near the glacier, he watched an iceberg roll and quickly made his way over to it. The ice was still a brilliant blue colour, which you can only see in the first few hours after a roll as it becomes more and more white. The sunlight sparkled through it, only blocked by the myriad of rock particles suspended inside. It was beautiful and we were so fortunate to be able to see it.

After about an hour, we pulled back up to the dock to prepare for our walk back to the bus (which I thought was even better than the walk in because we could see Mount Cook towering over us). As we pulled into the dock, our guide told us to pretend we’re excited and make a lot of noise for the people in the other boats. I certainly didn’t have to pretend — I was very excited! It was so different from anything I had done before, and to be honest, I was happy I was in a boat rather than a kayak because we got to see much more than we would have otherwise.

Glacier Explorers is based in the Hermitage Hotel in Mount Cook Village and does multiple trips to the Tasman Glacier lake daily.

By day, the Mount John Observatory, which sits on a high hill above the town of Tekapo, gives tourists a great view of Lake Tekapo and the Mackenzie Basin beyond. By night, the observatory gives both tourists and astronomers an almost unmatched view of the skies above.

The Tekapo area, already very low in light pollution, has strong light restrictions to ensure that the University of Canterbury’s observatory enjoys the clearest, most unobscured views possible of the night sky. In fact, because of these restrictions, which include using yellow sulfur lights (and canopying any fluorescent lights) in the town below, the region has been able to apply to UNESCO for the right to be called a starlight reserve. Everyone is quietly hopeful that this will be approved in the near future.

The need to have as little light as possible around the observatory has another interesting side effect, which we were informed of by our driver shortly after departing the Earth & Sky Tours office with massively thick down jackets in hand. Once we reached a certain point, the bus lights would be turned off and we would proceed in the dark. He was pretty sure he would be able to get us to the top without driving off the side of the hill!

We did indeed make it safely to the top of the hill, where we were disappointed to find that the skies had completely clouded over. We were warned of this possibility and given the option to change our tour to another night when we checked in, but I’d decided to take my chances. It was looking like it might have been the wrong choice.

Even if the stars aren’t out, there’s still plenty to see around the observatory. We were taken in to see the largest telescope in the complex, the multi-million dollar MOA2 (which you actually can’t see if it’s in use on a clear night). This was an enormous, computer-controlled machine with an 86-megapixel camera (that has to be kept at -80C to ensure it doesn’t overheat from constantly taking pictures!). Next door to the telescope was the control room, where the astronomers spend their nights analysing data from the telescopes in hope of finding new planets.

Once we left that building, we all looked up expectantly…and were shocked to see the clouds had begun to clear. We could see the band of the Milky Way across the sky, interwoven with constellations like the Southern Cross and Orion. I had already been awed by the stars in Hanmer Springs and Akaroa, but this was on a completely different level. The stars were so brilliant in the sky and there were so many of them.

Because of this turn of events, our guides set up two smaller telescopes outside the cafe, where we could look more closely at some of the stars, like Alpha and Beta Centuri, while sipping on hot chocolate. It was very cool to be able to look through the telescopes, but I spent a lot of time lying with my head on one of the picnic tables, staring up at the sky and listening to our very entertaining guides tell their stories. Within minutes I’d already seen a shooting star.

At one point, we were told that anyone with cameras should head over to a woman with a very interesting tripod. After finding the appropriate tools to pry off my tripod mount, my camera was added to the four or so others mounted on a long plank of wood. Apparently, this tripod was designed to move as the stars move across the sky, so instead of getting star trails you can get clear photos of the night sky. All of the cameras were attached to a timer so one person could perfectly time shots with multiple cameras at a time. My camera was one of the last added so she said I’d only get one shot, but that was ok with me!

We were then split up into smaller groups. Each group was individually taken down to use one of the larger, domed telescopes via paths lit with dimly glowing reflectors. The first thing we were shown was a mystery nebula — we had to guess what it was called by its shape. One person guessed ET and I thought it looked like the alien from Alien, but it turned out that it was actually the Tarantula Nebula! Once I was told, I could definitely see it.

Then the telescope and dome were rotated — something that in itself was very cool to watch. The next object we looked at was probably the highlight of most people’s nights, and something that my eyes just wouldn’t believe. I leaned over the telescope and peeked in the viewfinder, only to see three dots (moons) leading up to what was clearly Saturn. It looked like they’d stuck a sticker on the end of the telescope, so much was it like a drawing of the planet. Leaning slightly, the rings encircled the white dot of a planet. How cool was that — I got to see Saturn with my own eyes (magnified slightly with the telescope)!

Soon, our tour came to an end and we found ourselves walking back to the bus for the dark drive down. I had a hard time not stumbling because my head was still craned towards the sky, taking in as much as I could. What a place, what a view.

Earth & Sky Tours offers a sunset tour and two nighttime tours daily. Their office is located on the State Highway in Tekapo near the i-site.

Geraldine was a great place to break my drive. Not only did it offer plenty of indoor attractions in which I could hide from the rain, but it was also a very interesting and arty place that I truly wished I had more than an hour to explore.

For the history buff, Geraldine offers two different museums — the Historical Society Museum and the Vintage Car & Machinery Museum. I was only able to visit the Historical Society Museum because it was conveniently located near the information centre, while the Car & Machinery Museum is a few kilometers out of town. It had plenty of old photographs and a few old machines, and it was intriguing to be able to peer into the past of an area I don’t know very much about in NZ.

Just down the road from the museum was a strip of shops that I could have spent all day in. From cheese to chocolate to alpaca wool, they had an incredible number of natural products to browse through — and importantly, to taste! I tasted three varieties of cheese at the cheesemaker (which is very obvious, courtesy of the large mouse & cheese sitting on the rooftop). The garlic cheese was definitely the most interesting — it had a very unique taste that I couldn’t decide how I felt about, so of course I had to try it a few more times!

The chocolate shop had wall-to-wall chocolate at a better price than you’ll find at Darrell Lea. Plus, the shopkeeper was very friendly and happy to answer my questions, like “how do you make this handmade Easter egg taste so good?” The answer? Chocolate, caramel, and marshmallows. Yum.

I had a peek into Barker’s, and I really should have gone in…but I knew if I did, I would have no time at all to do anything else in town! I could have spent all day looking through all the different preserves and jams, trying to figure out which ones would fit in my suitcase (and which ones Australian customs would allow in).

It was a very good thing that I didn’t stop at Barker’s because I definitely wouldn’t have had time to check out the town’s most unique attraction — the Giant Jersey and the Medieval Mosaic. However, I’m happy that I did get to stop at a few shops (and even buy a few presents for my family at the Alpaca Wool Centre) so I could literally get a taste of some of the wonderful treats that Geraldine has to offer!

Very obviously painted with “The Giant Jersey, 1066 – A Medieval Mosaic” from the outside, the most unique attraction in Geraldine looks like a normal wool shop when you walk in. It’s only when I looked past the woolen sweaters and scarves that I noticed the giant jumper — the eponymous Giant Jersey — hanging on the wall. At nearly 5m long and weighing 5.5kg, it holds the world record for being the largest jersey in the world and would engulf a small family.

I had a bit of a problem when I walked further into the shop and realised that I actually needed to pay $2 to get into the back room with the medieval mosaic…and I didn’t have any cash at all. While I asked the owner, Michael Linton, whether they accepted EFTPOS (yes, they do, but they don’t accept credit), a kind woman walked up and handed me a gold coin. When I protested that I could pay on card, she told me not to be silly and that it was only $2. How friendly is that?

That done, another visitor and I were let into the room holding the mosaic. The lights came on and illuminated a full recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry and its depiction of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. On closer inspection of one of the many panels encircling the room, I could see that it was made of tiny little steel squares, all painstakingly pieced together and painted.

It was fortunate that Michael came in with us and gave us a guided history of the mosaic, because otherwise I wouldn’t have realised quite how enormous a task its creation really was. He pulled out a small plate where we could touch a small section of finished mosaic and feel how tiny the steel pieces were. These steel pieces were the teeth from larger disks, and to make the mosaic, he used about 1.5 million of them!

Something I found very interesting was the fact that this isn’t just a recreation of the tapestry. Because a quarter of the tapestry is missing, Michael’s daughter studied the events of the Battle of Hastings and designed what it might have looked like. Michael then made it a steel and paint reality. This makes the mosaic a much more complete telling of the battle’s story than the original!

Michael has also put together a DVD of the mosaic with the help of his programmer son. This $50 DVD is a lot more than just a bit of information and pictures. It contains an almost comprehensive history of the Battle of Hastings, which I found very impressive. You can even scroll through the tapestry and click on people or objects to bring up full details about who that person was or why the object had enough importance to be included. It also includes texts, music, and even a program that lets you design your own Celtic knots!

I feel like Michael had only just scratched the surface when I looked at the time and realised that I wouldn’t make it to my Air Safaris flight in Tekapo if I stayed any longer. I hadn’t been sure what to expect from the medieval mosaic when I walked into the shop, but I left with a feeling of awe. Michael had shown how much he truly cared about the subject and had imparted some of that excitement to me. Plus, I would love to be able to dedicate myself to a task that I truly loved for 25 years and then be able to show it off to anyone that came by!