If you have even a fleeting relationship with social media then the odds are that some places you visit you will have seen photos of from someone else’s happy holiday snaps long before you actually set eyes on it. Lake Tekapo is a place most New Zealanders would probably recognise even if they have never been there. The combination of a gorgeous lake flanked by the mountains and a well placed little stone church have made this a must do photo opportunity for visitors from near and far. I think if we had visited a couple of years ago Tekapo would have felt like a different little town and I think if we visit again in a couple more years it will have grown in size quite considerably. In fact we could see it growing right before our eyes with new houses galore in various states of development. As well as the waterfront area and town getting a lot of major changes. This is progress I know and a neccesary thing when you are going to have to accommodate any ever increasing number of tourists each year. Perhaps even a welcome thing for people who call this place home to see their businesses growing. But it is undeniable that it changes the tone of a place. Don’t get me wrong Tekapo is undeniably lovely. But don’t be fooled by those perfect shots with church, lake, mountains and not a soul in shot. To get a shot without the crowds of tourists takes a bit of creative shooting and quick clicking when you get a person free shot. The best I could do is one with only my own child in the picture.

We spent two nights in Tekapo but didn’t do heaps. I think after cramming so much in to a short spell we were ready for a quiet day. Our good luck with the weather finally came to a pause on our second day here as well. So though we went for a bit of a stroll along the lakefront and a bit of a drive in the car to see the other side of the lake we didn’t take advantage of all the bike tracks here. We did find the most picturesque flying fox ever. The lake levels were quite low when we visited so Oliver also had a ball playing in the mud this had revealed.

It was a grim old morning when we left Lake Tekapo so the trip to Timaru didn’t take us that long. It’s amazing how much ground you can cover when you aren’t stopping along the way to explore. Timaru was really where the ‘holiday’ ended for us and we started trying to figure out what our next move was. We spent a few nights here, briefly exploring the idea of working here or moving on to either Ashburton or Christchurch. I think perhaps because we had a few options we were very indecisive and it took us a while to decide what we wanted to do. But in the end we settled on Christchurch. So we enjoyed a few days in Timaru then headed on to the next place we would call home.