Woke up at about 6.45am at the toasty Bonatti. Didn’t want to wake up at all bc it was so comfortable. Breakfast was the best so far – Crispy bread with nice jams, coffee/tea/milk, cereal, cheese. All great. Then Maja, Eva, Laura and I left at 7.30am into […]
So last night I had a really nice stay in the hotel at Courmayeur, and woke up at 6.45 for the breakfast. The entire hotel felt so empty… Like it was just me and a couple of people. Naturally because it really is a ski town and it’s […]
Couldn’t sleep last night cos I was so cold. Pondered taking out my sleeping bag but because I was the last to turn in at like 12am, I was afraid of the noise. So I think I had 4 hours of sleep maybe. Woke up at 6.40am and […]
Woke up today at about 6.15am to a complete white out. Lien opened the window in our dorm and the first words were ‘omg’. I’ve never seen so much snow in my life, and never before on top of a mountain. It was so beautiful. But the problem […]
Man. Today was tough. Terrain and weather was unexpectedly challenging. Not to mention, the total elevation on this section is about 1500m. I woke up at about7.30 for some simple breakfast, which was crispy baguette with jam and tea. Then basically for most of the day, it was […]
Started stage 1 of the TMB from Les Houches. Took a bus from Les Pelerine and took the Bellevue Telepherique up to Col dear Voza. Had a short break at Auberge dear Bionnassay. The amazing views of the valley made up for the mediocre hot chocolat though. Met […]
Currently waiting to board my delayed flight to Zurich. This is actually my first encounter of such a thing, and it has caused some distress to my plans as I’ve got a connecting flight to Geneva. Got notified about a couple of hours before I’d wanted to head […]
I visited Tekapo on my previous trip to NZ, and it was kind of like the very first place that made me fall in love with the country. It was such a short, day trip that time, so I felt like I must come back and spend a little bit more time here on this trip. The Astro Cafe is and will always be my favourite cafe on earth. And also, I got to do a stargazing tour this time round! Church of the Good Shepherd was also open just in time to visit. I remember on the previous trip, I’d just missed the closing time.
This was my last leg of the 17 days backpacking trip, so I was feeling a little sad while on the bus from Mt Cook. The 4pm bus took about 2.5 hours to get to Tekapo, so it was evening by the time I got there. Being the last stop of the trip, I decided to check- in into a decent hotel, The Godley, which sits just in front of the lake. After which, first order of business was to Kohan to get my salmon sashimi fix! So, so glad to be back.
I love Mt Cook. Of all the places I’ve been to on this trip, this area is by far, the most beautiful place I have ever been to, and stayed in.
So I left Wanaka early morning at about 9am, and took an Intercity bus to Mt Cook, stopping by a couple of places in between. The first stop I remember was Tarras, a small sheep farming settlement, known for producing merino wool. It was rather cloudy that day so it all looked a bit dark and gloomy. And sure enough it poured throughout the bus journey, till about 12pm when we reached Mt Cook! Super lucky I’d say. Was thankful to still be able to catch the Lake Pukaki along the way, one of the blue-est lake in NZ!
After Queenstown, I took yet another Intercity bus onwards to Wanaka. After browsing through so much of it on Instagram, it was kind of a place I really looked forward to, especially hiking Roy’s Peak. I didn’t complete it, though. Instead, I decided to give up mid-way and did a scenic helicopter flight instead. Yes, I guess I was just addicted to the feeling of flying! It was so fun… and just overindulgent I know.
Wanaka is a really quiet town, like Te Anau. Of course, I got to finally see that famous Wanaka Tree. I guess the most memorable thing I did in Wanaka was that I spent pretty much an entire day cycling around the circumference of the lake. It was so relaxing, though I got really burnt at the end of it. Haha.
NEXT PLANE OUT 