To Lake Tekapo and Akaroa

Saturday morning we drove inland to the community of Mount Cook, at the base of (you guessed it!) Mount Cook. Unfortunately, the weather had closed in, and we had drizzle and low cloud - and no view of Mount Cook. However, we had seen it from the other side, when we were at Lake Matheson, so we didn't feel entirely cheated! On to Lake Tekapo, where our motel looked out over the beautiful lake. We spent part of the evening in a spa, whose waters were heated by freezing ice for a rink.

Sunday, we visited the delightful church in Lake Tekapo, whose clear window looks out on the lake.

Then, back to the coast, to visit Anna's nephew, Ben - a student at the University in Christchurch. After a tour of the campus, we drove south onto Bank's Peninsula, where we stayed in the beautiful French waterside town of Akaroa. As Anna's birthday is on Monday, we celebrated with an exceptionally nice dinner at Ma Maison, a restaurant following the French theme! The area somehow remains French, even though the Brits arrived first - by a mere 3 days!

• Factoid: Bank's Peninsula was named for Joseph Banks, the botanist on Cook's expeditions. However, they thought the peninsula was an island!