Woke up to a beautiful day in Omarama which is in a flat plain some 1500 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains. It is also supposed to be one of the best glider plane areas in the world. We drove out to follow the road up the side of Lake Pukaki and we were treated to beautiful displays of wild Lupins along the sides of the road and then an amazing views of Mount Cook. What looked fab in the pictures from afar, the low level cloud, also convinced us a drive to the base of Mount Cook would be a waste of time.
And so after driving halfway up the side of the lake, we turned around and headed to Lake Tekapo. More views of Mount Cook and also a very nice little town and we could stop and have lunch out on a deck. We could see the famous little church that the area was also known for but there was at least 4 full size tourist buses there, and so I made do with just a long lens photo.
We drove back towards Omarama and went to visit the Clay cliffs that are just outside of town, here is the Google description The Clay Cliffs are a stark sight – tall pinnacles separated by narrow ravines. These otherworldly formations are made up of layers of gravel and silt, originally formed by the flow from ancient glaciers over a million years ago. Back into the town and a quick visit to the glider landing field to watch some of the sail planes land and at least one get towed up behind a little tow plane
More animals and some of the thousands of bee hives we have seen everywhere this trip