Lake Tekapo to Lake Pukaki to Queenstown

We left Lake Tekapo and headed towards Lake Pukaki and specifically the White Horse Hills hiking trails which are at the foot of Mt Cook.

We had hopes of freedom camping but checking online showed all the sites were taken. Oh well we’ll figure it out when we get there.
The traffic all the way was pretty steady so we figured by the time we got there that parking would be at a premium.

We first stopped at the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre which is next to the DOC (Department of Conservation) tourist information desk. We queried if they had any spots available, referencing the website information and the attendant said they had lots since they only put up 100 openings on the web booking. So we grabbed a site for the night. Basically it ended up that we were in a parking lot, but it was approved and perfect for the night.
We found a spot on the side of the road to park the Campervan since all the parking lots were full then we went for a 2 hr hike

After the hike we moved the Campervan to our spot for the evening.

The following are some of the photos from the hike

Our camping spot in the parking lot, we could have moved but decided not to.

This is the view we woke up to the next morning

We got an early start and headed towards Queenstown. Queenstown reminds us a lot of Whistler. There is a gondola from the town to a peak overlooking the city, lots of young people working in the stores trying to afford the lifestyle, high end clothing stores and lots of outdoor activities.