Ohau salmon and Mount Cook re-visited

It was my birthday today and what a fine day it has been. Bruce snuck out of bed at first light and left me to slumber on while he tried once again to catch a salmon. When he decided the chill was getting to him he came and gave me breakfast in bed and we relaxed while watching the lady from the van next to us cast her line. The next moment we saw her working on reeling in a very nice salmon. After we all admired it, everyone (us and those in the vans around us) set to work trying to catch theirs. Bruce was there as quick as a flash, once more casting into the still, beautifully blue water.

It wasn’t long before he had one hooked and I had to race to borrow our neighbour’s net as we had neglected to bring one. What a buzz to finally catch one. The dogs were very interested as well!

The fish and the hook were well tangled in the net so our neighbour from another van helped get it out.

As you can see, Bruce is pretty proud of himself. He was given a few lessons on how to look after the fish after that, and we were happy that my birthday dinner was going to be crispy skinned salmon. There were four salmon caught around that time by those around us (including ours).

After the clean up we decided to head on to Tekapo but made the mistake of looking over our shoulders, and there was Mt Cook, in all its glory, and not a cloud in sight. We immediately decided that the opportunity was too good to miss, so we turned around and headed back to the mountain.

What a contrast from the day before, and when you can see what a majestic mountain she is, you can understand how she can draw you in if you were into mountaineeering like Sir Edmund Hillary. Today the views were uplifting instead of sombre, and the colours in Lake Ohau and the surrounding hills stood out when compared to the black and white peaks of Mt Cook, Mt Tasman and the others nearby.

After having another coffee at the Hermitage we made the drive back to Twizel to empty the waste tanks and gather a few accompaniments for dinner and then we hit the road for Tekapo.

Everywhere we went Mt Cook stood out as if to say “look at me” and look we did. Along the Tekapo road we saw a different side of the mountain, and the views from across the lake were just beautiful. The colour of the lake itself was so vibrantly blue that once again we had to keep stopping for photos.

It was close to 6pm when we finally arrived at the NZMCA camp at Tekapo, but just driving through the town of Tekapo was enough to make us want to visit there tomorrow. We set up our camp and Bruce set about making my birthday dinner while I walked the dogs. It was only a few metres to the lake’s edge and we discovered that from there you could also see Cook sticking her head above the surrounding landscape. What a beautiful place!.

…and what a beautiful birthday dinner! This life ain’t half bad!