Dec 3 day 94 Tekapo Village to freedom camp on Lake Pukaki 8:00-4:30 40 km

When the boys were young, we used to read a children’s book called The Lupine Lady, all about a woman who bought big bags of lupine seeds and spread them all along the roadsides in the place where she lived. I had an idea what lupines looked like, but never had seen them growing in profusion until today. A long walk along a gravel road from Tekapo to Lake Pukaki, a glacier fed lake (near Mount Cook) that is milky turquoise. The Lupines were purple, but also turquoise, and even a shade of pink and orange. Very much a day of startling colors, which was a good thing as it was not the most interesting of walks– flat, rained most of the day, so the scenery was all fogged out. The best part is that I made excellent time, well-positioned to get into Twizel tomorrow– the last big town until Wanaka. I freedom camped on a ridge over the lake in a grove of beech trees. I hope they break the wind better than the site last night where the shaking of the tent kept me up much of the night.