Day 2 - 尘世美 - Mt Cook & Lake Tekapo

想去的地方太多了，加上自信我们都是吃苦耐劳的人，我把行程安排得超紧凑--- 看来这次假期是注定没有懒觉睡的了。一早起身，租车，搬行李，check-out，plugging in GPS –- 正式开始我们的road trip.

刚开出城市，映入眼帘的就是人们印象里最typical的New Zealand 风景 --- 绿油油的草原，山丘，和一望无“计”（此处解为 “无法计算”）的羊群。 老公说，这么多羊，看几天我就会厌了。但事实证明直到road trip的最后一天，我还是对这软绵绵，手感超好的动物爱不“释手”。（详情见"Gimpy"篇）

看到一处较宽的路间，停下车，我轻手轻脚得试图接近羊群，想拍一张羊儿优哉闲哉吃草的照片。可惜，当我离它们还有八丈远的时候，原本还在吃早饭的羊儿们，全都抬起头，怒视着我；然后，在几秒钟内，齐齐撤退到了几十米外，而且还不松懈，大有我上前一步它们便后退十米的架势。和这些羊僵持了一阵子后，我终于决定不和它们计较了。

Of course, the highlight of the day is not these cowardly sheep, but lakes, glacier lakes. Our first stop – Lake Tekapo.

The charm of glacier lake comes from its incredibly beautiful turquoise-blue color, it is so pretty that it seems to belong to a different world. The extraordinary color is due to the fact that the lakes in this area are mainly fed from glaciers. The glacier, which is basically a huge, slow-moving mass of ice, crushes mountain rock on its journey from the slopes of the Southern Alps to the rivers of the massive valleys. The crushed rock produces a fine, flour-like powder that remains suspended in the water and, when reflecting light, produces the unique blue color for which Lake Tekapo is renowned.

It's not hard to take postcard-like photos here because it's picture-perfect everywhere you go, every angle you look at. However, it's difficult to stick to the original schedule because everything here is just too beautiful to say "bye"to.
The Church of the Good Shepherd -- a tiny church that possesses the most heavenly of views.

Via the window of the church, which provides a refreshing view on the lake and mountains, perhaps also on the meaning of life.
Lake Pukaki, share the color of Lake Tekapo, is our second stop. It's bigger, brighter and quieter. With the surrounding impressive snow-capped peaks, the scenery is simply stunning! Overlooking Lake Pukaki, we see Mt Cook standing tall behind it -- and it's where we are heading to, today's final destination.

Side notes, two things we'd love to do but didn't have time:
1) Stargazing at Lake Tekapo. (recently heard that New Zealand is working on a bid to make Tekapo the world's first night sky reserve)
2) Visiting Mt. salmon farm -- the highest freshwater salmon farm in the world. Laogong was very disappointed to see the gate to the road closed after thinking about having fresh salmon sashimi for the whole day.

从Lake Pukaki 驶向Mt Cook，刚开始还是晴空万里。当我们越靠近Mt Cook，碧蓝的天空只出现在后视镜里，而眼前厚厚的如棉花糖般的云朵则越积越多。等我们到了Hermitage Mount Cook Hotel，已是乌云密布，再也看不到一丝的阳光了； 气温骤降了十几度--- 山区的天气就是如此多变！

不过对此领会不多的老公提议我们先去个trail 走走。 我们也算是全面武装了---衣服穿了一层又一层，能挡风的都戴上了：帽子，围巾，甚至太阳镜 --- 努力把自己打扮成个粽子，但成效不大。从山谷中吹来的风，大得让我站不稳。再加上径流冰川，那风真是冰冷得刺骨。走了好久，都没有暖和起来的迹象；只是觉得寒气钻心，越吹越头疼。唉，明明两个小时前，我还穿着短袖晒太阳呢……

没有学乖的我们，半夜又披着被子，到凉台上看星星。 黑丝绒般的夜空，已和四周连成一体，不分边际。这种入夜后的黑暗本属自然，现在却是弥足珍贵。满天如钻石般的繁星，好似触手可及，让人不禁看得痴了，久久地收不回视线......