Drive to Tekapo

Another early morning alarm, but this time I hardly slept through night with anticipation of what was to come. With the bags all packed already, all that stands between us and the airport is a quick taxi ride. But when i pull out my phone, there are no Uber's available this early in the morning. We are about to head outside, but just before we get into a taxi, one lonely Uber appears on my map, saving us some money, and the hassle of finding a taxi. With the amount that we travel, we are used to things going wrong with airlines, or traffic, or any miscellaneous problem that could occur, so naturally, Taylor and I left the hotel far too early. As we pull up the the departures terminal, there are very few people around and the check in machine is not yet turned on. This allows us to go and take a quick look around the airport and grab a bite to eat, all while sitting underneath Gandalf and his giant eagle. We have landed in Christchurch, and the details of the airport all come back to me as we deplane. Strait to the baggage belt to grab the bag containing our tripods, then over to the courtesy phone to call for our pick up to get us to the camper van rental location. The pick up process is quick and we are off on our way to stock up on groceries for the week before we hit the road to Tekapo. The van is kitted out beautifully for the two of us, we have a three burner gas stove, sink with hot and cold water, a small bathroom, with toilet and shower head, a King sized bed and small dinner table with bench seating. There is also a small grill on the outside of the van that pulls out to make our steaks later in the week. We are on the road by midday, and only have a 3 hour drive to get us to the campsite for tonight. I remember very quickly what it is like to drive on the left hand side of the road and we are on our way! We arrive in Tekapo with lots of time to spare before sunset, and are able to walk around the Church of the Good Shepard and gaze in awe at the magnificent blue glacial water of Lake Tekapo. We grabbed a few merino items at the store, and went to get our campsite for the night and get changed so we would be warm taking pictures at the sun sets. Our photographs are looking good, there are clouds in the sky, but the beauty of this place is still astounding. We will stay out until the sky goes dark in hopes of getting some pictures of the stars and the church. As we wait for the stars to come out, we realize just how bright the moon is. It is overpowering all of our attempts to photograph the stars, so I re-evaluate the situation and start shooting back towards the mountains in hope that the bright moon will light out the mountains. To my astonishment, the moon s bright enough and the pictures come out with a deep blue sky, filled with stars, and an outline of the mountains, better than I could have hoped for.