I don't think love for a remote village could be more epic

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE YOU GET TO VISIT SOMEPLACE SO SPLENDID, IT KNOCKS YOU OFF YOUR FEET - 

As is standard, my sense of direction was shot from leaving Lake Tekapo's car park to reach the YHA. Luckily for me, there was a lady walking nearby who pointed me in the right direction. It was LUXURY to have a bed all to myself that was not a bunk bed - loving that!!

The distinctively turquoize colouration of the lake itself comes about because of rock floor ground up from surrounding glaciers. I loved this incy wincy community within seconds; it truly is a dreamy destination. There is an instant calming effect when you are present therein. When I arrived at this magnificent mecca of marvels, it was an overcast afternoon so I had a slight suspicion that my evening tour would be cancelled. 

IT'S STRAIGHT UP EXQUISITE - 

Onto the tiny and very photogenic Church of the Good Shepherd which is nestled against the lake and was built as a memorial to pioneers of Mackenzie County. It was completed in 1935 and interdenominational servcies are held there. The stone building can be viewed inside but photos of its interior are not permitted. 

A bronze memorial of a sheepdog honours the canines brought to work on the farms by Scottish shepherds. Without them 'the grazing of the mountain country would be impossible.' A cute tribute to these loving and hard-working dogs. 

TALKING UP TEKAPO -

Trottered off to pose on the boulders as *that's* what my idea of tourism is. Aside from the tons of vacationers doing likewise, it rocked to create unflattering portraits of myself. I strode briskly as there was a chill in the air but yet the sun shone brightly and the clouds began to clear (HOORAY!!) It became nasty hot and obvs, I was shrouded in black garbs but it was a nice, flat, gentle trail unless you stumble over the beach boulders. 

Along to Pines Beach, singing all sorts of tunes out loud and out of tune as I made my merry way there. It was a completely and utterly lovely beaten track within the township and so pretty I didn't wish to squander a second! I've now come to the conclusion that all I'll ever need (excluding my loved ones) is right there. 

EARTH IS INCREDIBLE - 

We were so so SOOOO fortunate to have 100% visibility for my Earth and Sky Cowan's Hill night stargazing tour. I was on top of the world during our 90 minutes as we got to gaze upon expidential amounts of stars; I love those with unbridled passion. In fact, I don't believe I've ever been more enchanted by our big, blue planet and solar system. The little stars sure put on a show in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, which is considered the second best place in the entire world to be transfixed by the stars. 

An annoying, know-it-all girl child was impressive at the start with her extreme scientific knowledge but then her Ma had to muzzle her as she wouldn't let anyone including our expert guides get a word in edgeways. We were given red solar torches and had to eliminate all white light from our devices to minimise all light pollution. 

THE BEAUTIES OF THE SKY MESMERISES IN THE WORLD HERITAGE SITE - 

To be truthful everything fascinated and tugged at my emotions quite profoundly. Some of the spectacular sights of the night sky we witnessed:

* Satellites hurtling at 20kms a second which are often mistaken for shooting stars

*Meteors countless in number

*Jupiter with the naked eye and then through a phenomenal telescope to behold 4 of its 67 moons
*Alpha Centauri up close - the closest star in our solar system at just 4.3 light years away
*The 'emu' shape in the Milky Way which are dust lanes inside it and very easy to spot
*Magellanic clouds of '2 irregular dwarf galaxies visible from the Southern Hemisphere' which orbit the Milky Way like a luminous cloud
*Tarantula Nebula - a star forming region 30 Doradus inside the large Magellanic cloud. It contains 2400 ginormous stars and their glowing filaments resemble the legs of an arachnid

But my fave of all was the glittery globula cluster of 47 Tucanae - it is described as a 'ball of glitter' and is located in constellation Tucana. This spans 120 light years across and is 16700 light years away from us on Earth -- and I *saw* it.. What's cooler is that it is the 2nd brightest globula in the sky, has at least half a million stars within it and an estimated age of 13.1 BILLION years. 

THIS MADE FOR ONE VERY HAPPY RIANNE - 

Don't let yourself be fooled that shooting stars are STARS falling; these are either space junk or meteors but they are still striking as they set the celestial sphere aglow. Our time was cut short by 10 minutes and at the expense of our $93 fee but the marvels of the sky are PRICELESS. 

There's not really any length to which I would not go in order to observe the astonishments of the universe. I will always think of this night dearly.. it mattered not a jot that it was a frosty 0 degree celsius for I was wrapped up in numerous layers including 3 pairs of socks!!

LOCO FOR TEKAPO - 

Oh how lovely was the morning! Yes Tekapoians, you have it alreeeeeet here :) Lilac lupin flowers and other wonders of nature had me beaming as brightly as the yellow dwarf star at the centre of our solar system. It's a region that soothes my spirit endlessly. 

En route to Mt John Observatory, there was an insane amount of uphill slopes skywards through a forest of tussock. Was the altitude that great? My breathing was laboured as if the air was thinner than I am accustomed to. Now let's speak of how much I COULDN'T DO THE CLIMB .. I'm just not as spry as I used to be and instead I make myself sound ragged, pathetic and unfit. Do you reckon the more I stop for a rester the more challenging I make an already difficult hike? Mt John has an elevation of 1031 metres and gains 311 metres in the first 2 kilometres.. which may explain my laboursome undertaking. 

PRECIOUS MEMORIES HAVE BEEN CREATED HERE  - 

How joyous for us all to drop our jaws in amazement at the astoundingly, sublime panoramas of Lake Tekapo below. The lake is breathtaking in its beauty and Tekapo itself is super stunning and sparkly, how could I not take snap after snap? 360 degree viewing of Mackenzie Basin flats, mountains and the lake itself cannot be labelled with enough appreciative superlatives; the views are like they are for you and *only* you. 

Astro Cafe is 'quite possibly one of the planet's best locations for a cafe' so says Lonely Planet and so say I! It was a delight to sit back with a hot chocolate with a planetoid sprinkled in chocolate shavings and what a tremendously, serene setting to drink a beverage with a space themed adornment. It would have been discourteous not to. Every step taken in Teka (my affection pet name for Tekapo) is more beauteous than the last. 

THIS LOVELY LAKESIDE HAS CHARMED ITS WAY INTO MY HEART - 

And yes, I probably did pose on every last rock in Tekapo but when the background is insanely beautiful, you'd be remiss to miss out! I nearly had a terrible slip when kicking my leg up for a Rianney pose on one of the larger rocks eeeeek. 

As nightfall fell *teehee*, I literally had to run to chase the sunset, having 30 minutes or less to seek it out, in order to be wowed by the blazing orange orb. In the opposite direction, back along the lake, tints of pinks and violets inked across the sky prettily as they said 'hi'. 

SHINING BRIGHT LIKE A DIAMOND - 

After a Thai meal of chicken pad thai noodles with tofu and veg, which had been calling out to me and never disappoints; I went stargazing with the Chinese chicas I'd met that afternoon at the YHA. Down by the Church of the Good Shepherd, I re-enacted a Star Guide recalling all the trivia from my own tour - I should have charged ha ha!! 

The stars had not lost their glitter this eve and we had a front row 'seat', all bundled up as they flickered gloriously overhead. We all downloaded the StarChart App so we could easily pinpoint constellations and planets as happiness radiated all around. It was another night of felicity!

GADGETS AND I ARE NOT CHUMS - 

I only went and crushed the screen on my tablet, extremely drastically by forgetting it was in my bed and sitting directly on it. My elephantish weight made a ginormous crack and not only that but it has warped the LCD screen to the point where it interrupts my usage and closes windows of its own accord. I am TOO careless and wish I could say this were a freak occurrence but it was not. 

You know I'll miss these starry, starry Tekapo nights immensely :( and I'd be a poorer woman never having known or witnessed them. I simply cannot wait to go back with Amy so that she can fully experience the beauty of one of my new favourite sites on the globe xx

Oh yes, Wanaka could fit into my little life quite seamlessly and splendidly!

A GORGEY PORGEY DAY - 

As the weather finally turned for us and it was stupendously sunshiney, Kay, Rob and I had a picnic in the garden of my backpackers before we took their stuff into their lodgings for the eve. Another gorgeous home with beautiful views! After a wander around the lake town, it has already turned my world with its alpine excellence and wowed us all with a phenomenally, glorious Autumn afternoon!

Wanaka is such a pretty location that tons of photos should definitely be posted of it. We walked up to *That* Wanaka Tree, a cherished part of the town and the most photographed, lone tree in all of New Zealand. I must say, it was looking fleek but it was a bit of a pity that the water was out further than usual and not reaching the tree as it does in the iconic pictures. The willow is backdropped by Southern Alps and shimmered in the sunlight. 

AND THEN TWO OF THE GREATEST HUMANS WERE STOLEN AWAY FROM ME - 

Because I loved being with Kay and Rob it was so sad to part ways with them after a manic supermarket food shop. They are such good people and I was sorry to leave them but they had to continue on their big, fat, amazing adventuring of NZ. The only thing that softened the blow was seeing the sunset at Monument Lookout. It was a tangerine 'hello' to the night before a mostly repulsive pasta and chicken dish prepared by myself. 

THE MAGNIFICENT MANIA OF PUZZLING WORLD: WHERE ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN - 

Stuart Lansborough's Puzzling World would be the most amazing place if I were 11 years old! I can't pretend that all that was zany here didn't rock as I feel that the weird and wonderful should always be celebrated. The garish holograms in the Illusions rooms went from odd to odder and the tilted house at an angle of 15 degrees could have caused a calamity to Catastrophe Rianne. The 'brain is convinced that it cannot possibly be sloping' - I got dizzy but the distorted perception didn't lead to a disaster. 

A XANADU LEVEL OF INSANITY - 

168 faces in the octagonal Hall of Faces, where faces of famous figures of the likes of Mother Theresa and Abraham Lincoln appear to follow you. It was both creepaaaaaay and amazin'! The Ames Room in Edinburgh's Camera Obscura kicks the butt of PW's - forced perception where you appear dwarfish one side and GIGANTICAL the other. 

Stuart Lansborough is kinda the Willy Wonka of ILLUSION. The toilets themselves had flooring of a Rubix cube with an abyss and another had puzzle pieces with the same chasm below = the coolest loos in existence. I saw ridiculous things such as: *Giant tap appearing to get water from nowhere *Kit Kat bench *telephone box of infinity *invisible bench *afro lion *Roman communal 'loos' where it looks as though you're sat in the painting *Leaning Tower of Wanaka and steps to nowhere.

PUZZLED BY THE PUZZLES - 

Are they supposed to be beatable? I couldn't win a single one of those scattered atop tables; they all had me bamboozled!! But what proved to be most perplexing and more challenging than it appeared was the labyrinth of the great maze. I can't say I brought my A-game maze negotiation through the 1.5km of passages, underpasses and over bridges. 

I may or may not have cheated by crawling under fences 2 or 3 times in order to find the blue, red, yellow and green corners that you're supposed to come upon before you escape. And I took the CLASSIC challenge in favour of the difficult challenge - this alone took me the best part of 60 minutes and that is with me taking the sneaky shortcuts to reach the coloured towers. I didn't beat around the bush - instead, I BEAT the bush to get out of the mystifying nightmare. 

I'LL JUST PRETEND TO BE INTERESTED IN DEAD PLANTS - 

Trudging on ahead to Wanaka Lavender Farm along a further 1km of highway with my upper back and shoulders aching and being wary of setting off possum traps along the roadside. The bloody images of the roadkill I passed are burned into my brain and scarred upon my heart :( it upset me deeply. 

Picnicked by the driveway of the Lavender Farm until I was annihilated by sand flies; it was close to turning into a Rianney massacre. It was the wrong time of year for a visit as the lavender was far from flourishing; it bummed me out a little bit as it should've been a sweet sight. There was prettiness even without any of the lilac pigmentation and the distinct herby, perfumed smell hit me. 

THANKS FARM FOR REUNITING ME WITH ALPACAS - 

They were of mixed 'race' and I wanted to take them in my arms for a cuddle. I  was inadvertently headbutted by a bee/wasp but that wasn't too awful as I wasn't stung. Beforehand, I crunched on a lavender heart shaped cookie in the quaint tearoom, satisfying my unnatural love for cookies. 

At eventide, I roved passed the marina to the sheltered bay of Eely Point which is popular for picnics and boating. This was a short and gentle track - I think I'd expected more but as twilight was descending, the silhouettes of mountains and last specks of sunlight breaking through the clouds was outstanding. 

I GET TO HATE MOUNTAINS NOW - 

It is also the last time I trust a random hiker man who persuaded Eleanor and I to begin our hike of Mt Iron at the steeper side. That was like the walk that wouldn't end to the top but my affliction was self-imposed. Again, my lower limbs were mostly uncooperative to my uphill struggles -- we have the ugliest of histories! It embarrassed me that so many were fitter than I, including the little boy who was keen to beat us to the summit as he believed there was a reward of gold. 

The real reward was lake vistas, exceptional to the eyes and for that alone, it was worth my while. The lake definitely expects to be Instagrammed, whenever I gaze at it .. I wanna(KA) applaud! :D We sat for an hour or so as we dined alfresco at the peak in a spectacular setting. 

THE BANE OF ICE CREAM'S EXISTENCE - 

After my consumption of Black Peak Gelato, it immediately came to light that it is inferior to Patagonia's! I'm a blueberry kinda girl but the artificial mush of the blueberry sorbet was shambolic! And the hazelnut? Just NO. I cannot be won over by insufficient sweetness. Where was the flavoursome creaminess gelato is known for? 

We strolled further afield back to *that* pesky tree as dusk was fast approaching. This is a serene site for soul searching especially when it is blissfully, stupendously sunny and not remotely summer. The light was so dazzling reflecting off the lake as we went west side of Lake Wanaka and headed towards Waterfall Creek - not that we actually got there as we weren't sure where it was. 

OY TO THE VEY - 

After doing a large load of laundry at my backpackers, I was mortified and overly apologetic that I had broken the dryer. The sign was not clear that we should have used $2 coins to operate it so me being me, put in several $1 coins into the slot. This jammed it and the machine wouldn't do anything, all I could do was stand by and watch as one of the female staff members used a paperclip to 'pop' out all the $2 coins she'd crammed in over the one dollar ones I should not have inserted. It was SO stressful and not how I'd envisioned spending my final night in Wanaka. Not only was I left with wet washing but I had destroyed the chances of anyone else drying their clothes!!

With Eleanor in tow, we dashed down to the corner launderette and had us a drying partayyyyy as we stared at the dryer spin round and round. It was somewhat therapeutic to see our washing tumble during the cycle - moreso than staring at a lava lamp. I'd pretty much legged it while the staff members were trying to fix the damage.. they must have been furious with me and rightly so but the notice by the drier needs to be less vague. All's well that ends well - as my laundry was dry and I got back to the hostel to be told that the drier was repaired!! My immense was relief. 

Goodbye Wanaka, you're now a part of my life xx