Unfortunately, our Wednesday night star gazing tour is canceled due to weather. It isn't a huge surprise, as the cloud cover had been steadily mounting ever since our arrival at the lake. To be truthful, I'm not devastated. In fact, I'm downright pleased that I'll be getting a refund. Perhaps NZ feels sorry for my loss in Auckland and is trying to set me one step closer to the black :) We turn in early, planning to wake up for some sunrise shots of the lake.

After a surprisingly decent night's sleep (for a motel bed) we awake around 6:00am. I look out the window, hoping to see brilliant streaks of red streaming across the early morning sky above the lake. That's decidedly not what I see. What I do see is snow covering the field, the trees, and the cars in the parking lot. We are prepared for cold weather in the low 40s. But I am not prepared, mentally or in terms of clothing and equipment, for SNOW. I don’t hate snow, but I do hate being ambushed by the evil white powder whilst on vacation.

We bundle up as best we can and head out for our photo shoot, but with disappointing results. The thick clouds prevent any good sunrise pictures and my creative instincts are dulled by the chill. In addition, the weather forces us to skip our drive to a nearby lookout up in the mountains. I get a few decent shots, but for the most part I'll have to be satisfied with the ones I took yesterday upon our arrival.

Fresh snow is starting to fall now, so we decide to pack up and leave Tekapo early lest we encounter bad weather on the road to Queenstown. After a quick breakfast we clear the car with an improvised snow scraper, load up our stuff (this hotel had a safe, so no couch cushion mistakes here) and continue to the south.

… and the wonderland part

I am surprised to find that the roads are devoid of snow and completely passable. Even better, the newly arriving snow tapers off a few kilometers south of Tekapo; my fears of a fierce winter storm appear ungrounded.

It is equal parts breathtaking and surreal to witness an entire landscape transform, overnight, from lush grassland to white plains. Everything except the road is covered in white powder. Yesterday the ground was green and brown; today it is white. Yesterday the mountains were brown with white caps; today they are totally white. Even the sky is completely white, a seamless mass of clouds stretching as far as the eye can see. Silence looms over us as the crisp, cool air muffles bird calls and engine noises of the rare passing motorist.

We head deeper into the rabbit hole and discover we've only scratched the surface of this winter wonderland. The clouds have mostly lifted now, revealing a bright blue sky that adds sharp contrast to the otherwise white landscape. At one point we pass between the peaks of two all-white mountains. I look down to the right, at the snow-covered flatland between them, and I can swear I'm driving through the desert, only with white sand instead of yellow. I lack the words to describe the experience, but it was moving.

And then out of nowhere, as quickly as it had come, the winter wonderland was no more. We were entering the Mackenzie District which would thrill us in its own unique way as we continued our trek to Queenstown...

Click here for more photos of the road to Queenstown