normal visitors who come here with a tour would probably miss this place. even though it is only about 5 kilometres away from lake tekapo township. my family and i missed this place when we first travelled to new zealand in 2006 as well. but our next trip in 2012, my dad dug up more information and this place was one of the treasures he found while looking through photographer's blogs. it is definitely a must if you're visiting lake tekapo next time.

april 9, 2012—around 3 pm. we drove from lake tekapo up to mount john.

up on the top of mount john is an astronomical observatory. there is a lovely cafe called astro cafe which i will write about in the next post.

be aware that in april, the gate is closed around 5 pm. which was the reason why we didn't have to to visit the cafe. so we went up there again the next day.

at night, there is a stargazing tour called earth&sky. unfortunately we didn't have a chance to experience it. though as i saw at mount cook, new zealand stars were amazing.