The Fishbowl

Another frosty morning but nothing too bad.  It was whilst I was enjoying my second coffee of the morning that my 'neighbour' knocked on the door.  Turns out he'd seen me with my camera earlier and when he saw the local farmer herding his cows along the road he thought I might like to take some pictures.  How thoughtful :D  I raced to get my shoes on, grabbed my camera but by the time I got out there it was too late......wrong lens!  Took a few pics but they were awful!  Ah well.  

Don, I learned, was a local who had lived in the area for many years and worked on the building of the canals, which this area has 53kms of apparently! The hydro-electric history of the  area is quite fascinating and I had a great chat about it and lots of other things, including some local places that would be worth visiting.  Always trust a local!  So it was on the basis of one of Don's suggestions that I headed to Pukaki to the Fishbowl.  I've been past the end of the road many times over the years but had no idea where the road would lead.  Turns out it lead up the hills to a fish-farm.  The 'pond' is fed by canal water which I think comes from Lake Tekapo and it outflows into Lake Pukaki.  It also houses another salmon farm so, as is the case in other canals and lakes around the area, some escape and then feed well off the feed that isn't consumed by the captive fish.  Unsurprisingly, fishing is a popular pastime up here and what a glorious setting to pass time it is too.  Surrounded by hills and lakes with Mount Cook sitting on high at the head of the valley, overseeing all that goes on below, it really is quite a stunning location and sooooo easily accessible.  I've decided to stay at Pukaki tonight and head back up there for a [hopefully spectacular!] sunrise tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.