Despite waking up at midnight thinking it must be morning, we manage to sleep until a reasonably sensible hour. Shampoo-gate then ensues, when all inhabitants of the van deny having hidden the small bottle of shampoo that must be in the van somewhere as we have just used it. As yet, it remains unfound. There still seems to be no hot water, another fail on the ‘how to work the camper van’ front.

We leave Methven at 10.25am and the dashboard tells us it is nine degrees outside (for the benefit of those who are more familiar with the other sort of temperature calibrations, about 50 degrees). With the beautiful Southern Alps on our right, we drive down the 77 and 72, crossing the Rangitata River and on to the 79 through Geraldine and Fairlie. Then it is ‘The Starlight Highway’ to Lake Tekapo. I hadn’t realised it when I planned the route but here we are in the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. This is allegedly one of the best places in the world to view the night sky. It is pretty stunning by day too, with the autumn-tinted trees reflected in the clear lake. Apparently the glacial ‘rock flour’ gives the water its startling turquoise tinge. The people we speak to in shops, along with the site receptionist, all seem surprised that we are staying for two nights. Does no one normally stop for more than one night? We gather two nights may be a good thing as tomorrow is predicted to be particularly favourable for stargazing. The bad news is that snow is forecast. On this site, we have a premium lakeside pitch, only slightly marred by the boating clubhouse, if you look to the right.

We have now cracked turning on the gas in the van and procuring hot water – hurrah! Chris’ phone also seems to have staged a remarkable recovery so, if necessary, we might be able to make a phone call. After a coffee/tea break we stroll along the shores of the lake to the hot springs. It seems you can have a combined stargazing tour and swim in the thermal pool but this involves staying up until midnight, so we may give that a miss and just go for a swim at dusk tomorrow instead. Tekapo means ‘sleeping mat night’ and the settlement at the lake grew up in the 1940s as a centre for hydro-electric power. Now it centres on tourism. We are 710 metres above sea level, so I should be able to cope with the altitude. It is certainly very peaceful. Purple lupins are in flower and we see plenty of ducks. We plan a longer walk tomorrow.

Having given over our bag space to costumes and props, we do not have enough sets of clothes to last the holiday, so it is time to find the laundry. We abandon our newly-washed clothing on the communal washing line. We are fairly confident that no one would be likely to make off with it but it may be frozen solid by morning. Investing $15 in hiring a fan heater for the whole of our trip was probably a good move as the temperature drops rapidly in the evening. We have to devise menus that can be cooked using only a hob and a microwave as the van does not include an oven. Chilli-con-carne seems a good option. I am not sure if chilli powder is more powerful in New Zealand, or if the resident chef was a little over-generous but it fair took our heads off. Enjoyed the first portion of hokey-pokey ice cream of the trip, remembered from our previous visit.