The most beautiful cafe in new Zealand counts the stars and drinks coffee

Picture and text: Cade impression

The hilltop observatory of the world's first starry nature reserve, which has the most beautiful cafe in New Zealand, is the only astronomical cafe in the world that can count stars for coffee.

The cafe in the observatory

Sit in a cafe and count the stars

After returning from the Tkapolu Ice Flower Farm and Salmon Farm on New Zealand's South Island, we took a stroll around the town's tourist center, which is called the iSight tourist Centre, where free maps can help you book a variety of itineraries and design itineraries directly. The staff of the tourist center recommended us to join the stargazing cluster here. Tkapo is a famous starry nature reserve all over the world. There is an observatory on Mount John near the town. Every night, a stargazing cluster is organized to look at the stars at the observatory in the middle of the night. We were all very interested, so we went to the nearby Earth and Sky service center to make a reservation according to the instructions of the tourist center, but we were told that all the groups for that day were full, so we could only book for the next day. Well, for this reason, we stayed in Tekapo for another day.

Hot coffee in the planetarium

The calm lake reflects the snow-capped mountains

The small town of Tekapo by the lake

We were really tired after wandering outside for a whole day, and we went to bed early after dinner. I slept in the next day and it was almost noon when I got up. We met Qiu Lan in the living room. She was having a video chat with her mother in Malaysia. We had a simple breakfast in the kitchen. When we returned to the living room, we saw Qiu Lan chatting with a girl from Beijing. Qiu Lan said that she went to the lake this morning to shoot Lu Binhua. In the morning, Lake Tekapo was very calm, and all the snowy mountains around were reflected in the lake. Lu Bing flowers bloomed more luxuriantly in front of the church, and she also met a lot of rabbits. We listened to it, and it was a bit of a pity that we didn't get up earlier in the morning. in fact, it was strange that we slept so well during our days in Tekapo that we were trying to make up for all that we didn't get enough sleep over the years. Qiulan said with a smile that many people sleep well when they come to Tekapo. There is a girl from South America in her dormitory who has been sleeping here for many days.

The cafe also serves all kinds of western snacks, all of which are very delicious.

Hot and cold drinks are served in the cold cafe on the mountain.

We said that we had booked a stargazing cluster tonight, and we wanted to explore the way up the mountain first in the morning. Qiu Lan said that during the day, Mount MT John is also very beautiful, you can go up the mountain on foot or you can drive yourself up the mountain. At the top of the mountain, you can see the whole Tecapo Lake and the town, and the most important thing is that there is the most beautiful cafe in the world, which is built in the observatory on the mountain. She strongly suggested that we go up the mountain for a cup of coffee. We were told that our hearts were itchy, so we cleaned up quickly and drove up to Mount John to experience the cafe in the observatory.

Lake Tekapo seen at the top of John Mountain

The observatory on John Hill

Coming out of the town of Tecapo, there was an obvious sign to go to Mount John. There were no cars all the way. At the foot of Mount John, there was a sign that there was a time limit for self-driving up the mountain. In order to reduce light pollution, self-driving is not allowed to go up the mountain at night. The car was circling around the mountain road, and we watched the green, blue, yellow and purple getting smaller and smaller. It didn't take long to reach the top of the mountain, which is a well-equipped observatory. The Mount John Observatory, established by the University of Canterbury, is an important base for space research in New Zealand and the world's first starry reserve established by UNESCO.

Direction guide to the top of the mountain

The highway at the top of the mountain

Sure enough, there is a small glass house cafe on the observatory. The decoration of the cafe is very simple, but in fact, there is no decoration. It is all made of steel and surrounded by large floor-to-ceiling glass. The cafe offers different flavors of coffee, hot milk, Fresh Juice, as well as bread, desserts and light meals. We parked and approached when we smelled the aroma of coffee. After a simple meal in the morning, we quickly ordered two cups of coffee, ordered something to eat, and sat down to have a good taste. Qiu Lan said the most beautiful cafe in the world, certainly not the decoration of the cafe, but the view from the large transparent glass window, with a panoramic view of Lake Tecapo. In front of such natural beauty, it is true that any artificial decoration is superfluous.

The bar in the cafe

It's actually quite small to stand outside and see the cafe, but the scenery here is invincible.

The man who brought us coffee was J, a male from Hong Kong, China. After graduating from college, he applied for a New Zealand working Travel Visa (Work Holiday Visa). He has one year to travel while working in New Zealand. I played Tekapo these days, so I helped in the cafe during the day and worked as an assistant administrator of the Star Cluster Observatory at night. We told him that we would go up to the mountain to see the stars tonight. He said excitedly, "then he transferred to work and came up to the mountain tonight. He made an appointment to meet us in the evening, and then suggested that we take a walk around the observatory. The scenery around is very good." We expressed our gratitude, and after eating something, we excitedly went out to take a panoramic view of Tkapo.

The beautiful hiking trail of Tekapo

The continuous southern Alps

An island in Lake Tekapo

When we walked out of the cafe, we had a wider view. Coupled with the good air quality and high visibility in New Zealand, we could see the shadow of small villages farther away from the top of the mountain. On one side of the mountain is the undulating Southern Alps, and on the other is the quiet Lake Tekapo and the lakeside town. There is not a cloud overhead, the sky is clean, the sun is warm on the person, this is simply a fairy tale world! When we were taking pictures at the top of the mountain, people kept hiking from the surrounding mountain roads. It must be great to walk in such a beautiful scenery, but we were a little lazy to save energy for our night trip to the stars.

Yellow flowers on the mountain

Quiet water in the lake

Although it was early summer, the wind was strong at the top of the mountain. We walked around the observatory, took a 360 °panoramic picture, and then went back to the cafe, where there was a small photo album left by a photographer. recorded the different seasons and locations of Tkapo during his years near Tkapo. Seeing his good Shepherd Church and starry photos at night makes us look forward to the stargazing cluster at night!

Alexandria Lake

A hiking route on the mountain

A view of Lake Tekapo

A rolling snowy mountain

A quiet lake

A winding mountain road

The quiet waters of the lake

Snowy mountains and lakes

Lake Tekapo and the small town

Source: Cade impression