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most vivid memory is not of its natural beauty or the friendliness of the people, both of which were plentiful, but instead is of a single event. My wife and I were making our way south from Christchurch in a rental car. The South Island is sparsely populated, so when we came to Lake Tekapo, we drove up along the lake for a few miles and pulled of the road to camp. The weather was great; no traffic, people, or houses in sight. Since it was dusk, we threw a tarp on the ground, unrolled our sleeping bags, and hopped in. Within minutes a car appeared on the road and made a beeline for our campsite. It began driving around in tight circles, as closely as possible to our car and where we were lying. One of the passengers was sitting on a door window sill, with his legs inside the car and his upper body outside. This person began firing a rifle, over and over, shooting at what I had no idea. This driving pattern and gunfire went on for a few minutes, then stopped suddenly, and the car drove off. Needless to say we were relieved, but our time to relax was short-lived. The car returned and the earlier episode was replayed. While the second round of gunfire was going on, I recall imagining a headline from a Christchurch newspaper as it might appear days later: "American Couple found Shot to Death by Lake." However, the grisly image remained just that. We were only frightened a second time, and the car left for good. This prank was entirely atypical for our NZ trip. The people were very friendly and getting around was super easy. I can't really say what a "must do" in NZ is; kind of depends where your interests lie. The only downside to NZ, I think, is the fact that the culture there is so similar to the U.S. it's not much different than traveling to another one of our states. But then the Maori culture could always be explored for a cross cultural experience.
Chance favors the informed
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