Abel Tasman National Park

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

Panoramic Views

The Remarkables

Pictured here are The Remarkables, which are near Queenstown, NZ.

Fun on the Farm!

For a week and a half, we worked on a farm in Central Otago. We worked pretty hard and both had sore muscles at night, but it was a great experience and a lot of fun at times. We planted potatoes, weeded fields of garlic, drove posts into the ground, cracked walnuts, hunted, cooked, and did a whole lot more.

We hunted hares, which are non-native and considered pests in the area. None of the hare was wasted, with all of the meat going to feed the five cats on the farm. Sarah is feeding one of the more athletic cats in the third picture.

One day, a swarm of honey bees descended on the farm. It was enormous and the buzzing was impressively loud. They ended up settling down in the bee hive box that the farmer had set up. He seemed pretty happy that he had new neighbors. I was able to crawl my way under the swarm with the camera to get the fourth picture in this set.

Central Otago

We spent a long time in Central Otago. It turned out to be one of our favorite regions in New Zealand. The region is very dry, although it did rain a few times while we were there. The rain never lasted long, but produced beautiful rainbows as seen in the first picture. The second picture is Blue Lake which is a result of significant gold mining in the region. People flooded into the region during the 1860's to dig for gold. Old stone houses are some of the few remnants of the gold rush, as seen in the last picture.

Dunedin

Dunedin is probably our favorite city in New Zealand. It is small with a population of only about 123,000, but does contain the sizable University of Otago. The architecture in the city is brilliant. There are many classic examples of Edwardian and Victorian architecture throughout the city, and there are several large Gothic Churches as well. It is even fun to walk in the residential areas and appreciate the smaller homes' architecture. Sarah also liked the fact that every other house seemed to have a rose garden.

When I stopped for petrol, I told the clerk how much more I liked the city's design than Auckland. He said, "Yeah, just don't tell anyone from up there about us. We don't want 'em down here." So, shhhhhhh...

Otago Peninsula

While we were in Dunedin, we took a short drive to the Otago Peninsula. It is a mostly pastoral landscape with bits of tussock grass scattered about. At the very tip of the peninsula is the Royal Albatross Colony. It is a rare location for Albatross because most breed on very small, remote islands and spend 90% of their lives out at sea. Their wing spans stretch to 3 meters! We were lucky enough to see a few flying around, but it was too difficult to get a clear picture of one.

Purakaunui Falls

Pictured is Purakaunui Falls not far from the Catlins Forest Park.

Our Humble Home

Sooooo...this is what we have been living in since we have been touring the South Island. It is a Micro Campervan from the Rental Car Village Group. It is actually quite cozy, gets great gas-mileage, and is fun to drive. It is way better than sleeping in a tent, especially with all the rain we've been getting. It makes me want to buy a little station wagon back in the US that we can convert into our own Micro Campervan. This picture was taken at the Purakaunui Bay campsite in Southeast Otago at about 9:30pm after a long day of driving. It doesn't get truly dark here until about 10pm! We are really far south.

It should be noted that my top shirt button was buttoned and my collar was popped because I was desperately trying to avoid being eaten by sandflies... I am not trying to start any stupid new fashion trends.

Lake Marian

We have not done any of the Great Walks such as the Milford Track since we have been in New Zealand. (Sarah's professor from New Zealand said they were just for silly tourists anyway...) However, we have done some pretty good hikes since we have been here. Lake Marian is a lake just below the tree line in Fiordland National Park. We hiked about an hour and a half up rugged terrain to the get there and the view was spectacular. Plus, we were the only ones up there which made it extra nice.

Kea

These are very smart birds. Their intelligence is supposed to rival that of the smartest primate. It is one of the few alpine parrots in the world. They can also be quite a nuisance. They strategically place themselves where humans gather. For instance, I took the picture of this one at the queue for the Homer Tunnel in Fiordland National Park. (A vehicle has to wait 15 minutes for the traffic light to turn green to proceed through the Homer Tunnel.) Kea especially like shiny objects. There have been instances where the Kea have swooped down and stolen people's car keys, leaving the dazed tourists locked out of their cars in alpine conditions. ...but they are quite fun to watch.

New Zealand Fur Seals

We saw some seals while on the Milford Sound boat cruise! Most of them were asleep.

Milford Sound

It rains a lot at Milford Sound. On average, it rains 200 days out of the year with spring being the wettest season. The sound can receive up to 8000mm of rain in a year. ...so it was no big surprise that it was raining when we got there. We still decided to take the Milford Sound boat cruise which was definitely worth the price. The sound is astonishing, even in the rain, and the boat ride was a blast. It did prove to be a very challenging place to take pictures...

Fiordland National Park

The weather seemed to continuously change while we were in Fiordland National Park. When the rain started, waterfalls just started popping up all over the place! We spent about two days in the park. If you ever go there, I highly recommend Gunn's Camp for camping. This site was far better than the DOC campsites which were rife with sandflies and had no running water.

Southland

The weather has been wet since we have traveled farther south. On our way to Fiordland National Park, this was the typical scenery: lots of sheep and misty mountains.

Lake Wanaka

We are currently staying in Wanaka in Central Otago. We are a bit tired from all the driving and mountain climbing, so we decided to just chill out in this area for a while. We don't exactly know what we are going to do next. We may head to Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park, but we have to make it back to this area by December 8th for our next WWOOFing experience. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Mt. Aspiring National Park

Traveling through Haast's Pass, we entered Mt. Aspiring National Park. We stopped for a short hike and got to walk across this long suspension bridge. A little way down the trail we noticed people had stacked rocks all over the place. We stopped ourselves and added to the community of rock towers.

Gillespie Beach

This is perhaps one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen...mostly because of the backdrop. Pictured is Mount Cook from Gillespie Beach at dusk. Sarah and I camped here one night because there was a free Department of Conservation campsite. I think it was free because there were sandflies everywhere!!! Sandflies are small little bugs that land on you and suck your blood. They are worse than mosquitoes because it hurts when they bite you. Afterward, you are left with a bite that is very itchy. Ugh. Fortunately, they go away after the sun sets, but they aren't much fun at dinner time. I am happy we are no longer on the West Coast because we don't have to deal with the little buggers anymore.

Lake Matheson

Lake Matheson is a lake created by the Fox Glacier many years ago. Tanin from the surrounding vegetation gives the lake a brilliant reflective quality. Snow-covered Mt. Cook can be seen in the distance.

Franz Josef Glacier

The Franz Josef Glacier's enormity can never be captured with a camera. The hike to the glacier itself was amazing with huge chunks of ice floating down the river the whole way. They are quite loud when they hit rocks. We actually had to take our shoes off at one point to cross a stream. The water was freezing, yet refreshing. As we were putting our shoes back on, a huge block of ice got caught on a rock and began to divert water straight towards us. We had to pick everything up and quickly get out of the way!

If you look carefully at the bottom picture, you can see people in front of the cave from which the river flows. It may give you a better idea of how big the glacier is. If you REALLY look carefully, you can see groups of people actually walking on the glacier. (Look above the huge block of ice Sarah is standing next to on the dirtier part of the glacier.)