Last Days in New Zealand

On Thursday we took a tour bus ride to Milford Sound, a four hour drive one-way from Queenstown. It was raining heavily when we left Queenstown at 7:45 am. Milford Sound is on the west coast of the south island and was formed by glaciers. It rains there 200 days a year, so our chances of having a clear day were looking slim. But as we drove, the weather began to clear, and we stopped along with way to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. By the time we got to the sound at 1:15 pm, it was clearing with just a few clouds clinging around the mountain peaks. It was a breathtaking day. It had rained there in the morning, so there were so many waterfalls coming down all over the shear mountain walls.

We made it out to the Tasmin Sea at the mouth of the sound and then turned around. It was a good thing, because it was quite rough on the sea.
Along the way we saw seals sunning themselves on a rock and a pod of dolphins chasing a school of fish.

On Friday, we took a 30 minute steam ship ride from Queenstown to a sheep ranch called Walter Peak, which was just across the lake from Queenstown. It was a "postcard" day while we were there. It was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed an outdoor BBQ lunch. We ate lunch with a couple from Australia and a lady from the UK.

We saw a sheep dog and sheep shearing demonstration at Walter Peak.

Days 8-10 New Zealand

While in Rotorua we attended a Mauri (pronouced Mowry) cultural experience. The Mauri people were the first to arrive on New Zealand a couple of hundred years ago. No one knows exactly where they came from because they had no written language, but presumably they orginated somewhere in the Polynesian islands. They were (and still are to a certain extent) very tribal, but all speak the same language. The show they did for us showed us their welcoming ceremony, and then some of the games and songs they used to train the younger ones for battle and life in general. It was a good show, and very informative.
One of the women in the show.
The Mauri chief. If you can see it in this small picture, he is actually uncovered (naked) in the back, but has tatoos from just above his knees to his waist. Later he described the history and reasons for the tatoos. It was actually very interesting and tasteful although a little shocking at first.
Some of the young Mauri men in a canoe.
Our view of Lake Wakatipu from our hotel room in Queenstown. This lake is 22 miles long.
Another view from our room of the Remarkables mountain range in the background.
Queenstown with a small beach, trees, and the Remarkables mountain range in the background.

The evening sun on the Remarkables mountains, with the city and lake in the shadows.
We arrived in Queenstown around 4:30 pm local time and it was a gorgeous day, so we walked down to the pier area of the lake and looked into parasailing. I have always wanted to parasail but never had this great of an opportunity on a beautiful day with great scenery. So we got on the last trip of the day. It was spectacular!
Getting the harness on.
Taking off!


Landing back down on the boat. What a great ride!
The next day Tim got to golf. It was cloudy, but no rain. Not as nice of a day as when we arrived and went Parasailing, but he still had fun and was challenged by the course.

This is a par 3 and you have to hit over the tree to get to the green. A little intimadating!

Luge run in Queenstown. We tried the luge again, this time in Queenstown and NOT in the rain.
View of Queenstown and the Remarkables mountain range from the top of the Gondola.

Days 4-7 New Zealand

Tim loves these "Caution" signs that we have seen all over New Zealand. The exclamation point, uh, makes a point!

We saw this vendor at a local farmers market in Rotorua. It made us laugh, but we didn't try them to see if they were authentic.

In Auckland, on our way back through from KeriKeri to Rotorua, we went up to the top of the Sky Tower, the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. It was a clear evening and we had a nice 360 degree view of the city and harbor.

We ate dinner at this fish and chips restaurant on the water. Great fish and chips because they go out and catch the fish fresh every day. Yum! And great views too.

We visited a forest of Kauri trees, which used to cover most of the northern part of New Zealand. Now there are a few remaining groupings. In the early 1920s the British came and logged most of them to help build ships. They are huge trees, which is hard to capture in a photo.

We had the best blueberry pancakes at our bed and breakfast in Keri Keri. The picture of Wendy, our hostess, is not very flattering of her, but her pancakes were the best.

This is the view of Lake Rotorua from our hotel. There is a race horse track right next to the hotel, that is in the foreground. There aren't any horse races until Friday, so I guess we won't get to see that.

New Zealand the first three days

We arrived early on Monday morning (Sunday morning in Calif.) and got a rental car and learned to drive on the left side of the road. So far so good. No close calls.

After exploring around Auckland for a while, we found a place near downtown Auckland with a fish and chips restaurant near the beach. We ordered our food and then went down to the beach to eat our first lunch in New Zealand on a bench overlooking the water!

We visited One Tree Hill Park just south of Auckland, and then checked into the hotel in Auckland to shower and rest. We explored a little of the downtown area and wharf area, had a simple dinner, then went to bed early since we had not gotten much sleep on the airplane the night before.

Tuesday, we headed out from Auckland to go to the "Northlands". Along the way we stopped at Sheep World and got to see and participate (that's me on the left!) in sheep shearing and to bottle feed the lambs.

We arrived in Kerikeri in mid-afternoon and found our bed and breakfast in a lovely area. It is surrounded by countryside, but still close to the small town. Our hosts, Wendy and Tony, are a very nice couple who just moved up here from Wellington five years ago. The room is very clean and comfortable. A great place to rest.

After settling in a bit, we drove to a nearby trail and hiked through thick woods to a small beach, then went back to town for a nice leisurely dinner.

Wednesday we woke fairly early, which has been easy for us because we are still kind of on California time, and had a great breakfast made by Wendy. Then we headed to the local airport to take a flying tour of northern New Zealand, and to visit a lighthouse that is on the very tip of the island.

The Kerikeri area has a lot of agriculture, and since it is summer here we have been enjoying fresh locally grown fruit and salads.

After landing in the north, we took a 40 minute van ride to the light house. We walked and explored around the area for a little while. At the very tip of the island just below the lighthouse is where the Pacific Ocean, and the sea that is between Australia and New Zealand meet. You could see the ripple of currents in the water.

On our way back from the lighthouse to the plane, we stopped at some giant sand dunes, had tea, and took a ride on the sand dunes in some little plastic toboggans. We returned to Kerikeri, viewing from the plane so much of the area that would be impossible to see by car. This area is called Bay of Islands because there are so many tiny islands in the nearby bay. They say that they call anything that sticks out of the water an "island", and there are several hundred of them in the bay.

In the evening Wed., we drove up to a place called Coopers Beach, about an hours drive north of Kerikeri, and had fish and chips at a restaurant that was literally on the water. Some great atmosphere. (I'll have a photo of that later.)

Thursday was some down time for me, and I did some shopping in the local town, while Tim went golfing.