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Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Kaikora sunset

Kaikora sunset

Still looking for the fish...

A huge albatross pushing the gulls out of the way to get to some fish scraps.

Here's the fish!!! If you can't find them in the lakes or rivers, you always know that they are in the ocean. These are blue cod.

Everyone was hooking them.

We pulled some crayfish (lobster) pods and got our dinner.

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The Farewell Spit

Pupu Springs, the clearest water in the world.

Still no fish. Hmmm....

Wishing the waves were bigger.

Franz Joseph Glacier

Fox Glacier

East Coast

We have been traveling up New Zealand's south island. As usual, the scenery is stunning. After Queenstown, we stayed in some small towns as well as the bigger city of Christchurch. Christchurch is a charming city with beautiful Gothic architecture. It is N.Z.'s most English city. Doug and I have enjoyed some pints and fish & chips at the numerous pubs.
We also went to an aquarium which had a kiwi house! It is hard to see kiwis in the wild because they are nocturnal and very sensitive to light and smell. They are extraordinary birds. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures!
From Christchurch we drove to the beautiful fishing town of Kaikoura. It has an amazing setting of steep foothills surrounding emerald-green ocean. There is so much sea life here to see, including whales, fur seals, albatross and the endemic Hector's dolphin- the rarest and smallest dolphin.
In Kaikoura we went to a sheep shearing show! It was very entertaining and we got to see a sheep being sheared! I also got to play with two lambs that were so friendly because they were fed from a bottle. I love sheep!
We also went on a deep sea fishing charter. We caught loads of blue cod and perch! The boat also picked up a crate full of crayfish. We had an awesome dinner!
Today we are taking the ferry back across to the north island because we are flying out of Wellington tomorrow! As some of you know, Doug and I have decided to cut our trip short because we are somewhat tired of traveling. We realized we like to travel, but for short periods of time. So we have a month left- two weeks in Thailand, then two in Europe!

New Zealand Pictures

Our home (or tent) lakeside.

The town where the Shire from Fellowship of the Ring was filmed.

Zorbing, where you get in a plastic ball filled with water and roll down a hill.

D0ug sliding out of his zorb at the bottom of the hill.

Fishing. Where's the fish????

There are ten times as many sheep in NZ as people.

Tent and rental car. What you can't see are the millions of sand flies in the grass waiting to attack.

Little waves at Raglan.

Doug surfing. Maybe that's him all the way to the right.

South Island

Hello! We crossed over to New Zealand's south island. For the past week we have been traveling down the beautiful west coast. The south island is more rugged and less populated then the north. There are so many lakes and rivers. We have visited several national parks, doing some cool hikes.
In Abel Tasman National Park in the northwest, we walked through amazing forest (the location for Chetwood Forest in The Lord of the Rings) to Harwood's Hole- the biggest cave in the southern hemisphere. We also went to Te Waikoropupu Springs, or "Pupu" for short. They are the largest freshwater springs in N.Z. and supposedly the clearest in the world. Although all the water in N.Z. is sparkling and clear- but especially here!
We then drove to Farewell Spit way up in the north. It's pretty bleak, rough country with lots of birds. We had fun playing in the sand dunes.
Heading south, we have camped by some beautiful lakes and rivers (apparently with no fish!). There are so many nature trails and cool sites to see here. Yesterday, we walked to two different glaciers, both were spectacular. The only thing we really don't like about the south island are the horrible biting sand flies. We are hoping they are only on the west coast!
Today, we moved inland to the popular action packed town of Queenstown. This is where I have been before in 2001, and where I did my first and second bungee jumps! There are so many adrenalin seeking activities here. Doug and I went on a jetboat ride on the Shotover River. It's a fast 25 minute water propelled ride where the driver constantly does 360's and drives close to the rocks. It was very fun.
For tomorrow, we booked a day tour to Milford Sound down south. It is supposed to be some of the prettiest scenery in New Zealand.
Hope everyone is well!

Surf Highway

For the last few days we were on the west coast following Surf Highway. True to its name, Doug had fun riding some waves. Then we drove inland to the country. This morning we awoke to a huge deer right outside our tent. It must be someone's pet because Doug fed it some bisquits by hand.
Today we drove to the East coast to Hastings, in the Hawk's Bay area. There are many vineyards here, so we will spend some time at the wineries.
Tomorrow we will go south to Wellington and spend a couple of days there before taking the ferry over to the south island.

Waitomo Caves

We are in the town of Waitomo, famous for its caves. Yesterday, Doug and I went on an underground cave tubing adventure! It was so fun! Part of the time we were walking and caving, and at other times we were tubing on individual tubes. The water was freezing so we wore wetsuits. We got to jump off underground waterfalls, and squeeze through small crevices. My favorite part was when we all switched our helmet lights off so it was completely dark except for hundreds of glowworms on the cave ceiling. We got to float down river with their lights as our guide! This was one of our favorite things we have done on the trip.
Today we are staying in town to watch the superbowl. Hope you are all doing well.

New Zealand

We are in beautiful New Zealand. We arrived in Auckland on the north island a couple of days ago. We are both kind of sick of city life after Buenos Aires, so we didn't stick around too long. We are also sick of public transportation, so we rented a car for our month long stay here in New Zealand. So far, we have camped our first two nights and will hopefully continue to do so. It is absolutely breathtaking everywhere you look. We are so happy to be here. The weather is warm and sunny. Our plan is to stay at the north island for two weeks, then take the ferry to the south island and stay there for two weeks.

Yesterday we stayed in the town of Matamata. Nearby is Hobbiton, the Hobbit village from the Lord of the Rings. There isn't much remaining from the movie set, so we opted not to go on the $50 tour! The whole area is very beautiful. The day before that we were in a beach town on the eastern coast. We camped there as well and Doug did some surfing before heading out to a winery not too far away.

Today we are in Rotorua, which has thermal springs and spurting geysers. It is also on a lake so we plan on doing some trout fishing. While driving into town we stopped at the hill where they offer "Zorbing". This is where you crawl into an inflated clear plastic ball. They fill it partially with water, and then they roll you down the hill. Doug tried it out and had a great time sliding around inside the ball as it wound its way down the zig zag track.

This afternoon we will have our first try at fishing in New Zealand. The local tackle shop said that our pole and reel (which is fine by California standards) is much too small for the trout here. Hopefully we are able to get a fish on the line to see if they were right.