We slept in as late as we could in order to be rested for the long flight. Our shuttle to the airport wasn’t until lunch so we used the morning to explore our Chateau on the Park. They have beautiful gardens, a tiny vineyard and a little putting green. They even offer free golf at the course across the street but we didn’t have enough time. We goofed around and then walked all around Hagley Park, strolled around the Avon River, and saw the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. We watched people playing golf, tennis and croquet. You should have seen the (surprisingly [View Full Entry]

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Today, we drove on the left for the last time. We said goodbye to Hokitika and drove up to the Punakaiki Rocks. We saw some spectacular scenery reminiscent of the Pacific Coast Highway. The “pancake rocks” made a good photo op and you could hear the power of the water in the blowhole and the surge pools as it made big booms. We drove back down to Greymouth to catch our last train of the trip. The Transalpine goes through the Southern Alps. The sky was brilliant blue, the Yellow Gorse Plant was in bloom and there was snow on the [View Full Entry]

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We slept in and had a good breakfast at the Fox Glacier Lodge. A great place. This was a pretty light day with a two hour drive to Hokitika. This small town is known for artists that carve Jade (Greenstone) found here on the west coast of the South Island. We walked around the town and bought some nice souvenirs. Brian even found a New Zealand Sheepdog whistle carved from Jade. They are tricky to use but Brian has had a few weeks to practice using one we found in the North Island (much to Amy’s enjoyment). The cabin was right [View Full Entry]

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This was our last big day of adventure before making our way toward home. With Queenstown in our rear view mirror, we continued north toward Fox Glacier. There were some great photo ops as well as a stop to finally sample a Whitebait Fritter. It’s hard to describe but think of a small egg omelet filled with white worms with black stripes and big black eyes. It’s served on a piece of white bread with butter. Brian thought “not bad”. Amy tried it (because Brian didn’t let her look too closely) and she thought “yuck”! Our original plan was to drive [View Full Entry]

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Today we were back on the road, starting the last leg of our journey. Our trip to Queenstown starts our trek north up the west coast of the South Island. On our way to Queenstown, we mixed in a few stops to break up the trip including a slight detour to the Catlins, which is near the southern-most point of the South Island. The area is called Nugget Point and is famous for a few different things including…a lighthouse! Better yet, it’s also one of the few areas where fur seals, sea lions, and elephant seals all cohabitate. We were hoping [View Full Entry]

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Today was our overnight stay on Milford Sound. This sound is actually a fiord, a valley carved by a glacier that was filled in by the sea. Milford was over 4 hours west of Queenstown and we opted for the bus instead of the car (Brian was very happy about that). The trip was restful and full of great scenery: old trains, canyons, gorges, and LOTS of waterfalls (Amy was very happy about that). Once on the Milford Wanderer, the weather became gray and misty but the sun broke through and made a great rainbow. See the pic. A few of [View Full Entry]

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At the break of dawn, we fell out of our bunks in hopes of spotting Crested Penguins. Amy sighted several waddling out of the trees and swimming in a bunch and Brian even saw one. The little guys don't photograph well with our camera so this is the best we have. Hopefully Jim and Edna will share. A nice way to start the day. After some breakfast and much-needed coffee, we began our return route back through the sound. We made a brief stop for an up-close inspection of a waterfall with the bow almost under the fall. That capped off [View Full Entry]

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After an amazing breakfast, we decided to explore the far side of the Peninsula and take a beach walk. We heard that there was a chance to see a Sea Lion that lives on Allan’s Beach and we decided to visit him. We drove all along curvy dirt roads, ending up in a sheep field. You climb the fence, say hi to the sheep, walk across the field through tunnels of yellow Lupin flowers and pop out onto the beach. We walked around the bend, and we spotted two Sea Lions. We had gotten lots of warnings about the size and [View Full Entry]

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We left Lake Tekapo fairly early and headed toward the East Coast. We drove down to a city called Oamaru. This is where the little blue penguins come ashore each day at dusk. Unfortunately, we got there around lunch-time and were way too early for that as well as the afternoon nesting tour so we were off. We did take a walk on a nice beach where you can sometimes see Yellow-Eyed Penguins but, no joy there either, except for the view. We drove on down the coast and stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. These rocks were formed in the ocean [View Full Entry]

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Today we got our second rental car and headed on our drive around the South Island. This car is in MUCH better shape than that little Toyota Starlet we had before. We told these guys that we had a Starlet the last time and they actually laughed out loud. We drove about 3 hours south to Lake Tekapo (Tick-a-po). This is a very blue alpine lake. It’s famous for the Church of the Good Shepherd and the monument built to the Sheep Dog who is so useful here. Our hotel is right on the lake, has views to the church and [View Full Entry]

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