Blogs from Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 7

Some new pictures from the area around my place! Enjoy, Stefan... read more

Geo: -45.0311, 168.663We walked through the Kiwi Birdlife Park here in Queenstown. Got to see Kiwi's up close and lots of other native birds. New Zealand does not have any native mammals other than 2 small bats. All other mammals have been introduced and are destroying the native birds. The Kiwi are especially threatened due to the stoats eating their eggs. At the park, they have 2 breeding pairs. The one pair are both 10 years old and will be released into the wild at the end of the year. The other pair is a 3 year old female and a 5 year old male. They haven't had any successful eggs yet, but one was in the incubator. We got to see a Kiwi feeding and listen to the conservation show. It was a really nice ... read more

Geo: -45.0311, 168.663Monday morning we set off on our last driving leg of our trip, from Lake Tekapo to Queenstown. It was another sunny and clear morning and the drive was supposed to be about 2 ½ hours long. We stopped at a visitor center at the bottom of Lake Pukaki to see if we could see Mt. Cook. Mt. Cook is the tallest point in New Zealand at around 3700 meters. There were some clouds around the peak and we couldn't see the entire thing. So we continued on our way. But then we decided to take the drive north to the Aoraki National Park as it was only a 55 km road. We were so glad that we did! The road winds along the lake and the base of the mountains until you get ... read more

Heute sind wir gegen 0730h aufgestanden, haben unsere Morgentoilette im Auto gemacht. Wobei: zuerst schon draußen, aber dann hat uns ein kurzer Regenguss wieder ins Auto getrieben. Dafür sind wir nach dem Frühstück mit einem Regenbogen über der Bucht in Richtung Dunedin belohnt worden. Sonst wars am Morgen eher kalt und windig, Wolekn und Sonnenschein haben sich abgewechselt. Wir sind bis ans Ende der Otago Halbinsel gefahren, haben dort in der Sonne gefrühstückt. Extrem angenehm wars trotzdem nicht, weil der Wind hier direkt am Meer doch sehr stark ist. Dafür gabs auch hier die Gelegenheit schöne Fotos zu machen. Weniger schön auf der Otago Peninsula: für alles muss man zahlen. Das bin ich in der Form bisher hier nicht gewohnt. Sowohl für einen Blick auf die Albatroskolonie als auch auf die Pinguinkolonie verlangen Sie hier nicht ... read more

Another Sunday exploring New Zealand. Today's road trip was to the Catlins, known as the "hidden gem" of the southeastern coast. The landscape is rugged and runs along the coastal cliffs, with gorgeous views of the ocean, waterfalls, and penguins! Although we were young and adventurous and in cars, we were unable to see absolutely everything we wanted to see in one day. We left Abbey College, bright and early and returned at dinner time, once the sun had nearly set itself down on the ocean. Nugget Point was probably my favourite stop along the way, as the view was like something out of a computer screen saver - vivid blues, stunning cliffs and sharp colourful rocks, covered in sun-bathing sea lions. We wanted to visit the Cathedral Falls but didn't have the time. Instead of ... read more