Thousands Of Words On New Zealand....

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After nearly two months in Australia we spent two weeks in August zipping around the South Island of New Zealand, a country so beautiful and with people so friendly and charming that there is just no way to do it justice with words alone. They say that pictures are worth a thousand words and we hope that the following 42,000 "words" will paint a colorful narrative of our time here.

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Photos

Cookie Time, Christchurch
We arrived from Cairns late on August 3 and headed south the next morning for Oamaru. Our first stop on our first morning in New Zealand? Cookie Time Outlet. It's not in any of the guidebooks...yet.

Blue Penguin Colony, Oamaru
Each night the penguins arrive in the hour after sunset and visitors can sit in a grandstand and watch the return. One penguin walked up on the rocks before 6pm but then all of a sudden pools of them floated in, popped up on their feet, and walked up the shore in a herd. They came in in 3 groups and a leader appeared to wait for stragglers. These penguins can stay out at sea for up to ten months at a time.

Blue Penguin Colony Driveway
On the way in we thought this sign was cute but on the way out we realized just how under-foot the penguins could be. They are small (30cm) and very loud and once ashore they are all over the place. Many of them head to their nests but we saw several scampering around the roadway.

The Moeraki Boulders
About 40 kilometers south of Oamaru are the Moeraki Boulders. The nearly perfect spheres started forming nearly 60 million years ago. The rocks now embedded in the sand were orginally packed in cliff above and have been revealed by erosion.

A Moeraki Boulder
Originally formed around "a central core of carbonate of lime crystals" some of the boulders are cracked open and their hollow core visible. Most of the boulders on the beach are quite large as the smaller ones have been carted off by thieves as souvenirs.

Roger's Big Boulders
The beautiful but otherwise un-noteworthy beach takes on a sureal appearance with the patch of boulders. They are so perfectly formed it is hard to believe they are natural.

Baldwin Street, Dunedin
With a slope of almost 19 degrees Baldwin Street is the certified Guinness Book of World Records steepest street in the world. The walk up and down definitely makes you appreciate the record. There is a humble souvenir shop at the bottom in the otherwise residential neighborhood.

The Royal Albatross Center, Dunedin
The Royal Albatross is the largest of the albatross family (their wing span can measure more than ten feet). The birds spend the vast majority of their lives at sea and can travel up to 190,000 kilometers in a year. The birds have a life expectancy of 45 years and they mate for life. The colony in Dunedin is the only mainland colony of albatross in the world. The white speck in the photo is one of the majestic birds in their nest.

Sheep Outnumber People 10 to 1 In New Zealand
The road from Dunedin to Te Anu was green and rolling with hills (and sheep).

Entering Fiordland National Park From Te Anau
Te Anau is a charming little town in the edge of a dark glacial lake. It is a great jumping off point for Fiordland. We'd also recommend the remarkable locally produced film of the park, Ata Whenu (Shadowland), shown at the Fiordland Cinema in Te Anau.

Fiordland National Park
The road to Milford Sound is cloaked in cool, temperate rain forest. The dense jungle is covered in moss, creeper vines, and the famous New Zealand ferns. The park is one of the wettest places on earth averaging more than six meters of rain a year.

No Hands!, Fiordland
Linked with three other national parks the three million acres of Fiordland helps to form the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area created in 1990.

Milford Sound, Fiordland
Our first view of the sound on our tour through Fiordland. We booked the tour with Real Journeys in Te Anau. The scenery, the expertise of our guide, and the good fortune to be the only people on the tour that day made it one of our most memorable excursions.

The View From Coronet Peak
We spent the day skiing (learning to, anyway) at Coronet. The view across the valley includes Queenstown's neighbor, Arrowtown, and these beautiful peaks.

The View From Coronet Peak, Part II
Looking back towards Queenstown. This and the previous photo give you an almost seamless panorama of the view from Coronet, which was a nice place to learn to ski. Lake Wakatipu is visible in the far background.