Weather on New Zealand's South Island was much better!

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On to the South Island! You may want to get out your map to follow along our little journey as we circle the island.

So, we hopped on the inter-island ferry along with dozens of other travelers. After three hours, we arrived in Picton, a small town, busy with logging. We picked up our zippy red Ford Focus, in the rain, as you might have guessed. We headed north towards Abel Tasman coast. We got as far as Motueka for an overnight. We had previously signed up for a boat ride along the Tasman coast, where one can get off the boat, take a hike and be picked up on their way back. However, since there was a cold rain, we decided to just do the boat trip and skip the trek in the wet forest. We did see some playful seals, oblivious to the icky conditions. There are some homes along the shore, accessible only by boat and starting at unbelievable numbers, around a million, for very small homes. Location is everything, I guess.

That afternoon, we left in hopes of outpacing the rain. We spent that day and the next working our way down to Fox Glacier. Along the way, we took a drive up Arthur’s Pass to see some of the snow-capped mountains. Along the coast, and finally in the sun, we stopped at Paparoa National Park, home of the famous Pancake Rocks. These are layers of limestone separated by layers of mud stone, that more easily eroded away, leaving the layered “pancake’ appearance. This, of course, took millions of years.

In Fox Glacier, we took a helicopter ride to see Fox Glacier, Mt. Tasman, Mt. Cook-the highest peak- and Franz Josef Glacier. The pilot landed on an actual snow-covered ice field, about 9,600 ft up there and we were able to walk about a bit. The views were awesome-the steepness of the cliffs, the sharpness of the peak, due to the upheaval way back when. We certainly would not have been able to see all this any other way. The helicopter saved us the trouble of climbing Mt. Cook. Then, encouraged by the lack of rain-which they define as fine weather, we hiked around Lake Matheson. It is well known because in several locations, one can take a photo of Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook being reflected in the water. Bert, of course, thought it was a cold hike, but the scenery was lovely. Dan thought it was quite pleasant. We had a tasty lunch at the Lake Matheson café complete with mountain views.

After we got back on the road, part of our entertainment was many rainbows and several double rainbows along the way. And, not just more one-lane bridges, of which there are many, but also an interesting one which has train tracks down the middle. This means, the train would definitely have the right of way, chief or not, Dan says. In local parlance, this means we would be giving way, as is the case in the hundreds of round-abouts throughout the country.

From there, we drove to Wanaka, a beautiful small town close to Queenstown. This town has developed into ski country. So, of course, to enjoy the Alpine cuisine, we had dinner at Amigo’s, the local Mexican place. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast, which did reflect the local flavor. And, I finally got to do some laundry with warm water. Many places use only cold, as New Zealand is trying to conserve electricity. There was even an outdoor hot tub, but we didn’t get that far.

The next day was a short drive over to Queenstown, where we walked the waterfront. Continuing our local culture immersion, we ate at Subway and did some shopping. We walked over to the famous cable car ride up the mountain for a view of the city and lunch. We passed the infamous bungy-jumping platform, which many of you may have seen Marc jump off. That day, however, there were no customers. Guess who whined about also doing this and guess who said, “NO.” Not how I wanted to spend our anniversary. Dan had to settle for Subway instead.

The next day, we did a looooong bus trip to Milford Sound, which leads to the Tasman Sea. After traveling by bus to Milford Sound, going around many s-turns due to the mountains, we arrived at the boat terminal. On the way, we saw many - make that thousands - of sheep, happy to have fuzzy coats to keep them warm. We were on a comfy bus and I had on two sweaters. On board, we had a picnic lunch and a two-hour cruise through a fiord to the sea and back. It got to be a bit of an overdose of waterfalls, cliffs, snow-capped mountains, and vegetation, but it was beautiful. We were so close to one waterfall the bow of the ship was taking on the spray, as were some passengers - those who were outside, which, of course, included Dan. I, however, was viewing all this from the enclosed, comfy warm lower deck. For the second time, we saw seals. These guys, however, were just out sunning themselves. Then, it was back to the bus for the 300 kilometer trip home. On the way back, we passed a number of deer farms, a large industry here. Also saw cattle and dairy cows - only the sheep had the warm coats, but nobody seemed to mind. Several of the farms were on the other side of the lake, accessible only by boat or barge. Talk about not wanting to play well with others! Again, nobody seems to mind. This would be a real challenge to get to the mall as often as I like to go. We finally arrived back in Queenstown in the dark and in a wee bit of rain.

Queenstown is a fairly large city, full of youngsters doing all the adventure activities we read about in the brochures. Kind of like a large Wisconsin Dells, but classier and way more scenic. I might also add, just a tad more expensive, as is everything, we find. We got a chance to see the Medical clinic, since Bert had some stomach thingy, which was pretty miserable and kept us quiet for a day. Dan wandered the waterfront and took snaps of some rather giant sequoia trees right in town-not as big as in CA, but still impressive. We did stay in a quaint boutique hotel, small hotels very similar to a B and B. Once again, we had milk in our little frig, but also had a tasty breakfast each day. They even threw in a small bottle of wine to enjoy. And-rather importantly - internet use was included, not always the case at other places.

Then, it was off to the east coast, which has substantially more flat farm land. Vegetation was not as thick as the rain forests on the west side, due to more dry conditions. We stayed in Dunedin at the Brothers boutique hotel-former housing for the brothers at the Catholic school right there. We also found that we never walked more than ten feet on flat ground-very steep streets. They would never be able to drive in icy conditions! The main reason we stopped here was to see the penguins in their natural habitat. We got there just in time to take a bus tour along more winding roads out to the peninsula. We first stopped at Lanach Castle, a former residence of some wealthy merchant. It’s the only castle in Dunedin and the only one in New Zealand, so they are excited about it. There is a great deal of Scottish influence in this town due to its founding fathers. Got to the penguin nature preserve just in time for more rain for our walking tour. We borrowed heavy raincoats, which helped protect us from near gale-force winds. Undaunted, our guide led us down the track to viewing sheds to watch those little yellow-eyed penguins emerge from the Pacific Ocean, after a hard day of searching for food. Sometimes, they had to make several attempts to defeat the waves to arrive at the beach. Then, they would climb up the hill a bit and spend lots of time preening. We continued on for another viewing perspective and to peek into very little huts, where the mommies were warming their eggs. They each have only one or two young ones. Different from many animals in the wild kingdom, it takes both mom and dad to raise the young-and they mate for life. They apparently follow biblical teachings and Bill Cosby’s philosophy of correct family values. Why can’t more humans catch on to this? On the way back, we luckily got to walk in a tunnel system, which kept us drier. Not good for you very tall people, however. All these procedures are in place to protect the penguins, not us. They are shy creatures and disturbing them and their ways can be very detrimental to their livelihood. We also did spot a couple of seals just hanging out on the grassy shore, along with sheep grazing among them. Finally turned in our raincoats and hopped back on the bus. Our driver was full of local info, which was interesting to hear and easy to forget-sorry.

The next day was a long drive to get to Christchurch, but most of the day was dry. Stayed at a lovely boutique hotel again, by Cathedral Square downtown. It’s just really a big city, not nearly as picturesque as others we stayed in. So, we did nothing there, but wait for our flight that afternoon.

After more lines and security, we enjoyed our time with Emirates Air. They know how to throw a party. We had a five-course dinner, complete with complimentary wine. Then, we spent time playing with our individual TV screens, which had 500 programs. And, of course, this was economy class. Our flight wasn’t long enough to have more drink or see more movies. Did meet a charming steward from Alberta, Canada, who also lived in Malta and decided to work for the airlines to see the world.

So, that about wraps it up for New Zealand. Now we are off to Sydney and Cairns in Australia a week.

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Photos

Entry to South Island
A three hour boat trip over open water and through a long scenic like fjord.

Picton harbor
The boat we were on.

Seals along the Abel Tasman coast
The next few pictures are from the boat ride along the Abel Tasman coast on a rainy and cold day.

More seals.
Cold weather is no problem for them.

Interesting formation.
At low tide one can walk through the arch.

West coat on our way to Fox Glacier
Note - you can double click on any picture to make it larger, etc. - try it.

Path to Pancake Rocks
The day is clearing - yeh!

NZ has many one lane bridges.
Here is a long one. You will see others.

One lane bridge shared with a train.
I think I would give way to the train.

Rainbow
One of many - I wonder why?