Christchurch looks a little like England - cathedrals and artwork abound, along with a lovely river winding through town and Botanical Gardens with huge trees planted in the mid-1800's. We stopped at the Rose Garden (roses in February!) Some guy took our photo, and asked if we wanted him to count down. We said yes, and he started at 100...hence our laughing pose. Nice walk!
We hiked up about 10km to this ice cave at the bottom of the glacier (I'm standing in it, if you look closely). It was drippy and cool, which felt pretty good after our uphill alpine hike. The only tree on this hike was a pygmy pine, which is about 3 inches high! We were hiking with some professional bird watchers, and they spotted a very rare rock wren...which they were ecstatic about. At least we've got a good start if we ever decide to start bird watching.
Here we are the the Wilderness Lodge at Arthur's Pass, which was our best stay in NZ. It's a working sheep and cattle ranch, with owners that are passionate and knowledgeable about the environment. We watched Skip the border collie muster the sheep...amazingly the sheep stayed in a tight little circle long after we and the dog left them in the field. We then picked one lucky sheep to shear with old fashioned scissors. This is fine merino wool...SO soft to the touch! We even pulled the wool over the eyes of the sheep – it can be done!
Horse Trek through the Alps. When it's a clear day here, the scenery is like a 360 degree postcard...you'd swear Julie Andrews is going to pop out and start singing that the hills are alive with the Sound of Music!
The hike was through streams and the rainforest, with lovely moss and mushrooms along a glacial whitewater river. No bears to worry about here. We got our feet plenty wet and muddy, despite the fact we took our shoes off at least half a dozen times!
This small town has but one claim to fame...the SIBERIAN EXPERIENCE! They helicopter you out in the woods, and you find your way back about 4 1/2 hours later to the jet boat pick up point. The helicopter ride was amazing - we were in a huge glacial bowl surrounded by literally hundreds of big and small waterfalls, complete with a double rainbow
A three hour hike near Milford Sound. They said to be ready for all kinds of weather here, so we carted up coats, sweaters and raingear. Turned out to be a beautiful, sunny and humid climb past a churning low waterfall and uphill through the rainforest to this lovely alpine lake. The skinny dip at the top was worth it!!
Not a sound (apparently misnamed), this is actually a fjord. (We learned that sounds are created by rivers, fjords by glaciers). We flew there in on a Cessna (top photo includes the wing), and took an overnight cruise out on a sailboat. Spectacular 5,000 foot mountains that rise straight out of the Tasman Sea, with waterfalls too numerous to count. Before dinner, we took a little kayak trip to a BIG waterfall (look for the wee yellow kayaks at the bottom of the photo)
Activities abound here. You can heli or bungy anything...they'll even shoot you out of a cannon! We chose a ride on an America's Cup sailboat...tame by comparison, but a unique experience nonetheless. Captain Joe put us to work, and taught us a thing or two about sailing. The wind was fine...what a kick in the pants!! We were not only excellent "rail meat", but we helped raise and lower the sails as well with those big winches.
We're now at the South Island. This is the Antarctic Museum - did you know that almost all the Antarctic Expeditions left from NZ? The proximity is suitable, so Christchurch has become quite the hub. Another fact: 90% of the world's fresh water is in Antarctica. Don't worry...we're not planning an expedition anytime soon! They do have an Arctic Simulator complete with -18C wind-chill that takes you through an Artic storm in about 5 minutes. Jeez Louise!! Note that this photo is NOT from the Artic Storm. During the actual storm, we ducked inside a tent!
One last kiss and the last of the daylight before we headed into the cave. Isn't this just the best photo?
Tongariro Crossing is one of the best hikes in NZ, and a new addition to our all time top 10 hikes. A successful hike here is very weather dependent...some people hike it and see almost nothing due to frequent cloud cover. We waited 3 days for just the right day. The hike (or tramp, as they call it here) is 10 miles total, including a long, arduous uphill climb on all fours over a lava boulder field. The bottom photo shows a thankfully flat valley, surrounded by mist from warm thermals. At the top, we were rewarded with the spectacular view of the famous Emerald Pools. We saw 3 volcanoes total as we hiked across the saddle. A truly spectacular and exhausting day!
Huka Falls is a big honker, supplying 15% of the power for New Zealand. It can fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 3 SECONDS. We took another jet boat…this one did 360 degree turns – which we did with our hands in the air. Woo hoo!! These jet boats are addictive!
Posted by Mike:
Not to get mushy, but the honeymoon continues to be not only a load of fun, but very romantic!!
How cool is this? This is a huge native Maori carving and we got to swim right next to it. The water is so WARM, even though it was 6pm and a little cloudy.
We took a sunset sail on this 36 ft sailboat. We had great winds, were under full sail. The boat was tipped so far to the side that we had our legs in the water by hanging over the side of the boat. The water is fresh, very clear and about 75 degrees. This is such a beautiful spot!!
Lake Taupo is a HUGE lake (bigger than Tahoe, we think). They said the entire city of Singapore could fit in this lake. We rented a hobi-cat for a couple of hours and had a great spin around part of the lake. At least we didn't sink it this time, like we did in Cabo!!
Greetings from the Polynesian Spa in Rotorua! They have lovely pools here that have thermally heated healing waters at four different temperatures. We also did a mud bath, but we'll spare you the photos of our mud encrusted feet :) This was a good rainy day activity - it's not so bad when it's raining if you're in a hot pool!
Say G'day to Thelma, the pig at our B&B. Thelma eats ALL table scraps. (Including pork products, but don't tell Thelma!)
Of the 250 people at this dinner, Mike was selected as the CHIEF, which meant that he had to lead his people around the camp and do a dance at the end. He's supposed to be looking menacing here... not such a good job!!
A traditional Maori (native tribe) warrior "greets" us for a "hangi" dinner. Although this may look comical, these guys are fierce and scary. They make gutteral sounds and whip their spears around. Tatoos on the face are a sign of great acheivement. It was enough to make me jump! 
As we were coming in, I couldn't resist climbing up the mast, and Mike wasn't far behind. The mast sways a LOT more than the ship does, let me tell ya! We had safety harnesses on, but you had to unclip and reclip the carribeaners as you went up. We even managed a kiss a the top!
OK, maybe this is the next best thing! We climbed out on what they call the bow sprit which juts out about 15 feet from the bow and straddled the sail...we climbed on those side ropes to get to the front. Below us, there were dolphins on both sides - apparently they can surf next to the bow with little effort, so they really like hanging out there. It was quite a show!
Ahoy, mates! This is the Good Ship R Tucker Thompson. She's a tall ship, and 85 feet long. Those of you in the Pacific NW may have seen her at the Tall Ships Festival last summer, when she sailed all the way from NZ to Tacoma for the celebration. We had a lovely sail, complete with "cream tea" which is tea and scones that are smothered in slightly sweetened whipped cream, and a fabulous lunch with BBQ chicken and salad with fresh feta cheese. The food is wonderful in NZ!
