Wellington to Auckland 12/17-12/28/2010

A Maori invitation to parlay

Hobbiton in fine form. It looks like filming will soon begin on "The Hobbit".

The surf town of Raglan

Some unknown surfer riding a wave at Raglan

Auckland and the crater of Mt. Eden

Addditional images can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/scdefina/NewZealandNorthIsland121712282010#

Our last days in New Zealand felt much like a rain out in the bottom of the 9th inning. We spent a fair amount of time watching and waiting for it to stop so we could finish off our travels with a last burst of activity. The Tongariro crossing turned into two days of watching the Lord of The Rings Trilogy with other would be trampers. Rotorua was an interesting spot with the geysers, mud pools, and the smell of sulfur wafting about. The rain did let up for a couple of days while in Raglan and we were able to surf the point break at Manu Bay, which was great fun. We stayed in a cozy caboose at a place called Solscape overlooking the bay, and celebrated Christmas with a potluck dinner organized by fellow guests. After four nights in Raglan we drove north to Auckland and had a couple of days walking around the city and getting things organized for our flight back to the US. At the moment and for the next ten days we will be Oahu, visiting Robyn's family and celebrating New Years before flying to Seattle to visit my family for a few days. Then it's time to pack up again and head south, back to California.

Akaroa 12/15-12/16/2010

Strolling down to the Frenchified town of Akaroa

One of our better campsites

Heading out to see the Hector Dolphins

A dolphin leaping for an audience

Akaroa is in a large inlet on the Banks Peninsula just east of Christchurch. This beautiful spot sits within the crater of a rather large extinct (I think) volcano. We ate well, read a bit, took in the views, tramped a little and swam with the smallest species of dolphin, the Hector. Back to Christchurch and then up to the North Island for the last ten days of our international trip. We will spend Christmas in New Zealand (likely surfing in Raglan) and then fly to Hawaii to visit Robyn's brother's family for New Years. We are officially homesick and are looking forward to seeing family, friends and home.

The Franz Josef Glacier 12/14/2010

A viewpoint along the coast on the way the see the glacier

Robyn and Franz Josef

Posing in Sunnies with Franz

Castle Rocks a bit east of Arthur's Pass

The rocks sit on what appears to be grazing land for some dairy cows.

The Franz Josef Glacier is another of New Zealand's impressive sights that is easily accesible. Well, easily accesible after a long drive along a winding coastal road. This large glacier slides down the western slopes of the South Islands dividing range. It is very much part of the tourist circuit and was one of the few times we experienced what might be considered a crowd. Afterwards, on our drive to Christchurch we happened upon a remarkable rock formation called Castle rocks. These limestone behemoths are popular among rock climbers and are culturally important to the Maori people.

Milford Sound, Queenstown and Lake Wanaka 12/09-12/13/2010

Arriving at Milford Sound

Sunny and Cold

Mirror Lakes on the drive to Milford Sound

Big Deer, Little Ducks

Fishing on the Clutha River

Lake Wanaka

Milford Sound is actually not a sound, but rather a fiord. We were informed of the difference by the Captain onboard a cruise. For those not in the know, a sound is formed by rivers carving out valleys and then flooded by the sea, whereas a fiord is carved out by a glacier and then flooded by the sea. So technically Milford Sound should be called Milford Fiord. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful and impressive fiord to behold. We had two hours onboard a fairly large boat with maybe six other people, sunny skies and two bottlenose dolphins riding our bow wave.

Queenstown and Lake Wanaka have a lot in common. Both are really pretty places, cute towns, big lakes, rocky mountains, great views and loads of outdoor activities. We mostly relaxed, but did make a foray out on some really lousy mountain bikes. Despite the challenges of a bike that shifted whenever it wanted, we enjoyed our day riding along the lake and fishing in the Clutha river. We didn't catch a thing, not even a bite.

The Kepler Tramp December 6th-8th 2010

Middle Earth

Kepler Trek

Lake Te Anau

A Takahe, once thought to be extinct.

In the States we call it hiking, in Nepal trekking, while here in New Zealand it goes by the slightly more confusing name of tramping. The Kepler trek, tramp, hike is a 60 kilometer circuit that begins and ends near the southern lake town of Te Anau. The trail meanders along the lake and then climbs through mossy beach forest to the tussocked hillsides above. We had fine weather and were able to take in some spectacular views, especially on the second day as we hiked along a series of ridges. We were also educated on the unfortunate consequences of introduced species here in New Zealand. Specifically on the Stoat (think weasel), which was brought overseas to control the rapidly expanding introduced rabbit population. One of the main problems was that the stoats preferred the easier catch flightless birds like the Kiwi and the Takahe. As a result, the Takahe was thought to have gone extinct and the Kiwi numbers have been drastically reduced. Fortunatley, a last bastion of Takahe was discovered some years ago and is currently being assisted by humans in an effort to increase the population. I believe there are less than 500 Takahe left. As we made our way, we came across a stoat trap (looks like a rectangular box with a large mouse trap and an egg inside) every two hundred meters. These traps along the length of the Kepler circuit have helped increase at risk and endangered flightless bird populations within the perimeter.

Cromwell NZ 12/05/2010

Going for a swim down at the lake.

Poplars, trailers and wind. So NCW.

South Island Images can be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/scdefina/NewZealandSouthIsland120112172010#

After a drive further south we set up camp at a nice caravan park along a lake in Cromwell. I kept commenting during the drive how much the area looked like central Washington State. I believe Robyn started to roll her eyes after a while, but to me the similarities were striking. The mountains, lakes and rivers, the dry hot air. It felt like coming home on a warm summer day. Ahhh...It was nice. Up with the sun, and that's pretty early here in New Zealand in the summertime. I figured morning might be my best chance to catch a fish, and sure enough it was. After only a few casts I pulled in good sized rainbow trout. It's been a long time since I've actually successfully caught something edible. I was in high spirits when I woke Robyn to show her our dinner. We had just finished a couple of nights of tacos, and pasta was slated for our evening meal. It wasn't the perfect combination but it was a satisfying side dish. On the road again...

Lake Pukake and Mount Cook 12/03-04/2010

Lake Pukake with Mount Cook in the background.

Mount Cook

Tasman Glacier and Lake.

Hiking to Tasman Lake to see the icebergs.

A short drive south and we arrived at lake Pukake, another sapphire stunner, with Mount Cook (NZ highest peak) in the background. We spent a couple of hours on a fishing excursion but again no fish. We did see a few salmon swim by though, and one of them must have been 20 to 30 pounds. I kept dragging the lure across it's field of vision but it showed no interest. We camped at a at spot along the lake and prepared a fine meal of tacos with homemade salsa and gaucomole, a favorite staple. Hopefully we'll be having fish taco's soon. The next morning we drove to Mount Cook. It is amazing how accesible the mountains and lakes are here in NZ. That and the fact that the South Island has such a small population, means little traffic and small crowds if any. We hiked to Tasman lake where we viewed small icebergs floating along after dropping from the Tasman Glacier. Another fine day.