Ilanarama!

I have uploaded our photos from the Queen Charlotte Track, Wellington, and the Coromandel Peninsula, added 9 photos to the Waitomo (black-water rafting) set, and added 6 photos to the Tongariro (Mount Doom) set.

( A few of my favorites: )

...of green beer did not pass my lips last night. Instead I uploaded some more photos:

15 West Coast and Arthur's Pass photos
12 Franz Josef and Fox Glacier photos

Here is a fern and some mountains:


And here is me doing the Safety Dance:

I have been a busy little beaver: I have added a bunch of photos from the last part of the NZ trip (I am working backwards, more or less) and edited links into my entries about those places. I also updated the entries a leetle bit. Finally, I decided to spring for a paid account because 1) I hate that non-lj people looking at my stories have to see stupid ads, and 2) some of you (grr) have Plus accounts, and I hate seeing ads when I comment on your posts. (Also, they have been showing me ads on my profile even though I had a Basic account, grr.) Anyway, new stuff:

12 photos of Queenstown and Te Anau areas (lakes and mountains!)
16 photos of Dunedin, the Otago Peninsula, and the coast north of Dunedin
4 photos added to Ball Pass set (now 22)
8 photos added to Milford Sound set (now 24 plus video)
10 photos added to Kepler Track set (now 15)

See 'em here in our NZ trip collection on Flickr!

Here is one of my favorites from the new uploads: Mt. Earnslaw looming over the north end of Lake Wakatipu.

( We go on an adventure! )

22 photos at our Flickr page.

Last night we drove to Lyttelton, near Christchurch; today we fly to Auckland, and tomorrow night, we fly home. Bye-bye, NZ!

Well, we did our Milford Sound cruise, and what a bummer, the weather was beautiful. Blue skies, warm air, and no chop on the fjord as we cruised out to the Tasman Sea. Because of this we had to kayak around the coves at the edge of Milford Sound, and Britt decided it was necessary to go swimming as well. Terrible, huh?



Another complication of the distressingly gorgeous weather was that we were inspired to spend even more money and take the helicopter flight option back from Milford - we flew around cliffs and waterfalls and glaciers for 15 minutes, landed on a glacier on Mount Tutoko (Fiordland National Park's highest peak) and then flew around another valley and down to meet the bus on the landward-side of the Homer Tunnel. I have to say OMG IT WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE THING EVER. In the whole history of incredible things. EVER. Yeah, life don't suck too bad.



I have uploaded a tiny fraction of the seventy billion pictures we took on the cruise and from the helicopter, as well as 23 seconds of video which is to the actual flight as the lightning is to the lightning bug but which is still DAMN COOL to a Milford Sound set on my Flickr page.

In the morning we take the bus to Dunedin, where we are renting a car so as to view the southeast coast at our leisure. Then we, um, are spending yet more money in yet another big splurge: ( Mom, you probably don't want to read this... )

After we return (if... :-) we drive to Christchurch, fly back to Auckland, spend one more night and day with our friends Doug and Anne in Devonport, and then it's the marathon flight back to the US, and bye-bye, NZ.

First off: I hope all of my Aussie friends out there and their families are OK! I live in a fire-prone part of the US, that had severe wildfires in 2002, so my sympathies and hopes are with you all. *hugs you*

( What we done did )

( What we are gonna do )

ETA: Pictures from Queenstown and Te Anau areas at Flickr

ETA2: 18 photos from the Caples and Routeburn hike

Hello from Karamea, where I am drinking a beer and sitting at an Internet kiosk in The Last Resort, which is a nice and not-too-expensive lodge complex, pretty near at the north end of the road on the west side of the South Island. (That should help you find it on Google Earth!)

So, when we left Motueka (rather abruptly, if you read the last entry, because I was running out of time on the net and had spent all my coins, so as not to carry any extra weight on the trail) we caught the bus to the start of the Heaphy Track, some distance west of Collingwood and a couple of hours from Motueka. ( Read more... )

This has been my favorite hike of all so far, I think. Just the variety of different forest, scenery, rocks, cliffs, caves, and so on. As well as the fewer people, and we got rid of some stuff in Nelson and actually bought instant backpacking food, so as to carry lighter loads - much more comfy than last time. I hope the photos came out!

ETA: Pictures!

Hi from the South Island. Yesterday we finished the Queen Charlotte Track - 71 km of hillside ridges along the Queen Charlotte Sound on one side and Kenepuru Sound on the other, drowned valleys between forested (and deforested, alas; much logging here) mountain ranges - and last night we came to the Anakiwa Lodge where the proprietor sold us a bottle of local Sauvignon Blanc and gave us a key to the spa tub. UTTER BLISS, I tell you. All hikes should end this way.

( Leaving Wellington )

( It sounds farther in KM )

Anyway, I must shower and go fix breakfast now. At 9:15 we hitch a ride on the mail bus to Havelock, which is apparently the Green-Lipped Mussel Capital of New Zealand (and therefore the world) so I am looking forward to lunch; and then we catch a bus for Nelson where we have a few days before our next round of torture hike. I will try to answer comments in Nelson, but if I don't get to it, thank you all for reading and gawking at photos!

ETA: Photos to gawk at: Queen Charlotte track