Queenstown, New Zealand

Sunday morning we travelled from Franz Joseph glacier to Queenstown. We drove down the coast, past Knights Point,


then headed inland. We saw several waterfalls, including Thunder Creek falls:


We also saw Fantail Falls, which seemed to have the most cairns in one place that I've ever seen!


We left the rainforest plants behind as we headed into Haast Pass.


The inland lakes here have some of the bluest water I've seen. Like Lake Wanaka:


We passed through the Central Otago wine region


then into Queenstown.


Queenstown is located on Lake Wakatipu, which impressed with its blue waters and the nearby Remarkables.

The TSS Earnslaw (TSS stands for Twin Screw Steamship) is a coal-fired steamship that chugs its way constantly between Queenstown and Walter Peak farm.


Our hotel had a nice view of the lake, and I took this picture of Queenstown at sunset.


The next day, we took a gondola up a nearby mountain.


Terri and I did some luging in little carts at the top (but no bungy jumping!). In the afternoon, we went over to Walter Peak on the TSS Earnslaw. The farm there has alpaca (I caught this one yawning!)


red deer (I'm surprised at how many deer farms there've been in New Zealand)


and sheep. We had afternoon tea, then saw a demonstration of an Australian Shepherd at work,


and sheep shearing. We boated back to Queenstown for a nice dinner. The next morning, we headed for Te Anau.

Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand

It was cloudy on the east side of the island when we left Christchurch and headed into the mountains.


Fortunately, it was sunnier on the west side.


We arrived in Greymouth, rented a car, then drove down the coast to the town of Franz Joseph Glacier (near the glacier of the same name). The west coast is an interesting combination of rain forest and mountains.

The next day, we hiked up to the Franz Joseph glacier.



That afternoon, we checked out the West Coast Wildlife Centre, where kiwi conservation efforts are underway. There are several species of kiwi in New Zealand, all of them endangered to some degree, because there were no predators (mammals) of any kind until westerners brought them. The local species, the Rowi kiwi, is the most endangered. Their main predator is the stoat, originally brought to the island to keep the rabbit population under control. Apparently, a newly hatched Rowi kiwi has a 5% chance of surviving to adulthood, but at the center, they have an 85% chance. Since there are only about 375 of them left, it makes a big difference! The kiwi grows to almost the size of a chicken, and once it reaches about a kilogram, it can defend itself with the claws on its feet. The Centre incubates eggs until they hatch, then keep the baby kiwis for a few months. Then they are sent to a predator-free island between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, where they learn to hunt for themselves (they eat mostly grubs from the soil). Then they are brought back to the area and released into the wild.

Anyway, we were lucky because when we got there, they had a kiwi that had hatched the previous day. I took a picture of the monitor that showed a live video feed of the kiwi.


The next day, we went to a White Heron sanctuary. It's the only place on the entire island where the birds nest. To get there, we took a "jet boat" ride down a glacial river then up a rain forest river.

Here, a paradise duck plays with the boat by flying in front of it.


Here's a picture of one before it was able to get in front of us!


The White Heron nesting site was not very big. This picture pretty much shows the entire area.


Also nesting in or around the area were shags (cormorants)


and spoonbills (they tended to nest higher up in trees, and my camera only had so much zoom!)


That evening, we travelled south to Fox Glacier.


We also got a little closer


but the trails here were closed due to problems with rock slides.


We had dinner at the Lake Matheson cafe, then hiked quickly around Lake Matheson to catch the sunset. These are some mountains near Fox Glacier.



And here are some trees I liked.


While heading back to the cafe, we crossed this stream, which led west to the sea. It allowed us to see the last light of the sunset.


The next morning, we left for Queenstown.

Christchurch, New Zealand

We flew from Cairns to Christchurch, and got in late Tuesday night. The next day, we toured downtown Christchurch.

The cathedral downtown:


Inside, the ceilings were made of some nice looking wood:


We climbed some stairs to get a better view of Christchurch:


The Avon river flows through town, and there were some nice parks situated along its banks:


We strolled around the botanical gardens. Here is my dad next to a Monkey Puzzle tree.


The giant redwood was also impressive.


We finished with dinner at a very good Burmese restaurant.

The next morning, we woke up at 6 am to ready ourselves for an 8:15 am train (the TranzAlpine) to the west side of the South Island. An earthquake that hit 5.1 on the Richter scale rumbled at about 6:05 am. Christchurch was just hit by a fairly large earthquake last September, so they are fairly sick of earthquakes by now! Our train was delayed by about 45 minutes while they checked the track for damage.

Australia, part 2

After Cooktown, we went to an island to snorkel. The following day, I tried scuba diving for the first time. My sister was there with her underwater camera to capture me in action. Here I am practicing my skills:


And heading off for my first dive!


Terri and me:


A picture of a fish that Terri took:


and some coral:


One evening as we were heading to a different reef for the night, some spinner dolphins joined us, playing in front of the boat:



And finally, a group photo of everyone on the cruise:


All in all, it was a great cruise! I went diving three times. Unfortunately, I didn't see any reef sharks.

Australia, part 1

I met my parents at the Sydney airport, and we flew to Cairns and met my sister. We spent a day in and around Cairns, a coastal city in northeast Australia, and close to the Great Barrier Reef.


We spent most of the first day in the world's oldest continuous rain forest. A gondola took us up over the trees.



I liked this tree:


Barron Falls:


We got off and walked a little closer to the falls:


... and a little closer to some big spiders!


With the legs, they were about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Luckily, we had nice weather on the way up, because after lunch, it started to rain.


This picture was taken at about the same spot as the first Sky Ride picture above.

That afternoon, we got on our small cruise ship, the Coral Princess II.


Our first stop the following morning was at Cooktown, a small coastal town north of Cairns. The town got its name from James Cook, whose ship, the Endeavour, ran into the Great Barrier Reef, needed repairs, and made it to a small settlement at the mouth of a river. A tour van took us to the top of a nearby mountain, where I took this picture of what is now called the Endeavour River.


After lunch, we set sail for Two Isles, where we snorkeled. That night, we anchored off Lizard Island.

More to come later. The internet has been hard to come by!

Christmas 2010

To get caught up with the rest of December, here are some quick pictures before I go to sleep!

My Dad using the snow blower:


Shoo fly pie, take two!



Mt. Stuart (I only saw it one day the whole week!):


Tasha:


Emy:


In a few hours, I leave for Australia and New Zealand. I'm bringing my mini laptop, so I'll be able to blog if I have an internet connection!