West Coast South Island NZ

Well the rains came and it rained all the time we were driving through the Mt Aspiring Range of the Southern Alps. The rain forest was awesome even in the rain but we don't have pictures. There was the occasional clearing when we did capture the beauty.
We are leaving for Picton this am to catch the ferry to the north island tomorrow.



This was almost one of those moments.

A little blurry as taken with the video camera while driving. Love the ferns.

All the mountain sides had thick green vegetation.
It's a rain forest so I guess everything should be green!

There were single leaf ferns growing out of the rocks on the side of the road.

Bingo! A lovely sunset at Haast. Nice camping facility too.

 After walking to view Fox Glacier in the rain

Fox Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier
These glaciers are all in the Southern Alps where Mt Cook is THE Mountain.
Unable to view Mt Cook due to weather.

Hokitika, nice seaside town of 3000 overlooking the Tasman Sea.

Yes this the Tuatara, New Zealand's oldest living dinosaur.

This beach was within a 100 meters of our park at sunset on the Tasman. All of this was in Hokitika.

Glow worms are everywhere in this climate. Mostly people pay to see them. It was free here.
They are the larvae of the fungus fly and in the black of night, they glow. This is to attract food or mates, it you're a female.

Can you see the glow worms? Put the 3D's on.

.Dave feeding the Longfin eels. These are 85-120 years old. Young things. The food was raw meat on long tweezers.

The Pancake Rocks just outside Westport. It was an awesome National Park.

Can you see the "creatures" that they have found above in our photo?

The last bit of coastline on the west coast before we headed inland.

These are everywhere on the west coast.

And so are the possums. They call them the Kiwi speed  bumps as so many are hit on the roads at night. Possums are a menace here and threaten the flightless Kiwi bird too! Measures are underway to deplete their numbers. We did see the shy kiwi bird in captivity. No pictures were allowed as they are nocturnal and it was very dark. Flashes or any lights were not allowed.


 

Queenstown "Global Adventure Capital"

We decided to stay here for three days. What a great decision! With a population of 11,000, and nestled in one of the many coves of Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the peaks of The Remarkables range, this is a very energetic place to be. It is THE tourist destination of New Zealand. All was within walking distance of the RV Park. There are many nice shops, activity centers, cafes and bars. You could take the gondola right from the center of town and at the top partake in tandem paragliding, bungy jumping, the luge, zip line or down hill mountain biking...the list goes on. There were also the hikes and water activities.

Before we arrived in Queenstown, Dave came upon this steamer.
Dave loves steamers!

And the medicinal honey that we bought has worked it's magic on the sinuses.

Overlooking the cove right in downtown Queensland.

Just had to put this in. At our RV Park, you could sharpen your knives. What a novel idea.







Lord of The Rings dress up shop. Why not? They shot many of the scenes in the nearby mts.

On the gondola, Queenstown in the background.

Lake Wakatipu from the gondola

A young Canadian couple working in Sydney AU before their trip on the Zip Line at the top of the gondola area.

And here he goes!

Dave caught a quick picture as they zipped through the trees.

The seniors are gearing up for the zip line also.

Road to Glenorchy, north of Queenstown.

Chineese Settlement during the gold rush of 1860 on the Arrow River near Queentown.

World's 1st bungy jump from the Kawarau bridge.

UMMM should she jump or not??

Our son Jay did this jump in 1994 when he travelled to New Zealand. And yes he is still alive to tell the tale.

43 meter free fall

And this is the rescue at the bottom

Milford Sound, Fiordland, South New Zealand

 "Sound" is a misnomer as it was carved out by a glacier not caused by river erosion. So Milford Sound is in reality a fiord. Milford Sound is New Zealand's most visited natural attraction and the only fiord which can be accessed by road. The 16 km long fiord is dominated by the mile high Mitre Peak which rises almost vertically upwards from the water. The sound is over 400m deep and receives over 7m of rain a year(that's over an inch a day!)

Mirror Lake

Yes we were in the low clouds!

Mosses on the trees awesome!

Pictures taken during the one hour drive to the end of the road where the fiord cruises embark.

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And yes, the very rare Fiordland Crested Penguin.
We love penguins.

This species is bigger than the Tiny Penguin. It appeared to be at least 24 inches high compared to the Tiny Penguins at 10 to 12 inches.

The craft that we sailed (motored) into the fiord. Unfortunately they didn't put the sails up as there was no wind the day we cruised. Dave thinks they didn't raise them because then we wouldn't have been allowed on the upper deck!!








Yes it was a bit cool.

Many waterfalls due to the heavy rains.

Cruising toward the Tasman Sea

At the mouth of the fiord and the Tasman Sea.

Another new adventure for the Canucks.

And why not a nosing in maneuver to get the passengers wet.

Looks like everyone is having a shower today. All part of the plan I'm sure!!

Looking out into the fiord from the parking lot. The  toetoe  grass in the foreground.

The Weka bird of South NZ. Curious bird in the RV park at the sound. Flightless, it was used as a food staple by the early Maori and white settlers.

View from the small RV park at the sound.