NZ Travelogue Day 17 to 18

Arthur's Pass

 It was a wet day when we left the glaciers. Had to photograph the scenery from inside the car to stay dry.

 The landscape as we drove along the west coast towards Arthur's Pass.

 As we approached Arthur's Pass, we encountered more rocky mountains.

  We had to stay indoors most of the day in the motel as the bad weather persisted the next day.  But managed to squeeze in some photo shots in the late afternoon.

 

Kea - the noisy bird which like things made of rubber. And these birds are fearless.

 

 Glad to leave the bad weather behind in Arthurs' Pass.
We were on the way to close the loop which started from Christchurch 18 days ago.

Seems like that we driving towards the cloud. Looking forward to brighter weather beyond the cloud.

NZ travelogue Day 14 to 16

The West Coast and the Glaciers

With much of NZ lands being transformed for the purpose of agriculture, a few places are left in their original state or being conserved by the government. The West Coast of the Southern Alps is a heritage site  for its wondrous coastlines, national parks and glaciers. Early settlers came here for the pounamu (green stone), coal and gold.

 Haast Beach and the Tasman Sea. Wild and windy.

Bruce Bay, the last bay we saw before the Glaciers and Hokitika.

Fox Glacier

 The ground we were standing was glacier 40-50 years ago.

 David going to cross the stream to have a closer look at the glacier while Jo and I preferred to stay on this side of the stream.

Franz Josef Glacier

 A fascinating reflection on Peter's Pool. The reflection is clearer than the real thing.

The shrinking glacier.

Sunset views from the Glacier Gateway Motel

 

 Magical!

Lake Matheson. This is the place where one can see a perfect reflection of Mt Cook and Mt Tasman. We were out of luck. Too cloudy. Well, we walked round part of the lake through rather dense forest, and had an encounter with these two curious animals.

Hokitika

 Bought these at the Jade Factory.

Also visited the Museum, the building which has been a library built by a donation from the Carnegie Foundation in America. This coach was used to travel between Christchurch and Greymouth on the West Coast, and the journey took 9 days. And now the same journey took only hours.

NZ Travelogue Day 13

Wanaka
Wanaka is Otago's second resort town after Queenstown. 

 A trip to Puzzleword is highly recommended. Full of optical illusions.

 I was really fascinated by the walls of faces which turn as I move in front of them.

 And see how tall I am compared to Jo in this room!

 A visit to the Roman toilets is a must.

 Lake Wanaka, the fourth largest lake in NZ.

  Didn't know that people watching can be so interesting.

Where is the snow?
The lake supposedly reflects the snow-capped peaks of the Mount Aspiring National Park.

The water is crystal clear and would have been still, can do without the ducks and the boats.

So many people around the lake. It seems that we are the only foreigners.

Wonder how the boy got up on the tree.

 

What a relaxing afternoon we had by the lake. 

To top it up, we had ice-cream to cool ourselves in the warm weather.

After a day in Wanaka, we travelled west. On the way, we stopped at a lookout point on another side of Lake Wanaka and had a last shot of the lake.

NZ Travelogue Day 10 to 12

Dunedin

The drive from Te Anau to Dunedin took us past agricultural lands. Not fantastic views. And we were driving in wet weather too.

 The weather remained wet. The highlight of the day was sighting of  Queen Elizabeth moving out of the harbour. A few minutes' view after nearly 2 hours wait in the car along the wharf. And we were not alone. The magnificent cruise ship was anchored for only a few hours on our first day in Dunedin.

Captured the tip of the Otago Peninsula thru my lens while waiting for the cruise ship. The cape is the nesting ground for albatross.

After a day in the Dunedin city visiting the art gallery, we spent the following day back to the nature. Cruising the car through a series of S bends alongside the harbour was quite an experience. It's so windy too. Trying to walk straight at the Albatross Centre was a challenge.

The day ended with us looking at the Pacific Ocean along St Kilda beach.
Sky was BLUE at last.

Day 12 - another long driving day from Dunedin to Wanaka. Weather cleared up as we left Dunedin city. On the way we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the shore of Lake Dunstan.
Glad to return to the mountains and lakes again.

NZ Travelogue Day 7 to 9

Te Anau, Manapouri, Milford Sound

 

Lake Te Anau is  the largest lake in the South Island and the second largest lake in NZ.

   

417m deep and 64 km long.

It is so relaxing walking on its shore and watching the activities around the lake.

 Just sitting and looking at the water is equally enjoyable. 

We stayed at Te Anau for 3 nights, and used it as the base to travel to Manapouri and Milford Sound.

Lake Manapouri, about 20 mins drive from Te Anau.

Enjoyed looking at the moving, ever changing clouds and the reflections on the water.
Simply a magical place.

 This photo was captured on the way to Milford, which is about 2 hours drive from Te Anau.

Beautiful colours.

One of the stops on the way to Milford was to observe the magic of the Mirror Lakes, small tarns situated roadsides. They give clear reflections of the mountains around them.

Milford Sound. The weather was rather dull when we got on a cruise ship that took us around the sound out to the angry Tasman Sea.

This place experiences about 200 days of rain every year. Because of this,  waterfalls spring up everywhere.

 

The cruise ship took us right underneath the massive waterfall. FANTASTIC!

Good bye, Milford Sound, another magical place.

NZ Travelogue Day 4 to 6

Lake Tekapo to Queenstown

After checking out from Lake Tekapo cottage, we made our way to Queenstown. On the way we stopped at a charming little place for a nice cup of coffee.

Next stop: Arrowtown. The Chinese came to Arrowtown in search of gold  in the 1860s. Where they lived has become a heritage site "Chinese Settlement' which is an open air museum showing the remains of the houses they inhabited.

 Our first morning in Queenstown happened to be a Saturday. There was an art and craft market by the wharf.  While visiting some art galleries in the town centre, we were rather impressed by the oil  paintings of an artist TimWilson who creates as many as 30 layers of paint in his landscape paintings.

 Queenstown, a gold rush town in the 1800s,  situates by the edge of Lake Wakatipu which is about 80km long.

 A rather dull day.  Well, this created the right atmosphere to visit Glenorchy, a rural village. To travel to Glenorchy, we drove along the side Lake Wakatipu to its northern tip, a 50 mins car ride.

Why visit Glenorchy?  This place is a backdrop to many scenes in the movie 'Lord of the Rings'.

It is really a small quiet village, with hardly any signs that show that the stars of the film have been there.
Next day - Day 6, we made our way to Te Anau - the gateway to Milford Sounds.