NZ - Bonus Pics

In Auckland, the Volvo Ocean Race was going on.  This is a hugely popular event for those who follow sailing.  The race is around the world and only occurs once every three years with stops at various countries.  On this particular day, the big "send off" was in just a few hours.

This was really cool to me...the intersections stopped all cars in all directions so that pedestrians could walk across, straight, or diagonally for 15 seconds.  

Our drink of choice in NZ was L&P.  It's a lemon soda similar to Mello Yellow, or maybe ginger ale.  We wish they sold it here in the US!  So delicious!

Mt. Eden volcanic crater, overlooking the city of Auckland...

Queenstown, just before our bungee jump....

Wanaka, hiking the trails...

These next few pictures were taken while driving through the farm lands.  

Even the cloudy days were gorgeous!
 

 

 And back to the water again...

NZ - Beaches

Our final days in New Zealand were spent in the warmer climate by the beaches.  We headed back to Auckland and drove east to the coast.

We stayed in Hahei near the famed hot water beach.  Here, there are natural hot springs just beneath the sand.  

Upon testing the water, we found it to be warm at best.  Although it wasn't hot like we expected, it was still warmer than the ocean water.  Notice the big muscles in action.

There were a few other families on the beach that evening.  You can only do this during low tide, and on this particular time it was either 7pm or 7am.

The following morning, we decided to try again to see if we could dig a warmer hole.  We were surprised how many were already there.  To our delight, we definitely hit a hot spot this time!  In fact, it was so hot we had to find a cold water inlet to keep the spring from burning our skin.

Enjoying the sunrise in our personal hot tub.

After the sunrise, we decided to take a hike along the beach to a place called Cathedral Cove.  Gorgeous views along the way!

Spotted a lifeguard stand and had to get a picture with our favorite guard.

Made it to Cathedral Cove.  This is an ocean-carved tunnel along the beach that is popular in many NZ pictures.  

Here's the view once you're in the tunnel.  Just beautiful!  

Visitors usually turn around at this point, then hike back to their cars.  Since we had our bathing suits on, we decided to venture through the water to the private beach.

Ahh, what a nice vacation.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend our last full day.

Playing in the water...

One of our goals during the trip was to find a penguin.  The Little Blue penguins are commonly found along the shores in NZ, but few venture this far north.  Eric found one washed up along the shore.  Our guess is it came in with the high tide and hit the rock.  It's about two inches smaller than an adult size, so it was an adolescent.  Sad to see it dead, but excited we finally saw a real one in it's natural habitat.

The kids found a stick and decided to use that as a visual to claim our territory.  Anyone read Lord of the Flies?  I see a resemblance here.

Our private beach lasted only an hour.  As it got more crowded, we decided to have fun with the camera and found some friendly tourists to take our picture.  Instead of a "jump" pose, we did a handstand pose.

Then one final picture with Ashlyn on the way back to the airport.  It was hard to leave her behind!  Looking forward to having her home in July.

NZ - Milford Sound

We're back in Queenstown to visit Milford Sound.  This place reminded me of Alaska...fiords, glaciers, and seals basking in the sun.  The only thing missing was the whales and icebergs.

From what the locals said, you can't be here on a bad day.  Milford Sound is different each time you visit.  On a hot summer day, the sound looks completely different than a cold, snow capped winter.  A rainy, misty day will also show off features that you couldn't see on a clear day.  To my disappointment, we hit the rainy, foggy, cold day and it would test those complimentary remarks.





















I was truly surprised by what I saw.  The area made me feel like I was back in time during the age of dinosaurs.  Imagine the movie Jurassic Park.  That's what it looked like.  Super cool!  So many ferns everywhere with the fog just at the tree line.









The flat plains just before the sound is where many famous movies have been filmed (one battle scene in particular).  In fact, New Zealand is the filming location of several well known movies:  

Mission Impossible
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
King Kong
Avatar
The Chronicles of Narnia
and yes, Jurassic Park

When we got to the inlet, we boarded a ferry that took us into the sound.  Vertical mountains shot up all around us while we softly floated along the surface of the fresh/salt water mixed fiord.

Caught a picture of this good-looking guy.  

With all the rainfall, there were literally hundreds of waterfalls.  During the hot summer, you might find one or two.  But there were so many in every direction!



Here's the little one with a waterfall on her head...  :)

And a selfie...

Below you can see a seal basking on the large rock.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's a 360 panoramic of what it looked like.  Just beautiful!

One last pic with my little one before we went inside the boat for hot tea.

On the bus ride back to Queenstown, we stopped at a river bend to see the Great Chasm.  This provides a powerful visual of what water can do over time.  The Cleddau River is melted snow/glacial ice that flows at incredible speeds from hard rock to softer bedrock.  The result is lots of carved holes, circular indentions, and caves formed by erosion.

We also stopped to see a glacier on top of this cliff.  Look closely...  It has shrunk quite a bit over the years, according to our bus driver.

The final stop was a pure river flowing from that melting glacier above.  Visitors are encouraged to fill their water bottles up with this crisp, healing water source.  

One of the cool things about this bus tour was the bus seats.  Notice the awesome name!

NZ - Wanaka Mountain

Still in beautiful Wanaka, we decided to take a long hike up one of the nearby mountains. Notice how the younger ones are way out in front.  This was my view for 99% of the hike.  I did stop to take pictures often, and that's my argument for why I was always last.

I love the tall grass here with lots of cliffs in the background.  It's another pretty view I had to capture while they were waiting on me.

Midway point was gorgeous!  

After that, it got really steep.  This picture doesn't do it justice, but Eric & I had to stop quite often to catch our breath.  Every step was worth it, though.  It was just as pretty along the trail.

And finally at the top!

In one direction you could see the lake below.  In another direction you could see more peaks and valleys.  

One last rest before we head down.

Time to descend.  My rare moment when I'm ahead of the crew to take a picture...

Stopping halfway again for a quick water break...

Then one last stretch of decline before finishing the hike.  I promise, kids, last picture!

Once we headed back to the city, sheep covered the road.  The only other place we've seen this many sheep was in Ireland.

Our two oldest did a nice job of clearing the road for us.

We passed by an RV that was stuck in a ditch.  They were a nice Australian family who needed help, so we stopped.  Our engineering minds and strong muscles were just the trick, and their family was very grateful.