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.  

NZ - Wanaka River

We left Queenstown and headed North a bit to a smaller town called Wanaka.  This was probably my favorite place in all of New Zealand.  It's away from the tourism and surrounded by just sheer beauty.  I was constantly taking pictures during our drive.

We took an evening walk along the river in town.  It was a simple hike, but so wonderful.

The river was a little chilly as it flowed from the nearby mountains.

Along the way, we had fun with all the different photo opportunities with varying colors, textures, and poses.

 Downed tree limbs looked fun to climb...

And so did the mountain cliffs, apparently.

We finally reached the mouth of the river where it opened up into a beautiful lake.  Just gorgeous!

NZ - Queenstown

Our next stop was Queenstown in the South Island.  It's pretty cool to fly into.  It takes a very skilled pilot to navigate through the mountain ranges and come in low for a landing.

It was here that Ashlyn and I decided to go bungee jumping.  This is our selfie on the lift to the jump tower.

Getting strapped up!

And now walking the plank.  This is where it got me nervous.  I had to put my toes over the edge and wait about ten seconds before jumping.  The wind was whipping me around, so that was a long ten seconds.

Here's a link to watch it in action:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCivJyQuImA

Whew!  Made it back to the landing, all safe and sound.  Many thanks to the great photographer, Ashlyn.  She went after me, but the pics were on her phone.

While we bungee jumped, Eric and the other two took a luge ride down a mountain.  Fun outings for all of us!

Our little one saw this Mystery Machine close to our apartment, so she wanted a picture.

NZ - Auckland

Our trip started out with about 24 hours on various planes.  With so many movies, who has time to sleep?

When we finally arrived in Auckland and got through customs, the first thing you notice in New Zealand is that everything is so green. We rode a bus from the airport to downtown where Ashlyn was meeting us.   So great to finally see her!

There are two islands... a north island that was created by volcanic activity with rolling hills and good farm land, and a south island that was created by tectonic activity with huge mountain peaks (and still growing!).  The natives are Maori, and locals are called Kiwi like the green fruit.

Auckland is in the northern area of the north island, and we arrived at the tail end of their summer.  It gets colder the further south you travel.

Our first hike was to the city's Eden Crater..a volcanic crater in the heart of Auckland.  Great views of the city from here!

This was on the bucket list of our little one, so we made sure to cross it off right away.  Above is Eden Crater.

We stayed in hostels when possible.  They are usually very clean, although simple.  We share a kitchen with other guests and label our food in the fridge.  Since NZ, in general, is quite expensive, cooking our own meals was an affordable alternative.

We arrived on St. Patrick's Day, so why not attend St. Patrick's Cathedral that night for our weekend Mass?  We were a bit jet lagged, so the extra singing that night by the awesome choir was unfortunately not appreciated by this tired crew.

The city lit it's famous tower up in green to celebrate the holiday.  Our son was hoping for his first beer since you only have to be 18 here to buy alcohol, but the rest of us couldn't wait to hit the beds.