Here is another picture from the caves of Waitomo. Not just glow worms hang out in the caves! :)

Paihai

Today we drove to the north end of the North Island. We are staying at a B&B called "Allegra House" that overlooks the bay. Here are 2 pics of the view from our room. Anne and I will be taking a bus tour tomorrow of the "Ninety Mile Beach" on which we will be riding the dunes on boogy board. Yee Ha!

Waitomo

Today Anne and I took three tours of the caves in Waitomo. Waitomo is the Maori phrase for "water entry" because of all the caves that were produced by water slowly eroding limestone. We mostly looked at the famous glow worms which people come from all over the world to see. Also, the glow worm cave makes a wonderful sound chamber. The tour group prior to ours was a youth group from the island of New Calidonia. They sang a wonderful song before finishing their tour. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the glow worms because they can only be seen in darkness. However, I do have a picture of streaming sunlight from a short walk we did between cave tours. Our final tour was rafting on inner tubes in the caves. Anne took a picture of our rafting outfits. We look like something from a Monty Python movie.

We rented a car in Wellington today and drove up to the Waitomo caves, home of a large colony of "glow worms", or insect grubs that secrete florescent webs to catch prey. Anne and I were driving on the left side of the rode with a manual stick shift. We were lucky to make it in one piece! Here is the beautiful view from our hotel. Name of B&B was "Abseil Inn".

Again in the botanical gardens. They grow their ferns big here!

Yesterday, we walked through the Wellington Botanical gardens. There were very interesting sculptures. This is a giant "ear trumpet" that amplifies sounds coming into the top.

Wellington

Anne and I flew to Wellington, the second largest city on the North Island. It was very busy with vacationing families and students, as school is closed for spring break. Many families were hanging out on the harbor where there were several playgrounds for for children. One of my pictures is of a rope climbing gym occupied by children of many ages. I was struck with how relaxed the parents were with letting the children clamber around on it, with a potential for a dangerous fall. I could not see American parents doing that! I think it relates to Kiwis growing up in a natural environment in which they quickly learn how to handle themselves in water, climbing on rocks and scaling trees. Anne and I left the harbor and climbed to view point above the city. One of my pictures shows the continuous fog bank that hovers over the two islands. The Maori people (indigenous group) refer to New Zealand as "the land of the long white cloud". I love to try and capture that cloud in its various formations.

Mt Cook and Hooker Valley

We finished our Active New Zealand tour by staying two nights at a sheep shearing station. It was simple accommodations but a gorgeous view of a lake with Mt. Cook in the background. Here is a pic of Anne playing Maria von Trapp in the alps. We took a hike the next day through Hooker Valley, which is at the foot of Mt. Cook. Some of our braver boys in the group hiked up one of the glaciers. Here are a couple of shots of Hooker Valley. One is of glacier pieces floating around in the lake. Today we said goodbye to our group will spend another couple of days at Christchurch on our own. FYI, the link for Active New Zealand is: http://www.activenewzealand.com/

Milford Sound

Today we took a kayak ride in Milford Sound. It is actually a fjord because it was formed by glaciers. It is totally surrounded by tall mountains so it is incredibly majestic. It also gets 7 meters of rain a year, which is 7 times more rain than Seattle. The sand flies are fierce, so we were very glad to cover ourselves with layers, then go jump in the kayaks and get out in the water. I hope that my pictures give an idea of largeness of the area. I show one picture of a waterfall up close, then the waterfall at a distance. The water was very choppy on the way back and we were repeatedly washed over by waves. An amazing experience! The other two pictures are close ups of the many ferns we see in the forests.

Scenes from Queenstown botnical garden.

Queenstown and some fav shots

We have been on a break from the tour in the thriving metropolis of Queenstown (8,000 residents). Did some laundry and ate food of choice at our leisure. This is also a ski town and reminds Anne and I a lot of Whistler in Canada. It has a walking only town center and a gondola close by. Today we went up the gondola to get the bird's eye view of the surrounding area and visited a bird sanctuary. We saw a kiwi for the first time (they are endangered and nocturnal creatures so they are hard to find in the wild). I was walking around in my neon glow bicycle jacket and one of the natives heckled me because only the street workers wear neon yellow. It was all in good fun. I am posting some of my fav shots from the trip down the west coast of the island and also a shot of Queenstown from the gondola ride. Also, I could no resist one on Anne trying to wrestle a pistol out the hand of a gold miner. I may not be posting again for a couple of days as we may be out of phone reach. Cheers!

Here is the "Ent" picture.

Franz Joseph Glacier

Catching up on yesterday, we went to Franz Joseph Glacier in the morning and several parks in the afternoon as we traveled down the west side of the South Island. The pictures from the trip are of the glacier and the "Ent" trees (from the filming of the "Lord of the Rings". Enjoy!

I am posting from my phone and hope for success. We are spending two days in Okarito on the west coast of the South Island. This the rain forest. Today we went out on kayaks and enjoyed beautiful views and lovely bird calls.

hokitika nz

We are taking a quick break in this little town. This morning we hiked about 2.5 hours up one river, over the ridge and down another. Then viewed the blowholes at Punakaiki, then had lunch on a beach dodging big breakers. The west side of the south island is not swimming territory. Too many big waves here from the Tasman sea.

We are happy to have dry weather. Apparently they've had 1.5 meters of rain since the first of the year. We do have muddy boots.

The flowers are marvelous. We can't post photos right now, but I've got some great hydrangea and other photos that will get posted eventually. Phone and internet are spotty so don't get worried if you don't hear from us daily. Having fun!

Well, sorry to leave you for a couple of days but had no internet access. Our group was split up into hikers, bicyclists, and kayakers. Anne and I were in the bicycling group. We stayed and a wonderful bed and breakfast--a couple of pictures are of the group and the grounds around the B&B (the fern). The other two are pics of the bicycle trips. We are are the northwest side of the South Island, which is a series of Sounds. The Maori story of it is a warrior fighting with a giant Octopus that grabbed land as it finally died and sunk into the water. Hope I can connect again soon.

Kiakoura beach

We met up with the Rima active NZ group and took a bus ride down to Kiakoura beach, a hangout for furry NZ seals. We put on wet suits and snorkeled, hoping to catch a seal in the water. The seals stuck to their idle positions on their rocks. However, one of our snorkelers with gloves picked up a couple of Abalone and our guide sliced it up and we ate it raw on the beach--you can see this in one of my pictures. The other two pictures are of the beach, one with Anne and the other of a tractor being used to pull a boat out of the water and getting it off the beach! Our Rima group consists of 14 people, a mix from US, Canada and one from Norway.

Christchurch

We arrived to the South Island at one of the main cities, Christchurch. It is called "the garden city". We spent several hours in another spectacular botanical garden. Anne recognized many of the species from our own Pacific Northwest--Rhodies by the dozen, dahlias, and a huge rose garden. However, we were most impressed by the size of some of the trees. Hence, the attached photos of the day. Tomorrow, we will begin our multisport tour with Rima, a local tour company. We will be glad to quit the flying for a few days!