New Zealand: South Island Pics

NZ Fur seal

Kia ora!  Tony and are are enjoying our last evening in New Zealand before packing up and heading off to Sydney tomorrow.  It's really been a wonderful trip and I'd highly recommend New Zealand as a travel destination.  Without further adieu, here are the pics!

Moeraki boulders

This one looks like the Death Star

Fleur's Place- fantastic lunch spot in Moeraki

Yumm-o! Delicious lunch of chowder and fish pie

Dunedin Estuary.  View during our epic up-hill bike journey.

Larnarch Castle- "decent-sized 19th century home" anywhere else, but here its a Castle. Built by a industrialist during NZ's gold rush.  He ended up hanging himself in the NZ parliament.  His 3nd wife was rumored to be having an affair with his son.  Crazy stuff.

Caitlands (Cat-lands) coast weekend

Walking on the beach with friends Saul and Hemi

At the beach- Christy, Jen, and Beck

Sea lion shenanigans with Roy the lab

Nugget point

Walking up to the lighthouse at Nugget Point

Also at the Caitlands- one of the coolest things about NZ is that even though its rugged, mountainous, and cold, most of the country is still wet and tropical.

Drive from Invercargill toward Te Ahnu

Outside Te Ahnu- true New Zealand

Boat in Te Ahnu that took us to the glow worm caves.  Getting to see the stars from the boat was  absolutely amazing! With no major cities within in 300 kms and being so close to the South Pole the sky was filled with stars & the Milky Way like I've never seen before.  Absolutely amazing!

Lake Te Ahnu at sunset- the lake water is so pure that you can drink it without any filtration

On the drive toward Milford Sound

On the way to Milford...

Avalanche Zone!

Legendary Milford tunnel- the drive was no problem until we got here. The tunnel is really low and barely wide enough for 2 cars & it's at a steep downhill grade heading toward Milford.  Only difficult part of the drive.

Inside the tunnel- ok, it's a bad pic but shows the steepness, low lighting, and rough interior

Kea- he was seriously chewing on this ski rack before stopping to pose for the pic

Looked like he really wanted to join us in the car

More pics heading toward Milford

Rocks carved by water- This pic is here b/c Tony almost died trying to take it

Same for this one

 Milford sound is an awesome place.  We opted to spend the day (5 hours) sea kayaking around the "fiord" (that's the Kiwi spelling btw).  Totally amazing & we got some great pics but still have to pull them off the camera, so we won't post them until later...

Sunset heading toward Queenstown

Beautiful lake South of Queenstown

Steam engine/tractor/car

There was a film crew in Queenstown- don't know what they were doing but there was a lot of them.

View over the lake in Queenstown

Looking at the town

Rugged West Coast- this area of NZ is extremely remote and pretty much a National Park.  The highway connecting it with Christchurch was only completed in 1965.

Puakaiki pancake rocks

Wild penguin! (we think.....)

Drive back west- the central area looks a lot like Colorado- sweeping valleys, high mountains, and pine trees

Ok, if driving on the left weren't hard enough, NZ is full on one lane bridges. Big towns, small towns, they are all over.