Rotorua; Friday, Vov. 24. The Final Word.

As we pack our bags and get ready to head for Auckland and our flight home this evening, I have to say that we have had a marvellous trip and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We hope all our readers enjoyed this chronicle of our adventures - send us an email and let us know.

Having spent almost 5 weeks in Australia and New Zealand, I have to point out that people see things differently here.


Au revoir, Sean & Eileen.

Rotorua; Thurs., Nov. 23. Afternoon

We drove south from Rotorua to see the Buried Village of Te Wairoa. This is a result of a massive volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 when 153 people were killed. Over the last 80 years it has been excavated and a very well thought out park created around it.

A view of Mount Tarawera as it is today.
Another photograph of the most photographed building in Rotorua. It was built as a bathhouse but is now a Museum. It is part of the municipal park called Government Park.

Rotorua; Thurs., Nov. 23. Morning.

First the geysers (pronounced guysers) at a place dubbed "Hells Gate" by George Bernard Shaw.

This is one place where still photography does not cut it. I have taken some video clips but don't know how to put them in a blog or if it is possible at all.

Really something to see.

Waitomo-Rotorua; Wed., Nov 22

We left Foxton and drove North to Waitomo which is famous for its glow worm caves. They don't allow photography, so there are no pictures. In any case it would require a very elaborate setup to get a realistic photo. The cave roof is the home of tens of thousands of glow worms who use an intense blue light emanating from their tails to attact their prey (other flying insects). For all the world it is like looking up at a canopy of intense blue LEDs. Since this particular glow worm is unique to NZ, it was a fascinating experience. We moved on to Rotorua and managed to book into a Maori evening of ritual, entertainment and dinner cooked in the Maori fashion.
This the entrance to the Maori Village.

The "stick game" used to improve dexterity and hand to eye co-ordination.

The entrance to the Maori Big (Community) House.

Christchurch to Foxton; Tuesday, Nov 21

The saga of today really started yesterday in Greymouth. We had planned to go from Christchurch to Wellington by train, but we found out that the train leaves at 7:00 and did not think our energy level could cope with another early start. So I tried to book a car from AVIS from Christchurch to drop off at the airport in Auckland. They would not unless it was for three days on each Island. Thinking this was nuts I checked with one of the other rental companies to see if I could rent one from Christchurch to Picton (where the Ferry leaves for the N.I.). No Problem. However we had not reckoned with the road from Christchurch to Picton. Tortuous to the point of torture. The speed limit was 100KM/hr but opportunities to go that fast were rare. Having started at 8:30 and driving as fast as possible we made the 1:15 ferry by 10 minutes. To complete the story I was talking to a guy from Durham (UK) on the ferry: he had taken the train the day before and it had missed the ferry by an hour so he had to stay over until today.
On the crossing I noticed on the shore of the North Island that I could get a picture with two lighthouses in it, a most unusual opportunity, then on closer inspection I found that there is actually a third lighthouse on the headland in the distance.

We headed north from Wellington and stayed the night in Foxton near Palmerston North in the Celtic Motel.

Christchurch; Monday, Nov. 20.

After the train journey and booking into our hotel we took a stroll down to downtown Christchurch through Hagley Park, a very large park right in the middle of the city with beautiful tree lined walks.
and a very picturesque weeping willow.

In Cathedral Square there was the Cathedral which gives the city its name

and a strange looking artifactr resembling a vase.
A most upscale Starbucks,
even the building of the local newspaper had class.

We had a very good dinner in the "Historic Wallace Hotel". Later a taxi driver told us that it had a very strong Irish tradition going way back. Then we read in the newspaper the next day that it was about to become a Novatel. Pity!

Across the Divide; Monday, November 20

From Greymouth we took the "Tranzscenic" train through the Southern Alps and the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch. On the west side the weather was much the same as Franz Joseph, raining.

But after we came through the Arthur's Pass at the top of the divide, it really improved and we got some great views.

There was an open platform at the end of our car where we could take pictures without the reflections from the windows, but it was sort of wild there when the train eas going fast.


A very exciting four hours.

Franz Joseph (Glacier); Monday, November 20

Last night we stayed in the Rainforest Retreat.

Today's plan was to take a helicopter ride over Mount Cook (the tallest mountain in NZand the Franz Joseph & the Fox Glaciers. Mother Nature decided otherwise and the flights were cancelled due to low cloud and rain. We were really disapointed. So we took a little tour of Franz Joseph including the church. (Our Lady of the Alps)

and then set off set off for Greymouth passing through the rainforest and all its tree ferns.

Queenstown-Franz Joseph; Sunday, November 19.

Today was a long drive, from Queenstown to the Franz Joseph Glacier.
We did get a great view back towards Queenstown from the mountains.
And took a couple of pictures of the Franz Joseph Glacier
It seems very odd to have a glacier down in the temperate rainforest, but it is because a vast icefield up at the top is feeding down a very narrow valley, it is deep and moves fast, so that it stays frozen.

Queenstown; Saturday, November 18.

Queenstown is supposed to be the extreme sport capital of the world and works hard on its reputation. It has a marvellously scenic Harbour.


Even at night!

Milford Sound; Saturday, November 17.

After spending the night in Te Anau we headed out early to Milford Sound.

We took the nature cruise boat out through Milford Sound, which is not a Sound at all but a Fiord, for an amazing 2 and a half hours.

The scenery is stunning.

We went all the way out to the Tasman Sea and saw a New Zealand fur seal sunning herself on the rocks.
Pictures don't do it justice.

Along the way back to Queenstown we stopped to take a picture of a tree fern

And a cascading mountain stream.

Dunedin to Te Anau; November 16.

First I found an interesting bridge at Balclutha to add to my collection of bridge photos.
This south-east corner of the South Island is very scenic.

No trip to New Zealand would be complete without some sheep photos.

There are millions of them.