New Zealand, Part 2

See part 1 of our journey to New Zealand!

We have lots of pictures of our travels in New Zealand. I'll let them do most of the talking.

Our "base of operations" in New Zealand is Christchurch, the largest city on the south island. Before leaving on our trip up the east coast, we explored the city's botanic gardens.

A Californian redwood, with ivy climbing up it! These trees aren't native to New Zealand but they've been introduced.

A flower of some variety.

Coffee! As a former British colony, tea is very popular in New Zealand, but the most recent gourmet coffee revolution begin in nearby Australia, and there's a thriving coffee culture here. Excellent espresso abounds.

 We rented a car and drove north along the east coast to the seaside town of Kaikoura. This area is notable for being close to a mountain range, a large bay with lots of marine mammals, and several seal colonies.

This is a seal.

Talia and Rory. Not native to New Zealand.

There are some seals on the beach waaay in the distance.

A lot of the landscape reminded me of Scotland. And of Oregon, too. It was an interesting combination, with the sea, the beaches, the cliffs, the mountains. A lovely place to be. There is also a fairly large set of businesses that will take you out on whale-watching tours, or to swim with (wild!) dolphins or seals. But there is something more special (and cheaper) just up the road from Kaikoura. Close to a seal colony, there's a waterfall which leads to a large pool. The seal pups trek up from the beach and go to the pool to play and learn to swim.

Click the picture to see it bigger. It's a little blurry, but there are several baby seals playing in the water here.

A clearer picture of two of the seals.

Our next stop was Picton, a northerly village where you can catch a ferry to the north island. It's right by the Marlborough Sounds, a network of sunken valleys with lots of winding water paths. Very wild and great to explore. We took a little boat tour around the area, stopping at a few places.

Clouds! The Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, which is thought to derive from a phrase meaning "land of the long white cloud".

Little penguins! Yes, that's the actual name of this species, also known as "blue penguins" and "fairy penguins". These guys are only found in Australia and New Zealand. The ones in this picture are inside of a nesting box on a nature reserve.

A carved pouwhenua, similar to a totem pole, erected at the site of Captain Cook's first landing on New Zealand. Cook was one of the first Europeans to visit New Zealand. This pouwhenua depicts Kupe, the mythical Maori hero who discovered New Zealand, and a giant octopus.

After Picton, we headed southwest, passing through a national park.

Lake Rotoiti.

Us at Lake Rotoiti.

The Maruia Falls

 Continuing over and through a high mountain pass (where we experienced rain and hail), we came to Hanmer Springs, a popular holiday destination noted for its skiing (in winter, of course) and its hot springs.

Hanmer Springs! Talia called this "ridiculously picturesque".

We saw this happy little tree in the forest near Hanmer Springs.

A male chaffinch. Not native to New Zealand, but fairly widespread (and friendly).

On the way out of Hanmer Springs you pass this beautiful turquoise river. If you like, you can do bungee jumping here too!

Then, back to Christchurch. Such a beautiful country! We've only scratched the surface here. There's so much of the south island we haven't even seen, not to mention the north island. There's a lot to explore here, and we don't have time for it all. Still, everything so far has been amazing, so it's hard to complain!