Mackenzie Country

Lake Tekapo is an amazing turquiose mountain lake.

These photos do not begin to show the depth and brilliance of the hue.

The peacefulnes of the lake inspriring zen like feelings in many,

as these piles were all around the lake.

As many know: joe often is the disturber of peaceful things ..hehehe

Checking out the view from atop Mt. John, an astronomical observation point

note the little yellow guy in the corner; every time we turned around that day (at various stops throughout the countryside) we would find him lurking and creeping and shooting an insane amount of photos

idaho... i mean new zealand

a small lake hike with great views of Mt. Cook

joe and i with the glaciers in the backdrop

The "Blue Lakes" which were a little green these days...

Maori (native New Zealander) caves and carvings

Otago Peninsula

The Otago Peninsula on the edge of Dunedin seems much farther from the city than it is.

The country side is lush and beautiful.

It is most famous for it's albatross, penguins, and seals- and beings how that is pretty much all there is out there....

Joe and I at the albatross center look out

an albatross showing his wing span

(although it is hard to tell their wings are generally 9'-11.5'

a ranger carrying an albatross showing their scale

(they have this neat trick of folding their giant wings into thirds when they are on land)

me and a stuffed albatross


these yellow eyed penguins have been coming to this part of new zealand longer than the people have been here. there nesting area is now part of a sheep farm.

teams work hard to conserve the natural habitat for the penguins, and you are only allowed to see them in this area from an intricate pattern of hides underground.

here is a penguin waddling home to his "penguin apartment"

it is very funny to see these animals come out of the sea and then walk home to their grass houses among the sheep... not what you would usually think of with penguins

Dunedin

Dunedin is a great college town. beautiful architecture. great restaurants and bars with lots going on. like moscow, id ... only bigger and on the coast- and with pirate-like accents

lots of great cathedrals in this city

the whole city smells like the carnival (in a good way) because of the cadbury factory here...

yumm!

the train depot is one the oldest and most beautiful buildings in town

i love these old english cars...they are my dream car-

i just like how they are so simple, like a child drew them,

(with sleek classic chrome details)

Dunedin is home to the steepest residential street in the world... we couldnt drive our lil van up there, but it did work our legs well walking to the top

(even though the pics don't quite do it justice)

joe and i trying to figure out how to take pics best showing the grade...

a lil hedge hog we saw outside our van camping one night in Dunedin

Mt. Cook

Mt Cook is the highest mountain in Australasia. It was our first stop after getting our van.

We took a hike (and then some) out to get some great views of the peak and the glacial lakes at the base.

Me actually very nervous standing on the swing bridge...

The views kept changing with each turn and as the clouds revealed more of the surrounding glaciers and mountains.

Joe very happy at finally getting closer to the peak

This is where the trail was supposed to end.. at the shore of the lake.. but Joe decided that we could much closer to Mt Cook so what was supposed to be a 3-4 hike turned into a full day adventure of boulder climbing, bush whacking, and river crossings...

in the end we didnt get much closer.. and the clouds had already covered mt cook for the day.. but we did get some better looks at the glacier walls.