Some Favorite Pictures

A lovely waterfall - about a 45 minute "trek" from the "car park".  Jay waited in the car while I walked it.  It was well worth the walk.

A Royal Albatross - he had just left the nest of a chick he was feeding.  We saw him take off - amazing - a 9 foot wingspan.

Lenarch Castle, the only castle in NZ.  It is really quite unattractive from the outside, I think, but the interiour is lovely.  The wood carvings, the plaster ceilings, the floral paintings on the walls were beautiful restored and maintained.  The gardens were lovely as well.

The sun set while we were eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Fleurs.  It is in the tiny village of Moeraki, near those Moeraki Boulders in a previous posting.  We ate here two nights!!  The menu consisted of the fish caught that day.  This restaurant was recommended by 3 people on the North island who had never even eaten there!! 

The first and the last of the photographs taken of the sunset.  What a perfect evening - great food and a beautiful sunset!!

There were not many large cars, SUVs, or pickups in NZ, but there are tons of caravans and campervans on the road.  We liked the license on this one.  Also don't see many vanity plates.  This caravan is obviously privately owned.  License says "ToyVan".  Lots of rentals on the road.

This is a Yellow-Eyed penguin.  It is a chick that has not left the nest yet, but does get up and wonder around.  These penguins are different from the Blue Penguins (in an earlier posting).   These are pretty much loners and are larger.  We saw a Yellow Eyed come out of the water and climb a very steep cliff to find a place to sleep for the night.  They are really clumsy when they walk.  We have seen lots of the Blue Penguins in various places.  They are very small - the smallest of all penguins.    Fun to watch - stick close together and waddle very fast. 

One of the many little old churches.  Jay was fascinated with the churches and took lots of pictures of them.  Here is ONE of them.  The small towns and villages often have a Union Church which is usually a combination of a Methodist, Presbyterian, and Anglican Church.  Some have one service that serves everyone and others share the space and have different times for the different denominations.   You may recall that only 12% of the national population attend church while over 50% consider themselves spiritual.  There are many people who give donations

to the church, but are not active.

Our friends, Sandi and Steve Laney, from Washington state came to visit.  He went through orientation in Wellington with Jay in January.  They spent 6 weeks on the South Island, and as we are leaving the North Island, they are headed north for their least 6 weeks.  They came through Dannevirke and spent the night.  We had dinner on our lovely patio!  This is their second tour in NZ.

Bev and Sean Atteridge, from Olympia, WA.  He is here for 6 months.   They were about 20 minutes away from us while we were in Rolleston, so we were able to get together a couple of times.  I spent a couple of days with Bev and we tramped for a day - what an experience. 

Lake Colleridge - a glacial lake, so the beautiful color.  Went to the top of Peak Hill - straight up because we could not find the trail.  We made it, slogging through brush and prickly bushes.  We moaned and groaned, but were glad we could say "WE DID IT!!

Don't know about the Zero products, but we saw lots of gum boots - and signs that said "Leave gum boots outdoors, Please," and practically everyone who did not have on gum boots or who was not bare foot had on jandals - their word for flip flops. 

Thank you for following us along on our journey.  It has been a great ride!   And, of course, if you are interested, we will always be glad to share stories and more pictures!!

See ya!