Some areas in the north island and some on south island look like Arizona desert, with scrub brush and tangled brown grass. In other areas, topsoil may be as much as three feet deep, but seashells can be found at the top of mountains, testimony to the amazing upheaval from shifting of the tectonic plates. Many of the mountains on the north were formed by volcanoes, and amazing legend, lore, stories in Maori culture about how they were formed, what they represent. There is a legend or myth about everything: Examples: the big rocks on one beach are the tears of a Maori princess which fell and hardened after her lover died. A group of hills represents a pregnant woman lying on her back, and the skyline does resemble that image once the guide points it out.
We flew into Christchurch for a weekend before we started our 2 week holiday exploring the south island. Christchurch is a charming city. It feels like a city in England . That weekend was the Ellersbe flower show, most amazing displays of natural and artistic collection of every conceivable - and some hardly believable -
presentations. Many crafts, lots of services, a real fair of goods, products and simply beautiful flowers and plants. This is NZ's equivalent of the Philadephia Flower Shower. This is the third year it has been held in CC. They are proud to have taken it away from Auckland.
Many of the towns presented a garden that was representative of the town. In the background of this picture is a lighthouse from a coastal town. The one in the foreground has a canal in the middle with a decorated gondola and behind it is a gondolier. Of course, these are all flowers, similar to a float for the Rose Parade.
Went to the cathedral for service where Beverley to met the bishop of this diocese on Easter Sunday and they planned a meeting for later to share ideas on the ordination process. The Cathedral is in the center of the city - Cathedral Square where there is always some activity going on. In addition to religious (Anglican) services, there are many civic events held in the Cathedral.
A Chalice - display of modern art. Note the food wagon on the left - folks gotta eat!
Then we began our two weeks exploring - from ghost gold-towns which have been fancied up as tourist money-siphoning spots to breath-taking fiords with mountains rising thousands of feet directly up out of the water. We have seen royal albatross, blue penguins, yellow-eyed penguins, wonderful alpine views, glaciers, took a boat ride in a glacier lake with floating iceburgs - Jay actually touched one.
We had Bluff oysters, supposedly the best in the world, and they were great. Price reflected that too, at $40+/dozen. So undersandably we didn't have a lot of oysters. Did enjoy green-lip mussels again, plus monkfish, host at one B and B smoked fresh fish for us, and we have enjoyed too many wonderful foods. Fish and chips are a main feature here, but highly variable as to quality. Sometimes the "chips" -their version of fries- can be floppy, underdone instead of crispy. Venizon steak and lamb tenderloin were special treats.
We've been in pubs, fancy French restaurant, roadside restaurants (Hilltop had spectacular views, ate on the deck overlooking Akarora which was settled by the French in 1840.) We have discovered we do not like their "streaky bacon", which is fatty and always floppy, not crisp. "Crispy bacon" is more like canadian bacon but can also be quite fatty. "Long black" is expresso, may need a dollop of hot water to ease it a bit.
The southern alps, with their glaciers, were formed by tectonic upheaval, Mt. Cook is over 12,000 ft. It is frequently covered by clouds but we had two perfect sunshiny days to enjoy it. Spectacular! We also went on an adventure to the glacier lake under Taman glacier. This was formed in 1970's when the glacier retreated and left a morraine terminus ( I am not making this up-look it up) which dammed up the water flowing into the valley. Result: a lake at the bottom of the glacier. Big chunks of glacier break off ("calve") into the lake and float about, then they are called iceburgs. They sometimes turn over -when the normal 10/90 ration above/below surface is disrupted. I touched one of these big boys as we scooted about on Zodiacs in the lake. (These pictures will be in the next posting. Sorry!)
As an aside, we were at Mt. Cook on Easter weekend, and there are national laws about alcohol - no sales on Good Friday or Easter, except with food in restaurants. I ordered fish and chips ( a meal) and a beer, Beverley had soup (a starter), then decided she'd have a beer while sharing my fish and chips. She was denied since she hadn't ordered a meal. I could order a second beer, potentially share it, but we decided not to risk law-breaking for her to have a taste. The rationale is not so much that it is a religious holiday but that there is a mandatory work-day off for laborers, and not sure how all that fits. It suggests the old Blue Laws we had in the past, restricted sales of goods, products, alcohol, etc. There is an active effort to have the restrictions here lifted, and there are already exemptions in some tourist areas.
When we went thru Milford Sound, mountains to 9k, water depths to 1000 feet. Awesome fiords, not sounds, and about a dozen of them in Fiordland on the southeast of the south island. Beautiful waterfalls - really active while we were there due to the rain before we got there and the rain we were in!! Roads thru these areas are tortuous, winding, with multiple switchbacks, no guardrails on most, and terrifying drops to hundreds of feet almost straight down. Two days after we left the area, there was a storm that caused major "slips" or road slides as we know them. People were trapped at the Sound and over 100 people who were "tramping" the Milford Trek had to be helicoptered out. Last night - they had 300 mm of rain (20") and there were more slips and people having to be lifted out again.
The fiords were stunning - we took a 2 hour bus trip to get there. It was an amazing day.
We have seen multiple lakes on the South island - mostly glacial which are a beautiful blue green in color. Several of the lakes are part of a hydropower system that supplies much of the power for the south island. They are usually at the base of mountains and are pretty awesome. I know - I am using a lot of adjectives, but this place is amazingly beautiful. The island is not very big and the diversity in the terrain seems to add to its attraction - you just never have to travel very far to see amazing sights. 
Lake Tekapo, just appeared as we were driving along. A very small village. People do come here in the summer, but probably just as much to ski in the winter.
Lake Wanaka, a larger lake with a much larger village - mostly recreational - fishing and water activities in the summer and skiing in the winter.
Lake Te Anau, where we launched from to Millford Sound. We stayed here 3 nights - did laundry, rented bikes and rode along the lake, went to see a marvelous local film production of the fiordlands - of which we bought a copy, discovered a dear yarn shop with friendly owners!!
From here we headed south to go to Steward Island which is a part of seveal islands off the south coast. We took the ferry over and spent the day. A quaint village - it reminded me of the islands off the coast of Maine. Residential population of about 300. A major tourist and recreational spot for fishing, tramping, and birding.
Looking across the village square of Steward island onto the water - just a little chess game for anyone hanging out.
We took a water taxi over to a small island, Ulva, a predator free island for birding and identifying of plants. I went on a 3 hour guided trek and Jay hung out by the dock watching the water birds. He spotted the blue penguin that came ashore in front of him and hid behind a large boulder to moult. We were lucky to get a picture of it.
So cute!!!
I saw a number of birds on my trek. We followed a Weka on the beach - a flightless bird, similar to the kiwi. They are pretty rare, but not endangered like the kiwi.
The Weka is about the size of a chicken.
We also saw an albatross as we crossed the water - they follow the fishing boats, pestering for food. This is not the Royal Albatross - that came later on the trip.
We saw a number of other birds on Ulva Island - a saddleback, a fantail, wood pidgeon. among others and a Kea. The Kea is like a large parrot - raucous and quite cheeky - will come down and take food off of your picnic table, will get on top of a car and pull at the rubber gaskets, etc.
We began the trip up the east coast of the island with a week left before Jay began working at his next post. That part of the journey will be in the next post. Check it out!!
Oh, not!!! Did not mean to publish this yet!!! Still have lots of editting and pictures to add. Don't know how to edit one that has been published. Please forgive!!!
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