Sony 24-70mm Zeiss – Page 2 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Arrival St. John’s, Newfoundland

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We had a 7:00 am flight from Houston to St. John’s with a connection in Toronto. Flying Air Canada our bags were checked through to to our final destination without the need to claim them and recheck them. We grabbed our rental car and made our way to the hotel and got checked in. A great day of travel without incident.

After checking into the hotel we drive up to Signal Hill, the sight of the reception of the first transatlantic wireless transmission on 12 December 1901.

There’s a great view from up there of Fort Amherst, St. John’s

We even saw a giant Newfoundland dog

From there we went back to the hotel and had dinner and we’re calling it a night. Tomorrow we drive to Witless Bay to take a boat tour to see whales and puffins.

New Zealand Day 21 – Dunedin To Lake Tekapo

We woke up to what looked like more rain, but as we drove on to our next destination, the weather turned fine and we had a glorious day.

Our first stop was to see the Moeraki Boulders, some unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the coast of Moeraki and Hampden.

I wanted to try some long exposure techniques so I brought out my tripod and filters and these are some of the results

I may have gotten a little wet in my efforts to get these shots

water

We continued up the coast and I spotted a sign pointing to something called Steampunk HQ in Oamaru so we stopped to have a look. It was pretty cool to see.

From there we turned inland and drive to Lake Pukaki and followed the coast to Mt. Cook. The scenery was just spectacular

Mt. Cook was covered in cloud and fog so we didn’t really get to see it. We turned around and drove on to Lake Tekapo and found our hotel.

Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki are the most amazing shade of turquoise blue I have ever seen. It’s due to the the glacier run off…something called glacial flour which is a term for the byproduct of the rocks being ground to powder by the glaciers.

The Lupins here are in full bloom and all over the place. It really is quite beautiful

Tomorrow we drive to Christchurch for our final day in New Zealand before flying home on Tuesday.

New Zealand Day 20 – Dunedin

We had an extra day scheduled in Dunedin that included some time on our own in the morning and a tour of the Penguin Place Yellow-Eyed Penguin Preserve and a cruise in Dunedin Harbor in the afternoon.

The weather was not so great and we were not very enthusiastic about our prospects. And we are getting very tired. We decided to take the morning and just relax. We got a little bored and walked over to the Dunedin Botanical Gardens which were nice, but then it started raining so we went back to the hotel.

At about 1:00 pm we were scheduled to be picked up by the tour operator so we decided what the heck and bundled up and met the bus and went on the tour.

The first stop was the preserve where we learned about the plight of the Yellow-Eyed Penguin. Turns out there are only about 700 on the mainland so the one we saw yesterday was really a rare sight.

At the penguin preserve they give you warm rain coats for the rainy days. This made things much better.

After they give their presentation they take the group through a series of blinds where you can observe the penguins.

THe next part of the tour was a trip out on the harbor on a small boat. Again we were provided with warm jackets

It was a little gloomy and wet, but we had a good time. We got to see some wildlife which was nice and Cynthia really enjoyed herself.

We got back to the hotel pretty late and had some dinner and went to bed.

Next stop, Lake Tekapo

New Zealand Day 16 – Queenstown To Te Anau

We woke up early, as usual, and packed up to drive to Te Anau. This drive was relatively short and will put us in position to visit the magnificent Milford Sound tomorrow.

On the road we encountered llamas, deer and a group of curious cows

The drive took us through more magnificent countryside.

We arrived in Te Anau before lunch time, but we were able to get checked into our hotel without a problem.

We took the day to relax and walk around Lake Te Anau

Cynthia managed to get the best bird photo of the trip, the Tui Bird seen here eating from this bush.

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Tomorrow, the Milford Road and a cruise on Milford Sound. Weather is looking good for this.

New Zealand Day 14 – Franz Josef Glacier To Queenstown

Sadly, The Fanz Josef and even the Fox Glacier were a bust. Rain was coming down pretty steady and it was just not conducive to making the trek out to see them. Even the helicopters were grounded. We had a long drive ahead of us and decided to make our way to our next destination which was Queenstown.

Despite the rain and gloom, there was still some amazing sites to see, especially the clouds and mist as it came over the mountains.

The rain did begin to subside as we moved on and we made a few stops along the way, like this one to see the Thunder Creek Falls

As we drove down the Haast River we had our first Lupin sighting

Our midpoint on this leg of the journey was Wanaka where I wanted to see the most photographed tree in New Zealand

We also saw some purple lupins, Cynthia’s favorite.

We then made our way up New Zealand’s highest sealed road, Crown Range Road which rises up to 3530 ft above sea level

We then descended into Queenstown just as the sky began to clear.

Also, today is Cynthia’s birthday. To celebrate we had dinner at an amazing restaurant called the Blue Kanu which serves food that mixes both Pacifica and Asian style, and blending the two cultures it aims to create a style and feel that they call “Polynasia”. Simply put, it was fantastic.

Tomorrow we explore Queenstown.

New Zealand Day 11 – Abel Tasman National Park

We were not holding out much hope for today as it the forecast called for rain and possibly hail. But when we woke up there was some sunshine and a patches of blue sky. We decided we would go for it and make the drive some 60 miles to Abel Tasman where we had a cruise and hike booked for the day.

We made our way to Kaiteriteri and checked in and quickly boarded our boat, a medium sized catamaran that would take us up the coast to a series of secluded bays.

We were scheduled to get of at Bark Bay and do some exploring, but the weather was still “iffy” so we opted to stay on the boat and just ride the route till we got back to the point of origin. We did see some nice things like a seal colony

And Split Apple Rock

We ended the cruise about mid-day and drove back to Nelson and explored a bit before having dinner.

Tomorrow we drive to Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and the weather looks to be great.

New Zealand Day 10 – Wellington To Nelson

ferry

Today we woke up early to return our rental and catch the Interislander Ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island. The whole process was pretty straightforward and soon we were underway.

The sky was overcast and there was some rain, but the 3 hour voyage was pleasant and uneventful. We sat with group of elderly Kiwis that were on holiday and they were great fun to talk to and they shared a wealth of information about New Zealand with us and the ferry ride passed quickly as a result.

car

We picked up our second rental car and proceeded to make our way to the next stop, Picton. The drive was very windy and took us along the sound and well up into the mountains. And though the skies were overcast, the views were quite spectacular

On the way to Picton we stopped in Havelock for lunch. Havelock is the green tipped mussel capital of the world and we ate at a place called the Mussel Pot.

musselpot

For lunch we had the sampler plate for two that included mussels served in a variety of ways. It was all quite delicious.

mussels

While we were there we noticed there were a number of soldiers moving about. Turns out there was a joint military training exercise happening this week.

We made it to our hotel and got checked in. The weather is a bit gloomy, and we are not overly optimistic about tomorrow when we are scheduled to visit Abel Tasman National Park. We’ll see how it goes.

New Zealand Day 9 – Tongariro National Park To Wellington

We woke up to some gray skies and fog up in the mountains for our drive to Wellington. It was a long drive ahead of us and was more of a functional day to position ourselves for our ferry ride to the south island tomorrow rather than a sightseeing tour. Frankly, there’s not much to see on the way and the weather wasn’t helping.

When we arrived in Wellington we checked in to the hotel and then went to see the Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibit at the Museum of New Zealand. The exhibit is simply staggering. To mark the World War 1 centenary, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa joined forces with Weta Workshop to create this exhibit. The central focus of the exhibit is the six rooms holding expertly crafted human figures at 2.4 times human scale. The lifelike recreations and the attention to detail are just mind boggling.

We also got to see the colossal squid, captured alive by the crew of the San Aspiring in 2007

Tomorrow we take the Interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton. For now, we enjoy the city affectionatly known as Windy Welly