Monday, March 27, 2017

Mt. Cook

We went for a hike to see Mt. Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand.  It was an easy hike between the mountains with just a slight incline.  We had one(sometimes two) unhappy hiker which made the first couple hours not as pleasant as they could have been but thankfully the rest of the day was much better!

Lots of pictures...



Most of the flowers are finished for the season but we saw a few pretty foxgloves.

We have a new little poser on our hands :)

1 of 3 swing bridges.  Gorgeous views!

Mount Cook


Feeling the water.




Glacier fed lake at the bottom of Mt. Cook.  There was a big piece of the glacier in the middle of the lake and a lot of ice pieces floating around.


Everyone is happy now!







Gorgeous blue Lake Pukaki!


Oceanview to Twizel

While in Dunedin we decided to take a loop inland again before stopping in Christchurch so that we could go on a hike in the west coast mountains.  We missed them on the way down the west coast because of rain so we booked a place in Twizel for a couple nights.

A stop at the Moeraki boulders.  Fascinating how they're formed so round!


Looks like caramel in the middle.

Glued together or maybe the caramel is oozing out :)




Going inland the landscape became quite dry again.  Limestone cliffs with some old Maori drawings.  Most are gone from people taking them for museums or erosion.


Sunday, March 26, 2017

8 days in Oceanview, Dunedin

After moving around so much it was great to be able to spend 9 nights in one place!  Our home was an old school converted to a house and accommodation.  It was such a great place to stay with a tennis court, lots of animals and just a walk from the ocean.


A couple of the days we went into Dunedin.  The First Presbyterian Church was built in 1873.


  

The first minister - nephew of the poet Robert Burns:



Lots of neat old buildings in Dunedin...



The Dunedin Railway Station.




One day we went to go see the Larnach Castle - built between 1871 and 1876 for a wealthy banker, business man and politician.  Sad, sad family history and it only stayed in the family until 1906.  It's been owned by the Barker family since the 1960s.  They restored and lived in it and now it's run as a business.






Beautiful location and gardens!





More from Dunedin.

Anglican Church



Tunnel Beach - just a few minutes drive from where we were staying.

See the face(es) in the cliff?

Going down the tunnel to the beach...





So beautiful!  Loved the reflection of the cliff in the wet sand.




This guy was fishing off the cliff. He cast his line and within a few seconds had a bite!


Dunedin Botanical Gardens and Aviary.  Such colourful birds!




It's fall time here and there is a bit of colour in some of the trees - very pretty!


 Ever since we went to Te Papa in Wellington he likes to post like the statue of a soldier we saw...



Building a sandcastle on the beach.  And then waiting for the tide to come in and fill the moat (which it did and took down the drawbridges with it).



We had some great quiet days here - great memories!

Our hosts at this place were so great!  Going so far as to pick up some bigger pans for the suite and dropping off things like chalk for us to play with.