South Island, New Zealand

We flew in to Christchurch New Zealand. The weather  was beautiful, it's the beginning of fall here – daytime temps in the 60's – trees changing. Christchurch is on the south island, you may recall there was a major earthquake here about three years ago, the downtown area was devastated. Recovery is going slowly about two thirds of the buildings have been either condemned or demolished. Temporary stores and buildings have been opened, many of them have been constructed of shipping containers. It has all been very artfully done. The river Avon runs through the city and a very beautiful park and botanical garden. We also took a cable car to the top of a nearby hill overlooking the city.

Sunset on the West coast

After a day in Christchurch, we set off on a tour of the South Island. There was not enough time to see it all but we planned out a loop that would take us across the island to the West coast. We visited a national park north of Greymouth and viewed the Pancake Rocks and blowhole. The incredible scenery is reminiscent of the Oregon coast but more tropical with lusher growth and more palm trees. We spent the night in Hokitika.

West Coast

Natural arch at Pancake Rocks

Hokitika is a center for New Zealand green stone, variety of jade similar to the nephrite jade found in British Columbia. We bought Linda a beautiful pendant. We then headed south to the community of Haast where we would turn inland once again. It was much like traveling on Highway 101 in Washington state. The weather was grey and rainy, along the route we visited a glacier, the rain was kind enough to quit for a bit and leave a pretty rainbow.

Rainbow at Franz Josef Glacier

The next day we traveled inland heading for the city of Queenstown. The route took us through what they call the southern alps. Every corner revealed new vistas of spectacular snow covered mountain views sprinkled with beautiful lakes. I found Queenstown to be reminiscent of the lakes areas of Austria or Switzerland. The British royals had spent time there a couple of weeks before. It was a beautiful city and I wished we could have spent more time.

Park in Queenstown

The next day took us north again through the center of the island along the east side of the mountains. Just like in Washington state, the east side is drier and cooler. It looks just like Eastern Washington with barren rolling hills, orchards and vineyards, lots of fruit stands beside the road. We spent the night at lake Tekapo. There is a small mountain there with several observatories on top. The local area has ordinances to limit lights at night so astronomers can get better observations. We took a night time tour of the observatory. The southern sky was clear and magnificent. We used a variety of telescopes to view, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Nebulae, star clusters. With the naked eye we also viewed the Magellenic Clouds, satellite galaxies to the Milky Way only visible in the Southern hemisphere that was really cool. It was pretty cold up there.

Central South Island

Then it was back to Christchurch and a flight to Auckland the next morning. I am writing this from Auckland. We will have a week here to explore North Island and then it will be home to Seattle and the end of our journey.

Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest

Southern Alps