We are today March 11th, sitting in Burnie in a carpark in Wanaka town with free wi-fi. The weather is cloudy and thus time to do an update of our travels on the South Island of NZ.
We took the ferry in Wellinton on February 22nd and drove from Picton to Nelson, then up to Cape Farewell with a stop in Abel Tasman National Park. Then back to Nelson, St.Arnaud with a visit to the Nelson Lakes. From there on to the Westport, Punakaki, Hokitika, Franz Josef, Fox Glacier to Jackson Bay. Back to Haast over the pass to Wanaka. The coming weeks we will travel to Queenstown, Milford Sound down to Invercargill and make our way back up along the East Coast.
As promised some more pictures from our visit to Napier.
Lots of 1900’s cars in Napier during the Art Deco WE.Andy took us along for a guided tour from Napier. Thank you Andy and Sue for letting us stay 3 days in your beautiful house!The whole town was in Great Gatsby style !…in the rain but..also some sunshinePouring rain on our first swingbridge in Waiohine Gorge.A KaKa bird eating away on a toast he managed to steal from the plates of a cafe guest in Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre.Stefan reading the manual of my camera…Takahe, a flightless bird, looks a lot like its cousin the Pukeko.We are in Kiwi Country ! We saw the Kiwi bird at the Pukaha centre where they protect the Kiwi by taking the eggs and incubating them. This is called Operation Nest Egg where eggs and chicks are protected from predators. The Kiwi is also a flightless bird, with hair-like feathers, strong legs and no tail. Kiwis are mostly nocturnal so very difficult to spot during the day.There are 5 species and all are threatened with extinction.The parliament buildings in Wellington, with the Beehive that houses the Cabinet and the offices of its ministers. We were able to get a free guided tour of the buidlings.View over Wellington from Mount Victoria.We also visited Weta Cave where the movies Lord Of the Ring, Avatar, Great Adventures of TinTin are digitally mastered. It was a learning experience to see how much craftsmanship there is involved in these creations.The Interislander ferry waiting for us to come aboard at 8AMIt was a beautfiul day crossing the Cook Strait.Views on the Queen Charlotte drive to Nelson.Views over Pelorus Sound.On our way to Abel Tasman National Park.
On our way to Abel Tasman we stopped to admire Rawhiti Cave.Rawhiti Cave, also known as Manson Cave, is 40m wide and 20m tall. The ceiling is densely covered in stalactites which become increasingly finer deeper down into the cave.
More pictures in the next blog from beautiful Abel Tasman and the West Coast.
