We arrived in smallish but beautiful Queenstown on November 16th where our first encounter with Kiwi culture was taking the bus from the airport. Already on the bus there were lots of friendly greetings “how’s your day been so far?” and then all of a sudden the bus driver pulled over and asked one of the passengers to disembark midway between stops in order to troubleshoot a stranded bus that had broken down earlier in the day. We wondered if the poor passenger – presumably a local mechanic – had anything better to do that day. Wow, people actually help each other here 🙂
In Queenstown we went for a “tramp” (i.e. hike) in the hills. We also tried a famous Fergburger (we noticed that ketchup is called “tomato sauce”) and some local beers.
After Queenstown, we made a quick stop in Arrowtown and then drove north where we stayed at Lake Tekapo (the stress in on te), visited Mount Cook and took a boat trip on the Tasman glacier lake that feeds into Lake Pukaki. All was immensely beautiful.
On our way to Christchurch we made a pit stop in the town of Geraldine where we visited an odd little local shop. Here an older couple had displayed the (extreme) products their respective hobbies: a ridiculously large knitted sweater and a mosaic recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry that took decades to make out of the tiny teeth from sowing machine patterning disks.
Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island, and although not exactly a bustling metropolis, it still had a really fun vibe. The center is still almost entirely a construction zone (following the 2010 earthquake) with most of the prominent buildings under repair or condemned, but lots of temporary structures have popped up in the meantime including the “Re:START” container mall and food court. In Christchurch, we saw a local band at Castrol’s Garage (also home of some amazing thin crust pizza), and visited the botanical gardens and the Canterbury museum. Note the pictures of Paua Shell house which is now located inside of the museum. The city, as you might expect, is also an open canvas for street art (see pictures here).
After a quick lunch in Gore Bay, Kaikoura was our last stop on the South Island. Here we took one of the most amazing hikes along the coast, complete with stunning views, cool birds, and adorable baby seals.
Tramping, New Zealand for hiking
View of Queenstown
Taking a break
360 view from the top
View
More views
Taking a well-deserved break
Testing the waters around Queenstown
Enjoying a break in Queenstown
Our “Jucy” rental
Arrowtown center
Lake Pukaki
Mount Cook in the distance
Enjoying a sashimi break by Lake Pukaki
Lake Tepako’s bustling town center
Church of the Good Shepherd (one of the main attractions in Tepako)
Lake Tepako and Lupin
Alex taking a dip in Lake Tepako
View
Getting on board the boat
Alex
300 year old ice
It’s a little windy
One iceberg about to become two
Glacier
Glacier with Alex and Kristina
Mt. John observatory
View
Sheep
Another sheep
Guinness World Record for largest jersey, jumper, sweater (depending on your English language) in the town of Geraldine
Mural depicting the Bayeux Tapestry
Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch Cathedral and flowers
Cathedral
Christchurch
Lamb suvlaki in Christchurch
Re:START in Christchurch with suvlaki
Having coffee at one of the Re:START container cafes
Street art. Or a restaurant?
The band at Castrol’s Garage
Christchurch botanic gardens
Fred and Myrtle’s house of kitsch contained a large collection of paua shells. Among other things
The shell collection has been relocated to the Canterbury Museum where it is currently on display
Running bull
Christchurch by night
Gore Bay
Dip at Gore Bay
On our way to Kaikoura the hills were covered in yellow flowers. We think they are called Kowhai
Kaikoura seal by the coast
Just chillaxin’
Walking along the coast
More seals
Looking at the rocks and shells
View
Birds
The New Zealand pics and observations are great. It’s a funny thing though that, if you just look at the New Zealand thumbnails all together, you really notice the strong blue tint they have. I had the same problem when I photographed in New Zealand. I suppose it’s just because the air is so clean there that you really see just how blue our blue planet Earth looks unpolluted. Amazing place.
Great site! You’re right that the kowhai is a tree with yellow flowers (which native birds love), but unfortunately the flowers in your photo are from a thorny bush called gorse. It was introduced by a Scottish git who thought it looked nice in Scotland where it’s grown in tidy hedges. It took off in NZ and covers large tracts of land. We don’t like it very much (or the guy who introduced it).
It was great to have you two to visit although Georgina is still smarting at the humiliating loss in P’s & A’s (‘that Alex wins everything!’).
Travel safely and we look forward to sampling some of your frothy product sometime. Mark.
Glad you enjoy the site. We found the yellow flower-covered hills so amazing but reflecting on your point there, the flowers do seem to be a bit aggressive in their take-over of nature.
Thanks for having us. We really enjoyed the visit! There’s always a beer waiting for you in Copenhagen. Kristina