Chugging along on the South Island.

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I left Wellington by ferry for the city of Picton, which is just across the sound from Wellington.  It was a three and half hour ferry ride.

We got off the ferry in Picton and took a shuttle bus to the train station close by.  We stepped on the train and went down the coast of South Island, New Zealand to Christchurch.

We spent the night in Christchurch and the next morning Chuck picked up our rental car.  Since Chuck was sitting on the wrong side of the car and driving on the wrong side of the road, city driving was not high on our list.  So we got out of Dodge...I mean Christchurch.

We headed south and stayed the night in a town called Temuka.

It was here we found a statue that looked like he could be a distant relative of Chuck.

We heard Paul Allen's yacht, Octopus was docked there.  We couldn't help but notice, it was the biggest boat around.

We enjoyed seeing the city which was easy to do by foot.  We had a great seafood dinner at a restaurant that used to be a bank.

We headed south again the next morning, stopping along the way to enjoy the sights.

Here is Oamaru from above.

In Oamaru, we saw these four people at a distance.  We loved the four styles of hats, especially the Panama hat.

We also saw Steampunk HQs.  Not too sure about that.

Actually this town is known for it's beautiful white stone buildings which I did not include the pictures.

A little further south we had to stop to see the huge round rocks.  They are quite incredible.  They are huge and clumped together on the beach.

 

Chuck posed by one so you can get an idea of the size.  How they got so round is a mystery to us.

Oh, by the way, I keep seeing a strange bird here.  I call him the red footed bluebie.

We are now in Dunedin.  I will share about this lovely place later.

Love,
Nancy

Cable Car Ride and Garden Walk in Wellington, NZ

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I went by bus from Rotorua to Wellington which is at the south tip of the north island of New Zealand. 

We had a day to kill in Wellington before taking a ferry across the Cook Strait to the south island.

We decided to spend the day by getting some exercise and enjoying the beautiful weather.  So we took the cable car to the top for a wonderful view of the city and then we walked back down via the city botanical garden.

This is the cable car we rode up.  You can see the water and city of Wellington below.

Before heading back down we toured the cable car museum.

We then started our trek down through the garden.

One area was covered with hydrangeas.  They were just past their prime but were still very pretty.

We even stopped and watched part of a cricket match. 

The rose garden was beautiful.

 

Inside the hothouse we saw begonias.  They were huge, perfect and in every color imaginable.

 

When we arrived back into town we had an early dinner and called it a day.

Yesterday was a traveling day.  We took the morning ferry to Picton, a town at the north of the south island.  We got off the ferry and spent the afternoon riding the train from there to Christchurch.

This morning we get our rental car and the driving adventure begins.  When I say adventure, I mean a real adventure.....driving on the opposite side of the road.  

Love,

Nancy

In search of a Kiwi

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I went to a park called Rainbow Springs.  The brochure said that we could see kiwis there.

The park had tall redwoods.  These redwoods are different from the redwoods in the U.S.  These trees grow faster so their wood is not as dense.

Part of the fern forest.

We saw many birds that were new to us.  they are native to New Zealand.

This is a blue pigeon.

Beautiful swans with black feet.

An assortment of little birds about three times the size of a parakeet.  They came in three lovely colors.  Green, yellow and blue.

Finally we arrived to the  Kiwi house.  The good part is that we got to see a real live Kiwi.  The bad part is that we could not photograph them.  They are nocturnal animals and they were in a area that had very low light.  

To protect the Kiwi they did not permit photography....most people would not know how to turn off their flash.

They did allow us to photograph the stuffed Kiwi they had on display.

Instead of a live Kiwi, here is a real live Chuck, enjoying a fake waterfall.

Love to all,
Nancy

FOTO FRIDAY - 2/15/13

Dear Family and Friends,

This week's photo is a llama in the Caja National Park, Ecuador.  Photo taken October of 2012.

 

Love,

Nancy

New Zealand Sheep Sheep Sheep

Dear Family and Friends,

We are in Rotorua....a city of about 30,000.

Today we went out into the countryside to a sheep farm.

 

We saw a lot of varieties of sheep. All are raised in New Zealand.

Here is a picture of all the varieties of sheep raised here.

They gave us a sheep shearing demonstration.

The same little guy after he was sheared.

Here is Chuck about to be attacked by the biggest guy ever.  He better get his nose out of that book.

We had a great day.

Love,
Nancy