Tawharanui Regional Park - just north of Auckland. Our first night ”camping“ in Tinkerbell. What an introduction!
Tawharanui Regional Park
Oystercatcher
Kereru
Kauri trees
cycads are so cool!
Waipoua Kauri Forest
huge kauri
West coast of the Northland
Starting our trek - Cape Reinga Walkway
Along Ninety Mile Beach
Heading up
Great camp site! View of Cape Marina Van Diemen
Looking north to Cape Reinga
Kiwi skull
View of Cape Reinga's lighthouse
Red-billed gull
Jay surfing at Sandy Bay - Northland
Mt. Ngauruhoe
Tink!
Jay fishing near the asparagus farm - near Taihape
Working on the farm - near Taihape and Mangaweka
Jay's brown trout din-din. Caught near Tongariro National Park
Kiwi warning signs are a riot
Mt. Ruapehu
Warming hands on the steaming rocks - Tongariro Crossing
Emerald Lakes
Scored on great and cheap yarn!!
Close to Mt. Ngauruhoe
Traffic jam
Mt. Ruapehu from the Lost World Highway
Julie finds heaven on earth in the Taranaki region
Julie becomes a cow
Mt. Taranaki (Egmont National Park)
Mt. Taranaki
Dawson Falls
Gnomes hide in the forests around Egmont NP
In Wellington with Gretchen and Matt
Tui in Kairori Wildlife Sanctuary - Wellington
Wetas
tuatara
Saddleback
Kaka
Taking the ferry over to the South Island - Marlborough Sounds
Onamalutu DOC campground, one of our favorites from the whole trip! Look at those trees!
Jay and BB the cat
Christmas breakfast
Matt and Gretchen
Nelson Lakes National Park - Mt. Robert
Making our Christmas pie with a darn sexy gewurztaminer
Celebrating Gretchen and Matt's engagement!
Good friends
Kaka - wild parrot (pretty special to see this bird in the wild versus a park)
Great view from the St.Arnaud Range (Boxing Day)
Kaikoura
Neat algae - Kaikoura
Pied shag
Vienyards between Kaikoura and Blenheim
Tink getting ready to overheat on us
Wine tasting - Wither Hills Winery
View of Blenheim
Our friend Hamish (from the vineyards) getting ready to launch his new boat
Marlborough Sounds - near Waikawa
Flowers for Christmas
Marlborough Sounds
Wine at Montana Brancott, gettin' good
One-lane bridges, on our way north to Collingwood
Abel Tasman National Park
Dish duty
Manuka in flower
Happy New Years!
Kaituna river
Awesome plant diversity
Morepork chicks
Tree ferns!
Walking to Wharariki Beach
NZ fur seal (but remember, it really is in the sea lion family!)
Wharariki Beach
boysenberry love
White-faced heron and white heron
Pelorus River
Kayak trip - Marlborough Sounds
One of the best pinot noirs ever
Camping dinner
Weka inspecting our camping goods
Somewhere near Picton - perhaps near Blackwood Bay?
View from Ruakaka Bay campsite
Working on the vines
Our grapes
We did get a discount on wines since we were vineyard workers
Pelorus River - on the Pelorus River Trek
Swimming near the hut
Captain Creek hut - we had it all to ourselves!
NZ robin
Emerald Pools - Pelorus River
Yeah! Tink was still there!
Sunset near Renwick
Nelson Lakes NP - trekking to Angelus Hut
Checking out another hut along the Speargrass Track
Is it a coral or a plant?
High up on the Robert Ridge
Steep
Great place for a hut!
View of Kahurangi NP in the distance from Nelson Lakes NP
Heading down Mt. Robert
View of the town of St. Arnaud
Stephen - our Irish buddy who also was camping at Watson's Way Backpackers
Typical dinner in the making - Whites Bay DOC campsite
Great mailboxes are in NZ
Pinor noir grapes, still tiny
Getting ripe!
Thinned pinot noir grapevines
The crew!
Mt.Riley and vines
cool anemone
Julie with Pat and Paul Watson
Hanmer Springs - hot springs
J&J - Mt. Cook NP
The campsite where Jay left his surfboard
Mt.Cook
Aoraki and the Hooker river
Old Mountaineers Cafe and Bar - note from Sir Edmund Hillary (he died while we were in NZ)
Wild treat!
View from Red Tarns Track
Jim and Julie
Yellow-eyed penguin
Moreraki boulder birth
Beach where the penguins were near Oamaru
Limestone buildings in Oamaru
Julie tours a wool factory
Jim shows us an old train he was helping to restore in Oamaru
Maori piece - North Otago Museum
my man
my man?
Otago Peninsula
Wandering albatross!!!
Look at that wingspan! Wandering albatross
with a chick!
Wandering albatross with chick
Allen's Beach - Otago Pen.
Pied stilt
Nugget Point - way south on the South Island now! The Catlins
Purakaunui Falls - the Catlins
ative forest next to fallen non-native forest
The Catlins river
Petrified forest
Hiking in the Catlins
Cool estuary filled with horsetails - Julie demonstrates how you can take horsetails apart and put them back together again. All UNHers should remember this from our bio lab!
Dinner in TInk - freezing outside!
Taking the ferry to blissful Stewart Island
Starting the Rakiura Track, Stewart Island
Lee Bay
Shell collection from Maori Beach, Stewart Island
Maori Beach
Port William Hut
Crazy swing bridge with Jay way at the other end - Rakiura Trek
View from the lookout on the second day of the trek
Breakfast on the beach
Kiwi tracks
Near Kaipipi Bay
Ulva Island - an amazing bird sanctuary
Tomtit
Asexual reproduction in a fern!
Ulva Island
South Island robin (rare and curious bird)
I didn't want to leave Stewart Island
Albatross flying - on the way back to the South Island
Packing up food for 4 days on the trail
Beech forest and Southern Alps - starting the Greenstone Track
Southern Alps
Jay and Lake McKellar
Going free!
Greenstone valley
360 degree pano of the Greenstone Valley
Sunrise
Greenstone Hut
Greenstone River
Jay bringing in the big boy
Jay's huge rainbow trout
Fly fishing paradise has been found
Mom and Dad arrive in NZ and meet Tink!
Gelato!
Queenstown
Queenstown and the Remarkables
I'm a kiwi!!! This is the only place we got to see kiwis, since it didn't happen on Stewart Island. Kiwi & Birdlife Park, Queenstown
On the TSS Earnslaw - Lake Wakatipu
Sailor Mom! Lake Wakatipu
Te Anau - view from Barnyard Backpackers in the morning
Waterfalls on the way to Milford Sound on the Milford Road
Just outside the Homer Tunnel, Milford Road
Milford Sound
The entrance to Milford Sound
NZ fur seals
Jay and Dad after getting soaked by one of the waterfalls
On the Chasm Walk - near Milford Sound
Lovely forests
Jay and Dad at Barnyard Backpackers near Te Anau
Lake Te Anau - on the way to the glow worm cave
Dad's picture of Lake Te Anau
Mom, Jay, and the glow-worm
The only Takahe (the blue bird) we saw - in Te Anau
Ta Anau lunch
Driving up to Wanaka
Mum and Pop get wool for sweaters (that I get to knit!!)
Lake Wanaka
Wanaka beer!
Tink and our hotel in Wanaka
Time to make lunch - along Laka Wanaka
Dad at Fantail Falls
Fantail Falls
NZ one-lane bridges are awesome
Kanuka trees (?)
She always has to touch the water - Tasman Sea
West Coast!
Getting ready for the glacier walk
Fox Glacier
Mom coming through the ice cave
Tiny helicopter coming in to pick us up
Who you callin' cupcake?
Walking around Lake Matheson
Fern in the water at Lake Matheson
Now that we have been to Asia it cracks me up that this bus in NZ was a tourist attraction. In Myanmar every bus looked like this - except with cracked windshields, and peeling paint.
Walking to Franz Josef Glacier
look at the classic NZ signs of a person getting buried by rocks and washed away by a huge wave
Franz Josef Glacier
Bathroom anyone?
Nikau palms and family
Pancake Rocks - Punakaiki
Great room and food at the Te Nikau Retreat - West Coast
At Watson's Way Backpackers with Mom and Dad. Getting ready to go wine tasting!
Praying to St.Clair that the St.Clair Winery will give us free wine!
Jay and Dad go fishin' - Marlborough Sounds
NZ silver fern
Here they are! Common dolphins!! Marlborough Sounds, free ride on the Hopewell Backpackers boat!
Beautiful - huge pod!
Our little cottage! Hopewell Backpackers, Marlborough Sounds
The goods baby. Possibly the best Chardonnay in the world.
Pukeko
Bahhh
Dad and Jay go for some clams
oysters
chef jay
NZ green mussels
The ferry to Wellington
Wellington! We are on the North Island now...
Wellington Botanic Gardens attack Jay
Botanic gardens
Driving to Turangi (south of Taupo)
Tongariro National Park
Lake Taupo
Trout fishing - Lake Taupo
Lake Rotopounamu, near Lake Taupo
Yummy trout dinner for the trout eaters!
Pohutu geyser - Rotorua
Boys will be boys
Maori canoe
Haka
Dad goes native
Mom and Juile soaking their feet in the warm mud pools - Hells Gate, Rotorua
Stinky place
Mud bubbles, Hells Gate
Mom and Jay - on the way to the Coromandel Peninsula
Getting friendly with the locals
If you have never seen a kiwi vine, here ya go!
Coromandel Peninsula
Our awesome room right on Hahei Beach - Hahei Holiday Resort
Look at how they launch this boat!
Dad (left) and Mom snorkeling
Julie finds a pretty star (off Hahei Beach)
Eh??? Duhhhh?? Whaz up?
Filefish
Urchin
Sunrise that Jay and Julie slept through
Dinner in Hahei
Hot Water Beach - a beach with hot springs and you can find spots to dig a hot tub at low tide! Jay's testing the waters here.
Our own hot tub on the beach!
Close-up of the steamy water right next to our pool
Path to the beach from our villa
Hike to Cathedral Cove, Coromandel Peninsula
Walking down to Cathedral Cove
Funky rocks
Getting ready to walk through the cathedral - which you can only do at low tide!
OK - we wimped out and didn't go snorkeling here. It was freakin' freezin'
This is what happens to Jay's hair when he keeps it salty.
Tinkerbell
Coromandel
Back to Tink....sad that parents are gone, just south of Auckland
A very yummy dinner - veggo sausages!
Cabbage trees at night
Auckland at night
Heather and David's house
David, Heather, Jay and Julie...St.Patty's Day!
Jay and Little Cat
OK - putting the sunglasses on Litt;e Cat's butt was totally David's idea
View from ferry to Waiheke Island
We spent the entire day on this beach on Waiheke Island once we sold Tink and drank a few of these
Auckland
Jay, David and the apple pie I made!
barleywine - Galbraiths Brewpub
A large wave overtakes Jay while David looks on....
Anawhata Beach - beautiful spot on the west coast
Anawhata Beach
Snack at the Elevation Cafe
Poor Knights Islands
Centrostephanus rodgersii
JB
kick ass encrusting life
Julie in the Ecklonia kelp
Myliobatus tenuicaudatus
Corynactis haddoni
Poor Knights Islands, New Zealand
Inbetween dives
Coris sandageri
Ceratosoma amoena - beautiful nudibranch
Dendrodoris densoni - another nudibranch
Asterodiscus truncatus
Small urchin barren
Trypneustes gratilla - HUGE urchin
Cap'n Bob's Beachhouse - our room is on the lower left floor. NICE place! Paihia, Bay of Islands
One of the nicer rooms we had at a backpackers place, Bay of Islands. near Paihia
Hello from Paihia!
Beach near Russell
Russell
The stump of the kauri tree they cut down to make half of the war canoe - Waitangi Treaty Grounds
BIG canoe!
Julie is responsible for the x-rated photographs
The Treaty House - built for the first British Resident, James Busby and his family. It is one of New Zealand's oldest and most visited historic homes. Important in the signing of the Waitangi Treaty in 1840 (created a sort of peace agreement between Brits and Maori)
Te Whare Runanga - fully carved Maori Meeting House, which is representative of all Iwi (regional tribes) in New Zealand, Waitangi Treaty Grounds
Privileged to be drinking beer in Whangarei at Brauhaus Frings with Ralph
Fruit breakie with Ralph
Whangarei Heads
Boys like spearfishing
King neptune, I mean, Ralph
Jay, checking out Goat Island (first marine reserve in NZ)
Muriwai coast - gannet colony
Australasian gannet
Raglan
YEAH!
Litte Cat helps with our taxes before we leave NZ
