We rented a car and drove from the northern North Island to the southernmost point in the South Island. We spent most of our time in the South Island which is more sccenic and rural.
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| New Zealand Trip- page one | ||||||||||
| Our big vacation this year was a trip to New Zealand. We went in mid November; late Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand was extremely scenic, very pristine and has varied topography. The people were very friendly and we had the best time! We rented a car and drove from the northern North Island to the southernmost point in the South Island. We spent most of our time in the South Island which is more sccenic and rural. |
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| This is the Haast River on the west coast of the South Island. A beautiful drive through an alpine setting. Click on photo for a link to a web article that describes the road through the Haast Gorge with lots of great photos! | ||||||||||
| There is lots of lush foliage in NZ and many rain forests. This is rather typical flora near Buller Gorge in the South Island. Click on the photo for a link to the Buller Gorge Suspension Bridge. I went on the Comet Line where I was harness to a cable and shot across the Gorge! | ||||||||||
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| This is near the town of Franz Josef. The glacier we hiked on is in the background. | ||||||||||
| This is on the road from Haast to Wanaka. I took this photo but was surprised to find almost an identical picture on the web. In this area, we were pulling over every few kilometres to take photos because there were so many "postcard" scenes. | ||||||||||
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| Here is a photo of the face of the glacier. It does not look like much in the photo but the glacier is impressive in real life. | ||||||||||
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| The highlight of the trip for me was our heli-hike on the Franz Josef Glacier. We took a helicopter flight up onto the face of the glacier, were equipped with ice talons and ice axes and were led on a two hour hike through the ice fields. Lots of incredible formations like this one. Click on the photo for a link to the heli-hike company with other good photos, etc. | ||||||||||
| Here is the sunset from the ship. We had a wonderful gourmet dinner then I stayed up half the night playing British Monopoloy with some guys from the UK and the States. See another link to the Fiordland Tourist site. | ||||||||||
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| We took an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound in Fiordland. A wonderful journey through a narrow fiord on a beautiful ship. Click on the photo for a link to Real Journeys, thoe company that operates this cruise. | ||||||||||