Te Anau to Queenstown

Saturday....19 February....leaving beautiful Te Anau in the early morning to cruise across the lake for an underground exploration.  "Glow little glow worm....glimmer....glimmer...."  a song way back when...little did I know there was such a thing...glow worms?  Well today it was to become a reality....thousands of these little worms inside a cave.

The cave is located on the western shores of the lake and a four level limestone labyrinth known as Aurora Caves.  It is about 12,000 years old....but only open to viewing since about 1948.  It is unlike many dry cave systems since it is still increasing in size.  The river that flows through the caves is midly acidic and helps the water to disolve the rock and create passages.

I was not able to provide and pictures inside the cave because it is prohibited....however here is the entrance...

As I entered I had to huch over since the entrance was very low....but then it opened to a huge area...called the Cathedral...it is 20Meters high.  There is a huge waterfall at the far end of this Cathedral and a whirlpool and natural sandstone bridge....past this is the glowworm grotto....we board a small boat and are guided in complete darkness in a circular pattern thru the cave....above us are thousands of tiny lights shimmering....glow worms!!!

The glowworms feed off of insects that are attracted to the light they emit.  and once trapped by the fishing lines dangled by the worms....these lines are sticky with doplets of mucus....okay...okay I know....gross....

Okay....as we leave the caves....I have to show this....the temperature often fluctuates...so the coach windows steam up....now I took this from my seat....how does the driver see???

and this is what it looked like in less than 30 seconds....

Okay...moving right along.....one of the major agricultural exports in New Zealand is bambi....yes deer.  Germany is one of the largest importers of venison and there are deer farms galore....here is a look at one...

As we progress North toward Queenstown the lakes are plentiful.....a sample would be this photo below...

.....and soon we approach Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown and are treated to some of the sailboats participating in a day of racing....

Before we head to our hotel it is time to take some of the more adventurous people on the tour (again the monkey is telling me NO....NO....NO).  This adventure will be a jet boat ride on a shotover jet boat via narrow canyons and then out to the lake doing 360 degree spins!!!

That second picture is the narrow canyon for the start of the jet ride....YIKES!!!

Now to my room for the next couple days....this is a beautiful relief and a picturesque setting.....

Time to relax before I head to an evening cruise and dinner at a country farm.

Milford Sound Day Trip

Today is Friday, February 18th.....and we left Te Anau this morning to venture down to Milford Sound and a cruise out to the open sea......

Over a thousand years ago, Maori travelled overland in New Zealand to Milford Sound in search of a much prized greenstone, pounamu.  In those days it was a journey via footpath and overt mountain pass and tracks.  Today....the journey is taken thru the Homer Tunnel..1.2km long and drilled through solid rock!!

And guess what.....no toll booth!!

Mirror Lake was on the way and I found it so beautiful and we negotiated a Chasm to get there.....Now a Chasm is....

but....look at the results....

Yes....created by the flow of water over thousands of years....

Now the mirror lake is just that....

and a little duck was there to greet us.....

The best was yet to come.....Milford Sound.....it was breathtaking....

And the sound led to the open sea.....now just imagine...this sound as been visited by Cunard line's QE2...as well as cruise ships from the Princess line....since the sound is 1,000 ft deep it can be easily navigated, however ships cannot anchor!!  Here is the inlet to the Ocean....

Here I am with the Sound at my back.....

On our return in the sound we visited a waterfall...and the ship went as close as you would like.....

Ria, one of my tour was very close to the shower provided by the waterfall.....but enjoyed every minute....

And finally here is Ria and Rita as we stopped for a rest break on our way back to Te Anau...

Okay....that wraps it up for today...and for tomorrow....well  maybe...just maybe it is in this picture....well just maybe....

Dunedin - "Edinburgh of the South"

I could not include this segment of my visit to Dunedin by including it with other "blog" items.  It is so deserving of itself.

Some may have heard of the "Haggis".....I did not and was certainly not prepared for the ritual.  Three persons who were on my tour were selected to participate (thank goodness I was not one of them).  One of the 'volunteers' carried the whiskey (scotch of course)...another a sword and shield...while the third carried the HAGGIS.

Here they are....

In the picture from the left we have....the Deliver (he told the story of the Haggis)...Ron - he held the whiskey....Helen she carried the Haggis....Reg he carried the sword and shield and then we have in the far right corner the bagpiper.

The Haggis is piped in (by bag pipe of course) and then addressed.  It included dancing by the participants as well as downing a shot of the Scotch!!

Here is the piper....

and here is the Haggis....

okay...now this Haggis is made of lamb and good oatmeal homegrown in Otago.  Basically it is gross!! It is said to be similar to pate......I will never know...since I did not taste it.  Ceremoniously the Haggis was split open and odor went everywhere (I do not as many know have a sense of smell....but Helen did ...so I am going by her facial expression).....and here at last is the Haggis in all its glory!!!

And the bagpiper sending us off to dinner......

Dunedin....Largest city in Southern Hemisphere

Okay...not to be believed right?  But it is true...only because Dunedin is the largest city by "area"!!  But before we get to Dunedin...there were a number of sights to see after we left the Mt. Cook area....for example....

 One of the most interesting buildings in Dunedin was the train station....I have found that to be the case in a number of European cities and it also holds true here in New Zealand....take a look....

On the journey today we visited some of the large hydro lakes supplying power to the North as well as South Islands.  The power is converted from AC to DC and then back to AC....

The lakes that fed into these dams included Bernmore.....

I guess the oceans of the world are a calling for most anyone....and it was a wonderful sight to see the Pacific as seen below...

And....the highlight picture of my day.....a hotel on wheels.  The hotel trailer is used at night...bunk beds all around.  During the day the group travels in a bus. this is almost like being in the circus....what...a life!!!

Off and running in New Zealand

On Monday, February 14th I flew from Sydney to Christchurch, New Zealand.  I met up with a tour of the South Islands that began on Tuesday, February 15th.  After arrival in Christchurch I collected my bearings after a 2 hr time difference and met for cocktails with the people I will join the next day for 9 days of touring by motor coach, train and ferry boat.

An early morning departure from Christchurch provided an opportunity to tour the city.  It had been hit by an earthquake less than a year ago and the devastation can still be seen by these photos...

Then after leaving Christchurch we head toward Mt. Cook...part of the Southern Alps....

Mt. Cook still had some snow.   In fact I shot a great picture of the melting of the snow...almost like a huge ice sculpture coming down the side of an adjacent mountain....See the pics below...first is Mt. Cook....

now the melting of snow...


Today was a great day to be in this part of New Zealand.  The skies were mostly clear with very high clouds making for some beautiful pics....as seen below...

Sir Edmund Hillary...was a well known hiker into the Mt. Cook and Southern Alp mountain range...and of course we had to see Sir Edmund done in bronze....

 Opps....sorry that is not Sir Edmund...will save him for the slide show....


The real deal today was all the sheep...well some cattle too...but we saw thousands and thousands of sheep.  Enough to keep those GREAT Lamb Sliders at Cava going forever.  The sheep industry is in the millions per year in New Zealand and of course the wool is but one by product.  Take a look first as some of sheep that I saw today....even one great shot of dogs working the sheep herding them into a line....

Opps almost forgot to give you a pic of the cattle.....

Okay....one last pic of Mt. Cook and I will call it a day.....