We visit the south island of New Zealand!

The three of us took a quick driving tour through the south island. we tried hard to see Mount Cook, but the weather didn't coorperate. Fortunately, a quick flight to Milford Sound worked out well. It rained much of the time that Karen was with us (and after that as well), but we still were able to see quite a bit.

The drive from Christ Church to Lake Tekapo rewards us with the first look at the beautiful New Zealand landscape.

Kam stands by the famous church at Lake Tekapo that everybody takes their picture with. It has a great window that opens up right on the lake.

Our first hug in New Zealand.

Karen braves the climb up to the viewpoint of Tasman Glacier. It's the flattest glacier we know of, looks like a big rock field really. No one pushed Karen into the lake at the glacier's terminus, so everything was OK . . . until the rain started.

Kam and Todd take a much needed rest break at the top too.

Ok, Ok. Kam and Karen decide to brave the shotover jet. Todd sits this one out . . . chicken. They get a little wet, but who doesn't?

Here they are, gritting their teeth. Not so tough that they'd do the bungee jump though!

The flight to Milford Sound gave us some great views!

Here's a nice picture of the area around Queenstown on our way onto Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers.

We stop at one of the many waterfalls we'll see in the next few weeks

(they're much nicer when it rains all the time).

We took a short boat ride on the TSS Earnslaw to visit a nice little farm across the lake from Queenstown. Although it was raining, its a really nice trip.

The little farmhouse has a nice little restaurant that is inundated by an older crowd every evening. Evidently the don't come to pet the farm animals.

Kam made some new friends. Of course, they don't smell too nicely when it rains all the time.

The trip back to Queenstown, ominous weather as unusual.

Not to be missed, the next day we took the tram up to the top of the mountain right next to Queenstown. This is the view from their lookout of Queenstown below.

Another pic of the same view.

Another thing you can spend money on in New Zealand is the luge ride at the top of the tram. Kam shows her special aerodynamic style in this photo!

Our wait in Queenstown was finally over. The time had come for our permit to hike the Routeburn track. We were very excited about this and had planned it far in advance (you have to since there are only a few people allowed to hike it every day. Of course it was still raining, but we didn't let this stop us. We decided that this only made the waterfalls better.

Here's a nice picture of some horses right near the start of the track.

Kam shows her fine form as she crosses one of the many bridges on the track. The Routeburn is one of the more famous tracks in New Zealand. As such, its not exactly an untravelled route.

The first night's campsite was fantastic! We pitched our tent in the middle of a beautiful valley and the rain stopped! There were not many people there due to the rains.

Here's the view of one of the mountain tops we could see from the campsite!

OK, the rains started again in the morning. As you can see, Kam was not too happy about it.

Despite the constant drizzle on our poor heads, the views of the waterfalls kept our spirits up.

This is the view of the valley we camped in from a much higher vantage point. Unfortunately, we had to hike up to this vantage point.

Above the vantage point we reached a pass. This is a nice photo at the top which was quite flat and beautiful.

This is one of those "where's Kam" pictures. It was a beautiful spot, giant waterfall. Hopefully your screen will enable you to see it with all the dark colors in the photo.

Here, Todd shows his fine form for crossing the dreaded bouncy, swingy bridges.

We finished the Routeburn in a 3 days/2 nights as planned. Since we were in bus-mode at this point, we headed back to Queenstown again then caught a bus to continue on northward. This is a photo off a lake we stopped not far from Queenstown.

Finally reaching the coast, we stopped at a popular photo spot.

We stopped for a couple of days at Fox Glacier and spent a day climbing the damned thing. Fortunately we finally got some good weather! We hiked with a group for about 6 hours up and down the glacier. Very nice!

Here's a little waterfall near the glacier.

Kam checks out a blue hole. She's fascinated by them for some reason.

One more photo of the glacier from the bottom - a beautiful sight!

Next day we trekked out to a nearby lake trying to get a view of Mt. Cook (we still hadn't seen it). No Mt. Cook, of course, but a nice view across the lake.

On we went. Another day brought us to a great place for horse riding. Kam was dying to ride, so we spent a few hours with a group that strolled in a nearby park. Kam's horse was the smartest one there and quite pleasant to ride. Todd's horse, much like him, wanted to be in front all the time and wouldn't let any other horses pass.

In addition to horse riding, the place we stayed also is famous for the weird pancake rocks. It might make you hungry, but we thought it would be nice to add here.

Ah, one more for good measure.

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