After getting off the ice, this nice boy flew out to meet me in Christchurch. :-) We started driving south and stopped by Lake Tekapo on the way...it's very, very blue.

We went to the puzzle museum in Wanaka, and we (read: I) gave up on the giant maze after completing half of it. Spent the afternoon walking (and napping) around the lake.

Second and last day in Wanaka; checked out some trails along the Makarora river. Started driving west through Haast, eventually reached the coast and saw the ocean, stopped off at Franz Josef.

Walked over to the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier (but didn't actually climb onto the ice). Lots of color around here -- red rocks at the bottom of a green valley, gray mud sloshing around in the river, and, of course, blue ice in the glacier. This is the wettest place in New Zealand, and little waterfalls run all over the valley. We caught an anomalously sunny morning, but the rain came back in the afternoon.

After a brief stop at Fox Glacier in the morning, we continued driving up the west coast towards Arthur's Pass. The rainy weather brought in some beautiful fog. Stopped for awhile at Hokitika and watched the waves on the beach for a long time.

A very short, rainy day at Arthur's Pass. Walked along some short trails to see a couple waterfalls and lots of green. Started slowly driving back to Christchurch, pausing to admire fog and sheep along the way. I got shocked by an electric fence for the first time. Back in Christchurch, we met up with Markus and Karlijn and cooked dinner at their campsite (first time cooking for me in three months).

A touristy day in Christchurch -- walked through the gardens and the art museum with Markus and Karlijn. Had dinner at a fancy restaurant with decent food but not-so-decent customer service, experienced feijoa juice for the first time.

Last day in Christchurch. I spent my winnings from James Brown bingo and went on a wildlife cruise in Lyttleton. We didn't see too much wildlife though (apart from one dolphin, some poopy birds, and a bunch of Japanese tourists). The Coffee House has some pretty awesome coffee.

We flew to the north island and spent some time in Auckland -- the city is a quite a shock after being around so much green. Visited One Tree Hill and saw the city from above, in addition to a cluster of very lazy sheep. Wandered into the Sky Tower at night and found the casinos...Luc tried a slot machine, but neither of us could figure out how it worked.

Escaped from Auckland for the day and took a ferry over to Waiheke island. Walked along random roads and shorelines in search of a little wildlife reserve...lots of beautiful grassy fields.

Escaped from Auckland for good and drove south to Rotorua. Luc was very happy to find a big kahuna burger at a local restuarant. :-) Started walking along the shore of Lake Rotorua and saw the water become increasingly milky and stinky...eventually found the sulphur bay and a bunch of mud pools and sulphur vents. Yum.

Last day in New Zealand -- drove around Rotorua on a random lake tour. Our last stop was a sulphur water pool in the middle of nowhere in the countryside...had to drive down small gravel roads to get there and almost missed the road sign.