The West Coast and Otago

Greetings,

We have been driving fools since we last posted in Nelson. The landscape is so beautiful here that we have found it easy to drive all day and, as a result, we are ahead of schedule, as we are currently resting comfortably in a rather large “motel” room (or what I would call a full apartment) on Lake Tekapo. It is lovely. But, we did not just up and drive here, we hit several awesome spots on the way, so let’s go through them in order:

On Sunday, we drove from Nelson to Karamea, a really tiny town in the northwest part of the south island. Here, we explored magnificent lime arches and walls and cool caves that contained bones of the extinct moa bird. The photos did not come out as well as we had hoped, but they will give you an idea of what we saw … for more, check out our web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/Karamea?authkey=q96IFBHmgc8

Limestone viewed from our kayaks

Entrance to the "lost" or "fourth" limestone arch

Stalactites in the Honeycomb Caves

More Stalactites in the Honeycomb Caves

On Tuesday, we drove from Karamea down the west coast and across the gorgeous Haast Pass to the top of Lake Wanaka, stopping to check out a seal colony and the Franz Josef Glacier on the way. Even though half of the 11-hour drive was rainy, it was stunning. It is amazing how the landscape changes and evolves here. Rocky coasts, lush forests and then big, steep, grassy and/or snowcapped mountains. How often can one drive from a subtropical rainforest, to a glacier and then a lake surrounded by mountains in one day? Here is some of what we saw:

Franz Josef Glacier

Our final stop was a great campsite right on Lake Wanaka. Here we enjoyed beautiful sunset views and a nice fire (though we could have done without the sandflies).

Lake Wanaka (from our campground)

On Wednesday, we drove to Queenstown and then up to Lake Tepako. One remarkable thing about this path were the fields of lupine we passed. The road is lined with them and from time to time you pass vast fields of the flowers in varying pink, purple and yellow shades. It is absolutely beautiful. Queenstown was quite nice as well. Here we tasted the best burger we have ever tried and finished our meal with some tasty wines at a nearby winery. We then made our way up toward Christchurch, stopping at Lake Tekapo to sleep. On our way north, we passed Mt. Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand. As you can see, it is magnificent.

Mt. Cook

Lake Tekapo

Jennie & Flat Sandy in some lupine

You can check out more photos of this portion of our trip on this web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/FranzJosefToLakeTekapo?authkey=-loY2wavp20

Tomorrow we are off to Christchurch for our final two nights. Hope everyone is well at home.

Abel Tasman National Park

We're back from our amazing kayak/backpacking trip in the Abel Tasman National Park. It was so beautiful. The kayaking was definitely a bit more challenging than we were expecting (strong headwinds and big waves) but we made it through unscaved (and a bit buffer, I would hope). The campsites were lovely and each had at least one resident bird that amused us.

These pictures don't do the trip justice, but here you go:

One of the bays as seen from the track.

View from the kayak (a calm part)

hiking was stunning

home sweet home, the view from our accommodation in Nelson.

We have also throroughly enjoyed our accommodation at the Wheelhouse Inn in Nelson. The Captain's Quarters are delightful with all the amenities one would need at the end of a four-day treck in the woods. We were even treated to a complimentary bottle of champagne to celebrate our honeymoon. We do not want to go, but we must move on.

For more pictures, check out this web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/AbelTasmanNelson?authkey=6N7Dcb3hsxg#

Burp, bubble, hiss ...

The north island is like no other place. The ground emits all sorts of sounds (and smells). Mud bubbles, water boils, and ponds are green, orange and teal. It is too cool! Check out these cool photos:

Boiling mud.

Boiling colorful water.

Even Flat Sandy got in on the fun. Here she is at the mud pool:




Today we had planned to hike the Tongariro Crossing. Sadly, Mother Nature had other plans for us so we opted to take a much easier and shorter hike to a waterfall. As you can see, the day did not lend itself to the "breathtaking views" that the Tongariro Crossing is famous for. Oh well, we'll just have to return another time ....

To see more photos and a video of the bubbling mud, check out our web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/NorthIsland?authkey=XHBmgQSuDGg#

Tomorrow we are off for the south island to go on a 4-day hiking/kayaking trip. We'll check back in once we return.

Safe and sound in New Zealand

Hi folks,

We have arrived safely in New Zealand and are making our way to Rotorura to check out all the cool geothermal activity going on there. Hope to post with more pictures soon.

The Great Barrier Reef

We spent the last four days on a boat named the Reef Encounter on the Great Barrier Reef. We had an awesome time diving and snorkeling the Saxon, Hastings and Norman reefs. We saw sharks, turtles, many fish, beautiful coral gardens and bioluminescent plankton. We even did a couple of night dives, which were very cool. Here’s a taste of what we saw (thanks for the camera case, Bret and Annemarie!), for more check out our web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/AustraliaDivePhotos?authkey=iNXemlX51tE#

The Great Barrier Reef

Reef Encounter, our home for four days

School of fish

Nemo fish (clown fish)

Giant clam

Awesome coral!

Black Tipped Reef Shark

Trigger Fish

The boat and crew were excellent. We also made several friends on board. Flat Sandy enjoyed herself too, but since she is made of paper, she chose to skip the water activities and enjoy the reef from above. Now we are back in Cairns for one night before we head off to New Zealand.
Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving!

Port Douglas, Australia

Well, we are nearly one week in to our honeymoon and so far we are having a fantastic time. Australia is great. We have had amazing weather the whole time we have been here and everyone we have met have been delightful. Flat Sandy is enjoying herself too and is proving to be a wonderful companion. (For those of you who do not know, Flat Sandy is our traveling buddy, thanks to our cousin Charlotte’s class project.) There is a lot to catch up on so lets get started. We spent the first three days in Port Douglas, a very lovely and hot town on the north east coast of Australia. We had tons of fun exploring the Daintree Rainforest, Cape Tribulation and Four Mile Beach. We saw lots of critters and cool plants. We also had breakfast with the birds at a sanctuary named Rainforest Habitat in Port Douglas. Here we got to see up close over 100 native birds, koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and crocodiles. Flat Sandy’s favorite part was feeding the wallabies. Check out the highlights:

Flat Sandy feeding a wallaby

Rainbow Lorikeets - these guys are all over the place and are super noisy!

To see more visit our web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jenniemerrill/PortDouglasPhotos02?authkey=DoxMIUZ9yss#

We're in Australia!

G'day mate!

We're having a great time in Port Douglas, Australia. Sadly, we have been unable to find wi-fi so we are unable to post pictures, but we found an internet cafe that would at least allow this post so we could let everyone know how we are doing. So far our trip is great. Our accommodation is lovely - 100 ft to the beach and very close to the downtown area. Today we went on a day-long guided trip to the Daintree Rainforest and on the Daintree River. We saw some crocs, lots of spiders, birds and BIG fruit bats. Tomorrow we will have breakfast in a nature sanctuary and later go on a night tour to the rainforest to see all the nocturnal critters. Then it's off to the Great Barrier Reef for four days and three nights!

We promise to update with photos as soon as we get back from our boat trip.

Been married 3 months ... time for the honeymoon!!!

Hey there!

Remember last August when we got hitched? Well, now it's time for our amazing honeymoon to Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to everyone who helped us get on our way. We will try to update our blog as often as possible ... hope you enjoy!

Jennie & Chris