Feb 5: Mt. Cook Nat'l Park- 2nd Attempt

We got a good forecast for Mount Cook, so we headed back. Even the drive in is amazing, the road follows the shore of ice-blue lake Pukaki.
When we got there it was cooler, but clear. What a difference, we could see everything this time.
We did a hike we didn't do last time, the Sealy Tarns- 500 vertical meters of steep steps, so you gain altitude fast. But the view from the top of the lookout is the best- you can clearly see the whole valley below, Mount Cook, and the 2 glacial lakes.

The next day we did the Hooker Valley walk for a second time, but it was worth it- its so much better on a clear day. The track ends at Hooker Glacial lake- I did a quick dip in the lake since it was warm outside, and we found an iceberg that floated near the shore, we chipped off a couple pieces and brought them back to camp so we could have an iceberg cocktail!

Feb 3: Yellow-Eyed Penguins

We came here for the penguins, and we found them. The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is the rarest penguin in the world, they nest on NZ's southern shores. Near Moeraki there is a lighthouse with a pretty good colony- decades ago, the lighthouse keepers created an environment for them to nest by planting native trees and shrubs, fencing off the area and trapping predators. After 6pm, the penguins return from the sea and walk back to their nests. There is a fenced-off area for them and from the cliffs we watched them slide-in from the sea on their bellies, then waddle up the hill. Some of them actually walk through the grass using the same trails as the human spectators, there were penguins everywhere! These particular penguins were quite used to people watching them. Of course, penguin watchers have to be respectful and keep a reasonable distance.
We filled our memory-cards with photos!

Feb 1: Moeraki Boulders

From the mountains it was only a 3 hour drive to the east coast. We went to the seaside town of Moeraki, famous for its giant spherical boulders on the beach. There is a well publicised group of boulders that always has a crowd of tourists, but thanks to the NZ Frenzy book, we also know about a less-known group of boulders a couple km's away at Shag Point. There was no-one else there when we visited. One of the boulders resembles a hot tub and is filled with sea water.
An interesting fact is that one of these boulders was excavated and an entire dinosaur skeleton was found inside- it is on display several km's south at the Otago museum, and very impressive! Of course, the only reason we know all this is because of the NZ Frenzy guide, we love that book!
Moeraki is an amazing place, it has a lot going on- apart from the boulders there is also penguins at the lighthouse, and good fishing- I caught my first delicious blue cod in one of the bays. 

Jan 30: Mount Cook Nat'l Park- 1st Attempt

Mount Cook National Park is home to some of the best, most scenic day hikes in the country- even the campground is surrounded by amazing scenery, set right in the valley leading to the country's highest mountain, and some of the hikes conveniently start right from Whitehorse campground.
We arrived on a hot, sunny afternoon, too late to start any of the walks. When we woke up in the morning, clouds had settled in low on the valley, blocking all the mountain views- it stayed that way for the 3 days we were there, sometimes pouring rain, sometimes so foggy you couldn't see beyond the parking lot.
We did the Ball flats route, an old 4x4 trail, at the end there are views of the Tasman glacier and lake- but it wasn't until after we had lunch the clouds cleared just enough to give us a peek at the lake below. We did get to see a couple mischievous Keas, they showed up as soon as we opened a plastic bag containing our lunch. They come right up close to people, and they love plastic and man-made things, they played with an old pair of sunglasses someone left behind.

The next day we tried the famous Hooker Valley walk, however the clouds cropped off the top of all the mountains, so it was just a foggy walk to a lake. Luckily, because we are in New Zealand for so long, we have the luxury of waiting for better weather to return, so we left for the coast and decided to keep an eye on the weather for a chance to come back

Jan 29: Lake Tekapo

Beautiful, ice-blue lake Tekapo is a glacial lake that gets its color from minerals in the water- on a sunny afternoon the color is unbelievable. Its also famous for its scenic church of the good shepherd, and on top of a hill there is Mt. John observatory. We made a visit to the Astro-Cafe for lunch, probably the best view of any coffee shop ever!
Although the water is cold, the weather was so hot when we were there we did plenty of swimming in the lake.
Also did the peninsula hike, and did the added trip down to see the white cliffs that nobody seems to know about- we would never have known about them if we didn't have Scott Cooks guide book, "New Zealand Frenzy", best guide book ever written!

Jan 26: Mount Sunday

After a long stay in Canterbury, we have worked through the busiest tourist season in New Zealand- from Christmas until the end of January. School holidays are now over and kids are going back to school, so things are much less chaotic on the roads. We are back on the road and our first stop is Ashburton lakes for some good camping, swimming, and a visit to Mt. Sunday, one of Peter Jackson's filming locations.
It was the set for Edoras, the village of Rohan on top of the hill. They constructed an entire village on this hill, but tore everything down after filming. Now it's just a nice, quiet, scenic place, a good walk for some mountain valley views. The only remaining LOTR evidence is the daily Lord of the Rings tour bus that drives people up the hill to take pictures with swords.

Dec 15/2014-Jan 25/2015: Workstay in Canterbury

We had a great time in Oxford, working for a couple with a small lifestyle block- we stayed a long time, and managed to get quite a bit of work done- built 2 decks, one for a spa pool, tore out old windows, put up new siding... Jill did loads of gardening and stained the deck among other things. We were so well looked after it didn't feel much like work, especially with the nice weather and our own cabin to sleep in.
We were in a good location, close to Christchurch, and we managed to get lots of work done on the van, fixed some small things and made some improvements, including bug screens so we can sleep with the windows open.
We especially had fun with their friendly 2 pugs, they were real characters and made sure to supervise all of our work.