March 4-8: Queenstown

I can't count how many times we were told by people around NZ that we'd love Queenstown- it's probably the most prominent tourist center in the south island. For many, its their favorite part of the country, for some I think its the only place they visit. Queenstown reminds us of any ski resort village in Canada, but with more Gucci stores and just thriving with tourists. The local airport brings in jetloads of fresh tourists daily, and all the young travelers flock to Queenstown to work and party, live in overcrowded super-hostels, jump out of planes, bungy, jetboat, etc.
Queenstown is in a beautiful setting on lake Wakatipu with the Remarkables mountain range as the backdrop, but this town is all about commercial tourism.
To be honest, although we loved the areas surrounding, we just aren't big fans of QT. We are in NZ for a long time and have to stretch out our funds, plus we're just not into the manufactured adventure-tainment- theres always a pricetag, and you can easily drop thousands in a couple days. We were more than happy to do our usual hikes into scenic viewpoints and explore, and of course every 30 mins we'd hear screams from the sky above, and a few seconds later 3 parachutes would open up. You can always hear the jetboats in the river valleys, and any campsite near town is always heaving with people.
We did find a campsite off the beaten path that was just beautiful, Moke Lake. Not a long way from town, but a long gravel road to get in. It was set between the hills and the lake was swimmably warm.
We did the walk up Queenstown hill for an awesome view. The Bendigo gold ruins were very cool, it looked like the wild west,very dry and dusty hills, with ruins of entire towns. There's so much in Bendigo you could spend days there if you were inerested in the history.

Clifden Cave

This was so cool it deserves its own entry!
West of Invercargill is a small underground adventure called Clifden Cave. You enter a simple hole in the ground and exit another hole just 300m down the road- but you travel about a mile underground through the limestone caves! There was lots of crouching, squeezing through tight passages, climbing up and down, and halfway we came upon a couple german tourists who told us "the way is blocked, there is a lake". They were right, there is an underground pool, about 8 feet wide, maybe 5 feet deep, with no obvious way across. But we came prepared, having done our research! At the left side of the pool there is a ledge just under the water, no more than 5 inches wide, but its angled and easy to slip into the pool and be soaked. We just took our sweet time and by some miracle made it across without falling in. The rest of the cave was easier with lots of stalactites and stalagmites, and an underground waterfall. 

Feb 24-Jan 3: Invercargill/Sparky's

Invercargill is the southernmost city. Home to Burt Munro for those who have seen the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins. We took a drive on Oreti beach where he used to race his bikes, also saw his motorcycles and bits and pieces at a local hardware store.
Bluff is one of the southernmost points of the south island, there is one of those touristy-signposts like at the northernmost Cape Reinga, so we have offically gone from "Reinga to Bluff".
We also did a short workstay at Sparky's backpackers- a fun and friendly hostel where the owner, Sparky, needed a gate built to keep his pet goat, Lily, out of the hostel.
I was encouraged to put a personal signature on it, so I put up a plywood maple leaf and named it "Tim Horton's Gate" with a plaque- so Canadians are represented in this part of the world. It took a while to explain what Tim Hortons means- no-one understands how crappy coffee could be so popular.

Paua Diving

One of the unique pass times I can do only in New Zealand is diving for Paua. They are a species of Abalone endemic to NZ, a single-shelled sea snail that cling to rocks in 2-4 meters of water. The meat is black on the outside, white on the inside, and I think tastes like a cross between squid and scallops, though the meat is a little tough. Of course the shells are beautiful and worth saving for souvenirs.
There are strict regulations due to over harvesting. They can only be caught by free-diving, so no scuba equipment, I just use a snorkel. The minimum shell size is 125mm- I measured these before prying off the rocks and they turned out to be just over 125.
They grow bigger in colder water of the south, so this is the ideal place to go looking for them, its just a matter of finding sheltered bays where its actually safe to swim, the open sea is out of the question down south.
We cooked these up into Paua fritters, a classic Kiwi recipe.

Feb 10-23: The Catlins

The Catlins is a region in the far south of the south island between Dunedin and Invercargill. We've wanted to go there ever since the movie "Two Little Boys".
It was once totally off the beaten path, but it is nowadays starting to get more tourism. Nonetheless, we found it to be quieter than other regions we've been.
The Catlins is all about rugged coastal scenery, and some of the best marine wildlife viewing in the country. This whole coast faces Antarctica, and therefore the sea is colder, the winds stronger, and the coast is bashed by a seemingy neverending southerly swell. Yellow-eyed penguins, little blue penguins, sea lions, and Hectors Dolphins can be seen at the right places.
We went east to west, starting at Nugget point lighthouse, where there was a penguin on the beach of roaring bay at noon (very unusual time of day for him to be there!)
Some other famous sights are Jack's Blowhole and Cathedral caves, and inland there are bush walks to some nice waterfalls.
Curio Bay was a great place to spend a couple days. Its got a lot going on- a fossilized forest on the tidal shelf, at 6pm penguins hop over the petrified stumps up to their nest, we watched one feed his/her chicks. Where else in the world can you see that!
There is also a group of Hectors Dolphins living in the bay and can be seen daily, I am told they are the rarest dolphin in the world.
Also found some good fishing there, I went out at 5am when it was still dark, and surprised some blue penguins on their daily march to sea.
I caught a Rig Shark, about 3 foot long. They're great eating white flesh, and provided 2 solid meals for us. I like shark, no bones!

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!