possibly the best part of the museum was the penguin exhibit. we had the penguins to ourselves, possibly because we were there so late in the day:

on our way out we passed through a room that had snow flurries:


our last night in the camper! we parked close to the airport, even though we had a mid afternoon flight. here's finn snacking on some olives... hopefully he didn't swallow any pits!


this was the last picture i took on the trip. i never did take any shots of us in the airplanes. i wish i had since finn is such a big airplane nut now. (he calls them "Wow" and sort of makes the airplane sign).

that's it for the NZ blog / summary. hope you enjoyed it!

we arrived in Christchurch with enough time to go through the Antarctic Museum. Christchurch is one of the major staging areas for expeditions to Antarctica. (Pietro left through there, though we saw no mention of him in the museum).

there were some neat exhibits, though we didn't spend much time reading the info since finn was running around.

debbie and finn posing in front of a Antarctic skyscape:


they had a room where they had a polar storm every ten minutes. they dropped the temp to -10 C and had 30 mph winds. (they let you borrow a parka). finn didn't know what to think and eventually burried his head into debbie's coat:



after the "storm" there was a little ice slide that debbie and finn went down. it shot them down fast.

there were clothes for people to try on:


and lots of different snow mobiles to ride:

our final full day proved to be rainy and cool. the town of Lake Tekapo was famous for a cute little church on the edge of the lake:


next to the church is a statue commemorating the border collie. apparently the area is a big for sheep grazing:


we spent much of the day driving back towards Christchurch. we took a scenic route rather than the main highway (which probably would have been fairly scenic too). we did pass huge numbers of sheep:

after the dip in the Blue Lakes, we left the Mt Cook area. we made for the town of Lake Tekapo, and found a camp ground next to the lake. debbie got some laundry going while i took finn down to the water.

though warmer than the Blue Lakes, it was too cold to swim. finn did wade in up to knees, in addition to throwing rocks and harassing ducks:



later on, finn was being silly in the camper. playing tug of war over a napkin with his teeth:


then he was sliding the removable hood of a matchbox car on the table, making a loud noise:



that evening, clouds rolled in over the mountain pass, literally:

we breaked for lunch when we were done with the Red Tarns hike. then i really had to push for a small hike that was nearby. it went to Tasman Glacier and the Blue Lakes. supposedly only about 20 minute hike total. part of the sell was the Blue Lakes were advertised as good swimming holes. we had no showers the previous day, and had done two sweaty long hikes.

first we came to Tasman Glacier & Lake. not much to look at with all the dirt and ruble on top, but apparently this is the biggest glacier in New Zealand:



then we saw the Blue Lakes. anyone for a swim?

fortunately, there were three or four pools. the next two looked like the above. the last pool looked more inviting:


the water took your breath away, but it did feel good to get the sweat off. i got finn wet up to his chest (he didn't like it), and took a full plunge myself. debbie just dipped her feet in.

the next morning we packed up and headed for our next hike. we decided to let finn drive. notice how he's carefully checking his side view mirrrors:



there were many hikes in the Mt Cook area to choose from, and not enough time for them all. somehow we managed to choose the most difficult hike. it was basically one long rocky set of stairs. i wound up starting with finn in the backpack carrier. part way up, we made him walk:


he did a pretty good job. the hike started in the town, which you can see way way down below. (Mt Cook in the back ground again):



we ran into an older couple, maybe in their seventies or eighties, that did the hike with their daughter. we were very impressed they tackled the hike. especially since they knew what they were in for since they had done the hike a decade ago.

this was pretty much at the top. we came across these view finder things a few times during our trip. if you point the dial at a peak, it tells you what you are looking at.



the end of the hike led us to the Red Tarns. tarns are small alpine pools. there was a boardwalk over some of the soft ground:


they were called the Red Tarns because of the copper/red colored pondweed that you can see growing in this shot:

obligatory rock in pool:


and finn enjoying a milk break after the hike:

we started heading back toward the camp ground. here's a shot of the Hooker River looking down the valley:

debbie carried finn on the way back. they're peering over the side of one of the swinging bridges:



climbing the side of a cliff face (glad for the railing again):


i stayed on the bridge while they climbed so i could get a good shot:



okay, i might have tilted the camera a bit to give a more dramatic angle to the cliff:


finn was getting cranky and tired of being in the backpack. whenever i stopped to take a few pictures, debbie would keep going. then i'd have to hustle to catch up. that gave me the chance to get a shot with them and the whole valley. you can see the blue water of Lake Pukaki in the far background. you can also see part of the Mt Cook town at the foot of the mountain in the upper right of the photo:

at last we made it back to the camper, and finn was reunited with michy. this little grassy spot was directly behind our camper:


later on, when the sun was going down, we took a walk through the camp. here's a family portrait of us on a foot bridge. i think i was trying to get Mt Cook in the back ground, but that got kind of washed out.
here's a shot of Mt Cook with the fading sunlight: