i'd better get the rest of the NZ stuff posted before i forget what we were doing!

in the last post we had just arrived at the Mt Cook national park. we parked the camper in the camp ground and started a hike to Hooker Lake. debbie had met a scientist at the meeting that did some traveling before the conference. they had said they did this hike and that they were totally frozen by winds coming off the glaciers and through the valley. we had much better weather, very hot actually, but debbie made sure we had cold weather gear.

the trail led through moraine fields and along the milky white Hooker river. there were several swinging bridges over the water along the way. here's the first:



debbie was happy to have a railing for parts of the hike. if you look closely you can she is carrying a few rocks for finn to periodically toss into the water:


finn and i crossing the second swinging bridge:


our shadows from the bridge:



the hike proved to be the longest of the trip (i think). three to four hours for the whole out-and-back. Hooker Lake was milky white, just like the river. it also had a few icebergs floating in it. we stopped there for a good rest and had snacks:



and finn tossed more rocks:


here's finn with the Hooker Glacier and Mt Cook in the background:

the next day, we drove from Wanaka to Aorkai / Mt. Cook National Park. one the way, the terrain turned more arid and once again reminded us of central and eastern washington state:


some of the Lord of the Rings was filmed in this area. (scenes from Edoras, where the horse people lived)



we stopped at a scenic overlook for one of our first glimpses of Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand:



the road to the park followed the edge of Lake Pukaki for about half an hour. the glaciers in the area finely grind up rock to give the lake the cool opaque turquoise color.


we stopped by the town, which was really just a few lodges, a cafe or two, and the ranger station. we picked up a map from the ranger station and went to the camp ground. the camp ground had toilets, but no showers or electric hookup. we couldn't quite see Mt. Cook from the camp ground, but we could see this:



here's finn stomping around next to the van in the parking lot:

one of the least fun parts of our trip was getting finn to eat and getting enough of a chance to try to enjoy our own food. he was sick for much of the trip which probably led to a lower appetite. but we also gave him as much milk in a sippy cup as he wanted. so pretty much anytime we were driving, he was sucking away at a thing of milk. we now think that he had no appetite because of all the milk he was drinking.

since we got back, we've been trying to get rid of the sippy cup. that means more milk gets spilt on the floor and less into finn. it also means he has had this wonderful appetitie. we don't have to try to cram food down his face anymore since he is so hungry.

anyway, after playing down at the lake, we went back to the camper for some hamburgers. here was the view out the back of the camper. you can sort of see the lake behind the trees:


this was one of the more picturesque camp grounds that we visited. our camper:


that evening, debbie accidently shut finn's fingers in the camper door. we felt particularly bad, because we had both been losing patience with him that evening. (see above about food). he cried quite a bit. we got some ice but the pinky & ring finger swelled up anyway.

he was still acting up when debbie usually got him ready for bed, so i took him for a walk. we saw some bunnies and chased each other down this path:



we also went down to the lake to toss a few more rocks into the water. here we are saying 'cheese' for the camera:


by the time we got back, finn was finally tired enough for a story and bed:

our destination for the evening was the town of Wanaka, at the base of the lake of the same name. we had actually planned to do a hike to Mount Irons when we got there. but with all the walking we had done earlier and the fact that the hike was up a mountain and that it was hot and the hike exposed, we decided to skip it.

instead we went into down town Wanaka to get supplies. i also wanted to stop at a camera shop. i had brought two batteries, but not the charger. back when we were in Christchurch, i bought another battery, and it was still going strong. but i wasn't sure it would make it the rest of the trip. the camera store charged two of my batteries for NZ$10.

while we waited for them to charge, we went to the lake front. we should have changed finn into his swim trunks, as it was pretty warm. instead we walked along the beach and eventually came to a play ground.

they had a brontosaurus slide:


fun for all ages!


and a teeter totter. finn actually kept his hat on for a change:


after the play ground, we got ice cream cones, actually we got waffle cones. we had bought ice cream cones on our day trip to Akoroa. finn was excited about ice cream cones, but waffle cones looked too different! he was brought to tears and refused to try it for some time. somehow we got him to take a taste and everything turned out okay.

we picked up the camera batteries and headed to a campground. it was on an arm of the lake, so we went down to the water to check it out.

finn had a great time tossing stones and poking a stick into the mud:





he would have been happy doing this for hours:


his shorts and diaper did wind up getting wet. and it wasn't a short walk carrying a wet baby back to the camper:

our next stop was a 30 minute hike to the Blue Pools. we had a couple of swinging bridges to cross. we still held on tight even though we were no veteran swinging bridge crossers:

the pools were a pretty neat, aqua green color, like many of the other pools or rivers:




after three water fall hikes and the blue pool hike in the morning, finn conked out for a long nap. we continued driving and made it to the west side of the mountains. the terrain got significantly less lush, but no less impressive. parts of it actually reminded us of eastern washington state where we lived.

the road twisted along the banks of two large man made lakes. Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea were both formed by hydro-electric projects. there were a number of pull offs with views, but didn't seem like there was much in the way of hikes. which was okay since finn was napping.

i think the first photo is Lake Wanaka, and the other three are Lake Hawea. they looked pretty similar:

the next set of falls was directly off the highway. scenic spot signposts always estimated how long a hike would be, and this one said "two minutes." it took us less than that i think (you could see the falls from the parking lot).

these are Fan Tail Falls:


i suppose these are particularly popular falls since they are directly off the highway. it seems that everyone that visits has to build a cairn. you couldn't turn around without tripping over another cairn. some were elaborate and reasonably sound structures. others were just stacks of river rocks. (there were quite a few folks milling about and i had to wait a few moments to take pictures without other tourists in view).



i wondered if spring snow melt washed the cairns over every year.


is it bad luck to use someone's cairn stones as river fodder?


this was a pull-off somewhere along the highway. you can see one of the one lane bridges and the road continuing into the hills. the higher up and farther from the coast we got, the more the terrain changed from rain forest to this sort of view:

by spending the night on the peninsula south of Haast, we were now two days behind on our itinerary. (remember we had eight days to a five day trip). from the Haast area, we turned inland and into the Southern Alps.

the road wound through the hills sometimes steeply. we had to pull over on shoulders often to let speedier traffic go by. we came across a number of short hikes to water falls or other scenic spots.

the first stop was Roaring Billy Falls, which i'm sure would be more impressive during spring melt offs. (as would all of the falls, i suppose). the aqua colored river was actually more impressive than the falls, which can be seen in this shot:


the Roaring Billy Falls walk was only twenty minutes, we didn't stay too long since we knew we had some ground to cover. i'm sure finn tossed a few rocks into the river:


next was Thunder Creek Falls. that might have been a fifteen minute walk. these were a but more impressive:


i did have to do some correction for this photo. in the original the bright background washed out debbie & finn:


more innocent rocks met their watery fate: