The two cyclones off the coast of New Zealand have finally caught up with us. After spending days in the outdoors, Dunedin just didn't seem very interesting to me. To be fair, the rain had a lot to do with it. You may recall if you've been reading my earlier posts that I ripped my rain shell on our second day in Queenstown. We also decided to do some laundry, but nothing was dry by morning. I spent most of the day being either damp or soaking wet. We visited the Botanical gardens and got lunch on the Otago peninsula. We also tried to get a peek at Larnach's castle, but couldn't get close without paying.
Visiting the botanical gardens in Dunedin
Seafood chowder on Otago peninsula.
From Dunedin we headed north hoping to see a few more sites before arriving at my fifth cousin's house. We missed out on seeing the blue penguin colony near Oamaru, they wanted us to pay $30 each just to see them from a distance (and no pictures or video allowed).
The Moeraki boulders aren't much fun at high tide in the rain...
Victorian Lamb Fry: a good reminder that I don't really care for the taste/texture of liver.
We spent two nights and a day just outside of Timaru with my fifth cousin whom my aunt met through ancestry.com. It was very nice of him to put us up and drive us all around Mackenzie country. We got a lot of our New Zealand questions answered thanks to my cousin. It was still raining during our stay.
Maori cave drawings mixed with modern graffiti.
Sheep thief namesake of the best Merino wool region in NZ.
On Friday we left the Timaru region and made the long drive through the Haast pass. The weather was awful.
A rugby altar we passed on the way.
Lake Wanaka
The "Blue" pools looking rather green...
Waterfall after crossing the Haast pass
Yesterday has a long day of driving. Today we took it easy and enjoyed the break in the clouds along the west coast. We visited the Fox glacier, Lake Matheson, and the Franz-Josef glacier. We lingered for quite some time at Lake Matheson in the hopes of seeing Mount Cook, so we didn't get into Hokitika until after dark. Tomorrow is Easter and another long drive to the northern tip of the South Island.
Fox glacier
Mount Cook was a no show. Skunked on both sides of the Southern Alps.
Double rainbow all the way.
Ran up the valley to catch the Franz-Josef glacier at sunset.