Friday 29 December 2006

Red Box

An addictive little game that I suck at.

RedSquare

Monday 18 December 2006

Skype

I finally gave in and downloaded skype. So feel free to give me a call.

Thursday 14 December 2006

Nowra Climbing

Once upon a time I went climbing in Nowra a few months ago at thompsons point and this is the only photo I have to show for it. The campsite opposite the cliffs is very good and allows you to borrow kayaks to paddle across the river.

Tompsons Point Nowra

Family

Caught up with a few of the relatives while I was over in NZ, it was particularly good to see my niece for the first time and my Newphew for the first time in two years.

Reese
Reese, not the best expression but the only close up photo in focus so it will do.

Reese and Adelle
Reese and Adelle.

Nana and Adelle
Nana and Adelle.

Warrick
Warrick and a sheep.

Mediocre NZ cities

First up Auckland.

Auckland Museum
The Auckland Museum, not a bad place to visit for a few hours. Unlike the suburb of Avondale which is a horrible little ghetto.

Rotorua, not really worth it and everything is horribly expensive.

Stinky Bubbler
Stinky mud pit.

More Stinkyness
Another one these can be seen for free in the local park. The only thing in the entire city that costs less than $25 pp.

Trout
It cost $ 25 to see these and you are not even allowed to catch them.

Wednesday 13 December 2006

Mount Cook

First time I have actually managed to get a good view of mount cook was on this trip, so I made the most of it and took a lot of photos.

Hooker valley
Hooker Valley with mount Cook in the background.

Hooker Valley and Cook
Hooker Glacier.

Adelle an Aoraki
Adelle

Glacial Lake
Glacial lake.

Tasman Glacier
Tasman Glacier.

Mt Cook
Mt Cook, nicely showing off both it's low and high peaks.

Sefton Sunset
Sunset over mount sefton.

Mount cook lilly
Mount Cook lilly.

Towards Mount Cook

Only one night was spent in the mount cook village but the weather was good providing us with some great views of the mountains. Unlike an organic PhD and despite the title we did make it to the intended target.

Clay Cliffs 2
The clay cliffs near omarama.

Clay Cliffs
Climbing into this little slot I was lucky to see my first rock dove (feral pigeon) in an actual wild environment.

Omarama
River near Omarama.

Lindis Pass
Lindis Pass

Lindis Pass 2
Lindis pass again.

Sharlin Falls
Sharplin falls on the side of Mount Sommers, which is nearly in Christchurch but I'm struggling to fit all my pictures in to the posts.

Sheep
Encountered at least three of these temporary road blocks.

From the top of a hill near twisel
From the top of a hill near twizel.

To Wanaka

After spending a few nights in Franz Josef it was time to move on to Wanaka.
A rapid change in the climate was noticeable driving over Haast pass into the considerably drier eastern side of the southern alps.

Rob Roy Glacier Walk
Adelle showing off her rock hopping technique.

Dimond Lake
Diamond Lake, near Wanaka.

Sharks Tooth
West Matukituki valley, sharks tooth is the little pointy peak in the middle.

Rob roy Glacier
The rob roy glacier, which involves a nice little three hour walk.

Adelle and the rob roy glacier
Adelle

Franz Josef Glacier

Decided to be a proper tourist and joined the masses for a walk on a glacier.

Franz Josef 4
Picture showing the terminal face and the cave that the river runs out of.

Franz Josef Glacier
Same as above.

Franz Josef 3
On the glacier.

Franz Josef 2
Close up view.

On Franz Josef Glacier
Adelle

Fox Glacier
Fox Glacier, not the one we climbed on but we saw it the next day on the drive to wanaka.

Birds of NZ

Some of the birds I managed to see on the trip, there were no kiwis to be seen sadly eventhough we did travel through a few areas where they live.

Tui
Tui

Ducks
There is a pair of paradise shelducks in this tree, the female is the orange one with a white head.

Grey Teal
Grey teal

Dunnock
Dunnock.

Magpie geese
Magpie geese

Mount Cook
Black billed gull, with Mount Cook in the background.

Rifleman
Rifleman, New Zealands smallest bird.

Welcome Swallow
Welcome Swallow.

Weka
Weka

Kea
Kea.

Paradise Shelduck
Female Paradise Shelduck.

Male Paradise Duck?
Male Paradise shelduck

Dirty Aussie
Wallaby, yellowhammer, House sparrow and juvenile Chaffinch.

West Coast

After Arthurs Pass, we drove down to Franz Josef along the west coast, which is my favourite part of the whole country.
Managed to pick up a really dodgy hitch hiker that hadn't showered for a few months along the way but he only stayed for few hundred kilometres.

Near Lake Matheson
Near lake Matheson, which is a place famous for giving lovely views of mount cook, however not when we were there.

Lake Matheson
Lake Matheson.

West Coast 3
Beach near hokitika.

West Coast 2
West coast farm land.

No penguins
Supposedly a good place to go to see fiordland crested penguin, didn't see any of those but I did spot a flock of Kaka on the walk in.

West Coast 1
West coast river.