Kenepuru Sound For Christmas

 Snorkelling? More like just swimming- there wasn't much to see!

 View from the balcony

Over Christmas we rented a holiday house in Kenepuru sound which is in the Marlborough sounds in the north part of the South Island. It is a beautiful area with lots of native bush and birds, although it is often quite windy. The Queen Charlotte hiking/biking track is nearby- which was really handy.

Pukaki

Spillway 

Lupins (a very invasive species- but colourful)

This past weekend I went whitewater kayaking near Lake Pukaki. The lake was dammed several years ago, and as compensation to the whitewater kayakers who protested the damming (because it destroyed the river below it), water is released from the dam a few times each year, making a nice little whitewater course once again. It's a very beautiful area!

Hope Halfway Hut

 Boyle River

Windy Point swing bridge

This was a nice little hike (about 3.5 hours each way) to a cute hut on the Hope river. There were even hot springs 100 m from the hut- but unfortunately they weren't exactly hot- more just lukewarm!

Cromwell, Queenstown & Dunedin

 Dunedin Golf Course

 Queenstown Botanical Gardens

 Lake Wakatipu (Queenstown)

 Walking in "the heart of desert"- near Cromwell

Kawarau river

Last week we spent 6 days travel around Otago. First we went to Dunedin, then Queenstown (for a conference), then to Cromwell to visit our friend Chantal. We had a great time! The weather in the Cromwell area was actually hot (30 degrees- a real rarity in New Zealand). It has it's own hot and dry micro climate!

Show Weekend Kayaking

 Buller River

 Granity Rapid (Grade 3. I decided I wasn't ready for this one yet!)

This past weekend was a long weekend in Canterbury, and I went to Murchison for whitewater kayaking (for the third year in a row). Brad decided not to come this time- he stayed home to golf in Christchurch and watch movies. It was beautiful- as it always is there.

Neighbourhood BBQ

After 3 years and 9 months of living here, we finally got to meet the rest of our neighbours at a neighbourhood BBQ. It was such a great idea. It's a very multicultural part of Christchurch with neighbours from Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea and of course New Zealand. The BBQ was held next door by a family from a city not too far from Mumbai. They were doing free Henna tattoos (which is a part-time business of theirs). This one on my arm took the artist less than two minutes (she is incredibly fast!)- although she said when she used to do weddings (and cover two arms and legs) it would take 7-8 hours.

Pelorus & Rye Rivers

 Campground kitchen

 Pelorus river- view from the campground

 Rye river

This past weekend was a long weekend and I went kayaking at the Pelorus & Rye rivers. The Pelorus river flows into the Pelorus Sound at the northern tip of the South Island (and the Rye flows into the Pelorus). The huge campground was in beautiful native forest, overlooking the river. Both the river trips we did ended right at it. It was also very quiet at the campground for a long weekend. The rivers were crystal clear- you could see down to the bottom, 20 ft below. A gorgeous part of NZ!
Brad was golfing in Nelson (not too far away) with a friend of his. Unfortunately he didn't get any pictures!

Helping with the Beginner's Kayak Course

This past weekend I helped out with the beginner's whitewater kayak course because a friend of mine was in it. We did an easy section of the Crooked river, which is close to the west coast (on the South Island). We had to go further because the water levels were too high on the rivers near Christchurch. We had great weather, which was such a relief! When I did the course 2 years ago it was raining, windy, and miserable!

Halswell Quarry Park

On Saturday we went for a walk up Halswell Quarry rim. It's a nice conservation area that used to be a quarry- with lots of trails. The views from the top of the rim are normally really good- but there was a bit of low cloud.

Side creeks

On Saturday I did a brief training course on how to help beginner kayakers (in preparation to help out with the upcoming beginner's course). I am not sure how much help I will be- but it should be fun! The water levels were really high on the Hurunui river, which meant they were also high on some of the side creeks. One of our group members decided  to run this waterfall (about 6 meters high). I thought I would pass on that for now!

Rakaia Walkway

On Sunday we went for a little walk about 1 hour west of Christchurch to get a nice view of the snow capped mountains before the snow is all gone. Another sunny Canterbury day!

Mt. Dobson and Roundhill

There is about a month and a half left of the ski season. These two ski hills were my favourite NZ ski hills so far. (Although I've only been to 7). The access roads were not as treacherous and it seemed like there were practically no people- even though it was the weekend. (I guess that's what you get when you are willing to drive an extra hour and half from Christchurch).

Magnolias and daffodils

It's sure nice to come back from summer only to find that it's spring!

Bay of Plenty & Firth of Thames

 Backyard of the Miranda bird sanctuary field station where we stayed.

 Bird sanctuary in the Firth of Thames. There are so many different types of shorebirds in NZ- significantly more than forest birds.

 Karangaheke gorge

 Waihi beach. It was so calm and warm- for moment you might think it was a tropical island. (In the summer- yes- but not quite in the winter)

 View from the top of Mount Manganui (the 200 m high hill that the town is named after). The beach there is gorgeous!

Kelly & I  at the top of Mount Manganui

 Waterfall near Lake Tarawera

 The cute bach we stayed in at Ohiwa

Chantal & I at Ohiwa beach

For the long weekend (Queen's birthday) I went to the North Island to visit a friend who is living there at the moment (in Mount Manganui). We picked the right place to be and had fantastic weather. I forgot how much warmer the North island is than the south- especially at night. We travelled from the Auckland airport to the Miranda bird sanctuary at the Firth of Thames, then to Mount Manganui, and then to Ohiwa beach- going on some lovely 1-2 hour walks at some beautiful places along the way.

Hagley

It was a calm and sunny autumn weekend and we went for a couple walks- one around Hagley park. Even when nothing is in bloom, it's still beautiful!

Edwards Hut

This was a beautiful walk along the Edwards river to a really nice hut. The scenery along the way was really varied- river bed with rivers crossings, and different types of native forest. There was no one else out on the track and we had the whole hut to ourselves. The weather wasn't supposed to be that great but it turned out to be excellent. We even heard Kiwis at night!