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!