Akaroa Wedding

Cruise ship in the Akaroa harbour. 

Because of it the town was much busier than normal!

This weekend our friends got married in the quaint town of Akaroa, 1 hour from Christchurch. It was beautiful- with the best food we've ever had at a wedding!

Auckland

 The Harbour

Sky City Tower

This past weekend we went to Auckland for a big concert and to explore the area because we haven't spent much time there yet. Unfortunately I had the flu so we didn't get out to some of the nearby islands that we wanted to get to- but we had a spectacular time at the concert and still got to see some of the city.

"Fairlie" good New Years

For New Year's Eve we went to Fairlie- a small town 2.5 hours southwest of Christchurch. There isn't a whole lot to do in Fairlie but there are a few nice lakes nearby that are actually pretty warm for swimming (a real rarity in NZ).

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!