In and around Christchurch

The Avon River, Botanic Gardens, Mona Vale Gardens, Sumner Seaside Village, and Port Hills with views of Lyttelton Harbor, the Canterbury Plains, and Christchurch City.

Punakaiki to Christchurch

Traveling via Greymouth to Arthur's Pass we boarded the TranzAlpine train to travel through the Southern Alps to Christchurch.

Franz Josef to Punakaiki

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier is the world's most accessible and still advancing glacier. We hiked through the Westland Tai Poutini National Park to view the glacier.

Queenstown to Franz Josef

We visited the historic gold mining village of Arrowtown where there are remains of an old Chinese settlement. We stopped at Dunstan, Hawea, and Wanaka lakes, Haast Pass, and Thunder Creek Falls. The last picture is taken at Knights Point looking west to the Tasman Sea with Tasmania 1700 km away. To the southwest there is no land between this point and Antarctica.

Lake Wakatipu

Tonight we took an evening cruise across Queenstown's Lake Wakatipu aboard New Zealand's oldest steamship, the TSS Earnslaw. We had dinner at the Walter Peak High Country Farm, then watched sheep dog and sheep shearing demonstrations.