New Zealand and Australia are interconnected in so many ways, much like the US and Canada. We even had to remind ourselves to take our passports! It felt like we were flying to another part of Australia. But, we quickly observed, and heard, some of the many differences. A few interesing bits -
- The Kiwi accent is similar to the Australian one, but different enough to be immediately obvious to Aussies. It's very similar to how Americans and Canadians can tell each other apart quickly. Interestingly, Aussies and Brits cannot tell the difference between Americans and Canadians. The Kiwis pronounce most "e's" like "i". So, the announcer at the airport told folks to go directly to the "Jitsta chickin counta" (Jetstar check-in counter). "A's" are prounced like "e's" and "i"s" get prounounced like "u's." Mia couldn't keep a straight face when a waitress asked who had ordered the "fush." (fish).
- New Zealand had no native mammals, just birds, fish and lizards. All the mammals have been introduced, some successfully and others not so much. The Kiwis
detest the bushtail possum which came from Australia. They have no predators in New Zealand and have flourished (to the tune of 70+ million), ruining plant life and eating baby birds along the way. We were strongly encouraged, numerous times, to run over any we saw in the road. Sam was very disturbed by this.
- New Zealand produces lots of deer meat for export. We saw huge fields of red Scottish deer. The meat is referred to as cervena, rather than venison, because they are protective of their farming methods and want the meat to have its own name. Ninety-nine percent of it gets exported to Germany. Who knew?
OK, back to the photos. Conditions on the west coast of the South Island are perfect for glacier formation and we went to check out two of them. They are unique in that they descend into subtropical rain forest. It was pouring a lot of the time so photography was not prioritized.
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| Chris and Sam make their way to the terminal face of the Franz Josef glacier. |
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The ice moves constantly, producing hazardous conditions, or just fun photo ops.
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The clouds lifted just enough to see some peaks.
Fox Glacier.
Pouring rain - oh well!
Glacier dangers. If the ice doesn't get you, the rocks might.
Would this be allowed in the US?
Lake Matheson is a small, still lake known for its gorgeous, reflected views of Mt. Cook (New Zealand's highest peak) and Mt. Tasman. Unfortunately, we were there on a cloudy, rainy day. The hike through rain forest was beautiful though.
Reflection
Lake Matheson sans peaks
Ferns are a national symbol in New Zealand. Leaves and fronds of all types and materials are everywhere. Even on your coffee!
Ball o' ferns in Wellington
From the glaciers we headed on another scenic drive back across the mountains to Queenstown. The wet weather continued but we caught some pretty sights along the way. We quickly learned to stay in the car after a couple of run-ins with biting sand flies!
Lake Wanaka
Queenstown was our base for the last part of our trip. It's a resort town on Lake Wakatipu known for its high adrenaline activities. We caught a glimpse of the gorgeous setting from our hotel before more rain set in.
Milford Sound, about 4 hours away from Queenstown, is known for its stunning peaks that seem to rise straight out of the water. It can look like this
but, sadly, we saw this.
There were numerous rainfalls flowing into the sound, some of which hadn't been active in weeks. This is one of the wettest areas in the world, with an average rainfall of 268 inches per year.
The Four Sisters
Seal Rock didn't disappoint.
U-shaped glacial valley on the way to Milford Sound.
Due to a Blogger glitch that we can't conquer, we'll add yet another New Zealand post, hopefully allowing the post to be easier to construct. So, we'll be back soon with more photos from our last days around Queenstown. The sun came back out!
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