New Zealand

Brisbane

2006-09-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

Today has been all around a great day. I checked in for my flight to Brisbane this morning and the person helping me made sure i had a window seat and reserved the other two seats next to me so I would have a whole row to myself. The flight ended up being full except for my row and i think that confused a few people who were fighting for my isle seat....I arrive in Brisbane a bit late today, but that was made up for by the hotel i am staying in, the Carlton Crest. I have to say it is one of the nicest hotels i've ever been in. With in minutes of settling in to my room a free bottle of champagne was delivered to my room!! After relaxing for a bit and taking a shower i was picked up by Andrew Smith, who i know through a cigar store here. We proceeded to meet up with Lisa, who also works at the store and had a few drinks and a very nice dinner (the name escapes me but I will come up with it before i leave). I appologize but no pictures from tonight but i will do my best to catch up tomorrow. Sounds like they have a great couple of days in store for me here and I will keep you all up todate...

Last night in Palmerston

2006-09-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Relaxing with Amy's flatmates after a nice trout meal!! (Amy has a picture of the feast, will post when i get it)
The selection of wines we had with dinner!!! (no they are not all mine!!)

Lake Topo

2006-09-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

View driving around Lake Tapo
View of the lake near the boat ramp.
First Catch of the day.
View from the boat.
After about an hour of fishing (there are two more in a bucket under my feet!!)
A snow covered Mt. Doom (from lord of the rings)
More snow covered mountains on the drive from Tapo to Palmerston.

Wine tasting in Hawke's Bay

2006-09-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Wine tasting at Hatton Estate Vineyard. Guy in the grey sweater is the winemaker and we are in the temp. controlled wine storage room enjoying some of the good stuff. (he only sells to top notch restaurants like Boulevard!!)
The really good stuff you have to label yourself.
I'm putting the finishing touches on a bottle of "The Doctor" Syrah.

Random pictures from Palmerston North

2006-09-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of the fine places to visit while in Palmerston (It was closed when i stopped by)
Part of the windfarm located just outside of Palmerston.

Off to Brisbane

2006-09-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday turned out to be a great day. On the advice of several locals in Napier I headed up to Lake Topo and had a great day of Trout Fishing. I caught 6 very nice sized fish and brought 3 home and cooked for Amy and her flat mates. Now i am getting ready to head off to Brisbane. I will work on pictures from the past few couple of days and try to post them tonight.

Napier

2006-09-11T03:22:00.000-07:00

I headed up to Napier today on my own since Amy had a bit of biochem studying to do. I arrived around 1pm and was able to jump on a wine tour through Hawks Bay with a british family. After visiting some fantastic vineyards we went out to dinner at a place called Soak located within the Ocean spas and then played a few games of pool at a local bar. I have some great pictures from our day that I will post when i get back to Palmerston North tomorrow night.

Video Test

2006-09-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Jason sent me some HTML code to post videos but I have not been able to connect with my FTP server to upload the videos so I am trying out a free video service to see how it works. I know I know, you are all saying you are in NZ and should be out doing things, but today is cold, cloudy and very windy so i'm taking my time heading out. The quality is not that great so i will work on it more when i get home. Until then here is a video of the baby seals playing in a waterfall:

Palmerston North

2006-09-09T03:20:00.000-07:00

Well our vacation on the south island has come to an end and we are back at Amy's flat in Palmerston North. Yesterday was beautiful day we spent touring the vineyards. We started off at Lawson's dry hills, then went to witherhills, and then had lunch at whitehaven. In the afternoon we visited Ta Whare Ra (by far the best), mud hills, seresin, and cloudy bay. We ended the day at the local chocolate factory. We were accompanied by a copule from Melbourne who turned out to be a lot of fun. We ended up having dinner at a place called Bacchus that was very tasty. I have posted a few more pictures from our trip to Kaikoura and a few from Blenheim (we did not take many due to the large amount of wine consumed).

Now that Amy has to get back to her studies I plan on making a trip to another part of the north island but i'm not sure exactly where yet. Perhaps Hawks bay for more wine tasting or up to one of the lakes for some trout fishing. I will keep you all informed!! More pictures to come!!

Blenheim

2006-09-09T03:16:00.000-07:00

Drive to Blenheim
Jim at the Seresin Vineyard
Veiw from the Witherhills estate

Day in Kaikoura

2006-09-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

Amy and the seals (sleeping on the left behind the rocks)
View from the tasting room of the Kiakoura Vineyard
Amy outside the Kaikoura Vineyard
View from the warf on south bay Kaikoura
Another view from the warf
Seal that came up to check out the boat
View from the boat back toward Kaikoura
Juvinile Albatross
Amy fishing
Jim with some Sea Pearch (they sure look like huge goldfish, yummy!!)
Baby Seals playing in a freshwater waterfall (I have video I will post once Jason tells me how to do it)

Blenheim

2006-09-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

After a full day of fun in Kaikoura including some off shore fishing for sea pearch and blue cod, dolphin watching, feeding albatross, checking out the seal colony, wine tasting, and watching baby seals play in a fresh water waterfall; we packed up our fish, bought a crayfish and headed to Blenheim were we stayed in a backpackers called Koanui. We enjoyed a huge dinner of fish, crayfish, potatoes and of course local wine while meeting two girls from Germany and a couple from Arizona. Today we are going on a full day wine tour and moving to the Ch Marlborough for one last night stay on the south island. Sorry no pics right now as the computer i'm using does not have a way to upload them from my memory card or camera. Will try later on tonight hopefully with some great vineyard shots as well!!

Kaikoura

2006-09-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

After a nice day of caving in Greymouth we decided to head over to the east coast and visit the town of Kaikoura. We have plans to go deep sea fishing in the afternoon and then head up to Blenhiem in the evening. Here are some pictures from the drive over and the sunrise this morning.

Views driving over Lewis pass.

Amost a full moon, we are getting our howling shoes on!!
View from our room at the seaview motel.
Sunrise at 6:45am!!

Caving in Greymouth

2006-09-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Todays caving group, a little bigger than yesterday!!

The hike in.

The group getting ready to head into the cave..

Cave entrance, looks a little better today!!

Getting ready to go through some neat side caves!!

I think something just swam by my leg!!

Underground waterfalls are cool!!

Amy in a tight spot!!

Jim about to be sliding backwards!!

Amy riding down the waterslide

Amy falling in a deep puddle on the hike out..

caving the first try

2006-09-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Our small group, including the guide, Mitch
We are all excited to go caving!!
A view along the hike to the cave
The inside of the cave, as seen by only Mitch. Guess we will have to try again tomorrow.

Caving the first try

2006-09-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Since caving was a bust we decided to hit the local pub, but since we were not wearing the proper attire we had to stay outside..

Steve Irwin

2006-09-05T03:22:00.000-07:00

As i'm sure many know the Croc. Hunter Steve Irwin was killed a couple of days ago..Not sure how much press it is getting back home but here it is a big deal and many seem to be directly effected by it....Just thought i would share that little bit...

Greymouth

2006-09-05T03:15:00.000-07:00

Amy and I just finished eating dinner in the Hotel, turns out there is a good place right in the hotel to eat dinner. This was a good thing since most the places around town had closed up by around 8pm...The hotel bar is situated right next to the wireless network so i am enjoying some local brew next to the fire while typing. Hope to have lots of good pictures from caving tomorrow!! Cheers...

Greymouth

2006-09-05T03:11:00.000-07:00

This is the view along the river located accross the street from our hotel, the Kingsgate. We got stuck in the rooms with no view which for the price we paid is a crime!! All in all it is a nice hotel, but i'm sure one can find better!!

View from our hotel in Fox Glacier

2006-09-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

These three pictures make up the panoramic view from our back porch...I think this is the best part of our hotel as I would not recommend in the future.

Rain Rain Go Away!!

2006-09-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

We we arrived safely in Greymouth today. Along the way we experienced heavy sideways rain which made the driving lots-o-fun!! We also resisted urges to stop at the Puke pub, in Pukakera where they boast a huge sign inviting travelers to stop in and try one of their fine possum delicacies including possum pie!!!

We checked in to the Wild West Adventure company for the Dragon Cave tour which includes tramping through a cave and floating along glowworm filled caverns on tubes. However after getting all decked out in wetsuits and gum boots and hiking through the rain forest for 20 min to the entrance, our guide decided the mass amounts of rain had made the cave unsafe...so we returned and enjoyed some time in the spa and a beer. We will be trying again tomorrow morning when the weather is going to be much better... Pictures to be posted tomorrow after we are done!! Also we have made a decision to head to the east coast tomorrow night and visit the coastal town of Kaikoura for some whale watching and fishing!! More to come after that adventure!!

More Pictures from Fox Glacier

2006-09-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

Picture of Fox Glacier from the begining of the trek...

More Pictures from Hokitika

2006-09-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

The rivers around here have some really cool colors, this one is a milky mint!!

Dorthy Falls Near Hokitika

Fox Glaicer

2006-09-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past day or so, we ran out of internet time in Hokitika and then had to travel to Fox Glaicer for our Glacier tramp. As you can see we made it, despite the monsoon like weather we encountered along the way. Apon arriving in Fox Glaicer Matheson Cafe located near the tramp to Lake Matheson. We enjoyed a nice latte and watched the rain while waiting for our scheduled tramp on the glaicer. We then headed over to Alpine Guides and geared up with foul weather gear and prepared for our half day on the glacier. The weather held out quite nice for the first part of the tramp and as you can see from the pictures we were surrounded by beautiful scenery!!! It was so much that Amy couldn't handle it and fell flat on her face, man i wish we had a picture of that!!! However, toward the end of the tramp on the glacier, the rain picked up and by the time we made it back we were soaked from head to toe (i even had standing water in my left boot!!) We then checked into the Sunset motel, which would have had a great view of Mt. Cook if the clouds weren't hiding it!! After warming up a bit with a shower and beer we headed to town for some grub!! We decided to try the local dive saloon, Cook Saddle. Amy enjoyed a nice hunk of pork and i went for the banggers and mash, what a meal!! After a good night sleep we are now heading north to Greymouth for an underground caving experience envolving tubes and glow worms!! We will update with more pictures tonight if possible...We are off to brave the sideways rain...

2006-09-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

View from on top Fox Glaicer into the valley below..

One of the crevasses we walked though.

Amy attacking Jim on Fox Glacier

2006-09-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Amy hanging out with Rodney the bull in Hokitika

Amy hanging out on the beach in hokitika

2006-09-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

Jim having too much wine at Cafe d' Paris in Hokitika

2006-09-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Amy enjoying venison!

2006-09-03T03:35:00.000-07:00

Day in Hokitika

2006-09-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Day in Hokitika

2006-09-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Jim making the first venture out on the swing bridge...hope it doesn't hold!!

Pictures from the day in Hokitika

2006-09-02T23:44:00.000-07:00

Amy strolling across after Jim made sure it was ok...

Amy enjoying the sunset with her eyes closed??

Drift wood everywhere!!!

Day in Hokitika

2006-09-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

We spent the day in Hokitika checking out the beach and shops in town. We started the day eating at Cafe d' Paris amy had the eggs and bacon and I had a fatty omelette. We then headed east into the bush to visit lake kaniere where we checked out the largest waterfall in the area (Dorthy Falls) and hiked down by the lake. We then headed accross the river Styx to Hokitika Gorge where we narrowly escaped death crossing the swing bridge. Along the way we encountered many areas laced with poison to kill off unwanted furry pests such as rats etc...In all a good day and now we are headed out to watch the sun set over the Tasman Sean on our back porch. Pictures to come shortly....Peace

Nelson Lake Region

2006-09-02T05:01:00.000-07:00

On the way to Hokitika

2006-09-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

Ferry Ride to Picton

2006-09-02T04:36:00.000-07:00

Wellington Dinner

2006-09-02T04:22:00.000-07:00

Jim enjoying a bit of vension carpaccio in Wellington at the Crazy Horse!!!