Links to full photo albums

For those interested in seeing every gritty detail (2500+ pics) are welcome to see them at kodakgallery.com. High speed broadband recommended or tempt the wrath of your local sys-admin and view them at work during your "lunch hour". There's 3 albums and unfortunately kodakgallery orders each upload alphabetically by picture name as opposed to time taken so expect a bit of discontinuity. I also unchecked the "login necessary" button so the pics should be viewable without needing an account.

North Island (1000 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.9zzxfk9a&Uy=-uc89vf&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

South Island part 1 (668 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.cfjzkk1y&Uy=u8dwt&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

South Island part 2 (889 pics):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=16xaos86.bt0wud4m&Uy=-9nfyzy&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0

Final NZ days

At the northernmost tip of the south island we took a 4x4 tour of a 15 mile long sandspit that is somewhat infamous for confusing whale senses and causes mass beachings once or twice a decade where they bring up as many tractors as possible to pull them back into the sea (1). Elaine Bay in the Marlborogh sounds area (2).

Back on the north island, visited the government buildings. One of which is nicknamed "the beehive" and for some reason is guarded by a banana statue (3). Some local wildlife in search of wonder bread (4) and a black sand beach coastline (5).

On Wednesday, flew back home and are now planning the next few months driving around the US which will be continued on the blog in several weeks with a whole new fresh set of shenanigans!

Kayaking and more beaches

Abel Tasman National Park is known for its kayaking so we partook in a 2-day trip that explores the bays and small beaches along the coastline. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Kiwi here in their summer but in the off season entire beaches are untouched though a lot of tourist-based establishments are closed as well. The last 2 pics are from Wharariki beach on the northern tip of the south island. Just add butter.

South Island's west coast

The south island’s west coast is not unlike California’s. Here’s some pics. The amazing thing is this is the least populated section of NZ- mostly due to the frequently wet weather though.

Other miscellaneous south island shenanigans

Along one of the roads are these limestone rock formations (1) and (2). Supposedly they were used for some scenes in the first Chronicles of Narnia movie but neither of us watched it so we’re fresh out. They really reminded us (i.e. Blake) of something you’d see in one of the xbox Halo games. Along another road were a couple nice forest walks (3). This one looks like a bunch of teenagers TP’d it but some kind of lichen is hanging off everything (4). Later that night we did a tour of the Monteith’s Brewery with the ever popular self serve tasting bar afterwards (5).

Fox Glacier trek

On the west coast of the south island a couple glaciers from the alps make it down close to sea level so for a day we took a guided glacier trek in the middle of one of these glaciers. Here’s various pics of the adventure.