Going on a Kiwi hunt ...

Ahhh, 'home' again in Australia - after getting up at 3:00am for an incredibly early flight. Tired, but satisfied that the trip was far from a disaster. Being that I single handidly planned it - it was totally on me if there was a disaster - a bad hotel, bad place to go see, what ever - I was prepared to take responsibility, so I breathed a sigh of relief on the plane - DONE.

I have to admit - before this trip to New Zealand I was unbelievably 'all things stupid' about the country. I am embarrassed to admit that right up until we were on the plane going there and I was looking at a map, I thought that it was off the west coast of Australia! Go look at a map ... no wonder we took heavy coats when it was burning hot in Brisbane - it was freezing!

It was the hardest trip I have ever planned since there were so many things to do and they said the drive times were deceptive being all one lane winding roads you didn't know what the traffic was like. We, I feel were lucky and my drive times were generous.

On the second morning, we drove out of the town we flew into: Christchurch and sitting in a meadow, I SWEAR, was a kiwi pecking at the ground. I casually said 'Kiwi' and we drove on by.

After a while everyone asked why I didn't insist we stop and I said I was assuming we would be seeing grundles of them and it was just one in a field ...

So - from that moment on - me, Mom and Dad were on 'Kiwi Patrol' trying to spot a Kiwi. About the fourth day (with no luck) Gary told me I was hallucinating ... on the sixth day (still no luck) I was convinced, also, that I was.

Monday - day seven of our adventure was going to be Mt Cook, Lake Tekapo with the Church of the Good Shepard in the foreground and anything else Dad and I deemed photographicable (ok, mainly what I deemed photographicable - since Dad can photograph anything and make it look cool). Since it was drizzling and the clouds had descended, we arrived back in Christchurch early.

When I checked in to the same hotel that we had stayed in the first night of our journey, I saw the super friendly manager and asked him about the Kiwi. He THEN tells us that they are A) Nocturnal and B) an Endangered Species. I spent literally HOURS looking for Kiwi! All I can say to myself is: IDIOT!

So ... we decided to go to a Wildlife Preserve that he told us about since it had Kiwi. I called and they said you could take photographs of the Kiwi, just with no flash. Cool. Off we load into the car and to the Preserve about 15 minutes away. We head straight to the Kiwi house. They had told us it was night for them and they were active. We were excited. Entered the Kiwi house and it was PITCH BLACK. Seriously - you had to stand still a moment for your eyes to adjust. Walked a little further and all of a sudden in the darkness you hear some snuffling and scurrying about, looking, looking and then -THERE! A kiwi - running wildly poking its long beak in the dirt!

I had seen a Kiwi with my own eyes. It was too dark for photos and they had said it was video monitored and that they took the camera thing seriously. My Mom and Dad were behind us since my Dad tends to take more photos then I, and when they came in, I don't think my Mom ever actually saw the Kiwi it was so dark. My dad tried a few shots - but it was basically useless. All of a sudden I saw his pre-flash strobe and quickly told him about the video monitoring and he said 'Ooops'. This is the guy who got a perfect shot of the Sistine Chapel when there (no photography allowed - Ok, I tried too, naughty, naughty us, but my sneaky shot didn't turn out so well).

We finished the Wildlife Preserve (another post for another day) and piled back in the car. My Dad was reviewing his photos on his camera when he said "Lori, they didn't catch me getting this photo" and handed me his camera:

I was so mad! Of, course - not for the right reason: it was against the rules, but that he had a shot! Well ... until he told me he was pulling my leg and it was one of the stuffed ones in the display area. I was NOT AMUSED.

But there you go - our photo of the elusive Kiwi!

Mt Cook

Well, here it is, the last night before our 6:00am flight out of New Zealand in the morning. Everyone is asleep, but here I sit on the Internet at about 11:30 at night since we bought minutes and who wants to waste them?

We have had a blast. Gig for Gig - my Dad and I kept up with each other on number of photos we took. We enjoyed showing each other what we had captured after jumping back in the car and Gary pulling out of what ever stop we had deemed 'photo worthy'.

One very often photo op was some flowers that grew like weeds EVERYWHERE. We couldn't get enough. Here we had a field of them, then some grass, then a beautiful line of trees along a creek with them growing under the trees - it seriously looked planted:

After Milford Sound, we went back to Te Anau happy campers. The next morning we backtracked to Queenstown and on to Twizel (we think the people who live there are called 'twizzlers' - we are not sure). We had made such good time we stopped at a small Alpine Village to discover a beautiful turquoise lake with our first good view of Mt. Cook.

We then checked into our hotel and decided since we had time and the day was nice, to go take photos of Mt Cook from Tekapo lake. We piled into the car and headed off.We had a bit of trouble bringing out the peak since there was a cloud behind it and we kept trying different locations, but our first location was the best.

Closer:

The peak we are trying to pull out of the clouds:

We then headed off for a little side trip because the lady in the visitors center said we could see Tasmain Glacier and Tasmain Lake with icebergs in it on another drive. What she didn't mention was the half hour hike, straight up rock to get to it. I made it but said some naughty words to Gary as he snapped my photo. I would have vomited on him but my stomach was empty.

I got a good panorama shot of the lake, with Mt Cook peeking out on the far left of the photo.

Gary is a wise man. He had mentioned as we drove to Mt Cook that we couldn't guarantee a good day the next day so we headed out for photos. We woke up to a socked in valley and no mountains to be found anywhere. A little disappointing, but we had been so lucky with the weather so far, we couldn't complain.

There are thousands of other photos and other places we went, and I am going to get to them all. Every day has been non stop and I have had to cram in a wee bit of Internet time whenever I could get it (Gary has kept the door open so he can see how late I am staying up even as I type) - so quick, sloppy posts.

I will do better when we get back to Australia and then two days later - on to Houston.

Picture Perfect Day

Oh. My. Gosh! Could we have had more fun today?

I will update y'all ad naseum later, but today - well, today was THE DAY!

We went to Milford Sound and took a cruise on a ship to the end of the fjord. We saw everything and had wonderful photos on the way their and the way back.

We actually had horrible rain yesterday, but only while driving and it made for excellent waterfalls everywhere!

We got on the ship and saw dolphins (they said very rare), penguins and seals! I actually have a shot of a dolphin in the wild jumping out of the water! And they are hard to predict where they are going to come up so I am thrilled!

We had beautiful scenery, animals - perfect perfect day!

Milford Sound:

Don't really know how much internet time so might not update until back in Australia.

Am bone tired and happy, happy, happy to the core!

The Rest of the Post (your reading this backwards)

Ahhh, where did I leave off at the last post? Oh, yeah, the rain. We had arrived in Franz Josef and it was pouring rain. It is the location of a glacier which did not compute since we were sitting smack dab in the middle of a rain forest.

While eating dinner, the rain let up and we decided to go see the glacier - it might be the best visibility we got. So off we went - on a 5 minute hike (our hotel person said) which was really a 15 minute each way walk - to the glacier - with the rain starting to get heavier and heavier.

Arrived dripping (although my new Australian bush hat was keeping the rain off my face) and took some sorry photos:

That night as I lay in bed listening to the rain pour, I decided that we would all kill each other if we had 6 more days like this - at the least I would end up stabbing someone with a fork. But we had our insurance, Dad had prayed and Gary, just to be on the safe side - brought 4 umbrellas as insurance against any more rain.

Sure enough in the morning, Gary got up, went to the window and excitedly told me to get my camera. Mountains we had not even seen the day before was visible, and SKIES - we could see BLUE!

So off to the glacier we trekked again. Noting that it was incredibly odd to walk through a thick rain forest to see a glacier:

Better, no?

Then down the road a few more kilometers to see Fox Glacier. We just drove to a lookout and did no hiking (we had a huge day ahead of us as you will read) and this is a telephoto shot of the front of the glacier - such a cool design! (Love the blue ice also)

Then on the road and driving South, parallel to the ocean. We got out to take photos and discovered we had hit the mother load of cairns:

Thousands upon thousands of cairns for about a kilometer on the ocean. They were wonderful to look at and you had to wonder - who started this? Some were incredibly intricate and balanced perfectly. Mom made her own - so we have left our mark in New Zealand!

More ocean shots with what I call Dr. Seuss trees:

Then inland to some wonderful scenery and waterfalls:

I cannot seem to get enough shots of the beautiful trees here:

And on to views (still with BLUE SKIES) of the Southern Alps:

Tree silhouettes just made me want to take a photo:

Intricate cairn at the base of a water fall. Someone got over the river to do that:

Waterfalls through the trees:

And on to some huge lakes with the Alps showing in the distance:

More Alps, more lakes:

And finally, ending up in Queenstown. A beautiful town on a lake with a gondola that we might take tomorrow, might not - we will plan the day as we go.

I am having a ball!

I have been shopping like a fool and bought a Jade necklace - only 5 families on the island are allowed to harvest the jade and I purchased a necklace from one of the family members. It is an unusual shape and she told me that it is the Maori symbol for 'strength'. Today I went berserk and bought earrings to go with it, a jade key chain, a stone carved necklace and a bag to put it all in. Yesterday I also bought a vase made out of the trunk of a fern tree - they are the most exquisite tree all along the rain forest and the vase is to die for. Unfortunately the airport in Australia does not like imported wood, thus my Nativity (next blog) and my vase will have to be fumigated for a fee (but SO worth it ... and again ... yes - spoiled).

I don't know when I will have Internet again. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We pretty much ignored it today - having fish and chips for lunch at the 'Grumpy Cow Cafe' and Turkey Subway sandwiches for dinner.

I have taken literally thousands of photos and this is the most beautiful country! We are out of the rain forest and if we don't run into it again I am going to miss it horribly - so beautiful!

Until next time ...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well, New Zealand is not where I thought it was - I thought that it was across the Australian continent - good I took a look at a map - water all the way. When we reached New Zealand, we flew over the entire country - the photo below.


We landed in Christchurch - which was supposed to be more British than Britian ... I've been to Britian and it was a huge dissapointment. Cool church though (and I got to buy an entire Nativity made out of Olive Wood from the Holy Land - including the manger - yes ... spoiled.

On to taking photos of a very Harry Potter'ish school:

Then on to Wednesday (that was Tuesday up above) and our encounter with a 'Kea' - a very friendly parrot who liked nomming on our antenna until we decided to feed him a cracker:

Her baby was to die for, but I am going fast and will put a photo of him in a later post (we have had to pay for internet and dead tired - thus the first night we paid for internet).

Drove across the entire country from the East Coast to the West Coast and discovered to our dismay the 'wet side of the island'. We went up to the 'Pancake Rocks' an hour out of our way (we have been making good time) and the rain let up for us to take some photos:

Hope to get to the second blog later tonight and tell you all the things that happened today.

Will it be raining? Is it a bust?

See you in a few hours!

Sunday

Well, it is Monday morning and we seemed to have stepped off the plane from the US and continued a break-necked pace ... until now. I am a bit ill and we are leaving for New Zealand tomorrow so I will need to rest today. I will probably hand my parents a map and show them the door - bad, bad daughter. (They have a phone to call me if they are lost so not so bad ...)

I found an accessory that I am THRILLED with on Saturday. It is called "The Original Australian Bush Hat'. It is leather and folds. It has a scarf around it with aboriginal artwork and it keeps my hair out of my eyes and the sun off my face. I look like an Australian Wannabe but I really don't care all that much ...

We went to the Glass House Mountains - somewhere I have blogged about before, but I had not seen them from this lookout that sort of 'mushes' them together and I made a panorama (it is always hazy - so nothing much I can do but try to fix it a bit):

We then entered into the GPS system a town where there was a dairy and Gary said there was cheese tasting and ice cream to die for. We were excited and headed out. The GPS headed out and took us on a dirt road - seriously. But while we were on it, my dad spotted a Roo - an impossible find - hiding in the bushes.

We took photos of him then routinely moved closer to him to make him move. It was hot and he wanted nothing to do with moving, but we were annoying him. I couldn't get him to move without waving and shouting at him so I can now add "Roo Chaser" to my resume.

We got to the ice cream place 15 minutes after it closed and Gary was MIFFED. He had his heart set on ice cream, so we drove for an hour to the coast and the first thing we did was find ice cream for all.

We were at Noosa Head - also a place I have blogged about before, but it was windy and there were about 20 Kite Surfers playing in the water and were fun to watch. They would let their kites fly up and out of the water they would fly - doing somersaults or just hanging in the air. They were supremely fun to watch and we stayed until the sun went down on one final surfer showing off to the crowd.

I don't mention my husbands kick-butt ability over me in taking photos very often because I am jealous of him, but thought that I would put an example here to show you the difference in what I see and what he sees, and can do.

Here is one of maybe 200 photos I took of the surfer - probably the best I could do:

Garys photo is above (I can't seem to write this above the photo and don't have the patience to keep working on it ... stupid blog ...). He KICKED MY BUTT!

He won the 'Photo Contest of the Day' for Sunday hands down!

We are going to take a walk to let Dad take photos of the beautiful churches around or I am going to let my parents take photos while I rest and do laundry in preparation for packing tonight.

Then off to New Zealand early tomorrow morning!

Hopefully I will have time to post - because I have a feeling I am going to have more photos than I know what to do with in the 8 days we are going to be there!

Here's wishing we all get tons of kick-butt photos in New Zealand!

We Did It!!!

Saturday.

We got up at 4:00am to start a drive to a National Park and see the rain forest all in the hopes that while driving on a 4-wheel road, we would see some Roos. Gary had seen one when with some friends at work going to the same place, but when they turned around to get photos - just got the tail. So we knew they were about - and that they came out at dawn and dusk - unfortunately dawn is 4:00am and we weren't about to get up at 2:00am to hit that, so we were thinking that any Roos we found would be gravy on our trip for the day.

We were down in a meadow and I screamed: "Roos!". We stopped the car some ways away from them and we all got photos - Gary having to find his camera buried in his backpack since he was convinced we would not see any.

They aren't great since they are using my telephoto - but I can check that off my life's list of things to do "See Roos In The Wild" ... done.

This was another one that was actually with 2 others and I screamed "Kangaroo" 3 times before Gary stopped (I was the spotter) so we were rather close. The Roos were on Gary and my Fathers side of the car so I only caught this one shooting out Gary's window.

We then arrived at the park and encountered a flock of parrots. A family had been having breakfast (and I believe feeding them) and there were at least 50 very cheeky birds! Hoping to find something or to catch our attention, they started alighting on us:

Probably one of my favorite photos of my Father of all time:

Unfortunately the girls were not looking so dignified - the birds liked our heads the best, and seriously - who looks good with a parrot on their head?

Got to the rain forest, and two waterfalls which I have been to and blogged about before so I won't bore you with more photos, but to show the scale of the trees and their fins here is Gary posing for me:

All in all it was a good day, an exhausting day, and an exhilarating day since we accomplished all we set out to do. When Gary and I were pining for more Roo sightings, my mother scolded us that we were just being greedy - which, of course, we were!

Friday

Lone Pine Sanctuary is one of my favoritest places on earth. Too many fun things to do. We had a blast today. Grandma had to always play 'model' since me and Grandpa wanted to photograph.

The kangaroos:

A mama and her Joey who looks a wee bit to big to be in that pouch:

Then on to snuggling with the koalas:

Met a mighty big lizard of some sort getting tongue fulls of ants as a tasty snack (check out that tongue action!):

Time to feed the lorikeets:

And then on to the sleep koalas. They only eat eucalyptus leaves and they do not get much nutrition so they sleep on average 18 - 20 hours a day!

Zen:

Last (sort of - well, in my blog) is the Bird of Prey show - fantastic, beautiful birds:

Angry eyes:

Angrier eyes!

Adorable barn owl:

Very large, beautiful bird - I forget the name:

All in all a good day - my dad took a ton of photos and my mom had a blast - so a successful day all round!

Tomorrow we are going to get up at 4:30am and drive to a rain forest hoping to catch some kangaroos in the wild at dawn. Then on to an absurdly full day.

Wish us luck!