check it out

http://www.flickr.com/gp/7334782@N04/xGLU87

beautiful images dude. very very nice.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/169/4205 ... fc.jpg?v=0

this one is basically new zealand to me

the south island ones not so much

woah woah woah, slow down. There is a NEW Zealand?

hey

i already made a "there's a new england?" joke this week

once a week is enough for the board

It was weird, I saw those all over the Wellington area, but nowhere on the south island, except for Nelson.

its not just the tree its the whole scene

i hope you had fish and chips on that park bench

Not there, actually, but I did do the fish & chips-on-a-park-bench-in-front-of-the-ocean thing a number of times. very nice.

i disagree.

You kayak the Queen Charlotte too? That picture was taken right in front of Outward Bound, no? We went out towards sea to stay 2 nights at Lochmara Lodge.

I think so. I think I remember there being a backpackers there, and it's pretty much right at the start of the QC Track.

I only did a half day kayak, followed by hiking on the Track for the rest of that day. We stayed just outside of Picton for 3 nights, which was probably 2 too many. I would have liked to have seen other parts of the Sounds, but they are so big, it seems like you'd need a boat to cover more ground.

A multi-day kayak trip would have been pretty cool, though.

It bothered me how much of the area had been logged, though. But it's probably tough to log in NZ without disturbing beautiful places, just because everywhere is beautiful.

Dude, I just got through all the pics. You and I really went a lot of the same places! Franz Joseph, Queenstown, Pukaki (we stayed halfway up on the right at a sheep ranch). But we didn't see penguins or dolphins.

Also, kayaking the Milford fucking rocked - I have to think it was cooler than being up in a big boat, but either way how gorgeous was that?!

I was tempted to kayak there, but decided against it, simply because I thought I'd get to see more in a boat. Plus I think I get kinda bored with sea kayaking after a while. Glad to hear you enjoyed it though.

Next time (and i will go back someday) I want to hit Doubtful Sound- it's supposed to feel really remote. (Meaning there isn't an endless number of boats around and there isn't a line of planes/helicopters flying over head).

Franz was really cool, definitely unlike anything I've done before. I didn't really care for Q-Town, I thought it felt like it could have been any ski town in any country. But it did have good eating options, and a lot of the places I had been in just prior didn't, so that was a nice change. Wanaka was a little more laid back. Mt Aspiring Park was awesome- I witnessed a small avalanche while near the Rob Roy Glacier.

A night or two to unwind at Pukaki would be incredible. Kinda like the Catlins was (really remote), but with better mountain views. The Catlins was pretty scenic on its own though. For some reason i thought you stayed at Tekapo, though, no?

Not in Tekapo, but we did stop there for gas. We stayed at Breamar Station, which is a sheep ranch / golf cross combination. (Golf cross being Golf with egg shaped balls and big nets instead of holes. It was wierd.)