Thank you!

Hello Everyone,

As most of you know Jenn and I are now back in Canada. Thank you for checking in on us every once and a while. We have enjoyed our time in New Zealand and all of the amazing experiences that we were so fortunate to have. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world to travel and the people there couldn't have been nicer. Hopefully some day, some of you make it to "the land of the long white cloud"

We will have a new blog on our future travels and activities. Click here for link

Rotorua

Alayna arrived in Auckland and we immediately got started on our vacation starting in Rotorua here we are at one the best Thermal Reserves in the World! Wai-O-Tapu

Steam was coming up everywhere
Jenn and Alayna looking in on one of the craters
This area was called the artists palette because of all the colours






This water was extremely hot and acidic
unbelievable yellow colours
This is called the champagne pool, it is 62m deep and has a temperature of 75 C, in the deepest parts it is an unreal 260 C. The orange colours are caused by high levels of arsenic and antimony sulfides


One of many colourful and steaming craters
Lime green water in this crater
Mud Pools

Wellington - Capital of New Zealand

Jenn and Alayna outside of Old St. Paul's Cathedral, the oldest church in Wellington

Lady Norwood Rose Gardens
Jim with some roses
Lots of bees gathering nectar
Gorgeous flowers in the Greenhouse
The fountain in the centre of the Rose Gardens
Pole at the top of Mt. Victoria, the tallest point in Wellington
View of the city of Wellington from Mt. Victoria




Jenn and Alayna on the Tour bus
Building on the Waterfront in Wellington
Te Papa Museum, the largest in the Country
The Meeting of the Maori
Amazing details are put into these meeting houses
The original Treaty of Waitangi, this is where the Maori people and the English agreed to become an English Colony
Treaty translated into English
The Terracotta Warriors were in town, so we decided to check it out

This is the Old Bank of New Zealand Building, below it is something special
Click here to find out what was lying underneath this Old Bank

To the famous Wellington Cable Car
Jenn and Alayna going up the Cable Car

Wellington to Christchurch

Today we took the Interislander Ferry from Wellington to Picton and then took the TranzCoastal Train from Picton to Christchurch. Here we are pulling away from the Wellington Harbour.
Rugged Coastline, South Island
Amazing Views from the Ferry



Imagine owning the house on the cliff
Beautiful colours of water
Looking back into Queen Charlotte Sound
Notice the Dolphins in this picture, we also saw some penguins but they were to hard to photograph
Port town of Picton, the gateway to the South Island
We then boarded the TranzCoastal Train to Christchurch
Riding through the biggest wine area of the country called Marlbrough, this is where the best Sauvignon Blanc comes from



South Pacific Ocean
This was one of the stops at Kaikoura, this is the best place in the country to go Whale watching the water is very deep a few hundred metres out and whales are sometimes spotted from the beach
Gorgeous coastal views from the train

We saw hundreds of New Zealand Fur Seals right from the train in areas like this one