My trip to New Zealand

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Going South, still (oh, and Wanaka Pt 3)

The end of the cascade saddle was somewhat annoying. My transport didn't show up, and I had to walk another 3 hours to get from the Rees valley to Glenorchy. On the way I hitched hiked with some gold-seeker from the states (yeah, he was a gold seeker!). Then from glenorchy I took a bus - but it broke down on the way, and I hitched again to queenstown... Boy, it was a long day. Anyway, the next day I returned to Wanaka. My plan was to go to the catlins. Before that I went through the Haast pass, just one day, and then started my way south - to Invercargill, and then the catlins.
Back in Wanaka. This is a good picture of the lake, and the birds are quite nice, too. Wanaka was really great!
One of the waterfalls in Haast Pass.

The Catlins

Invercargill was nothing exciting, I just spent one night there. Then I drove through the catlins. Lot's of nice places to stop at - waterfalls, lighthouses, and stuff like that. Then I arrived at a very nice backpackers (Surat Bay Lodge). I stayed there for 2 days, and it was really good. I met a really nice German girl - Karin, and traveled with her for a short while.

Well, that's the south most point in the south island. Pretty exciting, right?
One of the beaches down south.
That's the nice beach outside the Surat bay lodge. You can actually see those sea lions from the porch of the backpackers!
They seem quite harmless, those sea lions. Later Gal came, and when they saw his orange fleece jacket, they started chasing us. They are faster than they seem...
The nugget point, probably the nicest place in the catlins. There was also a cool place to watch penguins just nearby. But with little pocket camera, you can hardly know it's penguins down there, so I didn't even bother to put the picture here. Oh, and say hi To Karin in this photo...
Another picture of the Nugget point. We went there twice, actually (because when Gal joined he wanted to go again!)
The nugget point itself. Nice!

Going north, to ChCh again.

I decided to go back to the north island from the catlins. Now, when I'm back home, I have no idea why I stopped traveling. It was so great in New-Zealand! but what can I do. I headed for Picton, and I wanted to stop in ChCh - to say hello to the Fryers again, and also to travel a bit in the Banks peninsula - I didn't do it the first time there. On the way I stopped at Dunedin - nice place, but a little too cold & windy for my liking, and also in Mueraki - to look at the famous boulders.

Dunedin claim to fame - the steepest street in the world.
The Mueraki boulders.
Well, they are quite lovely, those boulders, aren't they?

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