Sunday, March 9, 2008

End of NZ?

For now anyway...
But this is how we spent the last week...
After the glaciers we visited Queenstown which is basically a touristic central where a lot of activities begin... we travelled to Glenorchy to a nice hike in some warm weather. We did part of the RouteburnTrack in Mt. Aspiring Nat Park and took a little sun. Next was off to Te Anau, the closest town to Milford Sound which we headed to for some beautiful scenery. And we were not disappointed. We climbed the end of the Routeburn track, known as the Divide, to Key Summit and had some spectacular views of the valleys, mountains and glaciers!
We then headed northeast to Mt Cook where we luckily caught a few sun rays in a short walk before the clouds moved in and blocked most of Australasia's highest peak (3755 m) and the following pictures shall show it in all it's splendor!
Quick driving brought us up to Kaikoura, then on back to the North Island where we attempted Mt. Tongaririo (also known as Mordor from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy - scenes from the 3rd movie likely!). Unfortunately the weather was not so compliant and though we tried, the wind and cold got the best of us... after having completed a perilous ascent in the Devil's Staircase. With a quick stop off in Taupo, we have made it back to our base of operations, Auckland. Rachel and I fly out of here Wednesday morning on 3 flights which end in Manila! Philippines, here we come!

1 comment:

susan said...

HI Rachel and JAY
Very impressive photos,,, get yourselves in there once in a while, need to see you guys !
What a wonderful world ! we live in , dont you think !
Susan
Denis
Alex