Raphael Kessler
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New Zealand
After arriving in Auckland, I spent a few days taking it easy, then I bought a van from a builder I knew and cleaned it up and converted it into a very comfy camper. It actually got to the point where I was more comfortable in the van than a proper bed. I managed to sell the van very promptly before I left the country.
Near the town of Rotorua are the geothermal pools of Wai-O-Tapu. They are steaming and bubbling away, with mud water and so forth. Many are attractive colours.
Just a little further south are the Craters of the Moon, where the ground seems to be smoking, although on closer inspection it is steam venting.
The North Island is flatter than the South and most empty ground is either farmed or has animals grazing.
At Lake Taupo, one could see a near constant procession of skydivers leaping from planes overhead. I had a more sedate look at the place.
After some time in the North Island, I crossed by ferry to the South Island, through the picturesque Marlborough Sounds.
The scenery in the South Island became immediately more dramatic, with rivers of pristine clear water flowing through mountain valleys.
The Abel Tasman National Park has some attractive beaches and clear blue water that looks like something from the tropics. It is when you get in the water you realise it isn't.
Cape Foulwind is on the west coast and seems to get strong surges, crashing against the rocks. There is also a seal colony. The third photo has Teresa, my travelling companion for much of the South Island.
The Pancake Rocks are so called, because they look like an unfeasibly large stack of pancakes. There are also blowholes and a nice view along the coastline.
Further down the West Coast are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers. These pictures are of the Franz Josef Glacier. Although the weather was unpleasant, it was still a worthwhile trek to the glacier snout. As we left the glacier and were a little way from it, I turned to Teresa and said that I thought that was probably the best view there. As she turned, a huge section dropped off the face of the glacier. Many, many tonnes crashing earthwards.
The Fjord of Milford Sound is a top tourist draw, because of its beautiful setting, mountains and waterfalls. It is also in the wettest part of a wet country. That means that the visibility sometimes drops to just a couple of metres. Not ideal for looking at scenery. We were booked on a cruise first thing in the morning, but the rain was torrential so we chilled out with some fishermen on their boat, where they were sheltering from the storm. In the afternoon, we went on the cruise and the weather lifted, so we could see what we had come for. Some of the waterfalls were in full flood and others apparently only appear after heavy storms, like the one we had experienced.
The island is sparsely populated and most of it is a nature reserve where one has a good opportunity to see a variety of birdlife. For some reason I cannot find my photos of this area, as soon as I do, I will update this area.
The Catlins is an area of outstanding natural beauty at the south of the South Island. There, one finds lovely coastlines, beaches, wildlife, petrified tree trunks, waterfalls and more. It is also in the Catlins one finds the southern most point of the South Island.
The twelve apostles are a group of pinnacles out to sea.
One of the most picturesque points in the Catlins is the McClean Falls, a succession of cascades, descending hundreds of feet.
The Otago peninsula juts out near to Dunedin. In Dunedin I had met up with Harriet, a friend I had previously met in the Cook Islands. In the picture she isn't actually about to club someone but is playing Netball (photo 1). The peninsula is home to The Royal Albatross, the only albatross that nests on a mainland (photo 3). There are also black swans (photo 4) and other birds. Larnach castle claims to be the only castle in New Zealand, though by European standards, it wouldn't qualify as a particularly grand home (photos 7&8).
Up the East Coast one can find the Moeraki Boulders, spherical nodules that slowly emerge from the mud.
Kaikoura is famous as a location for viewing sperm whales. Normally it is difficult to see these whales, though due to the abnormally deep trench alongside the coast here, adolescent males spend several years taking advantage.
In the same area there are hundreds of dusky dolphins speeding along and performing acrobatics. Unfortunately due to the low light conditions I wasn't able to get a clear shot of the dolphins as they moved at such speed.
The north of the North Island is appropriately known as Northland. In this area, you can find stunning beaches and great diving opportunities. The most northerly point is marked by a lighthouse (photo 1). There are also some stunning beaches (photo 3-5).
Ninety mile beach is definitely a long beach, ninety miles long.
The sunsets along the coast were nice and there was a very bright moon that night.
Waitangi is where the treaty that forms the backbone of New Zealand's law and was an agreement between the Maori chiefs and the British crown. In more recent times, the treaty has been used as a basis for reparation claims by Maoris. At the treaty grounds, there are impressively carved boats, buildings and statues.
The Hundertwasser Toilets in Kawakawa are possibly the most ornately designed public toilets to be found anywhere.
In the Glow-worm Cave, it is pitch black, yet there are constellations of glow worms along the roof. The following photos were taken with a thirty second exposure and the glow-worms phosphorescence was enough to show the rocks that were actually in near total darkness (photos 1&2). Outside the caves were an interesting shaped rock (photo 3).
All over New Zealand one can find attractive mountains. The road to Arthur's Pass has a fantastic feeling of venturing into the depths of the mountains. The highest peak in Oceania is Mount Cook (photos 3-5). As with many of the places in New Zealand, there was a decided lack of imagination in naming some of the mountains, for example The Remarkables (photo 7) near the adventure capital of Queenstown.
The Huku Waterfall is a raging turquoise torrent. Nearby is another waterfall, set in the countryside.
The scenery around New Zealand was famously used for the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films. Some bits are picturesque and others are a bit mysterious like the Mirror Lake (photo 1), which sometimes has a near perfect reflection.
