A few random pictures of part of an excursion through
Queenstown, and
Okarito, NZ. I
apologize for the lack of order. It has been a couple of months since I have updated my blog and the volume of photos to sort through is daunting to say the least. This was a very exciting and action packed trip. Activities included but were not limited to bungee jumping, the Nevis Arc, Sky Diving,
Para-sailing, Luge Racing and a plethora of other less dangerous sports. (Sorry, no pictures of these activities are included.)
If you have a need for adrenaline or extreme sports,
Queenstown is
definitely the place for you.
Check out that view! A group photo from our hotel suite in
Queenstown. Included in photo are Sue, Paul, Sandy, Joe, Katrina and myself.
Across from the Hotel and Lake
Wakatipu.
An interesting view of the beach. I am actually quite surprised that you can't see the clouds of
sandflies.
The Tasman Sea at dawn, Near Jackson Bay.
A bit of an artistic view.
Okarito Lagoon. The stick marks the channel during high tide. When the tide is out, this area is a sea of grass, moss and mud.
A rare white
heron.
Okarito Lagoon,
Okarito. We took a two hour bird watching tour of the lagoon.
The Hinds River heading towards the Pacific.
The mouth of the Hinds River. I walked a couple of miles down the river to get to this point. At the time, I had thought to fish the mouth where it flows into the Pacific. The trouble was...it didn't actually have a mouth. It ended in a stagnant lagoon. It wasn't a wasted trip though. I did find a Hector's dolphin skull at the edge of the lagoon. Evidently it got trapped in the lagoon during a particularly high tide event or after a flood broke down the sea wall. I would have brought the skull back to the states, except for the fact that that species of dolphin is on the endangered species list. Trying to bring that into the states would have gotten me in trouble...
Near the mouth of the Rakaia River. I came here to get photos of the sunset. I didn't get many photos. The wind was fierce and the weather was getting iffy. About the only thing I managed to do was accidentally kill an innocent goose flying by while I was batting rocks out to sea with a stick. I felt bad. It would have made a great dinner.
Keeping the salt spray off of my lens was impossible. Just a few more spots on an already spotty lens.
One of the many tributaries of the Ashburton River system, just below Lake Heron.
The Hakatere River, a tributary of the Rangatata River. We hunted a bit in this area. Great memories...
Mount Potts region. More of the same as above.
Mesopotamia Station. One of the larger sheep ranching operations.
Moonlight reflecting off the neighbors roof.
Sluice gate, Waimakariri River.
Something different...
The Pacific Ocean, Near the Mouth of the Ashburton River.
St. Patrick's Day Honorary Green Beverage Toast. Its not a big holiday in New Zealand. We took green Chardonnay to a friend's house for dinner and received some really strange looks for our patriotic symbolism to the Irish.
A rough view of my sea shell collection.
No early morning piercing sunshine is complete without a steaming cup of coffee. It comes complete with paper towels and cleaner in the event of a spill (I never spill), first aid tape in case of bleeding injury (Nope...not me either), a box of matches to cauterize and a wine cork (don't have a clue). I love mornings....
