New Zealand

I spent the first couple days in Auckland.  It's a cool city.  Rode a ferry out to the volcanic island of Rangitoto and took a bus out to One Tree Hill.  The next stop was Waitomo to see the glow worm caves, spent the night, and caught a van to Rotorua.  It's a thermal area similar to Yellowstone...just on a smaller scale.  Actually, the van first stopped at a farm animal show and a trout feeding pond (oh yes, I was excited).  I met Jayne (she's from England) at the hostel in Rotorua and we were on the same bus to Taupo the next day.  I had planned on skydiving in Taupo, but the weather didn't cooperate.  So I hung out with her that day and went out to a bar called Holy Cow with her and a couple English blokes.  The next day I had to catch a bus back to Rotorua and then a flight to Queenstown.  Queenstown is a cool little "adventure" town - it's a hub for adventure sports.  I took a day tour from there to Milford Sound where I went on a couple hour cruise through the sound.  Saw plenty of waterfalls, seals and dolphins.  Also tried to book skydiving in Queenstown, but it was too windy.  Took a looooong van ride from Queenstown to Greymouth where I stayed at the Noah's Ark Youth Hostel.  Each room was decorated with a different animal theme.  Not much to do there but it was where I caught the Tranz-Alpine train across New Zealand's Alps to Christchurch.  Christchurch is another neat city - had a friendly feel to the place and a nice botanical gardens.  I spent Christmas there and the people at the hostel I stayed at made me feel very welcome.

Auckland from the hostel	Tom in forest on Rangitoto	Auckland from Rangitoto Island
Tom on Rangitoto	Auckland from the bay	Auckland boat docks
One Tree Hill	Rotorua geyser	Tom and Brits
Jayne and Tom	Queenstown	view from Queenstown Hill
you can see me at the bottom getting up after a fall	hedgehog!	Tom by Lake Wakatipu
Milford Sound	Tom at Milford Sound	seals on a rock in Milford Sound
dolphins	Milford Sound waterfall	mural at Noah's Ark
on Tranz-Alpine train	there's the train	Christchurch Cathedral
Peacock Fountain in botanical gardens	cooking Christmas dinner	sitting down to dinner