First stop: Fiji. Viti Levu, from Vuda Lookout (I think). Bonus points if you can spot an upside down Lake Superior.
More Viti Levu. I took this the morning we arrived at our hotel. Nice start to the trip after being on a plane for ~10 hours.
Lady finger bananas. I ate at least four of these guys. Delicious.
Here's some of the best pineapple and papaya I've ever had.
This little fella lives in the Garden of the Sleeping Giant.
Lily pads. Fiji's a wet place.
We all know gardening is serious business. This PSA from the Kiwi gov confirms it.
Gentoos doing their thing. Some chillin', some doing things with equiment. Photo taken at Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland.
Looking down from the Sky Tower in Auckland.
Looking back to Auckland from Devonport. Sky Tower in the distance. Beautiful day.
Pies. We need more of these in the states. But we need some way to get rid of all that gluten.
A Maori Waka at the Auckland Museum. Unfortunatley, this picture doesn't do the scale of the thing justice.
I bet you'd be pissed too if you were stuffed.
Green Lipped Mussels. Not only are these things delicious, they're pretty cool lookin' too.
Looking down on Christchurch. Goregous day.
Lolly Cake. It's made from Lollies. And cake. A Kiwi Christmas delicacy.
Who doesn't love Corgis? Photo taken during a pit stop on our way to Edoras on a Lord of the Rings tour.
Our transport. It is an understatement to call this an off-road vehicle. This thing was a beast. 6WD, indeed.
Mount Sunday. The site of the Golden Hall. This will be a theme, but the picture doesn't do the landscape justice.
Getting my money's worth on the tour.
I made myself an honory Rider of Rohan. No one objected.
Hey, Moa. How's stuff? You're extincted? And you're a statue? Bummer.
Kea! My favorite Kiwi bird.
They're curious creatues. Displayed here: things you should never do.
Busted.
Laters. That means I'm leaving. Geez, I thought you guys were smart?
Sunset in Hokitika.
The Hokitika Museum. There's a local legend that this used to be a "free public library", whatever that means.
Some kind of minituare car.
A waterfall! Such a rare site in New Zealand. I cherished this moment.
The Weka. Their primary purpose is to make tourist's think they've seen a Kiwi. Or is that a Kiwi?
Hokitika Gorge. And a swing bridge. We don't have swing bridges like that in the states and we certainly don't have water like. Beautiful.
There's a glacier in there somewhere. And its name is Franz Josef.
Hey, look at that, waterfalls!
I made a friend.
Yep, those are waterfalls.
Lake Matheson. Renowned for its refletions. As shown here.
You guys, it's like a mirror!
A fern before it's all ferned out. Note: this picture was taken before some guy ripped it out take a closer pic. Assholes are everywhere.
Ignore the reflection. This guy had some great jokes.
Re. Flection.
MmHmm.
Happy cow! Doesn't she look delicious? New Zealand has lots of these.
Fox Glacier. Beware of aggressive waves and/or gigantic sharks swimming away from you.
Those are people. Lots of them. And a lot of ice.
No dancing while rocks are falling.
We're totally bros.
On the road to Haast... a vigil for Christchurch. Wording on the rock is "Today our hearts are with Chch."
Whitebait fritter. Tasty.
Knight's Point. Supposedly there are lots of seals out there. Reminds me of Crescent Bay in Laguna.
What's notable here is that two people were roadtripping on this thing. Woudln't see that in the states.
The best kind of possum.
I wonder where we are. Could someone please touch the globe and show me?
What is this I don't even...
Saw plenty of these...
But not many of these.
Hey everybody, it's Timber!
Stafforshire pup, about eight months old. Super cool dog.
Somehow, Kiwis use this contraption to fish for whitebait. No idea how that works.
That's a jet boat, and our captain, John, doing jet boat captain stuff. Had a fantastic tour with Waiatoto River Safari.
The shark's tooth, which means time to turn the boat around.
Map of our jet boat tour route (not to scale, obv).
Lobster Pot or something, it was in the middle of nowhere (Jackson Bay).
A Kiwi Christmas tree in full bloom.
There is a pier in Jackson Bay. This is a picture of it.
Jackson Bay beach. We wandered around the rocks for a bit.
Ferns, New Zealand has lots of them. Some in tree form.
Why am I showing you this picture? Because 1080 kills, that's why.
What is this strange wonderful thing? We need a name for these.
Four balls is a walk. This is dumb.
Speaking of dumb... let's put some black face dolls in our storefront in Wanaka.
Sup? Oh, nothin', just holding up this tower. What? Yeah, true, my mom is doing most of the work.
Forced Perspective is cool. At Puzzle World.
Outside Queenstown, from a chopper.
Wipe that grin off your face and get away from the chopper.
Kurt doin' what he does.
Lycra works on mountains too. Got my tongue just right.
If we can learn anything from Kiwis, it's that we should put eggs on everything.
Doc and Clara stopped by to refuel.
Our accomodation in Te Anau. One of the strangest looking buildings I've ever slept in.
The alternative. A-frame.
On the boat to the start of the Milford Track. It only gets prettier from here.
Start of the Milford Track. I can't explain the smugness. I blame the t-shirt.
On the track. Our crew + a family that we would come to know as the Fantastic Four.
I think this was the start of day two on the track.
Kurt and Bridget. This was kind of a wet day.
Take it in folks, that's a waterfall.
FANTASTIC.
Nature, doing its thing.
Ah...no words.
A stoat trap set with an egg. Tons of these on the track.
Wild, wet, green country.
Mintaro hut. Easily the best one on the track.
There are people in this picture.
Kurt's in there somewhere. Looks like he's got a good spot.
Half way!
We were pretty sure that is an airstrip. Probably takes some giant balls to land there.
This is a view from a toilet. Seriously.
High point, in terms of elevation, on the track.
Some swing bridge on the other side of Mackinnon Pass.
Sutherland Falls, from a distance.
Sutherland Falls, closer this time.
Ahh, beautiful. Start of the fourth and final day on the track.
Just enjoy it.
Yep, it's a special place.
I could look at these all day.
Gorgeous landscape and some random people on a bridge.
Far and away the worst part of New Zealand: the sandfly.
Shades of green.
Water, falling (Giants Gate).
That's a wrap! For the Milford, anyway.
The view waiting for a boat back to civilzation.
The aforementioned boat.
Seals.
I watched a guy wear out his DSLR taking picture of this. True Story.
So...that's a huge cliff. See those yellow specs in the bottom left? Those are kayaks.
Mount Cook. Plenty of low clouds.
We couldn't see the peak but it was a beautiful day.
The next morning...still low clouds but the peak was doing its thing.
More Cook.
Yet more Cook. With me this time.
A Wood Pigeon! This guy hung out with us for a while. Kurt was a big fan of his feathery legs.
A giant safety pin buried in the ground. That, or a bike rack. You decide.
Sir Ed having a staring contest with Cook.
Lake Tekapo or Lake Pukaki. Honestly, I can't remember. Pukaki, I think. Crazy blue color due to glacial flour.
Now this is something: THE GIANT JERSEY of Geraldine. In Kiwi speak, "jersey" = "sweater".
There are sheep in New Zealand. There are also lots of jokes about Kiwis and sheep.
Hey, I know that place. In fact, I'm almost home.
Back in the states, where every ridge has a trail.