New Zealand - Oamaru

Moving from Mount Cook NP down to Oamaru, the road follows a set of lakes, again with dams for hydroelectric production.  This is the Aviemore Dam

With the river flowing to the next one

Reminded me a bit of a newer, smaller St Chads, Manchester

'...and oh my God, I cannot believe it, I've never been this far away from home....'

Oamaru is quite a pretty town, on the east coast of the south island

There's more than the usual number of limestone buildings here, all built around the end of the 1800's when this place was big for exporting refridgerated meat and therefore rich for that time.  This is St Lukes Church, which is a bit better looking than St Lukes, near my home

It's was the same size as Los Angeles was, back at that time

It's quite a relaxed place with a chilled vibe

And some very odd bits of mechanical art around the place

This weekend, it's a fete where everyone dresses in a Victorian style and they have sculpture contests and ride penny farthings around.  Here's someone who obviously can't wait...

'Thinking 4th dimensionally', obviously

Some of Metrolink Managers and decision makers think and react as this guy would......

The Public Gardens in Oamaru are fabulous

In fact, of all the gardens we've been to around Asia, Australia and New Zealand, these are second only to Penang, Malaysia's Botanical Gardens

Some of the residents are very friendly

There's loads of ducks here..

And flowers, unsurprisingly perhaps..

We stopped for a picnic

...and I forget what else...

It had an aviary too, with some of the birds eyeing me a bit suspiciously...

Looks like the rose garden had just been pruned

Never did get the hang of those daisy chains...

The soldiers memorial takes pride of place on the main street, as it should

Who would need to filter through traffic when you can ride straight over the cars?!

There was a whiskey distiller who unfortunately weren't do tours when we arrived  :-(

But the tasting was still on :-)  There's an 18 year, 21 year, 23 year and 25 year single malt in a row, going from a usual 40% for the first 2.  The last 2 are straight from the cask and were 53% and 56% volume alcohol, hic! 

New Zealand - Mount Cook National Park

We arrived in the Mount Cook Natiional Park and couldn't see any mountains at all, after 100m up, so went to see the Tasman Glacier instead.  This is named after Abel Tasman, who was the first European to see Mount Cook in 1642, a 130 years before Captain Cook

Not that you can see the Tasman Glacier, as it's underwater here.  It's apparently 600m high to the left side and 200m high to the right side

The whole area here was carved out by massive glaciers in the past.  Although you don't think of glaciers as moving too fast, one year some people died whilst out in the snow and the year after the next thaw, a body of one of the victims was found, over 2km away!

You can take boat trips out on the glacier, brrr, no thanks

We camped over and the next day, the cloud broke and we could see Mount Cook peaking up through them

Mount Cook was called so, not by Captain Cook, who never saw it, but by Captain Stokes, who surveyed the islands 80 years later in 1851

This is taken at one end of Lake Pukaki, by which the road into the park runs

Of course, before it was named by Captain Stokes, it already had a name, given by the locals, Ngāi Tahu.  It was Aoraki, which meant 'Cloud Piercer'

Once the clouds go, there's an amazing sight whichever way you look

And up close, it's awesome

It's around 3754m high and is the tallest mountain in Australia and New Zealand

It's part of the Southern Alps, which divide east from west, running down the south island of New Zealand.  It's there due to the Pacific plate moving against the Indo-Australian plate

As you get closer to Mount Cook, you see that the surrounding mountains aren't as small as they look from a distance

I thought Paul was joking when he said, look at the climbers

And to think he struggles with bus numbers...

It made me feel very small, stood there looking around

The road only goes so far and we didn't fancy trying to climb it.....

...but fortunately there's a short walk to get a little nearer to it

This is from the side of another glacier

And you could hear the constant crack of the snow of this mountain, with rumbles as it falls down the mountain

The campsite we were at was pretty.  And before long it was afternoon brew time

And some of the strangest coloured ducks came over for crumbs

Not sure which is male and female though

New Zealand - Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo is in the Mackenzie Basin and is one of 3 such lakes.  It's used for leisure and hydro electricity

It's quite pretty, having mountains all around it

We went to Mount John, which is next to the lake and gives 360 degree views round the area

There was a storm, thankfully to the side of us as we climbed up

In the distance, the mountains of Mount Cook, National Park could be seen

It was only a 40 min walk to the top

And the weather held out for us :-)

Water skiers are rife here..

Lake Tekapo has the clearest skies in NZ, apparently, which is probably why they stuck an observatory on the top.  There was also a US tracking station here until recently

The campsite was full of youngsters, all learning things....like how to cross the road safely

The water is a turquoise colour due to 'rock flour' that's held as a suspension in the water.  It's basically fine rock particles that are ground down by the glaciers and water, and which then reflect the light in this band

These wild flowers are everywhere and must be very hardy

cos it isn't all sunshine up here, far from it

We took a walk along the shore to the small village here

This is the turbine propeller from when the dam was built in 1951.  Used til 1985 it would create 35000 hp at 150rpm - that's the equivalent of 467 Ford Fiestas!

The dam, though the generator is under the town in a tunnel

This is the Church of the Good Shepherd.

Built in 1935 as a joint effort with the Anglicans, Presbytarian and Catholic settlers and is actually labelled as an historic church!  Practically brand new....

It's only small and doesn't have stained glass behind the altar

Cos someone upstairs already took care of that, presumably...