Here are some pics from our trip up to the North Island

Wellington from the Botanic Gardens at the Cable Car landing

The flat I lived in while studying at Victoria University back in 2000

"Do you like ice cream?"
"yes"
"Do you like chocolate?"
"oh, yes"
"Then you should order the Iced Chocolate"
I think mom made the right choice- this drink looked Yum!

Dad and Brian on the waterfront walkway in New Plymouth, we took off on a walk to the beach and ended up going on a 6 mile circuit along the beach, through the city and up through Pukekura Park, gorgeous way to spend the day.

Joy, mom and I

The wind wand in New Plymouth

Stone carvings on the waterfront

Dad's birthday Fish 'n Chips

and finally Mt Taranaki shows itself through the clouds

On the walk up to the ski field on Mt Taranaki

The path up to the ski field starts off as a nice wide path, then narrows to a goat track with railings and an avalanche path in the middle, this section is called the Manganui Gorge

Dad and I made it to the ski field, you can just barely see mom and Joy in this photo, they turned around when the path got snowy and are heading back to the parking lot

How many ski fields have such a warning on the walk from the car park to the lodge?

Sadly, the bottom lift (T-Bar) was lacking a bit of snow, the upper lift looked fantastic, we saw some skiers heading up the T-Bar, gliding over the grasses and dodging the rocks, the snowboarders we saw didn't have such an easy time

Some sweet runs further up the mountain

Some keen riders giving us the lowdown on the Ski Club, lifts, runs and the snowboarder run/hop up the hill

A coffee at the visitors centre after the mornings expedition

We checked out our New Plymouth relatives' farms

This photo was taken south of New Plymouth looking north at the Paratutu Rock and the two other remnant of volcanoes that were once as tall as Mt Taranaki

Dad and I, just before our hike up Paratutu Rock

While my folks were visiting, Zoe was well taken care of, Dad took her on heaps of walks around the neighbourhood

Fresh snow on the hills in southern Christchurch, it was sunny so we went up for a walk and a peek over the other side to the harbour

Zoe likes the snow!!!

The City from the Port Hills

And of course it wouldn't be New Zealand with out the sheep!

I had a fantastic time with my folks while they were here. Now they will know what the heck I am talking about when i call home. I hear they are still recovering from the Jet lag and 24 hours of traveling back home. Things have returned to normal around the house and I have returned to work. I think Zoe really misses them, I know I do.

Ahoy from New Plymouth, New Zealand. Mom, dad and I traveled north on Monday, we flew to Wellington to check out the city I lived in when I came to New Zealand to study. We flew into Welly and went to visit our lovely friends Odie and Joel. They have a 180 degree view of the city from their house, which is perched high upon a hill above the city. We stayed in a backpackers in the city and the next day did a walking tour of the city, saw where I used to live and the university where I studied.

Then we drove north to visit with Craig (Darrel's Brother), Trudy, Kelsey and their wee kittens. Then we took off for New Plymouth to see Darrel's parents in New Plymouth.

The North Island was hit with a "Weather Bomb" last week, luckily we were far south and totally missed any effects of the storm, but we have seen some of the destruction that it left behind in our travels. Lots of slips (land slides), water logged fields and uprooted trees.

Today, we took off for a walk and saw the sites of the city. It was dad's day, since its his birthday, so we were at the whim of what he wanted to do and see. We saw the black sandy beach, and the beautiful ocean walkway. We had coffee at the museum and walked to Pukekura Park, found Tui birds in the trees and admired the large silver fern filled forest.

Then we had fish 'n chips for dinner!! That's what dad wanted and that's what he got. I even found the Beatles song "When I'm 64" on the iPod, since dad is now 64. More soon, going to check out Mt Taranaki tomorrow. Hopefully we get a clear view of it tomorrow. Going to see the ski area, but we didn't bring our skis north, so just going up for a nosey.

Lots of photos of the last two weeks of hanging out in Canterbury and our tiki tour of the lower South Island

New Brighton Beach, just 15 min from the house and big fun for Zoe

and of course I had to put mom and dad to work...

they took a train trip over to the West Coast, had to pick a day that it was raining in Christchurch and sunny on the other side of the divide.

Trip to Mt Hutt for big day of skiing and fun on the access road...

You just never know what the weather is going to do, one minute it was sunny and beautiful, the next minute we couldn't see the tips of our skis and boards, it got so socked in you couldn't tell which way was down the hill, made for an uneasy feeling when your board started sliding the opposite direction than you thought it should be going

Lake Tekapo, on our way south to Queenstown, that is a famous stone chapel with a magnificent view of Mt Cook, New Zealand's tallest mountain and the training ground for Sir Edmund Hillary. We waited to the last minute to decide to go up to the Mt Cook village and the Alpine Centre and museum, it was well worth the extra time in the car, I had no idea how magnificent the view from the village would be and we didn't even see Mt Cook, it was hidden by clouds

The view from our apartment in Queenstown, that is a paraglider enjoying the morning sunshine!

Dad made sure we had a good lunch for our trip to the Remarkables ski field

and another fun access road, which was a bit sketchy on the way down, it was snowing by the end of the day

The road to Milford Sound, pictures do not do it justice...

The Milford Sound is on the West Coast of the South Island, we learned heaps about this magnificent place on our trip down to check it out. The region is a tropical rainforest, getting as much as 7 metres of rain per year. Th sound is actually a fiord, because it was carved by glaciation and not by rain and erosion. Mitre peak is a mile high from it's peak down to the water, it is the highest point in this region and greets you at the entrance to fiord. We took a boat trip to check out the fiord.

Milford Sound is a very unique place, the freshwater that flows of the mountains picks up tannins from the matt of tree roots and leaves that cling vicariously to the steep rocks without soil. The tannins darken the fresh water layer that sits on top of the salt water in the sound, this creates an environment just 10 metres deep that can support deep sea life like black coral and horse mussels, to check it out you visit the deep sea observatory, which is all totally floating, and walk down a spiral staircase to a viewing platform.

In the afternoon we took a hike through the rainforest...

tree ferns, so cool

From Milford, we drove up to Wanaka and spent two nights, it was rainy in the village, but snowing on the peaks. The best day of skiing yet, Treble Cone is fabulous, heaps of fresh snow and steep chutes, I think dad and I were in heaven- mom probably could have done without her trip down the blue square trail called "Cloud Nine", which would have been considered a black diamond in Vermont, but she made it down and found some great runs to finish off the day.

We were thinking of you Uncle Peter!

We all had a great time. Sadly Darrel will be going back to work tomorrow, but mom, dad and I will be heading up North to Wellington and New Plymouth tomorrow.