A bit more of NZ

Here is the garden at the B&B we stayed at in Westport, it went all the way around the house in a horseshoe like this. Apparently it takes almost zero maintenance! Very few weeds/pests in NZ.

Seal colony south of Westport! Here is a momma and baby getting along.

And here are some seals fighting over a sunny spot. I did not understand the battle as they did not ever touch. The one on the right seemed to "win."

Down the west coast another 40 minutes are the Punakaki (sp) Rocks, aka the Pancake Rocks. Basically the ocean tides slam into channels in the rock and can explode like a geyser! This was the best one in the 30 minutes we were there watching (high tide):
After the geyser there was also this cool fine mist for a bit:

More from NZ!

These are some rocks on the west coast - right near the seal colony. Very harsh ocean. A beach near Westport, this shot shows blowing sand, and some of the mountains inland.

This a view from the top of the Mountain across from our B&B at St. Arnaud.

This is the base of the same lake as the above, just amazing to see soo many mountains right to the base of this lake (lake seemed sea level).

View from a kayaking break from our day kayaking at Abel Tasman National Park.

Back from New Zealand!

We are back and slowly recovering from the 18-hour time change. Lots of great memories,beautiful hikes, and new animal friends (and some human ones, too). Here we are in the mountains of Arthur's Pass the day before we flew home.