Invercargil, Catlains, Christchurch and Home

Well, the party is finally over and were back in Guam. We had a great time during our grand finally on the south island. Thanks you very much to Amy & Kimball for hosting our crew!! We even got in a little more mountain biking in the Invercargill forests. There were toadstools lining the single track. Other highlight include the endangered yellow eyed penguin, the awesome Moeraki boulders and the picturesque Chirstchurch. Alas, all things must come to and end and come Monday we have to work again...Enjoy.

Amy & Kimball

Cute Toadstolls

A Yak?

Invercargill watertower

Purakaunui falls

Penguins coming in at dusk

Yellow Eyed Penguin

Moeraki boulders


On da boulder

Christchuch in the evening

Christchurches central church

The Milford Track

We finished all 33.5 + 1-2 miles of the Milford Track. Wow!!!! We were blessed with rain the first two day which made for hundreds of spectacular waterfalls walking up the valley. The second day was perfectly clear when we crossed the saddle. It's said that only 10% of people actually experience the view we had from the summit. The last day was also perfect for us to finish our walk through the moss laden beech forest. Simply said we had another amazing trek. It was a little anticlimactic when we had to walk another 2 km to our motel...noone knew about the free shuttle. Ken, Sho and I spent the afternoon on a wonderful sound cruise while Crystal enjoyed a hot shower. The next day we drove down to Invercargil to say with Amy and Kimball for a day or so. So here we are and enjoy the photos!

Beginning of the Milford Track

Starburst on a tree fern arm. Do you like that one Eric?

One of hundreds of waterfalls

Trackside Flora

Gorgeous green!!

Side trek up to a colorful bog.

More Color

Scenic views on the trek

We made it to Sandfly Point and yes those sandflies are buggers!!

Dolfins on the Milford Sound

Glad to be relaxing on the Sound Cruise...the rainbow was nice too.

Enjoy a cool blast of air from the front of our boat at Sterling Falls

A alpine parrot called a Kea!! Very mischievous little guys!!

A view from Mirror Lakes

Self Explanatory

Sheep near the ocean by Invercargil

Sunset at Oreti Beach, if you have seen the movie "The worlds fastest Indian" which I highly recommend, this is the beach Burt Monro raced on.

Queenstown Fun

Queenstown is New Zealands adventure Capital. We got in early and enjoyed a crazy jetboat ride of the Shotover river and then Shoshanna got up her nerve to actually bungee jump. Yeah, I didn't think it would happen either....but it did. She even has pictures to prove it!! Go Sho!!

Mt. Cook

Mt. Cook was awesome! We lucked out with perfect blue sky so we decided to bite the bullet and take an hour long helicopter ride. He took us right up to the faces of both Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman pealing away at the last minute making people stomachs come out their mouths. We then landed on the glacier for some pics and a snowball flight. We couldn't have asked for better weather or a better group to enjoy it with.

On the Glacier

The Crew

Good Times

Mt. Cook behind us on one of our side hikes.

The Routeburn

The Routeburn was amazing. The forecast was horrible but we went anyway. The first day had a little rain but we were in the birch forests so it was too bad. The great thing about the rain was it made all the waterfalls gorgeous. The second day was chilly but very clear. When we crossed the saddle we had 360 degree views of the souther alps...Wow. The huts were great too. Fun people to talk to, plenty of coal to dry out our clothes and nice cooking areas (Stoves Provided). On the way out we even found a wheelbarrow that had been choppered in to make paths. Good fun and a very memorable trek!!!!

Rotorua and Queenstown

Well we made it from Diving all the way town the Rotorua for a little White water rafting as well as some sledging...Those pics are on a CD so none right now. We also took a nice scienic drive town through Taupo and Tangariri (sp?) to see some amazing countryside...including Mt. Doom :-) On the way we past a bunch of Thermal Pools and waterfalls. We then headed back to Auckland to check out the city before heading south. Now we are in Queenstown getting ready to hike the Routeburn tomorrow. It looks like rain is in the forcast so it should be fun!! This computer doesn't want to read the memory card so I'll see what I can do when we get back from the rainy trails.

New Zealand

Were now on the North Island of New Zealand. We left Auckland and drove up to Poor Knights Island in search of a few certain critters. Our first dive day was beautiful!! We saw pretty much all the Nudies we were after (See Below) but our second day of diving was cancelled due to 3-4 meter Swells. We were at least happy we got one day in!! We just drove down to Rotorua where were going to do some Rafting & Sledging tomorrow. It's Beautiful hear and you should all put it on your "To Do" list. Until Later...Enjoy!!!

Eric in the Kelp

Tambja verconis....the one we wanted!!

Clown Nudibranch

Whengeri Falls

Dinner at the Divestay

Sydney Australia

We arrived in Sydney a couple days ago. Our first day we enjoyed Madam Butterfly at the Opera house after doing a little wandering around. Then we did a harbor cruise over the Watson bay and it seemed all the boats in Australia were out...really pretty. We then went down to the Aquarium in Darling Harbor to check out the Shark Exhibit. I even got to see a Platypus which was first for me. Later on we went to see U2 at the IMAX. Awesome if your a U2 fan!!!!! Today we went up to the Blue Mountains for a little wandering around and sightseeing. Sydney is a beautiful city even though the food and such is making my wallet too light too fast!!! Anyway, tomorrow we meet the Fly's and it's off to New Zealand!!!

Night at the Opera


Darling Harbor in the evening

Boats in the Harbor


Kangaroo's

World Record Steep Train up the Blue's

Shoshanna by the weeping rocks