In Los Angeles

The heat, humidity, constant rain and, above all, the *#&* mosquitoes ended up being too annoying and painful so I changed my flight and went back to the US last night. The cook islands is very pretty, but I just couldn't enjoy it because of literally hundreds of mozzie bites. I'm planning to in back in july/august when it's less hot and humid and there are fewer bugs. That time is also when the big cultural festival is held, so it would be a good time to visit.

After an incredibly long boxing day (47 hours, thanks to passing the dateline right around midnight), I have now spent two days on the Cook Islands.
Of course it rained the whole first day, but the second day was pretty good with only short periods of showers. Tonight I went to an island night and watched Cook Islands dancing and tomorrow I'll go on a tour of Rarotonga.

Going to the cook islands

I'm in the Air New Zealand lounge in Auckland, waiting for my flight to the Cook Islands later tonight (arriving early morning today, thanks to passing the date line).
The cell phone coverage isn't exactly great on the islands so I probably won't be able to post any pictures until I get back to Auckland on January 7th.

Last Christmas

My niece wearing proper Carolina attire :-)

Botanic Creek

In Strahan, Tasmania. The dark water color is caused by tannins washed out from local grasses. The water may look dirty but it is actually very clean, albeit with a slightly earthy tone.

Riding the choo-choo

Today I rode the on the West Coast Wilderness Railroad through the rainforest between Strahan and Queenstown. At certain points the track is really steep (up to 8 percent) and it is the steepest railroad in the southern hemisphere and it stop through an area that is one of the two locations in the world (the other one being Xian in China) that fulfills at least seven of the ten qualifying criteria for being classified as a World Heritage Site.

Dove lake

Very nice, especially when the sun decided to shine for a couple of minutes. Before I came here, Tasmania had 30 days without rain, but it has rained most of the time I've been here.

Cataract Gorge, Launceston

I've arrived in Tasmania (avoided the earthquake in NZ). The day was fine but now it has started to rain again. Tomorrow I head south to the Cradle Mt. national park and Strahan.

Otira gorge

On the way from Arthur's Pass to Greymouth.

Queenstown from above

Surrounded by mountains on three sides, it's not an easy place to fly out from, and landing there is a thrilling (or scary) experience.

Arrowtown, near Queenstown

Today was the first day without a single drop of rain and it was very nice. Unfortunately I had to leave Queenstown and fly to Christchurch in preparation for tomorrow's journey over Arthur's Pass.

Shotover jet

It was raining so having rain hitting you in the face while going 50 mph was a little painful, but it was still a lot of fun.

http://www.shotoverjet.com/queenstown/main/

Luging in Queenstown

Since it had been raining all day (of course...) it was a little slippery, but lots of fun!

Big burgers in Queenstown

The burgers at http://www.fergburger.com/ are very good, especially the 'Big Al':
"Al delivers a double serving of prime New Zealand beef (1/2lb), lashings of bacon, a whole lotta cheese, 2 eggs, beetroot, lettuce, tomato, red onion, relish & a big wad of aioli"

As you can see by the many posts lately, I'm posting from regular computer instead of my phone. I've just finished the 2-week tour of New Zealand and tomorrow I fly up to Christchurch and then on to Tasmania.

Rafting, part 2

The picture was taken on Dec. 10th on the Rangitata River outside of Christchurch.
Plenty of grade 5 rapids and lots of fun, including a 30 ft. jump into ice cold water.

Queenstown

View from the mountain above the city. The bungy jump platform is in the lower right corner.

Lake Te Anau and the Kepler mountains

Milford Sound

Where did you say we were going?

Gunn's camp

In the Hollyford valley outside of Te Anau. It's rained for five days straight and no end in sight. Today I was supposed to start hiking the Routeburn track, but it's not gonna happen because of my bad knee. The sandflies here are vicious and they just won't go away.

The world's steepest street

Baldwin street in Dunedin. 150 feet of climbing, 500 feet long. The steepest part has a gradient of 1 in 2.86. Guess who got the brilliant idea of running all the way up and down... Total time: 5m16s. The fastest guy in the group did it in 3m32s, but I was the fastest in the 35+ age category.

Hooker Valley

Located in the Mt. Cook national park. It's been raining for two days and everyone and everything is soaked. Hopefully it gets better soon. Tonight we're going to watch penguins and little penguin chicks and tomorrow we're going to Dunedin.

Field of dreams

The south island, where sheep outnumber humans by a factor 20 to 1

Avon river

In Christchurch, the most British town outside of Britain.

Kaituna River Rafting

This is a shot of my raft going over the 24 foot waterfall in the Kaituna river. The picture was taken this last Tuesday.
It was a fun ride but not without complications. One person cut her nose and required stitches, one guy cracked two ribs and I got hit hard on the nose and it's still swollen. It might have a hairline fracture...
Oh well, it was fun!

Ohau seal colony

In Wellington

A view of the harbor area and the cable car tracks. This is the last day on the north island and tomorrow we continue on the south island.

Fish 'n chips

Fresh fish and soft fries, served in a newspaper. Just like it should be!

Taranaki Falls

Located in the Tongariro National park. Very nice but it's been raining hard all day and we couldn't do the Tongariro alpine crossing because of strong winds and low visibility.

Huka Falls

Some people like to go over the falls in kayaks. Crazy people!

Bike toilets?

I know the symbols for restrooms for men and women, but this is a new one...

Devil's bath

Hydrogen sulphide plus ferrous salts looks pretty, but there's a scent of rotten eggs in the air.

Champagne pool

Wai-o-tapo thermal wonderland

Whiritoa Beach

Very pretty

Hahei beach, coromamdel

Coromandel village

First view of New Zealand

Lemon & Paeroa

World famous in New Zealand :-) 
There are only two places where you can get L&P in the U.S, the Air NZ lounges in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I'm in Los Angeles waiting for my flight.

At Charlotte airport

After a 30 minute flight down from Raleigh it is now time for the next flight to Los Angeles. They're playing Kenny G Christmas music and it's killing me...

I recognize that machine...

The USAir club at the Raleigh airport. The same coffee machine that we have at work, but they have a much better selection here :-)

Bag weigh-in

32 lbs ( 14 kilos), backpack inside duffel bag to protect it during transport. Not even close to max weight :-)