Today we toured Christchurch, learning about the earthquake and Māori culture.

It occurred to me I was so busy showing destruction, I neglected to post some pics from our New Year’s Day train trip across the country.

Today, New Years Day, we boarded a train and took a long ride across the country on the Tranzalpine Express.

Today we hiked in the Hooker Valley, along the Hooker River, to Hooker Lake, and saw the terminal edge of Hooker Glacier. It rained the entire time.

We left the warm company of Chad’s family and headed northward on our own towards Mt. Cook.

After putting it off for days, we finally went wine tasting today. These people know how to make a Pinot Noir.

We started the day touring an abandoned gold mining town whose heyday was around 1871 and, later, Queenstown.

If you Google “Wanaka Tree” you get back a specific tree growing in Lake Wanaka.  It dumbfounds the locals, who do not understand why this particular tree has gained such notoriety. We decided to see for ourselves.

Today started early. After a few hours sleep we were off to the airport to visit Milford Sound.  Rather than bus we chartered a six seater Cessna to fly us there and back.

You can imagine my annoyance when I fell ass over tea kettle into the lake, camera and all.