Great photography, Dan! I love the Protea, it's just gorgeous.

Stunning photography, Dan! The falls and the ocean shots are fabulous! The Protea is way cool!

I'm constantly amazed at the beauty our planet has to offer... those boulders are fantastic, and the prehistoric look of those tree ferns... oh my!

Thanks for sharing your trip!

Fantastic photos of your NZ trip.

Thanks for sharing.

Dan,
When did you go to NZ? Did you go to the north Island too or just the south? I went 3 years ago and can't wait to go back!
Kristi

Haven't made it there yet. These pics make me wanna go book a flight.
Tally Ho!

Dan, great pictures! Did you add much to your "want list" from the Botanical gardens? Those boulders are amazing - look like cookies I just baked, so perfectly round.
Alana

Glad you liked the trip through my eyes!! I was not really a tourist in the truest sense since I was there on a William Evans Visiting Fellow award from the Univ, of Otago....had to actually work with my colleague in the lab and visit the south island on weekends, evenings!! I would love to go back and see more, but I had the best of it since I had dinner with my friends every night at their house in Dunedin and got a personalized tour of the points we went to. The country is so beautiful and so diverse.....to be able to drive from the beaches of Christchurch through the southern Alps to the rain forest's of the west coast in a single day is amazing!!

The botanical gardens are stunning and HUGE, but of course. like most botanical gardens most of the plants are imports rather than natives. The plants from South Africa do amazingly well there because of the climates being similar and the wall of Clivia around 100 feet long must be stunning when in full bloom!!

I'll post a couple of more pics for those that did not look at the album:

This is Sandfly Bay so named because the wind blows constantly and keeps the sand in your face!!
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Here are a couple of NZ Sea Lions having a tussle:
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A couple of additional Protea that were blooming at the Dunedin Botanical Garden:
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This is a Maori meeting house......you can not enter the grounds unless invited, which of course I was not :o)
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And for the bird lovers out there here is an awful shot of an Albatross......this is the only place in the world where they nest on an inhabited island so it was worth the trip on a boat around the front side to see them in flight :o) Dan
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A million thanks yous, Dan, for making the shortest day of the year so pleasant. Wonderful of you to share.
Pat

That was the hardest thing to get used to while I was there....Nov. 20th until Dec. 16th......the days were soooo long because they are so far south 45 degrees latitude and of course they were heading in to summer........wish we could have long days like that all year :o) Dan

Have to add onto Dan's post as the scenery going into autumn in NZ was spectacular! I only did the south Island in March. I didn't focus on the spectacular and unique plant life as I was too busy ooohing and aahing over the scenery!

Here I am in front of the Franz Josef Glacier (it was raining):
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And here is the site of my bungie jumping:
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A view on our way to the Fox Glacier:
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The beautiful blue of a glacier-fed lake:
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And...a statue to honor the contribution made to New Zealand by the working sheep dog:
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And...my friends herd of deer (they farm them like beef)sorry it's out of focus...they were running:
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Mt. Cook from the air:
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THEN OVER TO AUSTRALIA (or back to OZ since my trip started there)....and some wildlife:

I think this is a Lorikeet at my pal's birdfeeder:
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Two sulfur-crested cockatoos that also visited:
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And...me at the Dingo preserve holding one of the tamer pups that they use for education (the owner has several pairs [they mate for life] in hopes of re-introducing them into the wild in an area where they will not interbreed with domestic dogs:
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Hope you enjoyed my contribution to the trip to a "far off" place....19 hours by plane, non stop!
Kristi

Awesome Kristi!!! I have to say, I kept asking my friend why the deer do not jump the fences (they are way to low to keep them in) and become a pest species like the rabbit, various weasel family members, possum, etc., but they apparently are domesticated enough that they stay put until time to become a meal....go figure.

I really wish I could have gone to Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain there, but just no time with the experiments we were trying to do and it is a rather long drive.....many people go only to see a mountain enveloped in clouds I'm told so it is wonderful to see it from above!!

My oldest daughter is going to do a semester abroad in Brisbane, Aus. in 2011 so we need to make a trip to see her I think :o) Dan

Brisbane was great when I was there in '88 for the World Expo (new name for the World's Fair). If you're going...do the east coast starting in Cairnes and work your way down!
:-)
K

Just incredible, you two! Thanks so much, Kristi and Dan, for sharing your visits! Wonderful scenery... and those Proteas are a little too interesting, Dan! Don't get me started! ;-)

Australia and NZ both have so much to offer... I often wish I could travel! Awe inspiring views... just awesome!