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Saturday 4 February 2012

Christmas Trip 2011 - The Lower/Central South Island - Explanation

Archives New Zealand (where we work digitising probate records) was closed from Friday, Dec. 23rd at noon until Wednesday, Jan. 4th giving us (the McVey's & Overton's) a perfect window of time to visit the south island and take in some of the sites.  You'll be able to see second hand, 23 of the 101 Kiwi Weekend spots to see! 

The next 11 posts photographically detail our journey

Follow the colors below that correspond to the map below as we:
  • Day 1 - Dec. 25th - Travel to Christ Church and drive to Mt. Cook
  • Day 2 - Dec. 26th - Travel from Mt. Cook to Queenstown
  • Day 3 - Dec. 27th - Seeing the sites in and around Queenstown
  • Day 4 - Dec. 28th - Travel from Queenstown south to Invercargill and then west and north to Te Anau & Fiordland
  • Day 5 - Dec. 29th - Travel from Te Anau to Milford Sound and spend the night with us on The Mariner
  • Day 6 - Dec. 30th - Travel from Milford Sound back to Queenstown
  • Day 7 - Dec. 31st - Travel from Queenstown north to Fox Glacier
  • Day 8 - Jan. 1st - Travel up the coast to Pancake Rocks and back down to Fox Glacier...bad planning
  • Day 9 - Jan. 2nd - Travel over Arthur Pass and into Christ Church


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Wellington to Mt. Cook

Our trip really begins in Wellington where we departed and flew to Christ Church.  From Christ Church we traveled through the middle of the south island to Mt. Cook as shown below in red on our map.  Remember, this was Christmas day so most everything was closed!  We covered some 400km today or about 240 miles.


Highlights of this days trip included:
  • Our flight from Wellington down to Christ Church
  • A pass through the entrance of Rakaia Gorge #28 on the 101 Kiwi Weekend list
  • Drive through Geraldine, "Cheese Capital of New Zealand"
  • A stop at the southern end of Lake Tekapo to visit the Church of the Good Shepard #25 on the 101 Kiwi Weekend list.  As we approached the mountains, the fields were full of Lupin flowers
  • Seeing Mt. Cook, tallest mountain in New Zealand at 3,754m or 12,316ft.  This is #6 on the 101 Kiwi Weekend list
  • Staying at The Hermitage Hotel, training location of Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mt. Everest.  Mt. Cook is the mountain he and numerous mountain climbers train on even today
Below is a what the Rakaia Gorge entrance looked like


Here's the Church of the Good Shepherd


Beautiful Mt. Cook and its surroundings


Pictures of our flight to Christ Church






Photos as we drive to Rakaia Gorge and on to the Church of the Good Shepherd









Photo's in and around the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Sheepdog Monument









Photos of Lake Pukaki and our approach to Mt. Cook in the distance









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Mt. Cook & Surroundings

We arrived at Mt. Cook Sunday evening after a drive of some 370km or 220 miles.  There was lots to see there so I've created a separate post for this area.

Highlights of our excursions include:
  • A visit to Tasman Lake and a view of Tasman Glacier, Mt. Tasman (2nd highest in New Zealand) and Mt. Cook.  The Tasman Glacier is 27km (17 miles) in length and the largest in New Zealand.  It is retreating at a rate exceeding 500m annually and it's estimated that it may be totally gone in 20-25 years...sad!
  • A visit to the Alpine Monument - A memorial to all those that lost their lives trying to climb Mt. Cook.
  • Our stay at The Hermitage - Established by Sir Edmund Hillary who used this as a training site for all his Mt. Everest climbs.
  • Seeing Mt. Cook #6 on the 101 Kiwi Weekend list and tallest mountain in New Zealand, nearly 12,500 ft in elevation.
Tom with Tasman Lake and Glacier in the background - he's the only one who made the steep trek to this spot!



Mt. Cook near sunset


Mt. Cook in the morning light


The Alpine Monument with Mt. Cook in the distant background


These are some of the views around the area







A trip to Lake Tasman













More of Mt. Cook









The Alpine Memorial











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