McArthur Pass
We stopped on the way to Gray Town to check out a cave with an underground river
McArthur Pass
Ush and Marie pretending it was cold...obviously, they never visited me in Hamburg...
Franz Josef
This was taken just outside the township of Franz Josef looking up at the glacier (hidden by fog!)
Mount Cook
The central peak here is supposed to be Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand
Franz Josef Glacier
I took this just where we reached the beginning of the ice, looking back down the glacier...the rocky plain below was covered by ice as recently as 1986 (from what I remember)
Franz Josef Glacier
Taken from the same place, looking up the glacier...it looks a bit daunting to climb, doesn't it ???
Franz Josef Glacier
Ush and Marie working their way through one of the crevices
Franz Josef Glacier
Me, about to scale the icy heights...at this point my bag was full of the 4 layers of clothes I had been wearing when we started, and I had already borrowed some sun cream!
Franz Josef Glacier
Oisín and I in one of the ice caves!
Franz Josef Glacier
Unfortunately, I took this picture in a hurry and you can't make out the huge pit on Marie's right...she is currently balancing on her ice pick with one foot dangling over a 20 foot drop and saying 'Take the bloody picture'!
Franz Josef Glacier ..through a crevice...
Franz Josef Glacier
Me and O'Mir on our way through the glacier...
Franz Josef Glacier
I think I took this when we stopped for lunch on the way up
Franz Josef Glacier
This was about as high as we managed to get...we could have gotten a chopper to take us to the very top, but we figured we were sinners and should have to suffer through the climb...and it was worth it!
Franz Josef Glacier
'Artistic shot'...I saw one of the Germans in our group take a picture of this, and his camera obviously cost about 50 times what mine did, so I figured he was a better photographer than me and took one as well!
Outside Franz Josef
This is on our way from Franz Josef down to Queenstown...the bridge in the background is an 800m long one-way bridge!
Lake Matheson
The dodgy character on the left is me, and the conversation before the picture was taken went 'Do you think the flash will go off?' 'Dunno, try it and see'...Mount cook is shrouded in fog in the background
Lake Matheson
I took this on 'Reflection island'...you're supposed to take pictures from there at 5am when the lake is perfectly calm and you get a perfect reflection of Mount Cook in it. Needless to say, we didn't make it there until well after lunch...
Temperate Rain Forest
We stopped on our way at a beach called Munro beach, where we were told we could see penguins...we didn't see any penguins, but it was a very nice walk through a temperate rain forest down to the beach!
Munro Beach
The beach is split in two by a very intimidating lump of rock, so Ush and I climbed up it to see if the penguins were hiding on the other side...and this is the 'hidden' half of the beach...count the penguins :-(
Fido point
This is a look-out point on the road between Franz Josef and Queenstown...it was named after the surveyor's dog so it's name is something like 'Fido' Point...the view was incredible!
Thunder Falls
A cool waterfall we stopped at to stretch our legs on the long drive to Queenstown
Scenery
The countryside in New Zealand is really beautiful, and alot like Ireland...if you just added lots of gray cloud to this picture, it could be in Kerry somewhere
Somewhere
Can't remember where this was...the rolling green hills which you can't make out due to the lens flare reminded me of The Shire from Lord of the rings
Underwear fence
Yes, that's right, the underwear fence! The legend has it that some farmer hung up a couple of dingy pairs of Y-fronts on his fence, and passers-by just kept adding their own to it!
Lake
This was ummm...lake *mumble, mumble* which you pass on your way to Queenstown. At about this point, we agreed that we wouldn't stop to take anymore pictures
Snow-papped Ceaks
I developed a speech impediment at about this time and was unable to say Snow-capped Peaks and instead kept saying 'Pow snapped ceaks' and so on...hmm.
More Cow papped sneaks
Yeah, we didn't keep that promise for very long at all...