On the final leg of our little vacation we drove to Queenstown and stayed with Mark Baxter's twin brother Paddy and his wife Maria. It was great to meet them but they were off for their own trip but were kind enough to let us stay in the gorgeous home and borrow their dog for a night.
I still can not get over those glaciers. How cool! So we reluctantly said goodbye to Kristen and Angie as they took off for the Routeburn Track and Milford sound and we looped back north on our way to Westport.
The first Night we stayed at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful aquamarine color lake that I could not capture well on film near as well as a road sign. Though they had a stunning little church on the edge of the lake plus a statue to honor the sheepdogs which made settlement of the valley possible. FYI, New Zealand has 4.4 million people and only 31 million sheep so the 20 to 1 ratio myth is busted. It is only like 8 sheep per person. And 2 cows per person. Dairy has well overtaken sheep economically. We did stop at two wineries in the Central Otago district that had very good pinot noirs and nice Rieslings. Then we were off over Arthurs pass, the highest of the three roads that cross the SOuthern Alps of the South Island in search of the elusive mountain parrot, the Kea.
We took a few short hikes to waterfalls in this tiny little mountain town but did not see a kea until the next morning when I think on was looking for a morning wake me up.
Unfortunately the Wobbly Kea Bar was not open for the Kea to get a drink. We felt fortunate to have seen one of the 3000 or so Keas left but upon leaving town and stopping at an overlook:
We found out why Keas are called the clowns of the forest. Luckily we shooed them away from our nifty little corolla before permanent damage was done. Then we were off to Westport. It was all downhill from there.
On the final leg of our little vacation we drove to Queenstown and stayed with Mark Baxter's twin brother Paddy and his wife Maria. It was great to meet them but they were off for their own trip but were kind enough to let us stay in the gorgeous home and borrow their dog for a night. 
I still can not get over those glaciers. How cool! So we reluctantly said goodbye to Kristen and Angie as they took off for the Routeburn Track and Milford sound and we looped back north on our way to Westport.
The first Night we stayed at Lake Tekapo, a beautiful aquamarine color lake that I could not capture well on film near as well as a road sign. Though they had a stunning little church on the edge of the lake plus a statue to honor the sheepdogs which made settlement of the valley possible. FYI, New Zealand has 4.4 million people and only 31 million sheep so the 20 to 1 ratio myth is busted. It is only like 8 sheep per person. And 2 cows per person. Dairy has well overtaken sheep economically. We did stop at two wineries in the Central Otago district that had very good pinot noirs and nice Rieslings. Then we were off over Arthurs pass, the highest of the three roads that cross the SOuthern Alps of the South Island in search of the elusive mountain parrot, the Kea.
We took a few short hikes to waterfalls in this tiny little mountain town but did not see a kea until the next morning when I think on was looking for a morning wake me up.
Unfortunately the Wobbly Kea Bar was not open for the Kea to get a drink. We felt fortunate to have seen one of the 3000 or so Keas left but upon leaving town and stopping at an overlook:
We found out why Keas are called the clowns of the forest. Luckily we shooed them away from our nifty little corolla before permanent damage was done. Then we were off to Westport. It was all downhill from there.
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