More pix can be found at http://www.flickr.com/gp/24443447@N05/2b7yt6…

The cathedral in Central Christchurch.

The “teapot cafe” in Hokitika. They claim to have the largest teapot collection in the Southern hemisphere. (or was it just NZ? The thought of there being a ‘cult’/’society’ of teapot collectors scares me a little!)

The teapots! (I wasn’t kidding, lah…!)

The flora and fauna on the trek to the Franz Josef glacier.

 

The Franz Josef glacier itself… and me, of course…

This is the Fox glacier – we could get a lot closer to this one, without having to trek all the way up on it, like the FJ glacier. And it’s called the Fox Glacier because when the former NZ premier visited it, it didn’t have a name. so he named it after himself. Healthy ego, wot?

 

There’s Mt Cook in the distance. It was so bright it was really hard to get a good pic, what with all the reflection coming off the water. Hey, but I tried….!

The view from an Akaroa cafe.

My first rainbow in a long time, spotted as we were on our way into Queenstown.

View from the gondola station, over Queenstown.

View from the beachfront of Queenstown.

Little nick, the whale. U can never really see whales (unless they beach themselves, touch wood); you only get to see the tops of their heads as they cost along breathing (which you can see from this pic, in betwen these two people (the boat deck was crowded with people trying to get the best view. and the boat was rolling all the time….) Then when they dive down u’ll get to see their tails. I did get a video, but I won’t post it here… way too long….

And on a morbid, apt final note: how about having ur final resting place at a picturesque spot like this? and not less than 50 m from a major tourist attraction: the Queenstown gondola station!