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New Zealand Road Trip and Milford Track Camera Roll: December 12-20

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In Lake Tekapo, we climbed Mount John. Here’s Natalie resting.
More of the crew.
From this distance, it was difficult to tell whether that was a statue, or a person. I forgot to check once we got closer.
Pretending to look happy about the ascent.
In the sunlight, the lake was a brilliant blue. The river of yellow is most likely a stream of flowers found growing throughout the South Island.
Much further south, we visited Nugget Point, and the Nugget Point Lighthouse.
The aforementioned nuggets.
There are so many zany looking birds in New Zealand. I began to enjoy trying to snap them.
Cannibal Bay. We took a wrong turn, and decided to power on through the twisty and bumpy road. Found ourselves on a deserted beach. A lame couple showed up minutes after us, took one look, and promptly left. I judged them.
Magic! Or Natalie taking control of the camera for a little bit.
The white dots on that hill are sheep. The vibrant colours are all real.
This happy crab shell. He probably met a violent end.
That time we got chased by a couple of Sea Lions.
Another bird. He didn’t bother the Sea Lions.
Cathedral Caves. One of the largest sea caves in the world. It’s “that” big.
Goes a long way back as well.
This was about as crowded as we saw anything down in the Catlins.
The beach by the caves had yellow sand and black sand. The black sand was heavier, so as the waves washed back out, and met with another wave washing in, a sharp and distinct line was drawn where the yellow met the black.

Natalie on the roof of the boat that took us to the beginning of the Milford Track. It was extremely windy when the boat was going full tilt.
Soon after starting. Look how fresh and excited we were.
Clinton Hut was about 1 and a half hours in from the start of the tramp. We had a lot of downtime at this spot. I took this as I was heading out on a bit of a photo safari.
Panorama of some of the nearby mountains.
A better look at our lodging. Running water, and cooking gas was provided. The beds where bunk beds, spread between two separate rooms.
A giant mushroom on a tree.
Stoats are a huge threat to the native bird life, there were traps like this spotted throughout the track. We never saw anything (alive) inside one of them.
A curled up baby shoot of a fern.
Most of the bird life was fairly inquisitive.
I’m not sure what this is. But I liked it.
I spotted this bird, and couldn’t believe my luck that he was so close. He got closer.
MUCH closer. This photo is right before he hopped onto my foot.
The weather was stunning the second day, but the final approach to Mintaro Hut consisted of a steep climb. We were pretty buggered by the end of it, so I sat on the step outside the hut to take a few shots.
New Zealand as a lot of ferns.
Sitting and/or stretching to prepare for the next day.
We got a great hint from and Australian woman called Kathy that the helicopter pad was the place to be. She was right.

Stretching is always better in the sun.
Kathy also took this great series of shots.
Balloon Mountain.
The next day involved climbing a mountain in pouring rain. We tried to snap a photo with the monument at the top of the mountain. The winds were blowing at 80km per hour, and the rain had not decreased. This is about the last attempt at a photo we made while walking that day.

At the final hut, Dumpling Hut. Dry clothing never felt so good.
A good zone out was much needed.
The final day had less rain. Here we are almost missing the waterfall in the background.
We didn’t miss this one. That’s for sure.
Waiting in the shelter for our boat out of there. Once we stopped moving, we got very very cold.
Jen, being cold.
The final point!
After the tramp, we spent the night in Queenstown, then high tailed for Christchurch, via Mount Aoraki/Cook.
Mount Aoraki/Cook in all it’s magnificence.
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Hi, we’re Natalie and Jackson: a trans-continental couple who met in New York City in 2013 and haven’t been apart since. We got married in June 2015 and have been traveling around the world together.

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