"The Rest of New Zealand"

We recently ran into a man who wisely said, "There's Auckland and then there's the rest of New Zealand." Last week we visited 'the rest of New Zealand.' We get to see Auckland all the time, seeing as we live here. Our trip was fantastic. Neither Ashton or I had ever been to the South Island and what a treat it was. It is as vastly different from the North Island as the western coast of the United States to the eastern coast.

The South Island is flat in the middle with coastal mountain ranges that hold mystical waterfalls, massive glaciers, and tropical bush. The flat part is covered with green pastures and spotted with cattle and sheep....heaps of sheep.

We started out trip in Queenstown and then drove out to the Milford Sound which isn't really a sound; it's a fiord. Which means that the mountains were carved out by glaciers and then the sea came and filled up the valleys instead of the mountains being carved by the sea. We stayed the night right on the sound in our little camper van. Imagine waking up to massive mystical mountains filled with the still sea and warm sun popping up above the mountain tops. Amazing.

We kayaked around the sound/fiord all morning long. Many seals, which are actually sea lions...these New Zealanders just don't know how to name anything, swam all around us, under the kayak, and jumped on the rocks to bathe in the sun. It was amazing. We even saw a penguin swimming! We kayaked right to the bottom of a waterfall, one of two that run all year long at Milford.

After our kayaking adventure, we took some hikes. One was through the tropical bush to a waterfall that had carved out soft rock between hard rock and left chasms cascading the falls. Then the hike to the Key Summit. The views of tropical bushed mountains tops spotted with glaciers, pools and hidden lakes in upper valleys. It was breathtaking.

The next stop was at the most massive glaciers I have ever seen in my life. I have been to Glacier National Park and thought that was stunning....and it was, and still is. I love Montana, but the glaciers we saw this day in history were the most massive I have ever seen to this day. Franz Josef glacier is about 7.5 miles long! Both Fox and Franz Josef are spectacular in that they sit in the tropical mountains. Surrounding the glaciers are mossy waterfalls, ferns, and green trees and shrubs. The glaciers are an amazing icy blue color and are filled with ice caves and cliffs.

We then drove up to Pancake Rocks. These rocks were made by the sea millions of years ago. The look like stacks of pancakes. At high tide with a rough sea pressure builds up in these rocks creating blow holes...much like a geyser effect.

Then it was on our way to Christchurch to stay with some mates of ours. We had an exceptional time on the South Island. The beauty of this world is a constant reminder of all of God's love for each of us. Right after our trip to the South Island came to a close we ventured to the far north of the North Island among the rolling green hills and the Maori people. (Most people on the South Island are white people; it's too cold for those Polynesians down there.)

We were definitely excited to make it back to our own beds in Auckland after seeing the rest of NZ. It felt so good to shower too!