New Zealand photos > Buller Gorge, Caveworms and Tauranga Bay
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The Ferry from Wellington
The Ferry from Wellington provided some amazing views of the Cook Strait, which separates the North Island from the South Island.
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The InterIslander ferry is huge; it can fit a few dozen cars, and the passenger sections are wide and offer a big food court.
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This lovely mountain range was seen on our drive through the Nelson area on our way to Abel Tasman National Park
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Driving south from Abel Tasman National Park to Westport. Lots of picturesque little roads that hug creeks and praries and occasionally cross gorges via one-way brodges like this one
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Another one-way bridge... but this one is the Buller Gorge swingbridge, the longest in New Zealand
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John got a little freaked when Whitney purposely swung the bridge while he walked behind
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And we prepared the get back to our side of the river via the zip-line...
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Note John's scary face: he was kicking me in teh booty the whole time we raced down the line, hoping to make us go faster
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Hey, we just crossed that canyon!
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Next day, inside really huge & deep caves where calcium carbonate grows.
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After a good walk through the caves, we hop on our innertubes in the river (still inside the pitch black cave! This photo was taken with a bright flash, and we turned off our headlamps to see the glowworms), to float on our backs and watch the glowworms on the ceilings of the caves. Reminded Whitney a bit of those cheesy limousine interior roofs with the little neon twinkle lights that change color. These worms are a light blue-whitish color. Crazy!
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Exiting hte caves to the brightness of mid-morning daylight. Also pictured is Kevin, an American guy who is on a solo cycling trip around NZ.
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A few rapids along the River got us going
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After our cave/glowworm adventure, we were ready for a good meal at the Bay House Cafe
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This guy tried to join us for lunch. No Go, Mister
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Our lunches were devoured. To see our food, go to the Good Food gallery.
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Our groovy waiter Peter took this photo of us as we left.
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Then we took a photo of him! Thanks for everything Peter!
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The garden in front of the Bay House Cafe has some amazing flowers! Enjoy the following close-ups by photog Johnny
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We walked across the beach towards the Seal Colony where a little ice cream vendor served us two cones. When Whitney's vanilla cone dripped onto John's flip-flop, he was mighty irritated. So irritated, in fact, the he insisted we take this photo as evidence of my carelessless with ice cream. Drama.
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We love signs like these. Always a reminder of how far away we are from home.
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When we walked along the beach path to the Seal Colony, we saw a bunch of fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Adorable!
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Along the path to the Seal Colony we saw a bunch of these possum traps. Possums are a huge problem in New Zealand, as they eat the country's vegetation like mad. New Zealand has very few indigenous animals, and possums are one of the import animals who cause a huge amount of damage to the precious ecosystem. So, possum traps are here.
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A huge pile of seaweed at Tauranga Bay Beach
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What a great day near Westport, New Zealand!
