In search of a Kiwi

Our flight to the South Island of New Zealand was uneventful, and we figured out the Christchurch airport fairly easily. Christchurch is reeling from severe (7.9) earthquake activity in 2016 after several other quakes in 2011-2012, and the amount of road construction and rebuilding going on in the region was significant. I have to say I have found my people, though: there are no snakes on the islands of New Zealand, and they don't even allow any in the zoos or as pets. Every bit of baggage is X-rayed before anyone is allowed in the country. Because the South Island is a similar latitude distance from the equator as MN, just the south rather than the north, the angle of the sun is very familiar. They grow apples, have wineries, and dairy farms dot the countryside. In some ways, I felt right at home.
After a resting/orientation night, we headed to Kaikoura, which is home to dusky dolphins, fur seals, blue penguins, and other marine life (okay, very different from MN). We viewed the rocky seal colony first from high above the coast on the peninsula trail, and then we hit the water in sea kayaks. We got to see a seal eating an octopus, thrashing it back and forth on the surface as it chomped. Our guides were fantastic on this tour, and we have more than their technical expertise to thank them for: one guide asked us about our plans after Kaikoura; we had been planning to head to the west coast of the South Island, and Franz Joseph Glacier. However, it was he who told us about impending Cyclone Fehi due to hit the west coast immediately, the town we had set our destination sights on as the location directly in its path. He recommended we instead go to inland to Hamner Springs, and we are so glad we followed his advice:

approximately 700 tourists were stuck in one location on the west coast, 120 tourists stuck between the two glaciers on the road (in their cars for 20 hours), and long stretches of the main road remained closed for two days following the storm while we were enjoying thermal pools (complete with water slides) in Hamner Springs. This level of detail regarding the storm's path was not evident in any of the weather reports we checked, and this was the first time we needed to reroute what we had planned during this trip. So after enjoying Hamner Springs we decided to pick up our original plans in Te Anau, part of Fiordlands National Park in the southwestern part of the island, and traveled through Timaru and Wanaka on our way. We didn't make it out to the glaciers; ironically, that's the part of the South Island Scott and I did see in 2003. Fiona and Harley will have to make another trip when they are part of the backpacking crowd in a few years.
Though we started out this part of the trip in record heat (for NZ) and sunny, after Hamner Springs the remnants of the storm caught up with us and we had to locate...pants. Rainjackets. Fiona's winter coat made an appearance. The weather definitely became more variable! So while the rain abbreviated our appreciation for Timaru, we truly enjoyed the drive to Wanaka, stopping at several brilliant inland lakes, Lake Ticapo and Lake Pukaki. Wanaka was hopping with tourists swimming, SUPing, waterskiing, etc in Lake Wanaka and there were numerous paragliders in the air (we contemplated it for a brief moment, looked like so much fun, but decided not to tempt fate). New Zealand really does have a stunning topography to offer, and we decided several places we visited definitely could have been used for the Lord of the Rings trilogy filming. Finally we made it to Te Anau and did some hiking on the Kepler Track. Considered one of New Zealand's Great Walks, it requires 3-4 days to complete; we did an abbreviated Cliff Notes version in two hours. The next day we did the Scenic Southern Drive to Milford Sound for a cruise on the fiord.

Waterfalls cascaded down the mountain faces, dramatic drop-offs were visible and the clouds surrounded us as we made our way to the pier. The cruise was beautiful; we saw the whole area in light rain, the dominant weather pattern for the fiord. We did several short hikes, including the Chasm and Mirror Lakes on our way back and even saw a kiwi bird (though at the time we had some debate on the proper identification of it).
The next day was Waitangi Day, celebrating the treaty between the colonists and the Maori in New Zealand in 1840. Te Anau had a local little festival and we checked out the Maori dancers (can look very fierce when they choose!). Finally, we began our trek back to Christchurch. We had our most unusual lodging that night: in a set of restored/retro campers, Betsy (larger) and Betty (smaller) on a lavender farm, which smelled absolutely divine. The farm, outside the small town of Kurow, was incredibly peaceful--with the possible exception of the agitated peacocks that also lived there. We enjoyed the night and watched the stars (and saw several satellites moving really fast in the sky) without a hint of light pollution. Then we headed back to Christchurch for our flight to Fiji.