• The line crossing Cook Strait is the ferry route from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island.

• This is a magnification of the last part of the ferry route from Wellington to Picton.

• Arriving in Picton

• Our Interislander Ferry, the Arahura

• Aboard the water taxi for our crossing of Queen Charlotte Sound. We are bound for Portage for two nights at the Portage Resort.

• The New Zealand National Rugby Team, the All Blacks, won the rugby World Cup, hosted by New Zealand, just before our arrival in NZ. Flags like this were everywhere!

• Even the clouds had the appearance of the New Zealand Silver Fern.

• Queen Charlotte Sound

• Arriving at the dock for ground transport to the Portage Resort

• The Portage Resort is on Kenepuru Sound. The walk we took on the Queen Charlotte Track is marked with a dashed yellow line.

• Kenepuru Sound from our Portage Resort balcony

• Our room was in this wing of the Portage Resort

• Portage Resort

• Portage Resort pool with the sound in the background

• Manuka

• Kenepuru Sound in the morning

• We walked the Queen Charlotte Track to the Black Rock Shelter and back.

• Kenepuru Sound from the Queen Charlotte Track

• Kenepuru Sound from the Queen Charlotte Track

• Queen Charlotte Sound and Picton from the Queen Charlotte Track

• An immature Lancewood tree. It has very spiny branches so that the now extinct Moa would not eat it. When it grows taller, the trunk is bare to above the height of a Moa and the leaf structure changes dramatically.

• A mature Lancewood tree

• A vein of quartz in the rock along the track

• Kidney Fern (Cardiomanes reniforme): Identification courtesy of Tony Foster, http://www.flickr.com/photos/fostert/sets/72157624952612433/

• Scottish Gorse, an introduced invasive species. Its blossoms are very similar to Scottish Broom, but the spikier foliage is more damaging to clothing and skin.

• The black lines in the water are oyster farms.

• The Weka is a flightless bird that is common in this part of New Zealand.

• Our stop for a picnic lunch and the turn-around point on our trek

• Ian, Margaret, Kathryn, and Keith on the walk back

• Kathryn on the track

• After returning to Picton and leaving Queen Charlotte Sound, we travelled toward Kaikoura. Along the way we stopped at Brancott Estate for wine tasting.

• These stainless steel tubes concentrated various sample aromas to help calibrate wine-sniffing senses.

• The 'Aroma Wheel' located between the stainless steel 'sniffing' tubes

• The play structure at the Brancott Estate Winery

• On our way from Picton to Kaikoura we stopped to see these New Zealand fur seals.

• A mother and nursing pup

• Seals in a tide pool

• Kaikoura

• A view from Kaikoura

• While travelling from Kaikoura to Hanmer Springs we saw one of the many braided rivers on the South Island.

• Heritage Hotel Hanmer Springs, our home for one night

• The view out our window at the Heritage Hotel

• Many highways in New Zealand have one-lane bridges. The 'Give Way' system is well-defined. We gave way to this John Deere tractor!

• Seagars Cook School & Cafe is famous in New Zealand. The Chef, Jo Seagar, has published a number of cookbooks.

• Hot chocolate and carrot cake at Seagar's. The hot chocolate is served with the chocolate syrup on the side, along with white chocolate discs.

• A Seagar's cappucino

• The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shore of Lake Tekapo