. . . With two full months of two separate years of photos from New Zealand in the backlog, tonight I made another attack in hacking away at the mass of pictures, willy nilly.
This most recent trip was in April, included a companion, and incorporated way more Tim Tams.
Dickey and I left on 2 April to fly the normal US east coast to west coast to Auckland transit in a haze of airports and upright naps. We landed in the future, having lost a whole Monday, and hopped a plane to Christchurch on 4 April to stay with an old college pal and his wife. With time to kill before meeting them, we dove straight into driving on the left to waste no time and explore the Banks Peninsula southeast of Christchurch. Our plane cabin-cramped legs stretched along the high and beautiful seashore and tiny towns around Akaroa.
From there, we had a lovely night outside Christchurch with Kris and Jess and Bea the cat before heading out the next rainy morning on our way to the inland wilds. First, we hopscotched through tiny towns filling the Jucy van with provisions, then skipped ourselves like rocks around Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki before calling it a night under the heavy shrouds of Aoraki, Mount Cook National Park.
Unlike many of my other travels, I barely wrote a word in journal, which is very unusual. So too many photographs will have to do.
Banks Peninsula and Akaroa
Outside Christchurch with Kris+Jess
On the road, heading inland from Christchurch, NZ 1 to 79 through Geraldine, home of the cutest Police Department ever.
Lake Tekapo and Church of the Good Shepherd
(This apple, he found.)
Lake Pukaki (one of the most mesmerizing, and one of my favorite, places on earth)
The road to Aoraki, hidden behind clouds.
Days 1 and 2 complete.
As I sit and type in the cold midnight darkness of central Pennsylvania, I sure do miss that glacial blue.
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