Alright so this is gonna be a long one, I'll try to keep the writing to a minimum.
A little South of Auckland is the Tongoriro National Forest (where Mt. Doom is) and the best walks of the North Island. Unfortunatly, like I think I said, the wheather was horrible and I didn't get to do the crossing. Around the peaks are huge arid red plains that it turns out were used for the shots of the plains in Mordor (ya I have a couple of LOTR reffereces, don't judge me to harshly 
)
The mountain in the back I am pretty sure is called Mt. Ngauruhoe which is the mountain that is Mt. Doom. I never got to see it unwrapped from than thick fog so I'm not sure but anyway its pretty crazy.
The Park is beautiful (despite its use in the movie) and all sorts of streams and valleys criss cross the highway.
here's how dorky I get, since I couldn't climb it, I got a picture of the map showing where I was (don't laugh... to hard )
South of the National Park is the beautiful Lake Taupo Region which is some of the most beautiful scenery, I think, on the North Island. The lake is enormous and, like all lakes in New Zealand, fills a huge crater formed when massive volcanos blew there tops and created a deep valley. There are lots of stops along the way and at one were these cool black swans
I thought this picture was especially cool...
We pretty much went south from Taupo to Wellington and that city is pretty cool but it left a bad taste in my mouth. I learned there, at the American Embassy, that they can't help get me a new passport and I have to go all the way back up to Auckland. Its frustrating that the place that helps you is not in the capital of the country. Although I find it very "American" that the true influence of America is in the economic capital of the country (Auckland) as opposed to their declared captial. (all the other countries have there embassies in Wellington and that where you go for passport help, but not us.)
All in all Wellington is a pretty city
You take the ferry from Wellington to Picton and the South Island really is the beauty of the 2. After you get out of the north bits the rocky coasts get rough and beautiful and the mountains kick higher and higher. Snowtopped peaks are everywhere despite the season.
a view from on of the many west coast South Island Beaches
and another
The first truly cool city in the South is Rotoura, known for its geothermic activity and rich Maori culture.
this is a monument in the still functioning modern moari village there
a view looking over rotoura to to lake rotoura.
one of the prettier hotpools around rotoura. This one is called the artists palet
anther of rotoura's hotpools
South of Rotoura the tru mountains of the south island start, the Souther Alps. Most of the little towns have a rish gold and coal mining history and were much bigger n the 1850s and 60s. Charelston is a (now) tiny little town but they have a preserved gold mine there that I went to see.
all of the original equipment and stuff is there
the tunnels are extensive (some stretch over 20 kilometers) and I was suprised how little supervision we had there. The flashlight they gave us was aweful but If i had brought my headlamp we would have been free to explore as deep as we wanted into the tunnels. Quite a liability I think.
once out of the first bit of mountains and heading south west you reach the coast again and paporoa national park famous for its pancake rocks and blowholes. The waves crash into underwater caves and are shot up through tiny holes in the rocks.
We didnt see the shots cause the tide was too low but the rocks were awesome.
pretty far from home huh?
a bit furthur south on the west coast your forced to cut inland again up over the steeper parts of the Souther Alps
This is the sunset over Arthur's pass. After the crossing you head back out to the coast and there you enter glacier country which is propbably the coolest stuff so far. I hike on a glacier called the Franz Joseph which moves closer to the sea about a meter a day right now.
they take you pass this sign to scare you I think
the glacier
once we got up the face there were caves and cravasses to walk through, it was really cool
Just over the top of the glacier is the Mt Cook range with is where they filmed the lighting of the beacons of gondor. Pretty dramatic peaks.
coming down into wanaka and queensland some of the volcanic lakes start again, this one is just outside of Wanaka.
lake wakatipu is the lake that queenstown is on
anway that updates you. Ill try not to be so long next time. I hope you feel better pops, I hate it when your sick. Miss everyone and I'll update it soon.
