Our first scenic drive from Picton (ferry landing) to Nelson across the top of the South Island.

Jeff Dunbar > New Zealand - S Island

Our first scenic drive from Picton (ferry landing) to Nelson across the top of the South Island.

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Glacier ice is awesome.

Natalie in a state of puff jacket-induced bliss after yet another cold night of sleeping in the car.

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Jeff Dunbar

Oct 7, 2007

“Our first scenic drive from Picton (ferry landing) to Nelson across the top of the South Island.”

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A big battle scene from The Chronicles of Narnia was shot here.

Once again, we had this place to ourselves...

Looking straight down at the coolest 5.8 climb in NZ: Headbanger's Arete (grade 17) at the main cliff of Hospital Flat in Wanaka.

On our next visit to the glacier (my 3rd), Natalie and I were accompanied by our kiwi climber friend Ruth.

The trunk of the Franz Josef glacier, as seen from our helicopter window. Note the ocean is visible in the background.

Nope, not Castle Hill. This is the lesser-known, but equally as scenic boulder field at Elephant Rocks in the South Canterbury region. For a sense of scale, I'm the little spec walking out of the shaddow on the right side of this photo.

Huge waterfalls and frequent landslides were no bother for the kiwis who built the road through Arthur's Pass. This engineering marvel snakes east to west, straight through the heart of the Southern Alps in the middle of the South Island.

This is the grand plateau below Mt. Tasman and Mt. Cook. In the bottom left/center, atop the rocky outcrop, sits an alpine hut with a red roof. Every year, hundreds of climbers use it as basecamp for alpine ascents of Mt. Cook (left) and Mt. Tasman (right).

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is loaded with pristine beaches along its entire length (51 kilometers). We only hiked about 10 kilometers of the track as a day trip, but we were not disappointed with the scenery...

This place was like Arches National Park by the sea...

There were arches everywhere you looked...

Natalie celebrates our arrival on one of the most rugged and desolate beaches we've seen yet in New Zealand, near Farewell Spit on the ocean side of Golden Bay.

I'm the tiny blue dot walking away from the camera...

The local marine mammals seemed to enjoy the sun as much as we did on the Abel Tasman Coast Track. This fella weighed at least 300lbs and we ate lunch right next to him (fortunately he wasn't hungry).

The granite sea cliffs of Seperation Point on the border of Tasman Bay and Golden Bay.

More pristine beachfront property at Abel Tasman National Park.

The hot pools at Welcome Flat were pure bliss at the end of our 11 mile walk up the Copland Valley. On the sage advice of several kiwi friends, we packed in a nice bottle of wine to enjoy while we soaked away the pain of the trail.

Back on the NZ mainland, we stopped at this remote beach on our way to Dunedin to observe a petrified forest by the sea (only visible at low tide). The lumps you see here are petrified tree stumps.

Natalie took this killer shot of the snow and the ocean at the helicopter landing site at the top of the Franz Josef Glacier.

The main attraction at Moereki Beach is the cluster of bizarre globe-shaped boulders at the far end of the beach. For eons, these boulders grew like pearls from small mineral deposits in the otherwise sandy soil.

And these tiny Stewart Island Robins followed us everywhere we went (they litterally foraged for food in our footsteps).

Great Walk #2: The Abel Tasman Coast Track near Nelson. We had this place to ourselves, but in the high season this beach and many others along the track are swarming with hikers, kaykers, fishermen, motorboaters, etc...

The Otago Penninsula protects Dunedin from rough weather from Antarctica. In 2006, several gigantic icebergs broke off from Antarctica and floated right past this spot.

One quickly begins to feel rather insignificant in a place like this...

Some of these boulders are eroding faster than others...

This thing is about the size of a small medieval castle...

I thought this sign was really funny, UNTIL...(see next picture)

The pace of life on Golden Bay was put into proper perspective by this line of cows that stretched all the way back to the pine trees in the background...after about 10 minutes, a farmer on a motorcycle kindly rescued us from this imposing bovine roadblock and we continued on our merry way.

So our new kiwi friend Kevin (a very experienced ice-climber) set up a toprope and we all gave it a go. Kevin was the only one who reached the top, but after cutting our teath on this amazing feature, Natalie and I were instantly hooked on ice-climbing.

After 3 days of rain and intermittant sun, the limestone cliffs of Golden Bay finally dried out long enough for us to get one good climb in before heading back to Nelson.

Natalie and I were all smiles the day we scored ourselves a free ride on one of the scenic helicopter flights over the Southern Alps.

The rugged west coast of the South Island reminds me of the Big Sur Coast in CA, but its covered in rainforest instead of coastal sage scrub.

On my 2nd rock climbing trip to Queenstown with my Canadian friend John, I took a shot at Wye Creek's classic roof climbs.

The aptly named Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki on the west coast. At high tide, there are some impressive blow holes here...

Natalie crossing one of a dozen classic kiwi swing bridges on the Copland Valley trail.

The Franz Josef Glacier is a stunning sight to see. From top to bottom its over 5 miles long. This is one of two glaciers on the west coast that extend all the way down to sea level. I believe this is the only place in the world where you'll find glacier ice surrounded by rainforest at sea level.

The ocean waves were breaking so close to my partner on the deck that we decided to build him a belay anchor. The malestrom of water on the left is lovingly referred to as the Pit of Doom by kiwi climbers. Suffice it to say, this is a thrilling place to climb.

The Fox Glacier is just 15 miles down the road from the Franz Josef Glacier, and it is similarly carving its way through the rainforest towards the ocean.

On one of my last few days in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to score a 1-hr scenic flight around the Mt. Cook region on this fixed-wing plane based in Franz Josef.

Glacier ice is awesome.

Our first scenic drive from Picton (ferry landing) to Nelson across the top of the South Island.

Natalie in a state of puff jacket-induced bliss after yet another cold night of sleeping in the car.

This sea lion swam to Stewart Island from Antarctica!

We got stuck in a major traffic jam on the way to Queenstown...

Petrified tree trunks on the beach. Wierd.

The uber-touristy city of Queenstown as seen from the local tramway. The craggy peaks of the Remarkables range are across the lake. This place gets a 10 for scenery, but a 2 for local culture.

This is the stuff good vacations are made of. White sands, blue-green water, and stunning clouds at Moereki Beach on the east coast of the South Island, just north of Dunedin.

Our primary reason for coming to Queenstown: the 5-star rock climbing at Wye Creek in the foothills of the Remarkables. Queenstown looks deceptively quaint from this safe distance across the lake.

Now that the Moereki boulders are exposed to the waves and wind, they are begining to erode again. Here you can can clearly see the honeycomb structure of the mineral deposits that created these wierd boulders.

The classic shot of climbers at Wye Creek. This view is still pretty darn awesome even on a cloudy day...we will definitely be returning here for more climbing before we leave NZ.

Dr. Seuss would've loved this place...

Just another 200' tall roadside attraction on the way to Wanaka and Queenstown in the heart of the Southern Alps.

Even without a proper guidebook, it was easy to enjoy some bouldering at Elephant Rocks.

My first chimney climb. The classic "Shortcut to Exposure" (5.9) in Wanaka.

And then, out of nowhere, a huge gust of wind came along and blew Natalie right off her perch at Elephant Rocks...

Big sky over the snow-capped peaks of Fiordland National Park on the way to Milford Sound, just south of Queenstown.

After looping back down the west coast, it was time to strap on the crampons and head out for a climb on the Franz Joseph glacier. After ten minutes of hiking steeply up the terminal face of the glacier, we encountered this unusual 80' tall formation. Clearly this breaking wave of ice needed to be climbed...

Mitre Peak at low tide on Milford Sound. Its 1 mile high, and it drops straight down into fjord. This is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Definitely on par with Yosemite.

And then a week later Kevin and I came back with a professional photographer so he could LEAD this line on pre-placed ice screws. As seen here, I tried unsuccessfully to follow him... (photo by Petr Hlavacek)

The mountains of Fiordland National Park are not the tallest in NZ, but they are extremely steep and rugged. There's heaps of world-class alpine rock and ice climbing here. Oh, and there's a severely overhung wall with a bunch of NZ's finest 5.13 sport climbs too if you're into that sort of thing... (Natalie and I couldn't be bothered)