Oamaru I love you.

We came for the blue penguins.  We stayed for the Steampunk.  I will return for the magic.  

To be continued...

Fun with Moeraki Boulders

"Why did they put all those giant marbles on the beach?"

Maybe if you push a little more!

They had to.

We wonder where Ryan gets his stealth bomber jump.  Like father like son.

Maybe this one should go with the Fireball Island photos?

Jumping on an egg yolk!

Marine life

Big ol' seals!

There were adorable baby seals playing in the pools at the bottom of these cliffs.  

Yikes!

On our way to see yellow eyed penguins!

Albatross center

Another playground for seals.

Albatross!

Sea foam

You never know when or where you will have the most fun.  It isn't predictable.  I would have never thought that a stop by an incredibly wind swept beach, touting claims of "gems" would be so delightful.  Not so much for the gemstones, but for the sea foam!  Scads of sea foam.  Huge moving masses of sea foam.  Undulating monsters of sea foam.  

Results of running through and kicking up the foam.

Milford Sound and Around

Milford Sound was lauded in one poster as "The Sound of Silence".  While it is an incredible place, unique, beautiful, drastic, awe-inspiring, it is not really the sound of silence. At least not any more.  There are planes and helicopters droning overhead, boats swarming the water honking, car engines right and left.  But it does provide for some good photo ops. 

The boat we road down the fjord.

Token romantic photo by waterfall.

The Keas know how to get what they want from the people.

They put on a show for their human audience. 

 The next day we went on a nice hike up the mountains, which were fantastic.

Yay hiking up beautiful mountains!

We sure do love these New Zealand carrots!

Looking toward our campsite.

It's Mt. Christina!  Some day I'll come back and climb you perfect mountain. 

New Zealand pigeons are so huge!