We spent ten wonderful days in the Mt. Wellington area of Auckland, then flew to Queenstown on the South Island. During the next two days I drove, mostly on the left, to Manapouri which we found to be delightfully quiet and beautiful. Early the next morning was gray and windy when we arrived at the dock to take the tour of Doubtful Sound. During the tour the clouds never broke, which made for dramatic skies above the Fiordlands. Saw my first Albatross gliding along on the winds with no need to flap its wings to stay aloft. That evening we drove back to Queenstown and the next morning and afternoon took another boat across Lake Wakatipu. The weather had changed, and we had a clear blue sky.

After another early rise we flew back to Auckland, rented another car and drove to Rotorua to take in the sulfurous air and observe some of the Māori culture for a couple of days. Another drive back to Auckland for an overnight and late-night plane back home the next day. Fortunately, there was a layover of a few hours in Hawaii which gave my legs a chance to unravel and stretch a bit. Altogether, we met some wonderful people, saw and photographed some wonderful sights, and ate too much good food.

Two New Zealand galleries have been added of that spectacular land. Please go over to the Galleries for the color and monochrome selections from the trip.

Here I am taking a short break from a very windy, sometimes misty, sometimes rainy, deck on the boat at Doubtful Sound, New Zealand. Photo by Patricia Van Winkle.

Photographing at Lake Manapouri, New Zealand. Photo by Barbara Van Winkle