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a spa in Te Atatu (painted with the delicious M94 pint, now in Auckland!) and a reataurant bathroom and a billboard in good ol' Fielding.

just when i thought i'd been every where...

Elliot says, "can we go to Herald Island?!" I never heard of ya! but been there n done that now ay
thats the island behind him. and here we is on said island!behold the wharf etchings, from the air force. The third line is "Harmonic 01". hmmm... Bruce Cathy anyone?

South Island tour final chapter: Mt Cook to Chch

from the Otago coast, we headed back inland past the hydro power lakes. this is oldest dam of the three, Aviemore i think its called.. the water was the most amazing colour.

further on, we stopped at a river salmon farm where you can feed the fish! and then buy some fish to feed us :)
me before NZ's largest mountain, Aoraki (mount Cook).. spectack!
we stayed at Lake Tekapo for the last nite on the road, and ate some of that fresh alpine river salmon for dinner... yum!next morn, on Lake Tekapo, the famous Church of the Good Shepard... looks spectacular when its not cloudy
road-weary traveller:our last alpine vista, the Rakaia gorge. West Canterburyyy!
we finally arrived back in Christchurch, where i was born and raised. we stayed at my dad's place in scenic port Lyttelton:
there's been enough coverage of the Chch 7.1 earthquake for me to do it. we felt some gnarly aftershocks and got to see plenty of damage... its really fucked the place up i'm sorry to say

Cybela with her cousin Aska... cuties
had to get some work done too, here's some chch hell pizza shops i souped up

had to catch up with the Chch homies of course... for some night action!
and that was our South Island Tour. the end!

South Island part 5: southland to Otago

Southland! thats Stewart island. no, not that, behind that. ok you can't really see it.
Here's some scenic photos from Invercargill..

work to do, here's their Hell shop mural by me.
next we headed for nearby Bluff, at the end of the island.

Here I am at the Bluff lookout. let me tell you what's wrong with Bluff:
- its not even the Southernmost part of the Island. that's further east, at Slope Point.
- it once had a thriving freezing works which closed in the 80's, and the famous Paua house which has gone... now they have nothing but abandoned shops and rusted boats.
- it is the most ramshackle, dirty, ugly, rusted, depressing place in NZ.

I think this horrible town should be abandoned and left for nature to destroy. a total waste of existance. Death to Bluff!
the girls looking out to Stewart Island. So close, but $170 on the ferry! and the Southland locals all told us not to bother. fine then.

From there we went east, through the Catlins district, where we met a sea lion:
Overlooking Curio Bay. there's signs up saying feel free to swim with Dolphins, just be nice to them... its way to cold though at this time of year. but great views
The Caitlins District is the only part of Southland to retain native forest. I lost count of how many spectacular beaches, without any people on them, we saw..
Dunedin, South island's second biggest town... in my opinion, better than than the biggest, Christchurch. Firstly, their Victorian archetecture, particularly the cathedrals, are far more awesome. Second, it has a lively town centre! Third, people seem more positive. Four, its relatively) close to Queenstown. Unfortunately its a lot colder down there in winter. this is their First Church.
work to do. Hell Dunedin South... "the Lust Supper". this is only like 1m x 2m, tricky!
Hell Dunedin North... showing their St Paul's church at the apocalypse!
These are the famous spherical boulders of Moeraki.... curious

South island part 4: Southern Lakes, Fiordland

made it through the "Gates of Haast" to arrive at the top of Lake Wanaka, marking the arrival to the great Southern Lakes District.
a night in an unfortunately cloudy Wanaka meant no scenic shots, off to Queenstown via Cromwell

wine tasting in the Gibbston Valley, great stuff!, this is at Peregrine
another vineyard, Internationally acclaimed Gibbston Valley winery. With a boutique cheesery on premises! nice.
they age the wine here in a cave in the mountain!
Arrowtown, another goldminers town, but this one is a totally functioning town with schools and everything. but they've kept the main street totally old school. choice!

Queenstown! NZ's number one ski resort town. I always get the tingles when I'm here! even though the ski fields closed the day we arrived, enjoy that springtime slush guys.if you've never been here, boo for you. Its my favorite place on the whole island. this is the lakefront, which the town is built around.
here's some work i did in the Queenstown Hell pizza store.

up the top of the lake from Queenstown, is an almost town called Glenorchy, another dead end. Its near Saurumans house. we were hit with a mad snowstorm whilst enjoying lunch on the lake and had to do the bolt!
we went the whole way round Wakatipu, and were rewarded with same amazing views! this is from a secluded little pebble beach. Skimming stones country

at the end of the lake was a tiny town called Kingston, home of the historic Kingston Flier train that starred in the Crunchy Bar commercials.
what a soft target. Too soft! maybe i'm getting old, but there ain't no graffiti in this part of nowhere and maybe its fine just like that.
here i am in Te Anau township, the gateway to Fiordland. or did i go the wong way?
we didnt have the time to go all the way to Milford Sound, but got to enjoy some time on Lake Te Anau, largest lake in South Island.
then further south we went to Manapouri, nz's second deepest lake. pristine
then it was see ya later fiordland. end of the line... the southern coast, looking west towards fiordland