1. Franz Josef Glacier.

The Southern Alps are so steep and close
to the West Coast that glaciers (now retreating)
almost reached the sea. 150 Years ago
the Franz Josef glacier, with ice-flow speeds
up to 1m/day, was just below this viewpoint.
Easy access make them into one of the top
tourist attractions with scenic flights
and "heli-hikes".












2. Southern Alps, Fox Glacier.

Only 25 km and 3 big hills further is
Fox Glacier, another alpine village.
After low clouds and rain, weather
cleared up and revealed this view of
Mt. Tasman (3498m.) and Mt. Cook
(with 3754m. NZ's highest mountain).











3. Valley, Cameron Flat.

Just after the Haast Pass (564m.)
we rolled past this beautiful
alpine valley on our way to Makarora.
These places might seem like paradise,
but are turned into hell by 1000's of
sandflies that, just like on the rest
of the West Coast, attack you when
standing still!









4. Rivercrossing, Makarora.

From Makarora we did the Gillespie Track
in Mt. Aspiring Park. Three long walking
days through river valleys with a river-
crossing at the start and end. Uncertainty
about the max. depth (it would get upto
Anna's waist) and the cold, fast streaming
water made these quite exciting.



















5. Stag Creek, Gillespie Track.

During our trek we also crossed
many creeks like this one via swing
bridges.























6. Pass, Gillespie Track.

Drizzle and rain most of the time,
but on the day that we went over the
Gillespie Pass (1490m.) the sun came
and treated us on rainbows and open views.













7. View on Mt. Aspiring, near Wanaka.

After a beautiful ride to Wanaka,
we walked to the top of nearby Mt. Roy
on the next beautiful day for fantastic
views of Wanaka, lake and Mt. Aspiring
(3027m.).












8. Gravel road, Queenstown-Te Anau.

From Wanaka to Queenstown we cycled
over the highest main road summit:
Crown Saddle (1075.9m).
We left Queenstown by historic steamer
across Lake Wakatipu and cycled on
gravel road for 80km with strong winds
through farmland in wide valleys, over
a saddle and camped near the isolated
Mavora Lakes in pouring rain.
Southwesterly storm brought a change
to cold weather and we arrived after 2
days in Te Anau in winterly conditions
with snow on all the surrounding ranges
above 700m! (summer in NZ!).



9. Homer tunnel, Te Anau-Milford Sound.

Having waited for the cold front to pass
we went in beautiful weather through the
Fiordland Park, the mountains still
covered by a fresh snow blanket. We climbed
to the Homer Tunnel at 900m, surrounded by
impressive rock cliffs with waterfalls of
melted snow.



















10. Milford Sound, Fiordland.

The Milford Sound is the most famous,
accessible and touristic fiord in wonderful
Fiordland Park, part of 2.6 million hectares
of World Heritage Area in Southwest NZ.
Glaciers carved deep U-shaped valleys, that
were eventually filled by the sea and
forested by trees.
Average annual rainfall of 7-9m makes it
one of the world's wettest places, most of
the rain coming down the steep rock walls
and creating a permanent layer of fresh water
3-4m thick on top of the sea water in the fiords.
Due to the large content of organic material
this layer hardly lets daylight through providing
conditions for special marine life, normally only
available at much greater depths.

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