south island

hello everyone!
been a while but not too much was happening in auckland! worked and saved and now have a month to explore the south island of new zealand!

flew to christchurch and headed for the beach once we were settled, this pic below is brighton beach east of christchurch! we had great weather in christchurch!!!

whilst getting used to our hire car we did a bit more exploring and managed to stumble across some great views!!
had a walk around christchurch and took some pics of stuff (new camera so gotta try it out!!)








another mini road trip took us towards akaroa, 1st french settlement in nz SE of christchurch i think?

'ragon the wagon' our hire car which hopefully will get us around!
stopped in akaroa for a well deserved pint!

alex and mary flew in tio christchurch to join me and kat, we headed off the next day after a night out in christchurch to lake takepo, arriving in evening we found a nice place to stay by the lake and i got up early to get this shot.
kat mary and alex, having breakfast by the lake
really great little church by the lake, amazing location!
leaving lake takepo towards queenstown we drove through some mountains, really cool backdrop, makes driving so much more interesting!!
another stop on the way, roaring meg was a waterfall near this shot!
we arrived in queenstown and settled into our own pad, we each have a room to ourselves, well i have moved a bed into the living room, but our place is close to town and a supermarket! great choice by alex who booked in advance! (queenstown is busy!)

so we got ourself onto a trip to milford sound, bus and cruise!
this shot below is of mirror lakes along the way. unfortunately the weather was not that sunny and bit choppy, this sign is supposed to read mirror lakes from its reflection! oh well
kermit came along too!




next day we headed to coronet peak, visibility was not great but i had fun and improved my boarding once id got used to snowboarding on real snow! had been twice to indoor slopes in auckland
next day was amazing weather, headed for remarkables which had 22cm of snow overnight, and the sun was out! awesome
spent some time on beginner slope before going up to intermediate! step to far as shear drops put me off a bit but managed to race across my 1st powder snow on way down! great experience and awesome day boarding!!

me and alex at top ready to make our way down
survived to tell the tale!

more to follow hopefully!