The awe of the southern Alps is hard to describe, from the plane’s approach to the airport till Christmas Day when we arrived and departed Franz Josef Glacier. The mountains surround you everywhere, sometimes across a flat plain, more often rising above the windows of the bus and descending to lakes or rivers. Below are two shots approaching Queenstown, the tourist magnet of the region, where we stayed three delighted days, our room fronting Lake Wakipitu and the mountains looming above.

En route from the airport we went to a wine tasting at the oldest local vintner, Gibson Valley. We briefly stopped at the grandfather of all bungy jumping sites and witnessed one jump, a harnassed jump fairly high above the riverbed that looked relatively safe.

Each day in Queenstown we had a lavish buffet breakfast, which looked more like a banquet. The dining room had large windows all round displaying the mountains. Below a shot of friends Ron and Christie planning their day at breakfast. Another shot of the mountains en route to Milford Sound, where we rode “The Wanderer” under the fiords into the Tasman Sea.

Two group shots below.  The small group is the five that went together to the Bay of Islands: Ron, Christie, Vickie Meitus and Bill and Victoria. The larger group, our present touring cohort including two Vickies as well as Victoria.

All of the shots below were taken on the long trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound. The two of us are taken at Mirror Lake, with the lake in the shot next to us.

Our trip through the fiords was spectacular, but many of the photos are on Victoria’s camera, so will add later.

Below you can see our approach into the fiords, a waterfall along the way, and a shot of our ship “The Wanderer.”  Among the highlights, slipping under a waterfall and getting dampened, a trip into the Tasman Sea (west of New Zealand) along with a company of dolphins, brisk winds and towering mountains, dwarfing us with awe.