Jared Lee - Photo Album - Chch-Kaikoura-Picton

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My farewells to the Strijbis's, my adoptive Kiwi family, and then my farewells to the South Island, with a drive up through Christchurch, Kaikoura and Picton, to the Interislander Ferry, which runs between Picton and Wellington
December 12-13, 2004

01-StrijbisFamily The Strijbis family: Karen, David, Seth, Ryan, Leticia & Joel ... this was taken on December 12, 2004, my last day with the Strijbis's at their home in Ashburton, in the morning I went to church with them, and then in the afternoon I left, making my towards the North Island for my final week abroad ... it was tough saying goodbye to them, because their place had really started to feel like home away from home, having spent several nights there in the past two weeks, basically using it as a base from which to tour the South Island

02-Jared-StrijbisKids Me with the Strijbis kids ... Karen later asked my Mom they could adopt me as one of their own kids, hehe

03-CraziestSignEver Okay, this just has to be the absolutely craziest road sign I've ever seen in my life ... I guess the Kiwis like to be really accurate with their signs! ... it's on Hwy 1 between Christchurch & Ashburton, and I'd driven/ridden by it three times prior to this, so I knew it was coming up, and I was bound and determined to pull over and take a picture of it, even though it's on a pretty busy thoroughfare

04-InternationalAntarcticCentre On my way through Christchurch, I stopped by the International Antarctic Centre

05-USAntarcticProgram The headquarters for the US Antarctic Program is just across the street

06-AntarcticCentre Inside the Antarctic Centre

07-ManyLayers A display of the many layers that one has to wear outside in Antarctica

08-AntarcticStorm The Antarctic Storm exhibit, with a simulated blizzard every half hour

09-AntarcticCod Antarctic cod ... I was surprised that there were even fish this big down there

10-AntarcticCentre International Antarctic Centre

11-EmperorPenguins Emperor Penguins

12-IceTunnel Ice tunnel

13-SH1 SH1, north of Christchurch, on my way to Kaikoura ... Hwy 1 runs the entire length of the country, from Bluff & Invercargill at the southern tip of the South Island, through Dunedin, Christchurch and up to Picton, where it continues via ferry to Wellington, and then on north to Auckland, the Bay of Islands, and Cape Reinga, the northern tip of the North Island

14-SunlitHill A sunlit hill along Hwy 1

15-SH1 SH1

16-ApproachingKaikoura Approaching Kaikoura

17-CurvyRoad Curvy road

18-TwoTunnels-blurry A bit south of Kaikoura, the road went through a series of double tunnels like this, which was interesting

19-KaikouraPeninsula Kaikoura Peninsula

20-KaikouraPeninsula I stayed overnight on December 12th at a hostel in Kaikoura, where I met a couple cool people from Germany, England & the States ... this picture is from the next morning, December 13, 2004, on the Kaikoura Peninsula

21-KaikouraPeninsula Kaikoura Peninsula

22-KaikouraA Kaikoura

23-KaikouraB Kaikoura

24-KaikouraC Kaikoura

25-KaikouraD Kaikoura

26-Kaikoura Kaikoura, where the mountains meet the sea ... Kaikoura is famous for its plentiful population of whales just off the coast, and has a booming whale-watching tourism industry

27-OhauPointSealColony Just off the road north of Kaikoura, at the Ohau Point Seal Colony

28-OhauPoint Ohau Point

29-OhauPointSealColony Ohau Point Seal Colony

30-OhauPoint Ohau Point

31-OhauPoint Ohau Point

32-OhauPoint Ohau Point

33-Seals Seals at Ohau Point

34-SH1 SH1

35-RicketyOneLaneBridge A fairly rickety one-lane bridge, of which New Zealand had very many

36-WaihopaiRiver Waihopa River

37-BlenheimCountryside Countryside near the town of Blenheim

38-BlenheimCountryside Blenheim countryside

39-QueenCharlotteSound Queen Charlotte Sound, at Picton

40-Picton Picton Ferry Terminal, on Queen Charlotte Sound ... the Interislander and Lynx Ferries run between Picton on the South Island, and the nation's capital city, Wellington, on the North Island, with the Interislander taking 3 hours, and the Lynx a bit over 2 hours ... one of the perks of renting my car with Apex Car Rental was that I was able to drop my car off in Picton, have an Interislander Ferry ticket included in the rental price, and have a car waiting for me when I got off the ferry in Wellington -- not bad!

41-MarlboroughSounds Marlborough Sounds, near Picton

42-InterislanderFerry Interislander Ferry