Sigh, still 9 hours to Dubai. I will take a nap under this aircraft sky full of stars 🙂

90 minutes relaxing in Sydney – then off to Dubai! Pics leaving New Zealand and approaching Sydney.

Finally this was the last location of our holidays. After some tram riding through Christchurch’s old city center, watching La Cage au Folles in the Court Theatre we are now waiting to board EK413 to Dubai via Sydney!

Lupines around Lake Tekapo make it even better. At night we saw more stars than ever on Mt John observatory – shooting stars, Tarantula nebula, Orion nebula and satellites included! We were taught how to locate the southern point which would be the Polaris star on the northern hemisphere. Thanks to the guides up there!

From Kurow to Lake Tekapo we had fun driving through sheep farms on gravel, getting rewarded by a spectacular mountain panorama!

North of Palmerston you can find these rock marbles on a beautiful coast…

We just crossed the mountains over Dansey’s Pass – a narrow winding mountain gravel road. No other traffic for almost an hour!

On this rainy day we left Stewart Island over the rough Foveaux Strait to Bluff, picked up the car, drove through the Catlins to Dunedin!

Last night we went on a 4 hours expedition, 35 minutes by boat to Adventure Cove, landing with a dhingi, then 30 minutes through muddy bush to a secret beach where we spotted… Kiwi!!!
Hiding in the shadow of our torch we could have watched forever, but the tide was coming in rather quickly. Some of the group made intense contact with the ground! 🙂
No pics, it was too dark and the DOC forbids flashlights, which is a good thing.

Just 5 minutes west from Stewart Island is Ulva Island – a bird paradise. No rats, no weeds on it! You can find Wekas, Saddlebacks, Robins, Tuis, Kakas, Yellowheads and many more.