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Monday-Friday January 10-14 Overlooking Arrowtown, one of New Zealand's most historic towns and a favourite for some. |
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The main street, very popular with tourists. |
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Old miners' cottages in Arrowtown - a much-photographed subject, and very picturesque in autumn. |
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One of the huts in the Chinese miners' settlement on the 'outskirts' of Arrowtown. |
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Nearby Lake Hayes. |
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The gondola goes up the hill to this point for a great view over Queenstown. |
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View (from the top of the gondola) of Lake Wakatipu and the 'Lady of the Lake' - the 1912 Earnslaw. |
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Also at the top of the gondola, the luge. |
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A paraflight off the back of a jetboat on Lake Wakatipu. |
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Sailing into the wild blue yonder, with the Earnslaw on the lake below. |
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Becca's long-awaited bungy jump from the old Kawarau bridge - 43 metres (140 metres) - a death-defying leap, just touching the river below. |
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Jetboat ride on Lake Wakatipu and along the Kawarau & Shotover Rivers - the Kawarau Jet, an exhilarating 55 minute ride, probably better value-for-money than some others on offer. Click here to see a posed family pre-departure shot. |
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Off the road from Arrowtown to Queenstown - about 8.15 in the evening. |
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A visit to Cromwell in the heart of central Otago - renowned for its fruit-growing. |
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Saturday January 15 The Kingston Flyer departs Kingston twice a day for a 30-minute ride to Fairlight (a 'station' and little else). The ride itself is quite good, but at no great speed. It takes less than 10 minutes to travel the same distance in the car! |
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Lake Te Anau, New Zealand's second largest. |
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Sunday January 16 The drive to Milford Sound on a day which was very wet at worst, and overcast/cloudy at best - the road passes through rather spectacular scenery. This is an highly-recommended excursion - wet or fine! |
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A myriad of (temporary) waterfalls - gauge the scale by the size of the coach at bottom left. Click here for a further shot of water gushing down the hillside. |
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Mitre Peak partly obscured by cloud |
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Apparently just four permanent waterfalls can be seen in Milford Sound. On this particular day there were literally hundreds of (temporary) waterfalls gushing down the mountainsides, thanks to all the recent rain - Milford Sound gets 6000-7000mm each year! |
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The weather prevented the tops of the hills being seen, but more than compensated for it in other ways! |
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Taking in the scenery whilst protected from the rain. |
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A brief detour from the road heading out from Milford Sound - a cold mountain stream. |
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The Homer Saddle adjacent to the Homer Tunnel. |
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Glacial-looking river alongside the road. |
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Another very pleasant roadside scene on the drive back to Te Anau from Milford. |
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Monday January 17 Lunch stop at Gore (which just happened to be wet and cold) en route to Dunedin. |
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Tuesday-Wednesday January 18-19 Baldwin Street, NEV, Dunedin - officially recognised as the steepest street in the world. |
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The impressive old railway station in Dunedin. |
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A visit to the yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula. The enclosed walkways and viewing huts seen here mean that the penguins can be observed without being frightened away. On this occasion there weren't many penguins around anyway! |
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The albatrosses on Otago Peninsula are the only colony that can be viewed on any mainland in the world. The numbers here aren't vast, but they are fascinating birds (as we learnt in the 'tour talk') and magnificent in flight with a wingspan of almost 3 metres. |
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Saturday January 22 Sunset over Cook Strait. |