Kaikoura, Mt. Cook, the Moeraki Boulders and Taiaroa Head

We did some neat walks this week. Kaikoura Peninsula has all sorts of wildlife. When we first arrived we were greeted with a very large school of dolphins jumping like crazy in the bay. Some were even doing backflips!

 

 

There were also seals on the wooden walkway and on the beach.

 

 

 

 

We camped and hiked at Aoraki/Mt. Cook. It's the highest mountain in New Zealand and a very impressive sight. Our hike took us along rivers . . .

 

. . . and over suspension bridges . . .

 

. . . right to the lake at the end of the mountain's glacier.

 

 

 

Our next stop was the Moeraki Boulders, which were formed from mud, silt and clay cemented by calcite. They took between 4 and 5.5 million years to form. The ancient mud that surrounded them has now been washed away.

 

 

It's amazing how nature has made such perfectly spherical rocks.

 

 

 

Hey, this one's hatching! Weird bird!

 

 

 

At Taiaro Head we visited an albatross colony. Fabulous birds that spend most of their lives out on the open ocean, only coming to land to breed. They have a wingspan of over three metres and can fly at speeds of up to 120 km per hour.

This one is about to sit on an egg:

 

 

They are very graceful in flight, using wind and air currents to stay aloft, almost never flapping their wings.

 

 

 

Our next point of interest will be a cruise up the fiord from Milford Sound.

 

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