November 11-12

And so, away from Queenstown and on to Mt. Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. If memory serves right, that's it in the photo on the left, that mountain with the scooped-out area in the top.

Hello: The water? Look at that lake! Have you ever seen more shades of blue in a photo?
 
More lake. More mountains.
As mentioned before with the possum, virtually everything non-native to New Zealand is a pest. If a driver pointed out "those pretty yellow flowers" by the side of the road, the next thing he'd say was "it's a pest." New Zealand apparently was like the Boy in the Bubble, and as soon as even the simplest outside element got inside, it became damaging. 

So it was with deer.


The previous picture and these two are connected; we're at the spot where some genius said "let's let some deer loose for hunting" and then, of course, they all but overran things.

Deer have been controlled in New Zealand since, but folks have a taste for venison -- so they actually have deer farms. 

I do like a country that has a commemorative plaque to a) the release of wild animals and b) the mistaken release of pests.
Closer now to the Mt. Cook mountain range. This is the view from our hotel. To offer some perspective, look in the lower third of the photo for a small white square. 

That's a bus. Not our bus, but a bus. Standing where I am taking this photo and looking at the base of the range it's easy to think "I could be there and back in an hour."

Don't count on it.

Also, I found it amusing and very different that these mountains just shoot up out of nowhere. It's completely flat and then -- mountain! No gradual ascent or rocky terrain -- just flatland and boom.
 
Also a view from the hotel; that's Mt. Cook on the center right, scooped-out top and all. 


The Hermitage Hotel in Mt. Cook National Park. Probably the least-interesting of all of the rooms I had, but not that big of a deal. What's interesting is that since this is a national park, the Hermitage and the nearby small town are open to visitors -- but no one but government officials get to live out here. Now, that's remote.





On the way back from Mt. Cook the next day we stopped in this tiny church, which was adorable, and convinced our tour guide Kay to do her cave-cathedral performance again. This time, we got "Amazing Grace," and we all joined in. A very nice moment. The church is situated on Lake Tekapo.

The final photo delights me because I am a Monty Python fan: Lupins!

(Which, by the way, are a pest.)
 



Now, I don't know exactly what day these next two photos were taken at Knight's Point. It's near Haast Pass so it could have been on the way to Queenstown, but I can't be sure. So, for your edification, a lovely view from Knight's Point.

They're all lovely views, in my opinion.

And that's it for New Zealand! The rest of the day was spent driving through the Canterbury plains back to Christchurch, where we got on board the plane for Sydney, Australia!