Trip with Parents, Part One:

So this is the first post about the trip I had with my parents back in April when they came over to New Zealand.  Sorry this is so late, kinda forgot about the blog.  XD

First off we went to the Auckland Zoo.  There we got to see Kiwi birds up close, and they are far larger than I thought they would be!  They reminded me of chickens with really weird beaks.  I don't have any good pictures of them because they are nocturnal and their exhibit was very dark.  There were tons of other animals around as well.

The next day in Auckland we went to an aquarium, where we got to see penguins and loads of marine life.  There was a really cool part where we got to stand right next to this huge sting ray, was really cool to see just how big they are.  After that we went to a place around an hour out from Auckland on the seacoast.  There we took a quick hike out into the forest to see an amazing waterfall.  After that my father and I climbed up a rock structure that was on the beach, called Lion's Rock.  Had a great view from about halfway up, as far as was permitted.

I'll cover more of the trip in the next post.  Breaking it up mainly because of the number of pictures I have, I don't want to upload too many on one post.  These aren't all of my picture, but don't want to overload the blog too much.  These are some of my best, enjoy!

Tramping Around Arthur's Pass

I have a ton of great pictures to post today.  I went tramping (hiking) around Arthur's Pass with people from Church over Easter Weekend.  It was a two day tramp with lots of river crossing.  We didn't clime up any hills or mountains, we just followed a river for about five hours, crossing through it roughly ten times per day.  It was a great experience and I got to see a lot of beautiful sights in New Zealand.

The first day it was quite foggy out, which gave me some very interesting pictures, with clouds gathered around the tops of the mountains.  Here are the pictures from the first day, there will be captions for some of the pictures:

An interesting fungus I found at the tramp's start.

My first view of the river we will be crossing

River close up.

Right before we started the tramp.

Took off the jacket and traded the hat for something cooler.

Hidden waterfall.

This waterfall was pretty far away, but I think I got a decent picture of it.

Me and Jack, having made it to the cabin we stayed the night at.

After the first day we stayed in a place called a Hut.  It was a large cabin we shared with the other people who were tramping.  We had a nice supper and played a lot of card games.  We also had a bonfire and made some New Zealand smores.  They don't have graham crackers in New Zealand so we used some biscuits (cookies) with chocolate on them.

The next day there was fewer clouds out, so I got some nice shots of the mountains.  Here the pictures from then:

There was a little tram to get across the river.

We only went half way.

Some now near the top of the mountains.

I had an amazing time tramping.  Was just about the most beautiful place I've been too.  Next post will probably be detailing my trip with my parents, when they come to New Zealand.