Tuesday, May 29, 2007

New Zealand: Hanmer Springs

Photo gallery: Hanmer Springs

Our almost last stop on the South Island was Hanmer Springs, a year round holiday destination offering a variety of outdoor activities, many times awarded spas and great cafes.

There we went for one of scenic bush walks that led us to a top of a mountain from where a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside was magnificent.

That day we also spotted something unbelievable in this part of the world – a legendary Czech car Skoda 120L! We pursued it for several minutes but then the driver noticed us and seemed not to like it at all :).

Friday, May 11, 2007

New Zealand: Larnach Castle Gardens

Photo gallery: Larnach Castle Gardens

Welcome to the flower stroll!

You’ll see several carefully selected macro photographs from the gardens of Larnach Castle. We spent there more than one hour and really enjoyed taking pictures.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

New Zealand: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

Photo gallery: Dunedin - Cadbury - Larnach Castle

From the west shore of the South island we straightaway moved to the opposite one, specifically to the town of Dunedin.

We have very sweet experience from there thanks to a fascinating guided tour around the Cadbury Dunedin chocolate factory accompanied by tasting Cadbury products along the way :).

We also explored Larnach Castle, the only castle in New Zealand (btw Australia has none). It was built in 1871 and is still privately owned. Instead of an interior tour we spent more than one hour in a glorious botanic garden adjacent to the castle. There we took many macro-photos, so I decided to place them into another photo gallery. We were thinking about staying in the castle overnight, but after all a camp fitted into our budget better :).

At the end of the photo gallery you can find several photos of aboriginal Maori people and their culture.