Scavenger Hunt: South Island Edition

This is the second go-around on this theme. My TA guidebooks give me 30 photo checkpoints, 15 per island. Here’s batch two:

16. Maungatapu Saddle. The two kilometers before the saddle are the nastiest climb on the South Island. They also look like the greenest, sunniest part of Mordor.

17. Lake Rotoroa. Sandfly hell. The five seconds it took to take this photo were the only five seconds I wasn’t wearing a mosquito head-net.

18. Maruia Saddle Road. Those six river crossings were what soaked my shoes so thoroughly that I felt the need to bake them.

19. Waiuta Track boardwalk. The beginning of my favorite leg of the ride, but not my favorite photo ever. Mist, rain, and soaked gloves made it tough to clear the lenses.

20. Greymouth Bar lookout. Also the site of my favorite sign in the southern hemisphere.

21. Hokitika Clock Tower. Like Flavor Flav, it knows what time it is.

22. Lake Ianthe. Nothing to write home about, unless you count this sentence.

23. Fox Glacier. Even in retreat it makes for cool photography.

24. Knights Point lookout. Yet another scenic vista washed out by fog and rain. Meh.

25. Haast Pass. This was a really cool riding day. I will post about it later.

26. Hawea River Bridge. Kiwis love their swing bridges and I love riding across them. So bouncy!

27. The Cardrona Hotel. Established in 1863, it’s one of the oldest hotels in New Zealand. It’s like the TARDIS, bigger inside than out. It’s also just up the road from this crazy wall of bras.

28. Anything in Queenstown. This is a view of the Eyre Mountains through a porthole of the historic steamship Earnslaw. The Earnslaw has been ferrying people (and bicycles) across Lake Wakatipu since 1912, and miraculously the original engine is still running. They really knew how to build ‘em back then.

29. A Southland local. We’re in love and we’re gonna get married.

29 again. A Southland local. We’re in love and we’re gonna get married.

30. Stirling Point, Bluff signpost. I made it!