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Champagne pool at Wai-O-Tapu Thermalpark, Rotorua.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

Humpback whales in the ocean waters of Tonga's island group Ha'apai.

Amazing blowholes at Tonga's main island Tongatapu

Kingdom of Tonga, South Pacific

Glow worms in Minnehaha

Chilly mornings, rainy days and heaps of snow in the mountains. This is how ‘summer’ in Cromwell looks like now. Those helicopters over our orchard are drying the cherries so they don’t split and we can continue picking.

Lindis peak and our Bannockburn home.

Christmas in Dunedin part 2. Tunnel Beach and Moeraki Boulders.

Christmas in Dunedin part 1. Sandy Mountain and Sandfly Bay.

4th track. Greenstone and Caples Track (day 3).

4th track. Greenstone and Caples Track (day 2).

4th track. Greenstone and Caples Track (day 1 and 2).

Our 3rd walk. Bannockburn Track.

McArthur Ridge Vineyards. Just a couple of days more and then we’ll have to leave this amazing place.

Here are some photos from yesterday’s Kanuka Loop Track near Bendigo. It was our first proper hike in NZ and to be honest we expected it to be a less challenging one. It wasn’t. The walk took aprox. 5 hrs and went up and down all the time through minor forests and rocky mountains and the wind was just insane. We probably never experienced such a windy weather before. On the other hand once we reached the ridge we could enjoy some cool views of the landscapes around us. In some places the nature reminded us of some LOTR scenes. Mostly the one where the Fellowship had to hide under the rocks from the flock of Saruman’s Crebain. Those snowy mountains behind us are part of Pisa Conservation Area with Mount Pisa as its highest peak. That’s it.

We've got a cherry picking job at Jakimm’s orchard in Cromwell. Yay. We start working in the middle of December so until that time we need to find another temporary job for three weeks. Maybe in Queenstown. Photos above were taken during our stays in various motor camps near Lake Dunstan and in Twelve Mile Delta (aka Ithilien) where LOTR was filmed (the first picture). The fifth one is from Cairnmuir Hill near Cromwell. We went there for a short afternoon walk. Those purple things around Sandra and Pavel are thymes btw. Imagine the smell.