New Zealand - Nov-Dec 2017

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to New Zealand for a leptospirosis conference on the north island and then travel to the south island to give a seminar at the University of Otago. I'm not going to write much  because I'm lazy and I'd rather just share photos but it was an amazing trip and I'd love to go back. The people were great and the scenery is not to be matched. We had a great time birding, running, and hiking anytime we could squeeze it in. Hopefully Diane and I can go one day.

Our first hike and birding on North Island (Palmerston North)

Can you believe this is a fern? The diversity of ferns here is insane!

Check out these spores on the underside of the fern leaves

A fantail near the hotel in Palmerston North

Cow and sheep farm we visited for conference

View from the top of the property at the farm - it's higher than it looks

Hike number 2 that Renee and I did

Swimming hole

I don't like heights but this was sturdy and I walked across with no problem

After we hiked above the snow line for a bit we had to turn back because we had run out of time. We saw a few folks earlier who slide down the snowy part on their butts and it looks like great fun so we decided to give it a try. It was actually much steeper than I though once I got into position to slide down but it was the most fun I've had in years. Felt like a kid again :)
The link below will show you the video of it on Youtube...check it out!

https://youtu.be/GK14h4WTKB8

We were hoping to make it to Mueller hut but we only had about 4 hours total. We did make it above the snow line though!
 

Forget the name but this was about an our north of Dunedin

Dunedin train station - they say it is the 2ns most photographed building in world...behind Sydney Opera House

Yellow-eyed penguin

 

I think I added about 23 new species to my birding life list but the big three were seeing the Little Blue penguin, Yellow-eyed penguin and the Royal Albatross. Unfortunately it sounds like the yellow-eye population in rapidly declining on the mainland and may disappear in the coming decades. We were lucky enough to see 3 come in from the ocean in the evening after a day of feeding at sea. Learning about and seeing the albatrosses was also amazing but I couldn't get a good picture. Did you know they only come back to land once every 2 years to mate. They are at sea the rest of the time and can drink sea water! Those were highlights but I must say I also fell in love with local Fantail and Tui birds.