New Zealand (2) - from Christchurch to Dunedin

Start from Christchurch on Wednesday 11th, with my 2 new travelmates: Heydi, from Finland, who has lived in Berlin for 13 years, and Cal, from USA (he lives near Boston, on the East Cost). They've bought a Mazda in Christchurch and it's a lot of fun together!

2 nights in a tent, the first one on the side of a road, the second one on a little lawn, at the far end of a no through road in a little town. With very noisy trains passing at least 5 times during the night, and making the whole ground shaking!

Landscapes are very diversified: in the centre of the island a montainous semi desert, around beautiful lakes with "milky blue waters - the colour is due to sediments which come from glaciers: "rock flour" - , then hills more planted with pines, till a more luxurious and diversified vegetation while driving nearer to the East Cost again.

The county own probably 100 times more sheep, cows and deer than inhabitants! Oh! and rabbits have also succeeded in their invasion!

Yesterday, hiking near Mount Cook. At the top in clouds, but a great surprise: some Edelweiss!

Then , like a theatre screen, the clouds withdrew, letting us discover a wonderful scenery: glaceirs, a big lake on which some big ice blocks float, a huge plain...

On the beach of a little fischerman village, South of Oamaru, odd rocks seem to have fallen from nowhere: the Moeraki boulders, sp"herical concretions, which took some million years to form, from a mineral called calcite. The Moeraki boulders are not unique, but they are certainly remarkable for their large size (usually more than 2 metres in diameter), their high spherical shape and their concentration.

Arrived this morning in Dunedin, charming town, celebrated by may autors. I'll write about it later...