The Earth Laughs in Flowers

Spring is here, and beautiful flowers are everywhere. And since they cheer me up so much, these are a few of my favourites, from around the Hamilton area.

Mirror Lakes

These are one of the most photographed lakes in NZ. During calm moments of the day the lake is perfectly still and the mountains above are reflected beautifully in the water. The water wasn't the best when we were there, but it was still beautiful.

Fiordland

This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - its been named a world heritage park in order to protect it.

Christchurch Central

This was much easier on the eye than the Auckland CBD. The cathedrale was cool to look at, the tram was fun to ride on and it dropped me off outside the hostel were I was staying, an added bonus. I also liked the cute little shops that the tram took us past, pity I hadn’t realized they all closed at lunchtime on a Saturday.

Lake Tekapo

On the plane on the way to the South Island, I was reading a magazine article about the south island, a place called Lake Tekapo. I’d never heard of it before, and I had no idea that I would very shortly be coming into contact with it.

The bus from Christchurch to Queenstown was an extremely long journey – about 8 hrs all up, but halfway through the trip, my patience was rewarded with a lunch break at this beautiful place. Unfortunately my camera was not so good at capturing the glorious aqua blue colour in the water, but I tried my best. It was stunning. So peaceful and lovely. I’d love to go back there and have a proper look around.

I was sitting on a park bench admiring the water when an English couple came and sat next to me. We got chatting, and turns out they’d come down for a holiday to NZ and he’d proposed just the day before, at Lake Tekapo. Which makes it a special place for them, they said they’d love to come back and get married in the little stone chapel there just next to the water, if they can convince all their family to come down with them.

On the way back from Queenstown a couple of days later I had a chance to stop there again and take more photos. I’m not sure if you would actually want to swim there, It looks awesome, but all the rivers and lakes in the south island are glacier fed and so are liable to be freezing cold at the best of times.

Linden Pass

This is apparently one of the most painted scenes around NZ, especially in winter, when the road becomes almost impassable and the hills are wrapped up in snow. I’m guessing that artists like the yellow colour of the hills, and the way that nature has folded them up into aesthetically pleasing curves.

My photos of the place are only so so, it was hard to capture anything out the side of a moving bus.

Milford Sound

I loved Milford Sound. It was so beautiful. The trip up there and the scenery and the ride was totally the highlight of my whole holiday. I’d love to take my family there. You can actually camp in the park itself, and it was so beautiful, who wouldn’t want to spend more time there!