12/22, Thursday. Terrible flight, due to United Airlines' inconsideration and incompetence. Departure at PDX at 5:50pm (50 minutes before the schedule when I bought the ticket). Layover in SFO 3.25 hours (instead of 2.5). United Airlines 916 to Auckland was almost full, and a so-called seat dispute caused us sitting in the plane for 45 minutes at the gate. My isle seat was mysteriously turned into a window seat. Our 10:45pm flight didn't take off until 11:50. I was starving. Dinner and breakfast are ok, but small quantity. 13 hour flight, difficult to get out and stretch my legs. My original 1:45 hour connection at Auckland was down to 1:05 due to schedule change. I arranged for the next flight 1 hour later. Because of the 1 hour delay, I missed that flight too. United Airlines didn't book me on the next flight. When I finally got to the long queued Air New Zealand domestic customer service (after picking up luggage, customs, bag inspection, walk with all my stuff - sweating - to domestic terminal), the earliest flight that had seat was at 4pm (compared to my original 10am schedule). I took a standby for the 12:30 flight. Thanks to someone else's missed connection, I was able to board that plane.12/24, Saturday, Christmas eve. I arrived at CHC ~2:30pm. Sunny and warm. A lesson, when you fly into a foreign country, don't have domestic connection, or have at least 2 hours for the connection.
Bought some grocery at Countdown by the airport. Drove to Macpac in Hornby to buy gas canisters (NZ$10 for a ¼lb MSR can, and NZ$13 for ½lb). Finally we are on our way to vacation!
First stop is Rewi Alley memorial in Springfield, 40 minutes west. Had a snack break at the picnic table in the small park. The memorial was erected by the Chinese community in New Zealand. I wonder how many Kiwis know about him.
Continuing on Hwy-73 in the midst of endless flat green field bordered by single lines of tall trees. Finally it gives away to hills. Scenery gets much better after Lake Pearson. 
Castle Hill is a very fun place for scramblers. Odd shaped rocks everywhere above a bucolic sheep farm. 
Various short and long trails or find your own route.Stopped by Cave Spring to check out the trails. Decided to come the next day.
Arrived at Flock Hill Station for the night soon after. According to this article, the area was used in movie The Chronicles of Narnia. We had a 2 bedroom cottage, that's the only thing left. Very spacious. Grassy lawn and a pond ringed with flowers. A few ducklings followed us around. Cooked Christmas dinner: lamb is delicious. Got a few bites from little flies walking around in shorts and sandals. Ichy.
12/25, Christmas Sunday. Drove further west to Arthur's Pass (920m). Very foggy. Hiked to Temple Basin, one of the numerous hikes in the area. It's a ski trail, wide, made of rocks and gravel, bad on knees and ankles. A very tall waterfall, unable to get a closer shot. The trail gets a bit narrower and steeper after the bench. The basin itself is quite nice, but dotted with a few not pretty buildings. Saw one Kea parrot, or rather he saw us. He doesn't like cucumber, didn't look at the sandwich. He likes banana. As we descended, the weather turned a bit better. Giant Mountain Buttercup with lotus-like round leaves.Stopped at Bealey Chasm falls hike before heading out.
Walked, or rather forded, the Cave Steam. It was short and fun, but I don't want it any longer. Adrenaline rush all the way through. A couple of places I had to be dragged up, as the rushing water is too strong. The beginning was the deepest, up to my chest!
Colorful lupines on the way to Lake Tekapo with a beautiful glacial blue. The flowers at Church of the Good Shepard are mostly in seeds. The lupines are especially good on the way up to Mount John University Observatory. But the access road to the observatory was closed (open 10-6?). This doesn't make sense. You want to come here to start gaze or watch sunrise/sunset. Looks like you can join a tour with Earth and Sky to come at night. We camped at Lake Tekapo Holiday Park by the lake's SW corner. Were told it was the last tent site. Slightly better flowers, but not a good lake view.
12/26, Boxing Monday. Sunrise by the lake. Flowers look pretty, but the lake looses its attractive blue in morning light. 
Drove by Lake Pukaki, location of Esgaroth, the Lake-town by the Long Lake in The Hobbit Trilogy. Very pretty, view of Mt Cook in the distance. Bigger than Lake Tekapo, water is of the similar color, a shade lighter. Weather looks good. So we headed to Aoraki / Mt Cook national park. Quite a lot of people around the visitor center. Some colorful lupines.
Hooker Valley hike is a must, maybe 5 miles RT. 
3 serious suspension bridges (each signed for max 20 people). Open valley. Snowy mountains. Picnic tables are much longer and thicker. Beautiful and flat trail all the way. The glacier itself is a disappointment, it's covered by black debris. Floating ice on the pale grey lake, as well as on shore. Tea trees in bloom, Mount Cook Lily, mountain flax? 2 large mountain daisy, no lupines.
Tasman Valley is also beautiful. Tasman Lake hike is short (1 mile?), but steep. Ice floating on the lake. Slightly bluer. Don't bother to go to the Blue Lakes. They are ugly green ponds, which you can see as you walk higher.
Now turned SE towards ocean. Stopped to checkout a Maori rock painting site at Duntroon. Very faint. There are helping panel showing what's painted on the rock. The rock here is quite interesting, very pores, lots of birds. More Maori historical sites are listed on http://www.vanishedworld.co.nz/.
Elephant Rocks is on private cattle ranch. Lots of cow dung. Green open space with bulbous rocks. Quite nice.
Arrived at Oamaru's Old Bones lodge at 7pm, but they claimed that Bookings.com overbooked the property and I don't have a room, even though I saw only one other car in the parking lot! Found another room downtown Oamaru (looks quite rundown, some old buildings - yesteryear's meat shipping glory). Bought grocery before stores close at 8. Went to Bushy beach to wait for penguins. My mistake. Need to be there 2 hour before sunset instead of after sunset for little blue penguin. A nice bluff. Windy.
12/27, Tuesday. Moeraki Boulders are cute big round rock looking like dinosaur eggs. Some are cracked open. I like the little one still buried in the sand. Quite touristy. Further south on the beach, there are similar boulders. But not many, and not as round.
Outside of Dunedin, we hiked up Mt Cargill from Mt Cargill road (Google took us to a wrong road) to a tower and great view. Hike is steep at times, about 2 miles one way. Guess what I found there? A parking lot, accessed via Cowen Road.
Drove through Dunedin without stopping, passing the beautiful train station, towards Otago Peninsula. A beautiful drive. Lots of red bill gulls. Should stay here a couple of days to check out all the pretty coves and beaches. Mt Cargill was engulfed in smoke.
Royal Albatros center at the end of the peninsula sits high on the windy bluff of Taiaroa Head. Its parking offers short walks to both sides of the bluff. Beautiful. Tons of red-billed gulls. Southern Royal Albatros is the 2nd largest Albatros. We didn't see any in the vicinity. Due to time constraint, we opted to see the very rare (only a few hundreds in mainland NZ) endemic Yellow Eyed penguin at Penguin Place (one of the 2 establishments here to see them). 
They have two nesting penguin families. $54/pp. Saw 4 (23 year-old Jim and his 7 week chick, an 11 year old and a sleeping juvenile), other than the 2 recuperating in hospital. 
Closeup blinds accessed by crisscross of covered tunnels. Nice walk, beautiful but windy beach. The spray of the waves created faint ephemeral rainbows.Hotel at 8pm in Balclutha, a dump, but logistically convenient. Repacked for upcoming hike. Fire alarm went off a bit before midnight and lasted awhile.
12/28, Wednesday. Rained in the morning. Nugget Point lighthouse in Catlin is a detour. Pretty, not many people, windy. Not sure if it's worth the trouble though. Very much like Ecola Point on Oregon coast (1.5 hr drive from my home).
A quick lunch stop at Gore. Checked out Eastern Southland Gallery. Free and friendly receptionist.1.5 hour later, arrived at Te Anau 2 hours before my boat. Picked up tickets at the Fjordland visitor center. Ate a venison burger in a tiny garden with a Lake Te Anau shaped water feature. Saw quite a few deer farms on the way in, hence the choice. Finally, my long-awaited hikes are about to start!
Blue sky!
