Tour of New Zealand ( S.Island)

Beautiful. Just confirmed NZ as a future (and long) vacation destination. What a perfect slice of the earth to call home.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

and the thing about NZ, is that it really looks better in reality. you don’t have to wait 3 weeks for the perfect shot – every picture you take looks like you worked on it for hours with photoshop. and the people… the people are really really nice. i love it here.

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

Very nice, thanks for the tour. Hopefull I can make it over there some day. There certainley is some beautiful contry over there.

-- Glenn, New Mexico

WOW… incredible. I’m lovin’ it… thanks for the tour.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17) †

Fantastique !!!!!
that’s really something beautiful. Thanks Steve to share it with us !
Until now NZ and Christchurch were for me closely linked to rugby.
I also had in the past an english teacher comming from Christchurch giving me a broad picture of his lovely country. Last year I spent a week in AUS for my job activities but no chance to have a jump in NZ.
Maybe another day ?
Thanks again for the nice pictures.

-- Jean-Franco

With Steve permission, here is a link to lots of pictures from the southern lakes (its a southern part of the south island not covered in his journey). Visiting Milford is still on my todo list… i tried to screen the pictures, but its still tons. as I said, its hard to go wrong. the pictures were taken with simple point and shoot camera….

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

Yes, Jean-Franco, mine is a biased view of New Zealand. I really like trees & mountains ( that’s not too hard to believe is it,as a Lumberjock?). You’ll notice no pictures of any rugby, beer drinking or sheep ( sometimes you can get them all in one picture) though goodness knows we are overrun by all of these things. There are 38 million sheep in NZ and probably 4million -1 beer drinking, rugby fans.

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

-2

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

New Zealand is one of my favorite places. I used to go there in the early 80’s with operation Deep Freeze. Christchurch was great entertainment. We used to go fishing over on the west coast, went over to the Cook Mountains, and down south to Dunedin. I’m sure, like every place else, it’s changed, but it still looks as beautiful as ever. Thanks for the post, Steve.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

My son is in the process of moving to Wellington. He is there now and his wife and family will join him in a few weeks. He will be working for Weta Digital (Lord of the Rings, King Kong). He has been sending photos of the area as he hunts for a house to rent. We are very excited about coming to visit and see the North and South Islands. Judging from your photos you like to get out and hike, we hope to do the same when we visit. Thanks so much for sharing your adventures. We hope to visit this coming summer sometime.
Bruce Ebling

-- Bruce Ebling

My wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary by going to NZ. It was the best trip we ever had. I only wish that we had dropped the two days in Tahiti and added those to our stay on the south island.

-- "A goal without a plan is a wish."

Beautiful, i love the tour! I have always wanted to visit your bigger neighbor, but now I am thinking that NZ just might be the place.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

beautiful indeed!!! thank you

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

NZ, Wow is it beautiful!! Nice pictures. So post some more.

-- Sharp tools and thin whispy shavings make woodworking a joy.

Nice Pics!

Refreshing to see a fellow NZer

Im from the “slightly warmer” North Island :D Tauranga to be exact

you did a good job in showing off our backyard!

-- JR.

mate you made a small tear run down my cheek with those pics. Many is the time i rode my bike thru that area, arthurs pass is heaven on a motorcycle, and as a boy i lived a couple of years near lake brunner and it has stuck with me for all these years. I knew a guy from murchison when i was an LSV in the army, we called him “pigsy” after his favorite hobbie of hunting the wild boar in the area, maybe he,s still there. Have you ever checked out Bob Lynns museum in tinwald, beside Ashburton. He has the biggest and most complete collection of Holtzappfel ( forgive the spelling) ornamental lathes in the southern hemisphere and is a must see for any lumberjock, thanks for the memories ( i,m off to get a tissue as I remember my misspent youth with much fondness)

-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand

What a lovely part of the world. I shared your pics with family members who have visited NZ, and learned that a young Dr. relative is now there as a permanet resident. Thanks for sharing.

-- Joe,Texas,www.woodworkerJoe.com

I am envious. My wife and I toured both islands of NZ about 25 years ago. Loved it all but south island the best. Enjoyed Oamaru before heading over to Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, and back to Christchurch. We live in the Pacific NW and it is similar in so many ways. Best of luck in your venture.

-- Tim S, WA

Very nice photos , Many look like areas of Oregon

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Hi Tim and a1Jim!
Yes, the similarity to the Pacific NW is not lost on us. My partner Kristi ( see first photo) is from Oregon and I’ve spent plenty of time in Oregon, Washington and BC. Our desire to move out of the city and to our house in Murchison and eventually to build on our forest block is mainly because of the similarity and our love of forest and trees.

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

Hey there,
Well you seem to be living my dream? Almost. Dont tell anyone, but the plan is a combination shed/workshop/home somewhere near Wanaka. That way as I go out the door I can say “Just going to the shed for while” to the missus and off I go. She doesnt need to know the shed is 3000 odd km away across the Tasman now does she.

Of course this dream is predetermined by my winning the pools, which is going to happen any day now.

Spent the honeymoon touring the South Island so it was nice to revisit some of those places. Been back a couple of times skiing. Its too hot here in Aus.

Thanks for the tour, good luck with the log house.

Cheers
Doug

-- Life is about solving problems and trying not to be the cause of those problems in the first place

Hi Doug, (Woodfix)
As long as you are home by dinner, it should be alright.

Good luck with the pools. You’ll be needing it if you want to live near Wanaka but if it doesn’t work out, just come anyway. She’ll be right!

We’re now leaning more towards a timber frame with an adobe brick infill and since I wrote the blog, we have left the city and now live in Murchison permanently.

Good luck to you. Hope to see you here soon!

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

what a beautifull place to be !
thank you for the tour .

i knew a kiwi , in costa rica ,
he was the happiest person i’ve ever met !

so now let’s see the cabin .

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart