Susan's BIG Birthday (can you guess which one?) - New Zealand South Island - February 2008

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HUGE dahlia presented to Jennifer by the host!	Kiwi spider	On the road again...anyone a wee bit peckish?	Typical West coast flora - note the tree ferns
Rolling along to....oh I don't know, somewhere...	Ferns, everywhere	Yep, that's where we're headed	Awesome views on the way to Fox Glacier
Turquoise glacial river...	It was "Wear Your Gray Bike Shirt Day"	A wide, unspoiled glacial river	Looking up towards the glaciers
Another nice view ...	It's in kilometers per hour, but I feel like my real age is in MPH!	Relaxing and enjoying the view outside our room at Fox Glacier	That's where we'll hike the next day
Starting out on the hike to the glacier....watch out for flash floods	The glacier's ahead- looks deceptively small	Getting closer...	Looking back down the valley we just hiked up
One of many waterfalls along the way	Luke, our Fox Glacier guide	Now we're parallel to the glacier; the wall is about 60 feet high	Being in the rain near a glacier in NZ is better than being home at work!
The glacier actually is growing...here's what it looked like in 1983	...and in 1998. It's due to greater warming of the Tasman Sea ... more snow	and getting bigger!	On the road again...
...cruising down the West coast	A scenic lunch stop on Bruce Bay (it's kiwi juice)	Through the rainforest	On the way to Haast
Well-deserved nap!	Just taking a moment...	....to savor the surroundings	The support bus going over the one-lane bridge (most on the South island are one lane bridges)
The end of the ride out to Jackson Bay - see Mitch?	We came for the views...and the fish and chips!	Inside the Cray Pot chippie- cozy and delicious	The road literally stops at Jackson Bay - at the northern end of the Fjordlands
At the Wilderness Lodge, we took a hike through virgin rainforest	It was incredibly beautiful; there were many trees of huge girth- we just didnt get a photo of any!	On another short hike, we wind up at the Tasman Sea	The water was warm, the view was outstanding, and...
...the sandflies were voracious! Here Mitch is doing the "Sandfly Dance"	We didn't see any, probably because we were too busy swatting flies!	Oh! We're in Penguin Paradise!	View of a beach south of the Lodge, on the way to Haast
On our way up to Haast Pass, following the wide Haast River valley	The low clouds just make it more interesting

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