Melbourne, Victoria, Australia to Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand

This is the day we said Hooroo to Australia and Kia Ora to New Zealand.  Kia Ora is a Māori greeting and pronounced key-or-a.  This photo shows us flying over the Tasman Sea coast of the South Island of New Zealand.   

Did you know the South Island is very mountainous?

 Many movies have been filmed in New Zealand due to the beautiful landscapes and the proximity to the WETA workshop in Wellington where many of the props are made and the digital special effects are done.  More on WETA later.

Getting closer to our landing in Queenstown.

I'm sure you know The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies were filled in New Zealand, but did you know that Wolverine, The Last Samurai, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe were also filmed there.  We've seen movies filmed in New Zealand, but the location was supposed to be the American west.  

This time our rental was a Suzuki Vitara, the only rental vehicle that had push button start.  All the vehicles were automatics. 

One thing about Australia and New Zeeland that is different from the US, is that the eggs in the store are not refrigerated.  Eggs only need refrigerated if they were washed before being packaged. 

You might know that New Zealand raises a lot of sheep and we saw sheep in a lot of fields, but we also saw many fields full of cows (mainly dairy) and deer.  Yes, deer. Venison (deer meat) is very healthy – low in fat, and high in protein and minerals. New Zealand venison from wild deer was first exported to Germany in the 1960s. Some venison is sold overseas. 

Some of the beautiful landscape on our way south to Te Anau.  Later we noticed that the northern part of the South Island had trees on the mountains and hills.  Here they are bare.  Also notice the road sign.  We saw an exclamation sign used with many other signs, such as No Passing, Road Construction Ahead and Cattle Stop.  Cattle Stop meant that there was a cattle guard across the road so cattle couldn't cross it.