More Things I didn't Photograph in New Zealand

• The Southern Cross constellation.  I saw it in Hanmer Springs.  Most nights, we went to bed before the sun went down.  Other nights were cloudy.  I got out my cell phone and looked up a star chart, which is the worst way to look up constellations, by the way.  My eyes had a hard time adjusting from the light of the screen to the darkness of the sky.  I remember going to the Adler Planetarium as a kid in Chicago.  We saw a presentation in the dome about the night sky in the southern hemisphere.  They said that very few of us would ever get to see this.  The twelve year old in me was very excited.  I know I am lucky to get to travel like this.  My inner twelve year old is grateful.

• The roar of waterfalls in the fiords and near the caves.  

• The South Islander newspaper in Manapouri near the fiords.   New Zealand has four million people spread out over the distance of California.  You wouldn't imagine Los Angeles having the same newspaper as San Francisco.  Likewise, this town in the south has its own newspaper, with few subscribers.  I read an article about some guy who was retiring from the government after 30 years.  The article covered half a page and discussed how he went to the US in the 1970s and fell in love with spareribs.  He wanted to bring them to New Zealand, and he told one of his chef friends.  The chef said there was no f--- way he was going to put pork ribs on the menu.  A few years later, ribs were on the menu.  I really enjoyed reading about this man.  The paper also had a nice spread about a star high school student.  Good stuff.

• A flock of what looked like reindeer on Dec. 26.  Perhaps they were starting vacation after they finished delivering the last round of presents to the West Coast of the U.S. 

• Birds of prey.  Gotta love watching these creatures soar, floating, looking for rats, mice and other pests.

• A small bird caught in a wind swirl at the top of Time Walk trail in Queenstown Hill.  This sparrow sized bird, try as he might, could not get over the hill.  It was flapping its wings hard, but it is looked like it was flying in place.  It lost the battle, and had to come down.

Here are some pictures from Queenstown Hill.