39 million sheep, 4 million people

First impressions of New Zealand: absolutely stunning scenery, lots of sheep. It seems off the bat that NZ will be less fun than Australia. OZ is rowdier, untamed, spontaneous. NZ is tidy, rule abiding and shuts down early. It makes sense, sort of, as these two islands are home to some of the most naturally beautiful places on earth--glaciers, lakes, and coasts galore. It looks like we have exchanged our beer mugs for tramping shoes...

We started in Christchurch, a quaint city with a great art museum, street markets and a nightlife and backpacker scene that we quickly figured out is rare outside of Queenstown. Our first task was picking up our new van--we moved out of Astro Boy and into Golden Tops, a name that gave no clue as to what the art would look like. Both sides of the van are covered in mushrooms, not the garden variety, but more reminiscent of the kind you would see in a store that sells black lights and smells of patchouli. The driver's side also boasts a youth who looks blissfully high...on life. I expected the back to say something about what a long, strange trip its been or something similar but instead it reads, "Bag girls are good girls that haven't been caught." Quite the non sequitur.

After leaving Christchurch in Golden Tops, we spent our first few days in the Banks Peninsula, a little knob just south of Christchurch. This first drive already proved NZ's reputation true--the turquoise bays in Lyttleton and Akaroa were surrounded by rugged volcanic masses but it was Lakes Tekapo and Pukaki that took the cake for the best scenery in the first few days. Milky turquoise lakes surrounded by dark green pines backlit by the Southern Alps--the color is so shocking it almost feels unnatural, like fairies and wizards are about to fly out of their hiding places. No wonder Lord of the Rings was filmed here. From the lakes we headed to Mt. Cook. At 3755 m, it is NZ's and Australasia's highest peak and means "cloud piercer" in Maori. The clouds cleared and hung low long enough for the peak to grace the Hooker Valley and its icy waters. We were also lucky enough to view the kea, the only arctic parrot.

After a few walks through the mountains, we headed to Omaru, a coastal town that produced sightings of penguins at dusk and then on to Shag Point to see the fur seals. The south island's second largest town, Dunedin, provided a welcome surprise in their free art gallery. Peter Stichbury's "Alumni", a collection of close to 40 works of acrylic on linen were shockingly stimulating. The visual effect was somewhere between animation and reality and the intention was to make a statement on the present culture of aesthetics, celebrity, and the concept of human canvases. It is the best modern collection I have seen in a very long time.