11TeAnau'sSong

This most beautiful and hospitable country has a land mass about the size of California (and lies in similar latitudes, however, in the Southern Hemisphere.) It has a population of less than four million. You can fish, sail and ski twelve months a year and never get bored (at least not while fly-fishing).

The Lupine filled image of the South Island Alps is another wonderful photo by Philip Greenspun. The second picture is Lake Taupo, the remains of the crater of one of the largest volcanic explosions in recorded history.The third is one of the many beautiful waterfalls at Milford Sound on South Island. The fourth picture is FranzJoseph Glacier. The fifth is the stream at Fresh Mountain at Milford Sound. The sixth is of campanula blooming in Christ Church. The seventh is a sunset on New Zealand's highest peak, Mount Cook. The next image is the view overlooking Queenstown and the Lake with the Remarkables in the distance. The ninth picture shows an apparently immortal Bungee Jumper taking aim at the Shotover River. The tenth view looks down at a group of Southern Fur Seals taking a siesta at Milford Sound. The eleventh picture is Mitre Peak at Fiordland National Park on South Island. The twelfth image shows geothermal hot pools in Rotorua. The thirteenth is a picture of Caution Creek as it flows down from the Fox Glacier. The fourteenth photo shows a beautiful South Island Brown Trout about to be released from an Elk Hair Caddis. The fifteenth is a great example of Maori rock art in a petroglyph by John Rendell on a cliff on the shores of North Island's Lake Taupo. The sixteenth image shows the Waikato River's incredible Huka Falls (the Waikato, New Zealand's longest river, flows out of Lake Taupo.) The next three images are tattooed Maoris practicing the ancient tattoo art of Moko. The twentieth photo is a detailed carving from a Maori War Canoe. The twenty-first picture was taken from Mt. Tongariro looking toward Red Crater, Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Ruapehu, North Island's three volcanoes. The twenty-second photo shows the TSS Earnslaw, a steamship built in 1912 to service the runholders on Lake Wakatipu, with the Remarkables in the background. The twenty-third photo shows the steamer TSS Earnslaw, also known as the "Lady of the Lake", near Queenstown at sunset. The twenty-fourth is a photo of the majestic, yet mischievous alpine parrot, the Kea, found mostly on South Island. The twenty-fifth is a photo of the Southern Cross constellation (Crux carina.) The twenty-sixth photo is one of the ubiquitous flocks of New Zealand sheep. The twenty-seventh is a photo of crimson red blooms of the flowering Northern Rata Tree. The last image is the Great Spotted Kiwi, one of several species of New Zealand's native bird.

Te Anau's Song

                  Lake Taupo, blue, North Island's Sea,
                  Caldera'd Cliffs of Maori,
                  Rare Petroglyphs bear History,
                  Dreams, Kiwis share, through Mystery;
                  Wild Huka Falls, Tranquility,
                  Fair Rotorua's Fantasy,
                  Yet Forests, Pine, reach Spirits free;
                  Blooms, carmine, crown each Rata Tree;
                  Clear, crystal Streams, let Brown Trout be;
                  This lovely Land, most southerly.

                  South Island’s Views, e’er Pleasures reap,
                  O’er rockbound Beds, furred Seals, dare sleep;
                  Sound Milford’s Fiords, amazing, deep;
                  Snow, Alpine, spreads ‘round Mt. Cook steep,
                  So Glaciers slowly, seaward creep;
                  Near Queenstown's Shores, green Willows weep;
                  Those Bungee Jumpers, fearless, leap;
                  On Stations wide, pose grazing Sheep;
                  Down gentler Slopes, rose Lupine sweep;
                  New Zealand’s Hopes, Pride, Beauty keep!

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