Day 3 (Part 1) New Zealand On Way to Queenstown

In New Zealand, Karen and I were really moving around quickly. The next morning after our fabulous day in Franz Josef Glacier, we met early to depart for Queenstown in another coach "city" bus. It was a very long day on a bus- about 8-9 hours. However, the scenery was breathtaking and the bus drivers were fun and informative. On this ride, we had a duo of older men who seemed to us to be trying to do a comedy routine at times. :) With lots of stops to stretch and eat, this was really more of an extended tour through the mountains, which we enjoyed in between naps.

One thing to note about New Zealand's south island was the one lane bridges that abounded. We inquired as to why there were so many one-lane-only bridges and were told it was because of cost- apparently the roads weren't as well traveled in that region and so there was no reason to build big bridges over the many riverbeds (though many of them dry riverbeds) we crossed. That doesn't seem to have changed. Of course we saw a few drivers on the road, but for the most part, the bus drivers had the road to themselves- which was probably a good thing with all the mountainous curves, one lane bridges and steep inclines in a coach bus!

Enjoy the scenery with the pics below (and at my website) the way that we saw it- through the windows or glass roof of the coach bus for the most part.  It's actually a different perspective than most of my pictures, where I try to get a great landscape or people shot at a pretty location.  While taking these pictures, I fretted that they wouldn't turn out well, but still couldn't resist the scenery.  Many of these are blurry or you can see reflections (me taking the picture in one! ;), but I enjoyed the winding roads and seeing the images tilted; it reminded me of the ride itself and took me back to the long day of bus riding in gorgeous New Zealand. Click here for the next post in this journey :)