Some photos by Brian Ernst (Katie's boyfriend), an excellent photographer

Since I have been without a camera since early October -- my camera suffered massive sand damage during a hike through Northland's sand dunes and could not be salvaged -- I am "borrowing" my friends' snap shot. I intend to buy a new camera, eventually...


A southern alps sunset



Views from the ferry between the North and South Island


Gisborn, the first place in the world to see the sunrise.


Fields of flowers carpet the earth around Central Otago, the middle of the South Island (Katie took this photo)


Lake Rotoiti, where I celebrated Christmas with the Rainey family in their holiday home.


Boating in the misty rain on lake Rotoiti


Mount Aspiring, in Wanaka (a town in the South Island). I drove 45 minutes with Kevin from California down a dirt road and hiked 2 hrs up Mount Aspiring to see glaciers. Lucky me...Kevin had picked me up hitchhiking to Okarito two days earlier and invited me to join him on this amazing hike after we ran into each other in Wanaka.