Kevin at Mt. Cook

This photo was taken during our family's second tour of the South Island in the year 2000. Our 12 days tour was just fine. I must have covered more than 3000 km. in Pearl's Toyota Cerres. We started in Christchurch, Hanmer Springs, crossed the Southern Alps to Westport, Punakaiki, Greymouth, Franz Josef Glacier, Lake Wanaga, Mt. Cook, Christchurch, Kaikoura, Picton and Malborough Sounds. 

Milford Sounds, Dunedin and Queenstown were covered during our first tour in 1995, when we first arrived in NZ to stamp our passports. It was an immigration requirement to do so, within a year of getting the approval to come here as permanent residents. 
A friend, Lisa ignored this landing requirement and allowed her residence permit to expire. Fortunately, when she applied a second time, a few years later, she was approved again! This time she moved her family to NZ without fail. Another friend, Horace, ignored an immigration PR requirement to come and stay in NZ for 6 months every year for 2 years. He lost his PR status and he met endless problems when he reapplied for PR the second time. Another friend, Simon, was the most lucky one of all. His wife was the main applicant. She never clocked the 12 months total residency requirement and yet she easily obtained her confirmation as PR when she arrived 10 years later. The NZ immigration dept periodically changed the requirements, depending on whether the country requires more new immigrants for that year and for what categories. It is getting very difficult for new applicants to keep track of the current requirements because the authorities keep on moving the goal posts. The up to date details are now available on the Immigration NZ web site.