South Island in Pictures

After ten weeks travelling around New Zealand’s wonderfully rain-soaked and wind-whipped South Island, I returned home with thousands of photos of trees and mountains and waterfalls. Editing them has proved simultaneously challenging (how many photos of trees can one justify keeping?) and calming (looking at all those waterfalls must be therapeutic), but I’ve finally come up with a selection of my favourites, shown below in ~~fifty shades of green~~ all their technicolor glory…

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In other news, the Rough Guide to Myanmar (which I worked on last year) is out! To fuel any Burma-related wanderlust you may be suffering from, check out this list of quintessential Burmese experiences that I put together for the Rough Guide website recently…

Soundtrack: Maisey Rika, “Tangaroa Whakamautai”

A great spotted kiwi’s footprints in the snow near Arthur’s Pass

Beside the seaside, Aramoana

A kea awaits his audience, Milford Road

Weather incoming, Lake Manapouri

Christchurch Cathedral, three years after the series of earthquakes that destroyed the building and the heart of the city around it.

Red, Larnach Castle

Moria Gate Arch, Oparara Basin

A woodland path runs through Arthur’s Pass National Park

A Mount Cook lily blossoms despite a late snowfall in Arthur’s Pass National Park

Surf’s up at St Clair, Dunedin

Freewheeling along Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula

Near Lake Ohau on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

Only in New Zealand… (2)

The cave of penguins, Cathedral Caves

A sleepy seal at Pilots Beach, Otago Peninsula

Lupins at dawn, Lake Tekapo

First Church of Otago, Dunedin

A fine day for cycling, Lake Pukaki

Mountain beech, Arthur’s Pass

Milford in the mist

A curly fern

Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

Mountains in monochrome, Southern Alps

A beached boat at Golden Bay on Stewart Island

A cheeky robin hops about in the undergrowth at Arthur’s Pass National Park

Hills, Hanmer Springs

A lighthouse emerges from grass-covered waves at Waipapa Point, site of New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck

Positive ions at Stirling Falls, Milford Sound

Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, Arthur’s Pass National Park

Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

Glacial flour, Lake Pukaki

Obligatory “sheep in the road” shot, Fiordland

Golden Bay on beautiful Stewart Island

Spot the camper van, Mt Cook

Taiaroa Head from Aramoana

The wild but wonderful West Coast

A weka beneath my wheels, West Coast

Getting to Cathedral Caves, The Catlins

An irate sea lion roars at a side-stepping seagull at Waipapa Point. New Zealand sea lions are relatively rare, with males – like this one – weighing in at up to 400kg

A view of South Islands icy spine from the West Coast road

A seagull at Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

Level crossing across a roundabout? Why not! [Only in New Zealand… (1)]

A monument to the climbers who have perished on the slopes of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Mount Cook

Spot the cruise ship (2), Milford Sound

Only in New Zealand… (3)

Nugget Point in The Catlins

Seals in silhouette, Milford Sound. Sealers pushed the species to the brink of extinction in the 1820s, but New Zealand’s fur seal population is bouncing back nicely…