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…
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Soundtrack: Maisey Rika, “Tangaroa Whakamautai”
The cave of penguins, Cathedral Caves
A woodland path runs through Arthur’s Pass National Park
Weather incoming, Lake Manapouri
Lupins at dawn, Lake Tekapo
Milford in the mist
Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay
Beside the seaside, Aramoana
A great spotted kiwi’s footprints in the snow near Arthur’s Pass
A lighthouse emerges from grass-covered waves at Waipapa Point, site of New Zealand’s worst civilian shipwreck
Lake Ohau
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…
Hills, Hanmer Springs
Red, Larnach Castle
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
Obligatory “sheep in the road” shot, Fiordland
Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki with the Southern Alps in the distance.
Christchurch Cathedral, three years after the series of earthquakes that destroyed the building and the heart of the city around it.
Glacial flour, Lake Pukaki
Moria Gate Arch, Oparara Basin
A kea awaits his audience, Milford Road
Nugget Point in The Catlins
A view of South Islands icy spine from the West Coast road
Devil’s Punchbowl Falls, Arthur’s Pass National Park
A cheeky robin hops about in the undergrowth at Arthur’s Pass National Park
Only in New Zealand… (2)
Stewart Island’s #1 pastime, Halfmoon Bay
Only in New Zealand… (3)
Golden Bay on beautiful Stewart Island
Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo
A Mount Cook lily blossoms despite a late snowfall in Arthur’s Pass National Park
A seagull at Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay
Taiaroa Head from Aramoana
A sleepy seal at Pilots Beach, Otago Peninsula
The best and worst campsite of my trip. Wild winds kept me awake all night to watch star-filled skies wheel overhead.
Getting to Cathedral Caves, The Catlins
Spot the cruise ship (2), Milford Sound
Freewheeling along Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula
Mountain beech, Arthur’s Pass
The end of the road and the start of the trail in the Hollyford Valley, Fiordland
Church of the Good Shepherd, on the shore of Lake Tekapo
First Church of Otago, Dunedin
Surf’s up at St Clair, Dunedin
Level crossing across a roundabout? Why not! [Only in New Zealand… (1)]
A fine day for cycling, Lake Pukaki
Spot the cruise ship, Milford Sound
A beached boat at Golden Bay on Stewart Island
Mountains in monochrome, Southern Alps
A weka beneath my wheels, West Coast
A monument to the climbers who have perished on the slopes of New Zealand’s highest mountain, Mount Cook
Spot the camper van, Mt Cook
Positive ions at Stirling Falls, Milford Sound
Near Lake Ohau on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail
The wild but wonderful West Coast
A curly fern
Green, Larnach Castle
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Love your pictures, Jo!
I’m currently in NZ. Love all these pictures.