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…

*   *   *   *   *

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…

x

Soundtrack: Maisey Rika, “Tangaroa Whakamautai”

Moria Gate Arch, Oparara Basin

Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

Beside the seaside, Aramoana

Church of the Good Shepherd, on the shore of Lake Tekapo

Golden Bay on beautiful Stewart Island

Near Lake Ohau on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

Green, Larnach Castle

Hills, Hanmer Springs

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

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

Spot the cruise ship, Milford Sound

Mountain beech, Arthur’s Pass

Spot the camper van, Mt Cook

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

Weather incoming, Lake Manapouri

A weka beneath my wheels, West Coast

A fine day for cycling, Lake Pukaki

The end of the road and the start of the trail in the Hollyford Valley, Fiordland

A kea awaits his audience, Milford Road

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

Positive ions at Stirling Falls, Milford Sound

The wild but wonderful West Coast

Only in New Zealand… (3)

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

Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki with the Southern Alps in the distance.

A woodland path runs through Arthur’s Pass National Park

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…

Lupins at dawn, Lake Tekapo

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

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

Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

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

Taiaroa Head from Aramoana

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

Mountains in monochrome, Southern Alps

Lake Ohau

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

Glacial flour, Lake Pukaki

A curly fern

Freewheeling along Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula

Stewart Island’s #1 pastime, Halfmoon Bay

Only in New Zealand… (2)

First Church of Otago, Dunedin

Surf’s up at St Clair, Dunedin

The cave of penguins, Cathedral Caves

Red, Larnach Castle

Milford in the mist

Getting to Cathedral Caves, The Catlins

A beached boat at Golden Bay on Stewart Island

A seagull at Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

Spot the cruise ship (2), Milford Sound

Nugget Point in The Catlins

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.

Obligatory “sheep in the road” shot, Fiordland