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”

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

Obligatory “sheep in the road” shot, Fiordland

Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

Lake Ohau

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

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

Red, Larnach Castle

A weka beneath my wheels, West Coast

Mountain beech, Arthur’s Pass

Only in New Zealand… (3)

The wild but wonderful West Coast

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…

Taiaroa Head from Aramoana

Hills, Hanmer Springs

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

Weather incoming, Lake Manapouri

Near Lake Ohau on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

Green, Larnach Castle

Surf’s up at St Clair, Dunedin

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

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

Nugget Point in The Catlins

Getting to Cathedral Caves, The Catlins

A woodland path runs through Arthur’s Pass National Park

First Church of Otago, Dunedin

A beached boat at Golden Bay on Stewart Island

Freewheeling along Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula

Lupins at dawn, Lake Tekapo

A curly fern

Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

Positive ions at Stirling Falls, Milford Sound

A kea awaits his audience, Milford Road

Spot the camper van, Mt Cook

Stewart Island’s #1 pastime, Halfmoon Bay

The cave of penguins, Cathedral Caves

A fine day for cycling, Lake Pukaki

Golden Bay on beautiful Stewart Island

Moria Gate Arch, Oparara Basin

Spot the cruise ship, Milford Sound

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

Only in New Zealand… (2)

The best and worst campsite of my trip. Wild winds kept me awake all night to watch star-filled skies wheel overhead.

Glacial flour, Lake Pukaki

Spot the cruise ship (2), Milford Sound

A sleepy seal at Pilots Beach, Otago Peninsula

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

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

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

A seagull at Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

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