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”

Taiaroa Head from Aramoana

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…

A curly fern

Spot the cruise ship, Milford Sound

Only in New Zealand… (3)

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

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

Milford in the mist

Mountains in monochrome, Southern Alps

Moria Gate Arch, Oparara Basin

Freewheeling along Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula

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

Spot the cruise ship (2), Milford Sound

A woodland path runs through Arthur’s Pass National Park

The cave of penguins, Cathedral Caves

A sleepy seal at Pilots Beach, Otago Peninsula

Surf’s up at St Clair, Dunedin

Beside the seaside, Aramoana

Only in New Zealand… (2)

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

Red, Larnach Castle

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

Glacial flour, Lake Pukaki

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

A seagull at Monkey Island on Te Waewae Bay

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

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

A weka beneath my wheels, West Coast

Stewart Island’s #1 pastime, Halfmoon Bay

Mountain beech, Arthur’s Pass

Near Lake Ohau on the Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

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

Golden Bay on beautiful Stewart Island

A kea awaits his audience, Milford Road

Lake Ohau

Weather incoming, Lake Manapouri

A fine day for cycling, Lake Pukaki

The wild but wonderful West Coast

Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

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

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

Obligatory “sheep in the road” shot, Fiordland

Spot the camper van, Mt Cook

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

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