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