South Island, New Zealand

(This posting contains a number of brief videos; if you would like to view them, you need to click on the title of the post to load the page.)

Better late than never. Yes, we have been home from this trip for just over six weeks….I contemplated not finalizing it with a last blog posting – not because our experiences aren’t worth sharing, but just out of sheer laziness. I will not rest easily, however, until I post a conclusion.

The South Island of Aotearoa is in fact quite beautiful …. Even in the cool and wet weather of very early spring.

The quest for rocks continued as we visited many beaches in our cute 4WD rental…..Fortunately, beaches are fairly easy to find on an island!

Here are some particularly appealing specimens found in Birdling Flats near Christchurch…. (We left them in situ as they were clearly meant to be.)

Obviously not for a serious rock hound…… Without much in the way of agates, the big draw on the South Island is the greenstone known by the Māori as Pounamu. It’s a type of nephrite jade… not as precious as the other type of jade called jadeite. But very special to the Māori and stunning in its own right.

Sometimes the intrepid rock hound is not fast enough to avoid getting icy water in his boots!

Akaroa is a lovely little town not far from the rock beach… colorful and serene when the weather cooperates.

Mountain ranges run along the spine of the island

The Punakaiki Pancake Rocks are on the western shore…. An exhilarating place to see, especially when there’s just a little sleet!

The Hokitika Gorge is home to some small wonders of the natural world…..

The region near Lakes Wanaka and Hawea is a bicycling paradise….. easier for old people to navigate on e-bikes!

Back on the east coast, Oamaru bills itself as World Steampunk Headquarters. (FYI, steampunk is a retro artistic/fashion style based on 19th-century industrial design.)

Oamaru is also a pleasant Victorian-era town with early tulips making an appearance on the town square.

Along the coast from Oamaru to Dunedin….

Bluff is a seaport and the southernmost town on the New Zealand mainland. Not a lot there, except a much-photographed signpost…

….and a chain sculpture that has its twin on Stewart Island, just across the Foveaux Strait… symbolizing the tie between the two.

And across the strait to Stewart Island…. On the most turbulent ferry crossing we have ever experienced. (Barf bags readily available and often used……luckily not by yours truly!)

If you head south from Stewart Island, your next stop would be Antarctica!

An arty welcome to the main village of Oban…..

A special glass house in a wildlife reserve on the Island…..

The wildlife reserve – a kiwi bird habitat – is surrounded by a fence and restricted access gate, designed to keep out predators, such as stoats and feral felines…..

Here, however, is the delightful bird known as a tui. Not a great video, but they are hard to get close to, and the film captures a snippet of its unusual sounds.

They are striking birds… here is a photo of a photo of a tui in full sunlight:

The final stop on the South Island was Queenstown, quite a tourist-y place…. With a scenic gondola ride, go-kart course and schlock-y city center – none of which takes away from its spectacular location on a lake in the mountains.

Lastly, here are a few cultural/food discoveries from the road…..

Hand pies ……

Whitebait fritters….. little teeny disgusting fish, fried up whole with eggs. Not for everyone.

KFC is all around the world – had to try some. Conclusion – just like the original. Greasy, salty and tasty.

In Hokitika, a shop that caters to South Africans! Gotta love Ouma’s rusks with your morning coffee.

One of the finest discoveries in an op shop (thrift store, in case you’ve forgotten)……

Gosh, a lot of turf covered in our four months Down Under! Adventures both stirring and commonplace, but all in all rewarding. The more we travel, the more we are humbled at our own ignorance. And thrilled to have the chance to see, hear and understand just a little more.

Arthur Frommer… the originator of $5 per day travel back in the 50s and 60s….. just died at age 95. Probably sharp as a tack to the end….. He believed travel to be transformative – critical to the process of learning and growing as a human being and recognizing our relationship to the planet and its other inhabitants. For him as for us, the most genuine experiences don’t require elaborate planning and need not be expensive. (Although a splurge now and then doesn’t hurt….) Kudos to him and his legacy.

Henry is a master of airplane-window photography. This closing image was taken on the flight from Auckland back to Texas.

We will mostly be home until the spring, with a foray next summer to Ireland and Scandinavia.

Best wishes to you all for a happy and peaceful holiday season, and a new year filled with hope.