We arrived in New Zealand five days ago and have been touring the South Island ever since. This is a marvelous country and we instantly felt at home. Sure, the people speak English (although sometimes the accent is so strong, we cannot understand them), but more importantly, the people are so welcoming and open. There is a definite sense that we stepped back in time, perhaps 30 or 40 years. There seems to be no pretense, no show. They are who they are and they all seem comfortable with it. (I included a photo of a waiter in a restaurant we ate at. Nathan’s mullet was award winning!) As we walk around, we hear accents from all over the world - many Asians, many Europeans, and a few Americans.

We are in the southern hemisphere, with the middle of the South Island approximately 45 degrees latitude. That puts us right now about half way from the equator to Antarctica. In fact, Christchurch is the city where the American scientists check in before heading on to Antarctica. We saw the Southern Cross in the night sky last night, a constellation that can only be seen in the southern hemisphere.

We flew into Christchurch, a very charming small city, and picked up our camper van. This is the way they do it out here and it has worked well for us. We have all we need in the camper, although in the campgrounds there are common kitchens where everyone cooks together. It’s a cool idea. There are campgrounds in all the towns and in the more remote areas, there are “conservation parks”, which are like our national forest campgrounds in Idaho. And like home, there is a lot of space between towns. We watch for the “No Petrol” signs so that we get gas before we wind up out of luck. There aren’t very many people (only 3 million total on the South Island) but there are a lot of sheep. They are everywhere! I haven’t been able to get any good pictures of the sheep though because they run before I can get very close. We’ve also seen red deer, rabbits, penguins (more about that later), sea lions, New Zealand fur seals, albatross, cormorants, and lots of birds. No living kiwi as yet, but we did see a dead one on the road.

It is autumn here and the leaves are beginning to turn. Even though summer is over, the hillsides are still really green. It is not like Idaho where we dry out by the end of summer. They get a lot of rain here and it rains on an average of every other day, but luckily not while we have been here. Every day has been perfect so far.

Seeing Mt. Cook was the highlight of day one. The mountain is the highest point in the South Island (maybe all of NZ) in a range called The Southern Alps. It is covered in snow and blue glaciers. You drive toward Mt. Cook along a lake that is an unusual but beautiful blue-green color, due to the glacial runoff. Over the 30 mile approach, the mountain gets taller and taller. The beauty is hard to describe, but hopefully the photos will help. We took many of them during a hike we took near the area.

We drove on to Queenstown, a place we didn’t know much about. Within minutes, I felt like I could live in Queenstown. Visually it is the most beautiful town I have seen, with a huge lake in the center of town and the houses all around the lake. All this is surrounded by tall mountains called The Remarkables, which is no exaggeration.

Continuing south to Te Anau, we entered the gateway to the Fjordland National Park. We chose to camp in town which gives me time to shop in between sightseeing and hiking. We cruised the Milford Sound, with towering sea cliffs and rainforest coming right down to the water, on a 30 passenger boat. It really is a fjord (cut by a glacier) rather than a sound (cut by a river). We saw seals basking in the sun, and several waterfalls which the captain drove close enough to one to get all of us wet. I took about 100 photos, I think. We took a hike through a rainforest-like area and heard and saw some interesting birds. I have been collecting samples of all the ferns we see along the tracks.

After enjoying the fjords, we drove east to Dunedin, a coastal town known as a good place for viewing penguins. We went out with a local sheep farmer that lives on a large piece of land on the coast. He took us on an 8 wheel drive ATV type vehicle through the mud and down to the rocky beaches to view, up close, the New Zealand fur seals, sea lions, royal albatross, and yellow eyed penguins along the coast. He has the largest penguin colony right on his property. The yellow eyed penguins are very rare but do well here because squid moves up from Antarctica and provides food they like. It was definitely the highlight of this trip so far.

We spent today in the historic town of Oamaru. We are tired and looking to enjoy a quiet evening. Tomorrow we fly back to Australia. As you are all about to enjoy your spring break in a few days, I will fly up to Cairns (pronounced Kanes) to swim in the Great Barrier Reef, something I have looked forward to all my life. I am beginning to miss all of you, and will definitely be ready to get home in 10 days or so.