The best advice I got regarding the weather on the South Island is: If you do not like it, wait five minutes.
Author: tourinblogger
Animal Farm
Wildlife and locals seem to live in symbiosis. The animals lure the tourists, and get their habitats protected in return. A good deal for both sides, it seems.
There and back again
The man running the local branch of the Department of Conservation tells me that the track can be done in a day. It is about forty kilometers long and will get me to where I start. I am highly motivated to be back before darkness falls and traps me in the wilderness or one of the two huts along the way. With the first light I am on my way.
The Island
Since I read Robinson Crusoe I think that a true island has to meet certain criteria: Do you get there by boat? Is there only one settlement or less? Can you walk around it in less than a week? I am told that New Zealand has three major islands, but only one of them meets this romantic requirements.
Fringe
Southland Tales
Around here people still remember who came first, who chiseled his way through that mountain or who build this church. I hear heroic tales about towns that consist of a few buildings, arranged around a shop, a church, a pub and a filling station, and rush by in the blink of an eye. Many places are named after more or less local celebrities. Truth or not, or somewhere in between? I cannot say. Some sources seem more reliable than others though.
Sound of Silence
The clouds are hanging low, shrouding the mountains. Sometimes I can see patches of blue on my way to the Fjords of Southland.
Lakeside
On the Rocks
Rain Forest. Rain.
The rain seems to float, just waiting for me to walk into it. There are no drops, just a mist that soaks my clothes, in silence.
The Third Planet 