South Island

And thus it came to be that your humble narrators reached the borders of the fabled South Island of New Zealand.

We heard many tales of this place. Tales of wonder and awe.  Tales of breath taking landscapes and untouched nature. Tales of tall snow covered mountains and glaciers that crawl down from the mountain tops to their lowest base, where you can actually touch them and see them being transformed into rivers of icy water. Tales of golden beaches and crystal blue sea. Tales of inquisitive birds, warm water penguins, sea lions and other creatures of wonder. Tales of cold places with fjords and sounds carven by the flow of time. Landscapes formed by ice ages long past. Tales of goldminers digging and carving the west coast hungry for the shiny metal.

What would be true of those tales? What will we see with our own eyes? Curiously and excited we left the ferry and set foot unto a new world.