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You are here: Home / Photo Blogging / On The Road / On The Road – Paul in St. Augustine – New Zealand South Island Collection

On The Road – Paul in St. Augustine – New Zealand South Island Collection

by WaterGirl|  February 10, 20225:00 am| 16 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

Paul in St. Augustine

The South Island is sparsely populated. There were several times during my 10 days exploring where I would not encounter another car on the road for an hour.The Southern Alps were featured in a different submission. Milford Sound, a fiord carved out by glaciers, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 6

Sunrise from The Vintner’s Reserve Resort, in the small village of Rapaura. This town is in the Marlborough region of the South Island, famous for it’s distinctive Sauvignon Blanc.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 7

Planning my route from Franz Josef to Queenstown, the main road to Queenstown is NZ 6. At the lakeside town of Wanaka, an alternate route was suggested, the Cardrona Valley Road, which was describes as ” a road to take if you’re a competent driver”. It is the highest paved road in the country, and twists and turns abound. There was no way I would not take that route. What the guide book did not mention was the Cardrona Valley Bra Fence. Bras began appearing on the fence in 1999, and this is now considered a quirky tourist attraction.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 5

Start mountain ridges against a cerulean sky.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 4

Queenstown, from the top of the mountain via tram. The town is on Lake Wakatipu, the third largest lake in the country. Although small, if you can think of an adventurous activity, you can do it here.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 3

The docks at Milford Sound. From Queenstown, it’s a 180 mile drive. A bus option is available, if you wish. However, your time is not your own. I managed to pass the bus on my trip down. There are several boat tour options. I chose the smallest boat possible, which meant we could get closer to the sides than other boats. Mitre Peak is the tallest mountain on the Sound, and it rises to a height of 5522 feet. Straight up from the water. Here. it’s mostly hidden by clouds.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 2

There are dozens of waterfalls along the fiord. I like this picture, capturing a rainbow.

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection 1

The blond colored boulders are greenstone, locally called pounamu It is also known as jade. Imbued with spiritual significance to New Zealand’s Indigenous tribes, you are allowed to harvest, or ‘fossick’ for the rocks on the beaches of Te Tai o Poutini (the West Coast of the South Island).

On The Road - Paul in St. Augustine - South Island Collection

The end of the fiord, heading into the Tasman Sea. Sydney, Australia, lies 1160 miles to the west.

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Reader Interactions

16Comments

  1. 1.

    YY_Sima Qian

    February 10, 2022 at 5:23 am

    Nice! I have fond memories of South Island.

  2. 2.

    debbie

    February 10, 2022 at 6:13 am

    Wow, especially that sunrise! Thanks for sharing!

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 10, 2022 at 6:59 am

    Glorious photos!

    But I must confess that, since I read OTR pre-coffee and with blurry morning eyes, I read The docks at Milford Sound as The ducks at Milford Sound. Because ducks.

  4. 4.

    Betty

    February 10, 2022 at 7:04 am

    Such dramatic landscape. Sounds like quite the adventure.

  5. 5.

    Rob

    February 10, 2022 at 7:58 am

    Pretty! Some day maybe I’ll go.

  6. 6.

    Time Travelin

    February 10, 2022 at 8:42 am

    One of my favorite places in the world.

  7. 7.

    sab

    February 10, 2022 at 9:05 am

    Glorious. I thought St Augustine, Florida and then I saw that mountain and thought whoops wrong place!

  8. 8.

    SkyBluePink

    February 10, 2022 at 9:46 am

    Wonderful photos!

  9. 9.

    Grumpy Old Railroader

    February 10, 2022 at 10:02 am

    Sigh. Added to my already overly long bucket list

  10. 10.

    J R in WV

    February 10, 2022 at 10:02 am

    Great photos. May have been helpful to mention that you were (probably) in NZ…

    thanks for sharing.

  11. 11.

    stinger

    February 10, 2022 at 10:32 am

    Beautiful, especially the waterfalls.

  12. 12.

    munira

    February 10, 2022 at 10:52 am

    Beautiful place, beautiful photos.

  13. 13.

    Paul in St. Augustine

    February 10, 2022 at 1:51 pm

    @J R in WV: Thanks. I actually did mention I was there, if you look closely. However, you’re right in that I did not mention New Zealand by name. Hopefully I said that somewhere in tomorrow’s post!

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    February 10, 2022 at 2:40 pm

    @Betty:  The docks at Milford Sound was my favorite pic, though of course i liked all of them.

    But man, would I love to be there.

  15. 15.

    WaterGirl

    February 10, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    @J R in WV: I mentioned it in Monday’s post!  :-)

    This week brings us birds and junkyards and glaciers, and then we finish off the week with 2 days in New Zealand! 

    But that was 3 days ago, and we have all slept since then.  I’ll add NZ to the two posts.

  16. 16.

    dnfree

    February 10, 2022 at 6:38 pm

    We were not as adventurous as you and took a tour in 2017 to celebrate our 50th anniversary.  Such a beautiful country, with so many contrasts.  Our tour guide said that the reason the South Island is so sparsely populated is the sand flies.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/88169578/sandflies-new-zealands-bloodsucking-summer-nightmare-actually-its-yearround

    It’s hard to describe the beauty to people, but we had a couple of encounters back home where we said to people “Did you see The Lord of the Rings?” And they said “OOOHHH”.

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