New Zealand South Island - 2017 — Carol & Scott On The Road

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays we were able to spend two and a half weeks in New Zealand. New Zealand was in the beginning of its summer season and we dedicated all of our time to the naturally beautiful South Island.

New Zealand is located on Zealandia, which is a nearly submerged mass of continental crust that sank after breaking away from Australia about 80 million years ago, which together, separated from Antarctica between 85 and 130 million years ago. At the time of separation there were no animals on the New Zealand land mass, so there are no native animals, just plenty of birds and insects!

New Zealand has been known for the 80 million sheep (22 sheep for every resident) they had at one time, but over the past 12 years the number has dropped dramatically to less than 30 million. The reason for the reduction is due to the minimal financial reward for sheep wool at about $50 per sheep per year versus the compensation earned to sell the sheep into the China market for mutton. There has also been a conversion of land use to cow dairy farming which is exported to China as well.

The original settlers of New Zealand are from eastern Polynesia. They are known as Māori and arrived in canoes between 1250 and 1300. The word Māori means “natural” and they developed their own language, mythology, crafts and arts. They lived a life based on Polynesian social customs and over time a warrior culture emerged.

Today, the population of New Zealand is about 4.7 million with the majority of the population concentrated on the North Island and Auckland in particular. The South Island that we visited has a population of only 1 million, with the majority living in Christchurch.

Protecting and returning the natural environment to its original and natural condition is a high priority and highly evident with both the government and citizens. They are aggressively killing and removing trees and plants, and eliminating non-farm animals that were introduced over the years.

While spending time in New Zealand there is something about the natural landscape and in particular the mountains, that makes it hard not to be lost in a mesmerizing stare. The mountains are absolutely grand – they fill the sky and appear larger than any mountains we had seen before. After some time, we realized that the reason why the mountains have this massive appearance, is because they are among the youngest (if not the youngest) mountains ranges on the planet. They are massive yet, they have not experienced the extent of erosion that other mountain ranges have. So their profile and completeness take on this “filling of the sky” perspective. Wow! The mountains were (and are) formed by tectonic plate uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. The mountains are still climbing at about 10 centimeters per year and over 200 glaciers are still present that have been carving the valleys and fiords for thousands of years.

Even though we had close to three weeks of time to explore the South Island, we needed to keep moving pretty quickly to see the top sites on the Island. We visited the following locations; Arthur’s Pass, Punakaiki & Hokitika (West Coast), Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, Lake Wanaka, Mount Aspiring National Park, Milford Sound, Queenstown, Glenorchy and Mount Cook.