We will travel North and inland through central Otago, passing through Wanaka.These lakes are located in the central lower part of the South Island. 
 

 <----- Lake Wanaka South Island.
Lake Tekapo is one of New Zealands major hydro electric lakes. producing power for most of New Zealand.

Lake Tekapo is one of New Zealands major hydro electric lakes. producing power for most of New Zealand. This will take us further over towards the west coast of the South Island to an area known as Fiordland
 
 

<----- This road is an optical illusion. The road is called " The Avenue of The Disappearing Mountain" as you travel down the road the mountain in the distance appears to disappear below the level of the road.

 Many waterfalls, plunge down the steep slopes of the fiords.
 
 
 
 

<----- This is our favourite spot for going camping.
 

New Zealanders enjoy the outdoors, and people of many ages take part in sports. Favourite holiday activities  are camping, boating, hunting, and fishing.    With scenery of mountains, waterfalls, crystal clear lakes and rivers to fish in,

 what more could you ask for?
 
 
 

 This photo below is of a river in the lower part of the South Island, a lovely spot where we go fishing for trout.

 
 
 

Otago is the only area of New Zealand that experiences a continental climate as the rest of New Zealand is Maritime ie the
climate is directly affected by the sea. This means that unlike the rest of New Zealand Central Otago has extremes in temperatures. It is unusually very hot and dry in summer and covered in snow in the winter.
The landscape is mountainous with dry and barren terrain in the centre and lush green areas on the east
coast.
 
 

Queenstown is one of the most popular tourist towns in New Zealand.
Queenstown is also the gateway to many of the best skifields in the country as well the main starting point to a trip to Fiordland or the West Coast. Queenstown has its own international airport with regular flights from Australia and within New Zealand. The town is built on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and is surrounded by mountains including the famous Remarkables Mountain Range. The surrounding area is the place to go for action activities such as Bungee Jumping, Jet Boating, White Water Rafting and Parapenting. The "Awesome Foursome" package includes the first three activities and a helicopter ride. 

Queenstown is New Zealand's premier ski area and it is also the nations action capital.
Queenstown is the home of Bungee Jumping and Jet Boating. Other action activities include parapenting and white water
rafting.
A sightseeing flight to Fiordland is recommended as this will let you see the mountains, fiords and waterfalls in this World
Heritage Area.

This image is taken from the Remarkables Mountain Range which gives you superb views of the endless mountains between
Queenstown and Fiordland National Park.

 
 
 
 
 

The country's mountains are covered with evergreen forests up to the snow line.  The Southern Alps form a backbone of sharp peaks with snow fields and glaciers along the western part of the South Island. The South Islands Southern Alps Mountains are larger in area than the European Alps put together. These mountains run the full length of the island and there are over 200 mountains that exceed 2500 metres in height.
 
 

 We go through the Homer Tunnel, over the Southern Alps. This road is often closed due to snow fall, or rock slides. Making passing over the mountains inaccessible.  Once passing through the tunnel we come to a picturesque spot nestled in amongst the fiords, a place where a mountain looks like a bishops mitre hat.
 
 

When the Missionaries came to New Zealand, and saw this mountain they named it Mitre Peak.
 

Tourist boats operating near the head of the Milford Sound 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 Glaciers
The West Coast is an extremely scenic narrow stretch of land between the Southern Alps and the Coastline. This area is famous for its rugged mountain and coastline scenery and it contains large areas of rainforest. There are many waterfalls, 2 huge glaciers that descend into rainforests and many rivers that
drain the melted snow from the mountains.The glacier is  the closest glacier to  the equator at almost sea-level. Nowhere else in the world to glaciers come so close to the coastline outside of the Polar Regions as they do in Westland
National Park in the South Island.
The Franz Joseph Glacier and its neighbour the Fox Glacier have been advancing in recent years because of record snow falls
on the Southern Alps.

Franz Josef Glacier West coast South Island.

The other glaciers are Tasman, and Fox Glaciers.  Mount Cook, the highest peak in New Zealand, rises to 12,349 feet in the Southern Alps. The Maoris called it Aoraki - " the cloud piercer".  In the south-west the mountains rise directly from the sea, and there are a number of inlets , or fiords, similar to those in Norway.  This area has been set aside as Fiordland National park.
 
 

 This area is very isolated and
contains some classic towns, many with small pubs that look like something
out of a western movie. The bigger towns in this remote area of New Zealand are Hokitika, Westport and Greymouth.The National parks in this regions are as follows: Westland National Park, some of Kahurangi National Park, and
Mt Aspiring National Park. The lower half of the Westcoast forms part of the South Westland World Heritage Area.
There are only 4 roads that link the Westcoast with the rest of the South Island. They are the Buller Gorge Rd, the Lewis Pass, the Arthurs Pass and the Haast Pass. The rest of the Westcoast remains isolated from the east by the Southern Alps. The Alpine Crossing provides trampers the chance to scale over the mountains from the Mt Cook National Park
on the east to the Westcoast. This track provides the best alpine scenery that New Zealand has to offer but crampons are essential all year round and it is recommended that you walk this track with a Guide.
 
 

This spectacular valley is found in the Fiordland National Park.
These U shaped valleys are the result of glaciation. The Fiords in the park are valleys similar to this one except the valley floor
is below sea level.
 

 
 
 

North Island Tour	Te Puke - Gisborne	Napier - Rotorua	Wairakei -Taupo	Wellington
South Island Tour	Wanaka-West coast	Westcoast	Christchurch	Picton