The Photography of Dr. Jeff Harper

Above - The map of our route and how many days we stayed in each place on our South Island, New Zealand Road Trip.  Yes, lots of driving, but incredible scenery all along the route.  Amazing natural beauty. See photo entries below, and in the Travel Photo Blog section.

Our road trip ended with a drive down New Zealand Highway 1 back to Christchurch -- the South Pacific Sea on one side and snow-capped mountains on the other.

Yes, a dolphin in Milford Sound! We saw so many wonderful things in New Zealand!

We saw a few things that left us scratching our heads too.  What the . . . . . .?

I was very enthusiastic about the photo opportunities in New Zealand, (Aotearoa) The Land of the Long White Cloud.

Incredibly clear and clean streams in New Zealand.

And, of course, I always love the flowers and plants.  This is a Rose of Sharon.

Incredibly beautiful flora! The Arrow Fern is the national plant of New Zealand.

New Zealand incredible wild berries.

We enjoyed many funky eateries . .  the food was always good.

Never ending beauty:

Alpine lakes along the highway crossing from Queenstown to the West Coast through the 'Southern Alps'.

-3c in the morning!

One afternoon we saw many rainbows!

Mountain stream and rainbow.

We were lucky with the weather. Other than the morning frost, every day has been beautiful.

One morning we hiked up to the Franz Josef Glacier.

The Tasman Sea . . . around every corner of the West Coast road.

Famous Pancake Rocks - West Coast, New Zealand.

A rough Tasman Sea.

Mt. Cook (Aorika), the highest point in New Zealand.

Waterfalls seemingly around every corner.

A very curvey and slippery road - New Zealand Highway 6.

And I caught a rainbow!

Invercargill to Te Anau to Milford Sound to Te Anau to Queenstown . . . perhaps the most beautiful road trip I have ever taken! Many, many photos to upload!

Old world.

Sunrise on the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound.

Morning in New Zealand's Southern Alps.

We took a cruise on Milford Sound.

The weather has been cold and alternately clear and foggy . . . wonderful winter moods.

The Victoria Railway Hotel in Invercargill, New Zealand has been continuously operated as a hotel since it was built in 1893.  The current owners have lovingly restored it to it's original charm and beauty.  I much prefer these old gems to any Hilton or a motel.

At -1c the old beauty looks great. Invercargill is the last stop on the rail road at the very southernmost tip of New Zealand's South Island.  If you were a British, or Scottish visitor, or immigrant, in the 1890s you would have reached the absolute farthest outpost in the English-speaking world: 12 time zones of longitude and over 90 degrees of latitude! You would have stepped of the train and walked across Levent Street to this very hotel.

The food in the 1890s dining room was fresh, honest, and tasty. Yes . . . .  if these walls could speak . . . .

In the old days this is where you would repair for a cigar after your meal and perhaps reminisced about the Old Country, and how far away from it you were.

What a perfect period perfect restoration!

A special mood permeates the Victoria Rail Road Hotel.

We are off on the long road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. Very beautiful . . . a little fog . . . and a little brilliant sunshine.Some of the oldest life known on Earth: two billion year old "boulders" made by single celled "animals."

The fog and mist began to lift in the afternoon.

Green, cold, and beautiful.

Far down the South Island on the small Highway 93.

3C degrees cold. 45 degrees south latitude.

Small towns (Dunedin) in all their former glory . . . under giant skies.

Steampunk HQ? Oh . . . . Victorian era inspsired steam-powered dystopian sci-fi that gained popularity in the 1980s. Good article about this 'movement' HERE.

Every single town we passed through had a WWI monument to the town's war dead.

You can buy your booze in bulk in New Zealand!

A touch of Europe on the 'other side of the world.'

On the very bottom of the South Island (the town of Bluff).

You are here, Bluff, New Zealand.

The Victoria Railway Hotel (est. 1893) in Invercargill . . . our hotel for tonight.