South Island Miscellany

Like the north island, there is a lot more to the south island than Lord of the Rings filming locations. Here is a composite of images from this part of my time on the south island.
The 1st picture is in Queen Charlotte Sound as the ferry from Wellington and the north island approaches Picton. The ferry route winds through channels between islands and peninsulas for about an hour before docking. It an amazing introduction to the less populated, more rugged (and larger) south island.
The 2nd picture is along the east coast near Kaikōuri. This is a resident colony of fur seals resting on the rocky shore.
The 3rd and 4th pictures are of Lakes Pukaki and Tepako. These are 2 of 3 roughly parallel alpine lakes formed behind glacial moraines. They are now managed for hydropower. Toward the other end of Lake Pukaki is Laketown (see another post). (I just can't seem to escape the LotR references. 🤔😃)
New Zealand has a young but extensive wine industry. I'm told the 1st vineyard in New Zealand was planted with wine grapes in 1981. The 5th picture is 1 small example of a vineyard in the Otago Valley (see another post).
The 7th picture is of The Remarkables, a mountain range near Queenstown that has appeared in many films, not the least being LotR (see other posts). On the other side of the mountain is one of the main ski fields, as they're called here, in this part of the country.
The 8th picture is here because I had never heard of anyone milking deer. But it is real, and this wonderful cheese shop in the small town of Geraldine makes this. BTW, it is much like traditional havarti, but with a bit more bite. Very good.
The last photo is taken from the mountain above Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. If the scale seems a bit off, that's because I took it as a panorama, and that results in a single image kinda crammed into the frame.Read more