New Zealand’s south island had a lot of surprises for us. Having disembarked from the huge ferry, we planned to travel down from Piction’s harbour, to Christchurch, all in one day, that first day.

But the weather had turned!

And mist lay heavy over the harbour town of Picton. Even though it added a dramatic appeal to our trip, it was encouraging to see how the sun was trying so desperately to shine through at that point.

My husband and I had come halfway around the world (from South Africa) and had enjoyed superb weather on New Zealand’s north island, now only to land on the south island when the weather wasn’t so grand.

Sadly it stayed overcast all day, but that didn’t damper our expectations. As it turned out, the overcast weather was only on that first day.

I must say, after that first day, the weather was kind to us for the rest of our trip through New Zealand’s south island. We had such adventures, seeing thrilling panoramic views and visiting the most fascinating places.

Venturing south:

It was the intention to first travel down the east coast. First to Christchurch to where my husband’s niece lives. Later we would travel through the centre of the island, down to the bottom tip and then up through the west coast.

That first day, the road south took us most of the time close to the shoreline. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs and enjoy the beauty of the grey sea bounding dramatically against the seashore, under a grey cloudy sky.

As an artist this was fantastic:

I loved this part of the trip. Because… bad weather means theatrical atmospheric skies, which you can exaggerate in your paintings.

Why, because people especially love seascapes with huge waves dashing and crashing on rocky shores. You know the ones with a clear wave, misty cliff faces, etc! So I was literally in my element. Even through others may have thought it was a dismal uneventful day.

I can tell you, it isn’t very often you get the opportunity to photograph dramatic skies. Generally people expect you’ll want to go places when the weather is clear and sunny. So here was my opportunity to grab the dynamic moment and do my thing with my camera.

Only I didn’t get photos of huge massive cliff faces...shame that’s `how-the-cookie-crumbles.’ Anyway I hope you enjoy what I was able to get.

Lazy seals:

At times we were fortunate to see lazy seals lolling on ledges and jagged rocks with the sea churning all around them. And others were closer to shore, quite oblivious to the humans assembling, all excited about seeing them dosing out there in all weathers.

Wild flowers:

I often stop and take time to get down low and zoom in on tiny wild flowers. Here is a pink one (in the collage) I found on the seashore. Just to give you some idea what plant life you’ll find along that coast.

At one point we had to stop to eat lunch:

We found a tiny bakery shop, close to the seashore that also sold fast foods. There was quite a range to pick and choose from, whatever we wanted. It was really tasty and healthy food. We meandered aimlessly outside the shop while munching our goodies, because there weren’t any tables to sit at. That didn’t seem to worry us, as we watched gulls fight over our food scraps.

Then getting back into our cars, we traveled tranquilly, looking at the surrounding scenery and towns, on our way down towards Christchurch.

Instead of going into Christchurch that day, we veered out into the countryside, where we stopped and strayed in a splendid house, perched high on a hill, looking over a breath-taking misty panoramic view.

Next blog:

How the next day we visited Christchurch’s beautiful serene central park, the magical wizard tram ride through the centre of Christchurch and what it looks like after their terrific earthquake.

abhishekkk