The Southern End of South Island

From Fiordland we drove to Invercargill, capital of the state of Southland, to purchase an international calling plan for our cellphone. We bought a 2degrees sim card when we arrived in New Zealand and the only 2degrees store on the south end of the South Island was in Invercargill. We found the store, bought an international plan with 300 minutes and headed to Oreti Beach Holiday Park 10 km (6 mi) west of the city. 

Oreti Beach Holiday Park

Fiordland

We left the sunshine and blue skies of Okuru on the west coast of the South Island for Fiordland where deep fiords penetrate the coastal mountains, where it rains most of the time, a place so different and beautiful that it was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1990. It’s in the far southwest of the South Island, but there’s no coast road to Fiordland from Okuru. We had to drive a circuitous route inland many kilometers, then south through mountains and valleys of the Southern Alps and then west to Fiordland.

Haast River