The rain and snow of New Zealand's winter

My first day was greeted with rain. Countless books have already commented that Christchurch is about as a close to England as a person can get outside of England, so I figured it was all a part of the effect. The countryside looked like England, the city looked like England, the sheep looked like England, so it seemed only fitting that the weather should as well.

It turns out that the entire country was getting doused in rain and as night descended, this rain became snow, piles of snow that closed every single internal route in the whole South Island. My original plan had me going to Mt. Cook the next day, but this was quickly derailed. I headed north instead, basically flipping my plan and doing my route more or less backwards.

The next day was beautiful and the most northern mountain pass, the Lewis Pass, had opened. I drove to Golden Bay at the top of the island through never-ending breathtaking scenery. I almost died a few times as I stared at a mountain too long or whipped out my camera for a quick, over-the-steering-wheel shot, only to find myself heading towards the edge of cliff. The drive took all day, but never once got boring. I slept that night in Takaka.

I awoke to another lovely, clear day. I was only an hour drive at Takaka from Farewell Spit at the northern tip, so I headed out early and started driving. Golden Bay was incredible, with turquoise blue waters surrounded by mountains. By the time I reached Farewell Spit, it was pouring rain; fog kept me from seeing even a few meters in front of me. I took a photo of the fog at the northern tip, then headed to the visitor's center to see what it was supposed to look like; it was closed.

The rain never let up as I drove south. I stopped for the single ugliest photograph of the Pupu Springs in Takaka (this was confirmed by the residents). Normally, it has the bluest waters imaginable; my photo looked more like it was a Poo Poo spring. The water was still clear and it was nice to see the Southern Hemisphere's largest freshwater spring.
Originally, I was going to hike at the postcard beach and coastline scenery of Abel Tasman national park, but skipped it for a lunch with John and Carolyne instead. Foggy, cloudy conditions kill much of the beauty of coastlines.

I drove straight through to the West Coast along the pretty Buller Gorge. I made a wrong turn and was having trouble finding finding the Stratford's place. In the dark and rain, I did something I haven't done in 11 months: drove on the right side of the road! Thankfully, enough people flashed their lights at me before I could die tragically.

The next day, I drove to Karamea, a mere 100km north of Westport. The drive was actually 300km round trip; New Zealand is strange like that. 20km into the hills is the Oparara Basin in Kahurangi National Park, home of some curious limestone formations. It contains some really big arches and some neat little caves. I took a couple hikes through the rainforest and looked at the various sights before flying down the coast to see another of the South Island's famous limestone sculptures, the pancake rocks. They don't look like pancakes, but these coastal rocks are piles of layered limestones that leave geologists puzzled over their origins.

The next day was rainy and foggy as well, which was a shame. The West Coast views of the mountains are supposedly fantastic. Though the West Coast does have rain eight days out of seven (New Zealand is also magic like that as well!), so not seeing the mountains was nothing abnormal. On principle, I took a photo of Mt. Cook, or what I think was Mt. Cook. It may have just been some clouds.
I was quite a bit disappointed at this point. No visibility. Being in the country for five days and only have one that was clear. A sign at the hilariously fun Bushman's Museum in Pukekura cheered me up for about five minutes:

Before you bother us with questions about the rain, please consider these points:
You are in a rainforest, which requires rain, no matter how much this may inconvenience you. If you want unending sunshine, consider a visit to the Sahara. This is just winter in New Zealand, don't complain, you are the one who planned your holiday, not us. To those of you who come from England, please appreciate the trouble we have taken to make you feel at home. Refrain from asking us if the weather will change. We can't predict it and frankly, we are too busy working to help you. For weather forecasts, please consult the local newspaper. Thank you.

It was easy to get down about the rain. I didn't have time to wait for things to clear up, I just had to deal with it and move on to the next place. Every once in a while though, the rain did stop, the fog did clear and that momentary glimpse of this incredible country's beauty made all the previous hours of rain worth it.