A group trip during a student exchange in Australia — two weeks in late March and early April 2016, enough friends to fill a couple of rental cars, driven south to north across both islands: the Southern Alps, a couple of fjords, more glaciers than felt reasonable, and a very different kind of green once the North Island took over.

Arthur's Pass

Straight off the plane in Christchurch and onto the road — Arthur's Pass is the route across the Southern Alps to the West Coast, and it announces itself immediately. Long, empty two-lane roads cutting through golden tussock grassland, mountains stacking up on either side, the kind of drive where you stop every twenty minutes because the view changed again.

Fox Glacier, and a hot pool at the end of it

Down onto the West Coast and up close to Fox Glacier — grey moraine, glacial meltwater running white over the rocks, chunks of ice you can actually pick up. A day or so later, a very different kind of water: a steaming natural hot pool tucked at the base of the mountains, reached on foot with the group and full packs.

From the glacier the road heads south along the coast and inland to Wanaka — home to the famous lone willow growing straight out of Lake Wānaka, one of the most photographed trees in the country. No photos of it made the cut, but it's on the way, and it's worth the stop.

Queenstown and Milford Sound

Queenstown as a base, with Milford Sound as the day trip everyone actually comes here for. The fjord sits at the end of a road that takes half a day just to drive, then a boat out into it — sheer rock walls straight out of the water, Mitre Peak the one everyone photographs, waterfalls appearing out of the cloud line. The scale of it only really lands once there's a boat in the frame for reference.

Back in Queenstown for the thing the town is actually famous for inventing: bungee jumping. No photographic evidence survived, which is probably for the best.

Aoraki / Mt Cook

North again to New Zealand's tallest peak, and a valley to match — braided glacial rivers, a milky turquoise lake fed by the ice above, and a hike up to a viewpoint that makes the whole valley open up at once. This is also, I think, somewhere near where Minas Tirith was filmed for the Lord of the Rings films — not entirely sure how accurate that memory is, but it's the kind of landscape that makes the claim believable either way.

From Mt Cook the road runs north past Lake Tekapo — turquoise water, the tiny Church of the Good Shepherd on the shore, one of the more famous lake views in the country — and back to Christchurch to close the South Island loop.

North to Wellington

Flight or ferry across the strait — the memory doesn't hold on this one — and on to the North Island.

Hobbiton

The Shire, more or less exactly as advertised — round doors, garden fences, a lake with a party tree on the far bank. Impossible to visit without grinning the whole way round, whether or not you've seen the films. Rotorua came in around here too, geothermal steam and all, though nothing from that stop made it into the surviving photos.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing

A different kind of landscape entirely — volcanic, exposed, fog rolling through the crater and a lake sitting an unlikely shade of green-turquoise at the bottom. The plan was to summit Ngauruhoe — Mount Doom, to anyone who's seen the films — off the side of the main crossing, but the conditions on the day ruled it out. One of the more physical days of the trip regardless, and one of the most rewarded.

Auckland

One last day in Auckland before flying out — more of a full stop than a destination, but a fitting enough place to end a trip that started on the other end of the country entirely.