New Zealand: South Island Splendor

Roughly the size of Colorado, New Zealand is a land of astounding contrasts. There are subtropical
rainforests, crystal-clear lakes and rivers, volcanoes, and thermal springs scattered around the islands.
Green rolling hills dotted with sheep and seemingly endless forests are often just an hour’s drive from rugged mountains and semi-desert areas. Mighty glaciers plunge from snowy mountain peaks into lush rainforests.
     Cut off from the rest of the world in so many ways, New Zealand even managed to avoid the forces of evolution as we know them. After breaking with the ancient Gondwanaland continent over 70 million years ago, the islands were left with a unique assortment of animal and plant life. With virtually no land mammals, birds flourished; the islands have over 250 native bird species, several of them, like the country’s mascot, the kiwi, completely flightless. Prior to human settlement (including the Maori) there were no mammals except bats and fur seals. Approximately 1,000 years ago the Maori brought kiore (Polynesian rats) and dogs with them. Only when European settlers reached its shores in the 18th century did predators like cats, and later, possums and stoats, begin to alter this remarkable environment.
     The first people to arrive in New Zealand were the Maori from Polynesia, whose legends tell of the first settlers to the islands they called Aotearoa (“land of the long white cloud”) around 950 A.D. In 1642, Dutch Captain Abel Tasman sailed by the island in search of the Great Southern Continent, but decided not to anchor as he deemed it of no significance. Not until 1769, when Captain James Cook landed, did Europe establish a claim on the territory. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi established a framework for peaceful coexistence of the two cultures: the British were granted sovereignty, and the Maori were guaranteed possession of their lands, forests, and fisheries. Just over a decade later, the islands began to separate from England, culminating in their establishment as an independent country in 1947.
     New Zealanders pride themselves on their friendliness and good manners, thought to stem from their origins in the British middle class (New Zealand was to be a planned settlement whereas New South Wales was the chosen site for a penal colony). You enjoy their gracious hospitality and the fruits of their remarkable foresight; many of the trails you walk are the result of their National Walkway Act, enacted a quarter-century ago to create a network of scenic trails across both islands.
     During this 10-day adventure, you experience the unspoiled majesties of the South Island, following the footsteps of the Maori settlers in search of precious green stone (pounamu), and later, the trails of the miners seeking their fortunes in gold buried deep in glacial riverbeds. The walks take you onto glaciers, across streams, and into landscapes of subtropical rainforest, sun-baked hills, and deserted beaches.