A Photographer’s Guide to New Zealand’s South Island (Where to Point the Camera)

We spent the better part of a week working our way across New Zealand’s South Island with the cameras out the entire time. Here’s the route we actually took, and — more useful for you — where the light genuinely earned its keep. Consider it the guide I wish I’d had, written by someone who was cold and standing in most of these spots.

First, a warning.

Getting in: the Queenstown airport will test your nerves

Queenstown’s airport is tucked between mountains, and the wind has opinions. Our plane got within about fifty feet of the ground twice — once from each direction of the runway — aborted both times, and then simply gave up and flew us to Christchurch for the night. So: book a flexible fare, keep your expectations loose, and maybe have a Christchurch dinner spot in your back pocket. (Ours was Kaiser Brew Garden in Riverside Market. You’re welcome.)

Queenstown & Arrowtown — your base

Queenstown is the hub. Ride the Skyline gondola up at dusk for the town-and-lake view (the go-karts at the top are non-negotiable, for research purposes). Then give Arrowtown a full slow day — rent bikes and ride out through the countryside to the wineries. If you can time it for autumn color, do; the whole valley turns.

Milford Sound — go even if it’s raining. Especially if it’s raining.

We were supposed to fly back from Milford and got rained out, so we bused. Best accident of the trip: the rain turns the cliff faces into hundreds of temporary waterfalls you’d never see on a clear day. Take the boat. Get soaked. Worth it.

Blue Pools & Haast Pass — glacial blue, and then some

The Blue Pools are an easy, gorgeous stop — that impossible glacial color. And if you’re willing to get cold and a little lost past Haast Pass, there’s more back there than the pull-offs suggest. (That one turned into its own story.)

The Wanaka Tree & Lake Pukaki — the postcard blues

The lone Wanaka Tree is the most photographed tree in the country, so shoot it at first light or blue hour unless you enjoy other people’s tripods in your frame. Just up the road, Lake Pukaki’s glacial blue barely looks real; a roadside viewpoint does the whole job.

Mt John Observatory & Lake Tekapo — save the overcast day for this

Climb to the Mt John observatory for the big-sky view over Tekapo (ours was a last-minute call and immediately worth it). Down on the lakeshore is the Church of the Good Shepherd — a tiny stone church against all that openness. An overcast sky is a gift here, not a setback.

The train + the ferry — shoot the coast, watch the weather

The Christchurch → Picton train (spring for first class; you’ll be wined and dined past open-air coastal views) hands you the South Island’s coastline on a plate. Then the ferry across the Cook Strait to the North Island — smooth for us, and the last one to make it across for a couple of days as the weather turned. Check the forecast, and don’t dawdle.

The prints

A lot of these stops came home as photographs, and several are becoming prints in the shop. If you’re just starting a wall, start with a postcard. That’s how every collection starts.

— Preston