A Quiet and beautiful land

I stayed two nights earlier this week at this classic Kiwi bach (pronounced batch).  This is a traditional New Zealand holiday home, typically in a beautiful setting in a very quiet area, cozy but a bit spartan...mine, for example, had no TV, internet, or cell service.  But the other modcons were all present, and the setting...well, check out the following pictures.

Here's the view from the deck of my bach. 

The afternoon I arrived it was gray, chilly, and windy.  But when I woke up the next morning, this was the scene I saw from my bedroom.

Sunrise over the Southern Ocean.  It's about 1500 miles to Antarctica.  Latitude is just a little over 46 degrees south...about the same distance from the equator as Astoria, Oregon.  But in this hemisphere, the only permanently inhabited land much farther south than this is in Chile and Argentina.

Lower McLean Falls, in the Catlins, as the region is known.  It's between Invercargill and Dunedin at the southern end of the South Island.

The main falls, reached by a hike through beautiful, primeval forest.

Matai Falls.

Hora Feliz at the bach.

Nearby is a haulout area for yellow eyed penguins.  Here, one bloke is waiting for his buddies to show up.  They come ashore at dusk and the tourons flock to see them...there were about a hundred of us and only three penguins.  They're shy...really.