Eleanor Catton, the Luminaries

[Hamish & Carmen, my amazing Couchsurfing hosts in Christchurch]

[Penguin chasing in Dunedin]

[View the mountain over Dunedin]

[Friends, reunited, on the other side of the world]

[Wind turbines]

[Queenstown Lake]

[Sheep]

[Great walks]

[Middle earth]

[“It further affirms our faith in the vast and knowing influence of the infinite sky.”]

[Queenstown by night]

[Lake Wanaka]

[Field stands]

[Rob Roy Glacier]

[Big nature, little people.]

[“That’s a private interest of mine – what brings a fellow down here, you know, to the ends of the earth – what sparks a man?”]

[Golden fields]

[Impossibly blue]

[“…his enthusiasms were always of a wistful sort, and his longings, always enthusiastic. He was delighted by things of an improbable or impractical nature, which he sought out with the open-hearted gladness of a child at play.]

[Yellow-crested penguins]

[Peaking out]

[Tree fern path]

[Sunset on the stoney river]

[Fox Glacier]

[Fox Glacier, you can see how much it’s receded]

[“Oh, no. Solitude is a condition best enjoyed in company… Especially the company of one other soul,” he added, turning back to the sea.”]

[Kea]

[Franz Josef Glacier]

[Turquoise waters]

[Arthur Pass National Park]

[Boulder fields]

[“… home is what you make of where you go.”]

[Kaikora]

[Bird perched]

[Evening falls]

[Sun and the moon]

[Picton]

[Wellington from the water]

[Made it to town in time for the world premiere of the Hobbit!]

[The Embassy Theater]

[Wind turbines over Wellington]

[The Beehive]