Thursday 7 January 2010

#16: Scenery

I had an anonymous comment on the blog a short time ago about not mentioning scenery. NZ scenery is gorgeous. However, I'd have to say that it took nearly 3 weeks for me to actually find things that I felt were drop dead gorgeous. I needed to get to the west coast of the South Island before I really felt that I was seeing something that was equal to parts of North America. Fiordland is stunning. The drive over Haast Pass on a blue sky day is like driving the Banff-Jasper on a blue sky day - unbeatable. In my defense in not mentioning scenery right away I'd just have to remind readers that I now live in the Kootenays of British Columbia. I used to think Canada's west coast was the best there could be. Then I went to the American Southwest. It ranks right up there at the top. But the Kootenays on a blue sky day is truly amazing and has to be considered my number one place. NZ is gorgeous, don't get me wrong. But when one travels away from one of the most beautiful places in the world, everything is a bit distorted, I guess.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi again, I am that person that mentioned the scenery. I too live in the Kootenays and couldn't agree with you more, beautiful and the best place to live. I guess what I was trying to say about NZ is it is such a small country with such varying degrees of geography and topography. You can drive 20 t0 30 miles down the road and its completley different from the area you started your day in. I can't think of anywhere else in the world that I have travelled too that its like that. It ranks as one of my all time favourite countries that I have been to.
On a small scale NZ can't be beat, so much to see in just a day of travel. I guess it depends on how much time you spend there, I was lucky and spent 6 months cycling around the country which really gave me a chance to appreciate every hill (and there was many!!!) and vale that I cycled through.