South Island >> Photo gallery of Canterbury

Photo gallery of Canterbury

The region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. The range of the Southern Alps dominates with the tallest peak Aoraki/Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand at 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). The mountain and its sourrounding belong to the Mount Cook National Park.

On the north of Canterbury region lies Arthur's Pass National Park. Two places has to be highlighted here. First, the village Arthur's Pass National Park which serves as a camp base and as a gate to many scenic tracks and walks. And second, Castle Hill - a grand limestone rock battlements of Kura Tawhitia, one of the most spectacular places ever.

The Mackenzie Basin (popularly and traditionally known as the Mackenzie Country), is a sparsely populated area, historically famous mainly for sheep farming. It is a land of endless plains where you hardly meet anybody, covered by golden tussock, and also of many beautiful lakes and rivers with pure water. Here you meet Tolkien's Rohan.
This part of land is often called High country which is a New Zealand term for the elevated pastoral land mainly of the South Island. This terrain, which can be compared loosely with the outback of Australia or high veldt of South Africa, lies in the rain shadow of the country's mountain ranges, and thanks to that a continental climate with hot summer and dry and cold winter prevails here.