South Island New Zealand

As we flew across the west coast of the South Island the clouds broke and we could see the Southern Alps which run like a spine up the island. These mountains were caused by the collision of the Australian and Pacific land 'plates' which are still slowly moving and causing earthquakes and volcanic activity throughout both islands. There was very little snow (being the end of summer) but we could see a little on Mt Cook in the distance. Select the photo to see another view of these alps.