It's the middle of winter here in New Zealand and we have just been on two fantastic tours in the South Island. The weather was simply superb and we enjoyed some amazing light.

"It was OUTSTANDING and beyond my expectations..." was one of the kind comments made by Capt. Kirby R, a retired US Naval officer, who together with Chris, a professor from the University of California, joined us recently for a three-week tour in the South Island.

Dean, a professional photographer from Australia, toured with us for two weeks of fantastic photography and we had a lot of laughs along the way. It was Dean's first visit to New Zealand and he was very keen to photograph at locations which were off the tourist route - way off, in some cases.

Lise from the UK had been planning her dream trip to New Zealand for many years and was ready for a plethora of photo opportunities when she arrived here!

We weren't sure what to expect as we drove from Christchurch to Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park on a very foggy morning ten days ago. Cynthia, an expat American living in Asia, had been waiting a long time to visit New Zealand and I was hoping that the forecast weather of rain and cloud would be wrong.

We have just said goodbye to Marty from the US who has been with us for the last 14 days, photographing around the South Island.

It's hard to believe that a couple of weeks ago six keen photographers and myself were coming to the end of an amazing 15 days photographing on the South Island Expedition tour.