And as far as I can tell, vertically centered on the South Island, where I spent a wonderful year. The South Island certainly felt far from everything, in a go

And as far as I can tell, vertically centered on the South Island, where I spent a wonderful year. The South Island certainly felt far from everything, in a good way. The map gives a sense of how isolated the Maori (the native people) were, before modern means of travel! But the literal end of the (land centric) Earth isn't a backwater. It is a microcosm of many of the most dramatic natural features of the world bundled together. Fiords, alps, rain forest, mountain forest, geothermal region, volcanic region, glaciers, wetlands, limestone caves, mountain forests, pastoral landscapes, river valleys, lakes, beaches, and general coastal regions. Cliffs giving up massive crystal geodes that break open as they litter a beach - surreal, like out of a Star Trek episode of some alien planet. One place that is interesting in so many ways.