Hello all from the South Island…Just checking in from an egregiously expensive Internet cafe at our current location, the Hermitage (a.k.a. New Zealand’s answer to the Overlook), nestled by the base of the spectacularly scenic Aoraki/Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in New Zealand. and the one featured in the opening moments of The Two Towers.) Before here, we spent a few days in the very pleasant backpacker village of Nelson, where we briefly checked out the area around Abel Tasman National Park, and then drove down the western coast and through Arthur’s Pass, taking in many breathtaking vistas along the way. (Also caught Children of Men late the other night — a full review will have to wait until a cheaper connection, I’m afraid, but in brief: I liked it quite a bit and it’s worth seeing, although the film jumps off a cliff in the last twenty minutes.)