From galcial parks to rainforests to palm-covered beaches, New Zealand's South Island packs an impressive diversity of geography into its small landmass (58,093 square miles).  

From the northern region's sunny and dry climate, to the daily rainfall of the southwest fjords, to snow on Stewart Island, New Zealand, at any time, is a country of all seasons.  

Found only in New Zealand, the yellow-eyed penguin (or 'hoiho,' as New Zealand's native Maori call it) is thought to have evolved 60 million years ago, possibly making it the earliest penguin species.  

The Rainbow Warrior, a popular New Zealand dive site, memorializes tragic events in 1985. The French Secret Service bombed the Greenpeace ship while it was docked in Auckland for a nuclear site protest.  

New Zealand's 113-square-mile Wakatipu Lake derives its name from the local legend of a goblin who lives below the surface. The five-inch rise and fall in the lake's water level is supposedly from the goblin's breathing.  

The Southern Alps of South Island, New Zealand, are the highest mountains in Australasia. They rise to the 12,349-foot peak of Mt. Cook and contain more than 360 glaciers.  

Before being renamed for Captain James Cook in 1851, 12,349-foot Mount Cook was known as Aorangi ('cloud piercer').