New images of New Zealand

These are the first images from New Zealand In November last year. They are mostly around the Mount Cook area of South Island and the odd one from Wanaka and Queenstown.
Click here for the direct link to South Island New Zealand images.

Mount Cook and Hooker Lake

Mount Sefton reflections near Mount Cook

Sealy Tarns skyscape near Mount Cook

Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown from Ben Lomond (not the Scottish one, you can't see that far!)

Glendhu Bay reflections in Lake Wanaka

Milford Sound images will appear next.

Wet Travel Day

Today was a travel day. We left our chalet in Aoraki Mount Cook by 9am in the rain. Clouds were way down on the tops and it was still windy.

No sunshine and no views as we moved closer to Christchurch. Couldn't even see the small hills close to the road. We pressed on and checked into our hotel early before walking the mile or so into the city centre. I took a couple of photos of the punts on the River Avon, reminded me of Cambridge. Then it was a quick whizz around the Botanical Gardens for some exercise. There were some spectacular plants and trees but in dull light I resisted taking many shots. A bit of brightness was needed to separate the tones (shades of grey) - a bit of sunshine can spread this range and really add to a picture.

I took a few night shots tonight but not much lit up at night. The Cathedral square and an illuminated sculpture looked good though.

Tomorrow we go to the Banks Peninsula and Akaroa, about 50 miles from Christchurch. Hope we see some sunshine and a few small clouds.

Mount Cook and Mount Sefton Photos

We awoke to a blue sky day. A few odd clouds came and went through the morning. We had decided to walk the Hooker Valley trail from Mount Cook village, a round trip of about 11 miles.

No clouds at all to start with. First shots were of Mount Sefton reflected in the lake at the foot of the Mueller Glacier. Then over 2 suspension bridges and a couple more miles to the lake at the bottom of the Hooker Glacier right below Mount Cook. The views were spectacular and I found a stream running into the lake for a bit of foreground interest. A low viewpoint helped to exaggerate the foreground water and reduce the blank section of lake water. I took lots of variations on a theme with various waterfalls in the foreground and Mount Cook in the background.

What a hot day! There was a breeze every now and then otherwise we would have fried. At last I have some clear shots of Mount Cook and the summit snowfields.

The day ended with drinks in the Alpine Bar at the hotel on the balcony looking out at both Mounts Cook and Sefton. The wind was gusting strongly here, so much so that one gust caught the sun umbrella which moved the table and spilled some of my beer, a cardinal sin!

Tomorrow we drive to Christchurch for 3 days before flying out on Wednesday. I collect my 99 rolls of processed Ilford FP4 Monday afternoon from Image Lab, hope they did them well as there were lots of good shots on them! Can't wait to see what I have. Lots of night shots in Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington and you're never sure what you have until you see the negatives. Night photography is a bit of a lottery as I don't have a light meter that works at low enough light levels.

Mount Cook Reflections - Almost

Today we headed walked up to Sealy Tarns above Mount Cook village for reflection photos of Mount Cook. It was a very pleasant walk, about 3 miles each way and 400m of ascent and we reached the tarns at 10.15am.

The tarns were small puddles of water still with snow at one end; any English Lakeland tarn would easily put them to shame. The only other problems were the wind which meant very poor reflections and clouds which hid the top of Mount Cook all day (except the few hours before we started, it clouded over just as we left).

Sounds like all was lost but not so! The clouds were spectacular - lots of shapely lenticular clouds over other peaks in the valley. Nice light in the valley on and off too. I took 33 images and have maybe 8 images to use with the rest being exposure variations and different clouds for the same view.

In all I spent over 3 hours waiting for Mount Cook to come out of the clouds before calling it a day and descending to the valley for an early beer with our very patient friends Rob and Annie from Boulder, Colorado who have been with us since Sydney. Rob has done most of the driving and carried spare kit for me that my bad back wouldn't let me carry myself. Jan is carrying some of my kit too.

Mount Cook came out of the clouds at 9pm tonight and looked spectacular (from the bar!) with Alpenglow on the summit snow fields but all around was dark.

Tomorrow we go the Hooker Glacier for some close-up shots of Mount Cook. Fingers crossed we get the sunshine that they forecast for tomorrow morning.

Mount Cook New Zealand

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast before heading out to Moeraki headland. Some nice rocky coves on one side and the fishing village harbour on the other.

A seal performed for us amongst the kelp. We watched it for 20 minutes or so before we moved on.

Today we hoped for our first views of Mount Cook since there were no views from the west side when we were there.

As we approached the town of Twizel we had our first glimpse of Mt Cook. This is still 40 miles south. It was clear, just a few thin clouds around the tops. Peaks on the west side were in thick cloud. Although I couldn't reach the best viewpoints I took quite a few images from near the car and Mount Cook village, just in case we never see it again!

Hoping weather is kind tomorrow and we can head to Sealy Tarns for some reflection images. Limited beer choice here in Mount Cook village - be warned!