Bits and pieces: Clutha River, crosses, Cardrona, and the horror of removing your own leg to live

I've blogged a few times on the recent revival of plans to dam the Clutha River, and it's nice to see I'm not alone:

The new Clutha River Forum, sent a press release to the media on Friday 16th October. They have considered Contact Energy’s four dam options, and unanimously support "Option five – no more dams" ...more>>


My son and friends like to do what kids like to do, and have done for generations: float down the Clutha...


On my last post on the Clutha a couple of weeks ago I posted photos of an unusual cliff Dougal and I came across. According to my good friend Ian who used to work as a scientist on the mountain building processes in New Zealand, this is layer after layer of glacial silt, much of it deposited by wind, then modified by the ebb and flow of the glacier's terminal and lateral moraines, and weathering, but as it's densely packed it's resisted this quite well - the scolloped areas indicating less dense packing...


During the week I had cause to make some photos of a local Wanaka church to illustrate the invitations to a friend's wedding next year. Although they cannot all be seen here I was intrigued by the number of crosses [4 at least] adorning the structure's roof and how light and shadow add some more...


This weekend has not been blest with good weather, but sniffing a clearance at noon today Dougal and I headed to the top of the Crown Range road to go exploring to the east.

Dougal looks down the Cardrona Valley...


A substantial ancient landslip [dead center of photo]...


With amazing speed a snow storm came in...


...and then it cleared again for the rest of our descent down an easy road...


And lastly dear readers if you're feeling hard done-by with life and maybe things like the recent increases to our NZ ACC fees, or whatever, we can get some perspective [thanks to Bob McKerrow's blog] on life by reading how Ramlan had to saw his own leg off ...more>>

Dog Sledding

I've been up cross country skiing a bit this week, but left it quite late each day. Anything to escape the cloud and see the sun as it's been miserable in Wanaka town itself for weeks now, where as up on the mountains the landscape has been bathed in sun most days.

On one of my regular "beats" a friend of mine was doing a photo shoot with prominent New Zealand dog sledding enthusiasts, so on Thurs. evening I popped into Meadow Hut for a brew and catch up. It was hard to tear myself away from the fire though and get back on the skis for 5 Km back to Lodge...




Once again descending the access road I was struck by the tonal values of the landscape in terms of photography, so stopped to make this quick photograph of the Branch Creek catchment in the Cardrona Valley...


This week I'd like to draw your attention to the wonderful selection of winter photos on James McGregor's Met VUW web site

Low cloud, inversions and frost and things

We've had a week now of inversion cloud sitting low over Wanaka town. It really is warmer up on the ski areas than down at lake level.

However traveling up a little to where the land meets the cloud is well worth the effort from a landscape photography perspective.

By the entrance to the Snow Farm, Cardrona Valley...


The Branch Burn up the Cardrona Valley...




A dead tree on top of the Crown Range pass. It's always intrigued me and I've made photos of it in the past. The monuments mark and record the early history of the use of this expedient high altitude road route from Wanaka to Queenstown...


This week's nice web site: Three days exploring Lake Manapouri, New Zealand, by photographer Bill Hatcher

Happy Easter dear readers!

Last weekend I posted about my son's first formal. I suspect since then Wanaka users of FaceBook have kept the servers busy.

However this little set of photos was on the front of the school's newsletter for the week. That's Dougal in the centre of the group on the left...


My week has been quite eventful: 3 significant yoga practice evenings and I enjoyed the luxury of another reflexology session on Wed. evening. Thurs. evening saw me at the opening of the Wanaka Art Society Easter Exhibition.

I entered a print on canvas that I made in 2007 of a hoar frost in the Cardrona valley. The judge told me I came close to the honours or whatever [that gets you up on the stage for $50 prize], but as I expected my mounting of the image let it down - I should have framed it instead of putting it on a board, as the wrap around edges effectively cropped it too severely. However if it sells in the next few days I'll be delighted...


Lately for bedtime reading I've been becoming inspired yet again by Tom Longstaff's classic [This My Voyage] on mountain exploration in the period late 1800s through to the mid 1900s. I note he was invited to go south by Scott, and I've been pondering how, if he had accepted rather than doing yet another epic exploration in the big big mountains of Asia, how the outcome for Robert Falcon would have probably been quite different, for Tom it seems was the consummate explorer and full of insightful wisdom.

Speaking of wisdom fellow blogging friend Robb is just back from a solo trip, and has posted some great photos and writing yet again. I'm amazed at the number and quality of comments he gets, and this is testament to his skills.

I was meant to be tramping for the Easter break, but sickness in the party precluded this. However as my cousin Michael is camping at Kidds Bush up near the head of nearby Lake Hawea, after a big pre winter spring clean of the house [that neat cloth on my office/lounge ceiling gather's dust something wicked], yesterday I went visiting. This saw me doing yet another ascent of the Sawyer Burn hut track. Solo this time [Michael was away up the Hunter valley that feeds the lake].

I can never resist making an image of this view of Lake Hawea upon breaking clear of the bush...


OK, so I've photographed that scene to death almost, but this time the bush held many surprises - it seems to be a ripper season on the bush edge...






This lovely little fluffy alpine took my eye at my turn around point...


It was sharing it's neighborhood with this colourful little plant. Can you see a calf's face in the white background?...


I've always found this section of high alpine bush quite magical, the way the light filters through...


And lower down I decided to do something I've never done before: really look at that icon of our country, the humble fern, and decide to make a photograph of same, a bit differently to what my preconceived notions have dictated in the past. The fact that every frond in this shot belongs to the same plant may have helped...


Blog of the week, on aid work in Africa, is by my old friend Amy. We used to work together and did some tramping too. It's new and a very thought provoking read! Amy's Adventures in Africa