A celebration of our wild New Zealand landscape and National Parks - and a "heads up"

Quentin Smith of Wanaka has recently formed a FaceBook group: Hands off Mt Aspiring NP and a few days ago membership stood at 5000, and it's now well over 6000!

... which relates to the noises our new, seemingly unenlightened and uninspired, New Zealand Government are making to initiate mining investigations in our National Parks. Not only my local Mt Aspiring National Park I might add!

While they say it's only a stock-take even that is a transgression and impossible to do without major disturbances and destruction of our heritage put aside for all coming generations.

Having got this off my chest [link below] I'm here sharing some of my favourite landscape photos I've made of our wild New Zealand landscape.

This is Mt Brewster - somewhat in the middle of the area of Mt Aspiring National Park our National Government has it's beady eyes on [and in bed with which multi national corporation that historically is always in the background taking profits when it comes to mining resources in any country?]...


Marks Flat under Mt Hooker - a huge tract of land designated at Conservation Estate in South Westland. Should it be part of the World Heritage Site in this area [Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand]?


You can "mine" great powder on the slopes of Mt Cook in Mount Cook National Park...


Alma hut in Westland National Park, with Franz Josef neve behind...


Mt Aspiring from Cascade Saddle


Lake Hankinson in Fiordland National Park [not far from the Milford Track]...


Looking down one of the significant glaciers in Westland National Park


There is a FaceBook generated link here, to view, or I suggest join the group: Hands off Mt Aspiring NP.

Or failing above then click on Groups in your FaceBook account and type in "Hands off Mt Aspiring NP"

And on a related matter this week I found out that New Zealand has 56,000 Kms of public roads that are not public, and our current New Zealand Government, and the preceding one it seems, have apparently been doing their best to sweep these "paper roads" under the carpet by use of cunning legal moves to give the land to those [many of whom have already fenced them off], in exchange for easements. The former offer us, the recreational users and owners unfettered access, the latter, easements, do absolutely nothing for us - only for self serving interests of those who've squatted on our rights.

Nostalgia is not what is used to be!

As I get older it seems everything becomes more dynamic almost daily. But when we live in this paradise called New Zealand, and Wanaka the growing town I live in, I lament some things that pass under the guise of progress. Our new govt. seems bent on turning back the clock too as they seemingly contemplate undoing good work on legislation such as the Resource Management Act, and there are mutterings about our privacy and rights being compromised, and exploration mining in National Parks, and did I mention the insidious way an Aust. Company is starting to promote more dams on the Clutha River.

Why too does John Key remind me of Tony Blair associated with "over the top" regulation and eroded privacy! We need to learn from history!

Life here was once more fun, but if I get "down' about this I remind myself to look up at the mountains - they endure and are a constant, along with the westerly sighing and sometimes roaring as I write.

It was only 16 years ago I was part of a horse trekking company right here in town, but for many reasons, not the least being traffic and urban sprawl taking over grazing, we shut it down several years ago.

We used to mainly take clients up Mt Iron...


I forget the names of these neddies but one might be Monty. I'll never forget Barney though: he'd play fetch with a tennis ball, use his teeth to untie the hitching ropes on other horses, go under electric fences and stick his head in the kitchen window to see what was happening, and he was a big horse too.

One night he escaped from his solo occupation of a paddock near Mt Iron, and he galloped past our house to be with his mates grazing down by lake. We heard the thunder of hooves and simply exclaimed, "that'll be Barney - we better go and let him in the paddock". Imagine if that happened today - what a fuss there'd be! And there was another time when about twelve of them got out at 8 am one Sat. and galloped towards town. We headed them off on the out-skirts, but oh what fun and how magnificent a sight. But if that happened today it'd be chaos of one sort or another and I doubt anyone would be amused - probably more scared and we'd probably make national TV news!

Feeding out post snow storms was always pretty, but it was wise to put out many small piles of hay so the horses would not all fight over one. They get quite hungry in these conditions...


A few valleys were easier to access back then too...


We used to do the odd trip overland to the lake outlet - the start of the Clutha River in fact, and the Asians used to love the colour of the grass...


Bye for now - got to fly - work time!

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>>

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

An eclectic mix: musings, landscape photography, vineyards, life in Wanaka, history and my new iPhone

Last weekend was Wanaka Show weekend. For those of you non New Zealand readers a "Show Day" is a fair day held annually in the various provinces on different dates, and is a couple of days usually where town meets country. Livestock is judged, there are horse events [many go from show to show following them around the country], trade exhibits, pet parades [how I loved taking my son to these with the pet of the moment, puppies, guinea pigs etc], children's art shows, photography, baking, preserves, vegetables, all with modest prizes for all winners. It's pretty cool and the history is rich, but perhaps the most interesting thing is it's not rained on the Wanaka Show in about 50 years, and on schedule this year, bingo, the weather settled at last into chilly airs and stunning sunshine with no wind. And so the legend continues!

Dougal and Badger, the former looking pleased with his prize certificate, while Badger's attention is on the other dogs nearby! A copy from a photo that appeared in the local paper back in March 2004...


My good friend Roger was in town for the Sunday after doing a photo shoot in Fiordland, so we decided to have an evening out making photos in the Bendigo area in the Dunstan Mts., only 30 mins. drive from home, and rich with gold mining history.

On the lower slopes there are now many sunny slightly elevated areas planted in grapes, and the bird netting makes for some interesting variations on landscape photography...


Laying it out must be quite a job, and even more so rolling it up again...




But there is plenty of landscape left in it's more undeveloped state - looking north here from the site of the historic gold mining town of Welsh Town, up the lower Lindis valley...


Higher up is Logan Town, which is the more commonly visited and photographed area. I took this series of shots back in 2007...






And during the week I finally bought an iPhone. OK mainly for work, but the gadget kid in me is having a great time. I'll be posting about it for weeks in my work blog I think, and already I've found it's camera useful.

Lastly this week's blog recommendation is Robb Kloss's Musings from Aotearoa. Great writing illustrated with photos and a strong flavour of family and the Ruahine Range in the North Island, with attention to environmental issues. Thanks Robb

Moods of Fiordland

Following last week's popular blog on landscape photography in Dusky and Doubtful Sounds, this week's theme is on the moods that are unique to Fiordland. Again taken in 2005 in July, and featuring Doubtful Sound on our way back from Dusky with our friends Arthur and Barbara on board their Elwing. A special voyage for us all as it was Elwing's first wanderings in these waters - how very special to do it in the company of friends!

It's not well known that there is much circumstantial evidence that suggests the Spaniards landed in New Zealand just near here on Bauza Island probably before Capt. Cook...


As I've been compiling this post I've been struck by how these images have been waiting for "their time", and how Fiordland has come into my awareness so much of late that I'm compelled to bring them into the light along with the story. I wonder why!?

Heading up Crooked Arm intending to tramp across to Dagg Sound we encountered ice and it was rather scary at this point [note tenseness in crew's posture] due to the noise..


So we hove-to deciding to assess [and photograph] the situation...


The assessment took the form of scooting around Elwing in the inflatable examining the hull and ice thickness. Personally I found it very lonely amongst the ice in such a small craft, but it was good for photography...




Back on-board again we motored up the Arm a bit further following a steel hulled craft that happened along, as Elwing's glass-over-Kauri hull was getting damaged right on the nose of the bow...


This is the point at which we hove-to again. The ice was 3-4 inches thick here and our ice-breaker had to give up. It was so cold our "lead" was freezing over, but the noise of the ice echoing off the cliffs and the situation was so unique and spectacular we had a cuppa before retreating...


After getting a dose of sun out in the openness of Doubtful, we next headed up Hall Arm for the night following a fishing boat out of Bluff...


After many days of aloneness in the sounds it felt quite strange to have company anchored nearby for the night, and it struck me most during my usual nocturnal visit to the deck in the early hours - seeing a light across the water on a canvas of precipitous mountain walls of 1500 meters with their feet in the water just by us, seemed surreal to say the least...


During the night it started raining softly and of course then, in typical Fiordland fashion, the waterfalls festooned the mountain sides...


One of our crew, Colin, was keen to get a deer, so while we went ashore at an interesting spot where a creek offered easy egress upwards aways, he prowled this area. Here Arthur is coming back from picking him up [empty handed]...


To be raining has to be the natural state of Fiordland, and I find it so beautiful even when I'm soaked, so with Elwing's warm and dry cabin nearby it was far from onerous to stay on-deck for hours to make these landscape shots...


Heading towards Elizabeth Island...


For me this view epitomises Fiordland - moodiness and mystery abound...


Right on evening/dusk the light went to some unusual colours...


Sadly the following day the trip was over, and here is Dougal eyeing up the jetty in Deep Cove where we caught the daily tourist bus back to Lake Manapouri [Maori for Lake of the Sorrowing Heart - so apt!]. Here we said good bye to Arthur, who sailed solo back to Stewart Island a few days later after spending a few days in Dusky again...


There are still more images and stories related to this adventure, but it's been a long week underscored by this long post, so until next time. In the meantime with the week having brought me many coincidences and serendipity, my note to self and others is: stay grounded, protect ourselves from situations and people that drain us and immerse in the practical tasks of life with always an eye for the tendency of situations to guide us. Bring all into our awareness for our own sakes and in the service of others.

**Blog of the week [a new feature - each week I'll endeavour to include a link to something I've found inspiring or enjoyable]: Bob McKerrow's post on 40,000 houses built by the Red Cross in Aceh Indonesia

Gentle breathing all :)

The abstract, artful and eclectic with some travel - yes, a varied blog this week:

In the spirit of recent photography experimentation on Thurs. evening I had a session of making photos from my cathode tube style large TV set. The idea being to play with the flicker as the screen continually refreshes, or you could say lazy creativity from the armchair, as opposed to my usual racing around for landscape photography.

This flicker effect makes for some interesting ghostly almost, shadow or multiple exposure effects...


Here rather amazingly I caught the transition between two frames I think [Tandi Wright and Stuart Devenie in Willy Nilly]...


On Saturday the 7th of February 2009 the Australian township of Marysville and the surrounding area was ravaged by bushfires and is still in a state of emergency.

My cousin Deirdre sent me a PowerPoint file during the week of some amazing art work in Marysville by Bruno Torf, that was recently severely damaged by these fires. It's worth clicking on the "Take the Tour" link here


Traveling in the New Zealand bush will never seem the same to me after looking at these works of art, as our greenery is a lot like the Aust. variety...


Another topic up for publishing today is the well written and illustrated travel blog of my Hawea friends Georgie and Dave. I'm hoping they'll see a moose - these are very shy animals with an acute sense of hearing...

So they're having an amazing trip through the Rockies and sampling the powder skiing...


And on the topic of the US I found this: a nice 11 min animation of the reasons behind the credit crunch.

Last week's blog attracted a record number of comments [thanks all], so for closing here is another image of the Central Otago landscape variety of one of the huts [cribs in Otago Kiwiana speak] at Poolburn.

From a visual environmental perspective good old NZ aged corrugated iron makes for just the right look in our unique landscape, and I find it a joy to make a photo of this sort of thing. It should be an inspiration to us all as we build and create...