After a wild and prolonged spell of spring weather it is looking a little like the flavour of summer is now settling on the Southern Alps, and from where I’m sitting in same at Aspiring Hut in the West Matukituki Valley in Mount Aspiring National Park it’s a reminder of the magic of the seasons.…
Following on from my last post awhile back about my summer job looking after Aspiring Hut up the West Matukituki Valley this evening I find myself writing this up on site as the rain falls steadily to the tune of seriously flooded mountain rivers, my laptop being charged via solar, and my only immediate contact…
With a general election pending in New Zealand this year, water quality is something to consider as a top priority! The Morgan Foundation recently reviewed the Government’s fresh water policy with a panel of 16 eminent experts. Our objective was to see if the policies announced would actually deliver the goal the Government declared it…
The famed Mount Cook lily, Ranunculus lyalli, is the largest buttercup in the world, and ever since seeing my first many years ago, I’ve been quite fascinated by them. Like I’d think how can something so fragile produce a flower that can and does literally beam no matter what weather events decide to occur in…
Every year at this time just before we enter the busy season in the outdoors we have what is called a SAREX [Search and Rescue Exercise], so all various skills needed get a refresh. This year there were three scenarios: alpine cliff rescue, white water searching/rescue, and the one I went on loosely known as…
Much has been written about the fact that photography is a two dimensional representation of three dimensional scene, or at least if we walk among our “landscape” it’s not flat! But everything in my perceived world is dynamic [and becoming more so], so I’ve been playing about with ways to capture how I see landscapes,…
A bunch of crosses in a populated cemetery can numb my mind if I consider the whole experience of being human, and the collective experiences of all who’ve gone before us to once again return to the dust of the universe. A lonely grave seems to bite deeper – the space creates context that can…
So what did you do for our long NZ holiday weekend? For me every holiday break usually elicits a few memories of trips in our mountains. With the short daylight hours this time of year and accompanying biting cold some memories are quite vivid: A long ways up the Dobson Valley which runs into Lake…
“Hikurangi and Manawapopore [upper and lower Mavora Lakes] are an integral part of a network of trails which were used by Ngai Tahu in order to ensure safe journeys. Activities along the way including camping overnight and gathering kai [food]. The trails were part of summer-time pursuits such as kai-hau-kai, whanaungatanga [the renewal and strengthening…
In my last two posts I’ve written about the threat of four new dams, and published landscape photos of the Clutha River. While I gather steam on this one I’d like to draw your attention to yet another proposed travesty of our wild rivers and places. The nearby Nevis Valley – one of my favourite…
