David M. Byrne
Well-Known Member
Hello again,
There was a sort of melancholy vibe floating around the inside of Wilma, our campervan, this past week, days 85-91 of Mave On The Move. It wasn’t intrusive but it was there - it was noticeable. That’s because it was always in the back of our minds that our time in New Zealand was almost done, and each day we passed this week brought us closer to Christchurch, our last stop in the country & from where we fly, at stupid-o-clock in the morning, to Sydney, Australia. But I feel we’re going out in style, having this week taken in some of the scenic highlights of the South Island, namely Mount Cook National Park & Lake Tekapo. Here are 7 pictures (pictures 78-84) captured from the last 7 days, our last in New Zealand.
Picture 78, Day 85 – Dunedin Railway Station, South Island, New Zealand. May 29th 2012.
After skirting The Catlins coast, where you joined us last, we ended up spending a few nights in Dunedin, an arty, university town (New Zealand’s oldest university is here) first settled by Scottish settlers back in 1848. The main attraction in this part of the country is the wildlife of the nearby Otago Peninsula but the city has a few attractions of its own. This is the main hall of Dunedin’s Edwardian railway station. It’s one of many grand old Victorian buildings in town &, according to our guidebook, the most photographed building in the country. I took many a wide-angle shot of its exterior but I found the mosaic-tiled floor & stained glass windows of the main hall much more photogenic.
Picture 79, Day 86 – White Horse Hill Camp Ground, South Island, New Zealand. May 30th 2012.
We said goodbye to the east coast of the South Island and headed inland to Mackenzie Country, an area of high ground, clean air, expansive plains, distant mountain ranges & turquoise lakes - it all makes for quite a package. This part of the country is home to Mount Cook National Park, the highlight of which is Mount Cook itself, the highest peak in the country. The White Horse Hill Camp Ground sits about a 2 hour walk from the glacier lake at the foot of Mount Cook (see the next picture) & in the shadow of some of the other impressive National Park peaks – 22 of the 27 highest peaks in the country are to be found in this area. We spent most of the day driving here from Dunedin and once the sun went down I was out capturing extended exposure shots of the moonlight surrounds. This, a 30-second exposure at f/8.0, was my favourite of the lot.
Picture 80, Day 87 – Mt. Cook From The Hooker Valley, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
Our guidebook lists tramping in the shadow of Mount Cook as a highlight of a visit to the country. It certainly was a highlight of my 2003 visit to the country and I’m glad to say that familiarity did nothing to diminish the experience of my second visit to this magical part of the world. This picture was taken from the Hooker Valley, a valley leading from the White Horse Hill Camp Ground to the Hooker Lake, the glacier lake at the foot of Mount Cook. The 2-hour walk up the valley affords magnificent views of the peak – it’s a wonderful sight, especially on a clear day (I’m lucky to have been treated to two of those now).
Picture 81, Day 87 – Mount Cook Village & Surrounds, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
The first recorded summit attempt of Mount Cook was a failed 62-hour ascent in 1882 by, rather bizarrely, an Irish priest & 2 Swiss climbers. It was first conquered only two years later, on Christmas Day 1884, by a trio of local climbers. It was first climbed by a women in 1913 & in 1948 Ed Hillary, the most famous Kiwi of them all, stood on the summit with Tenzing Norgay; 5 years later they’d be the first to summit Mt. Everest. At 3,755m (12,319ft) it’s not a particularly high peak, certainly not by 8,000m+ Himalayan standards, but it has claimed a number of lives. This wide-angle shot shows the landscape surrounding Mount Cook Village (seen in the far distance to the right of the picture) & the valley we drove up from Dunedin to get to the White Horse Hill Camp Ground (out of frame to the right). The triangular Alpine Monument seen here sits at the entrance to the Hooker Valley (Mt Cook is behind me when taking this shot) and is speckled with plaques dedicated to those who have perished on Mt. Cook & the other peaks of the National Park.
Picture 82, Day 87 – Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
Right in the heart of Mackenzie Country is Lake Tekapo. My fondest memories of New Zealand from my 2003 trip to New Zealand are from Lake Tekapo so I was really looking forward to returning here. Aside from a bit more development it hasn't changed all that much – it’s still stunningly beautiful. This is a picture of late afternoon sunlight illuminating the shores of the lake, the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin. Situated on the shores of the lake is the Church of the Good Shepherd (seen here), which, in 1935, was the first church built in the Mackenzie Basin. The church is arguably one of the most photographed in New Zealand and features an altar window that frames stunning views of the surrounding lake and mountains.
Picture 83, Day 89 – Red Zone, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. June 2nd 2012.
Our last stop in New Zealand was the South Island’s largest city, Christchurch. I remember this to be New Zealand’s most English of cities… & it was just as the doctor ordered; the 1850 settlement of the city was an ordered Church of England enterprise, the aim being to make the city a model of class-structured England in the South Pacific, not just another lawless, scruffy outpost. But memories are still all I have of the once beautiful city centre & the city centrepiece, its cathedral-dominated square. The earthquake that hit here with devastating effect in February 2011 killed 185 people & caused massive structural damage to the city, so much so that a large portion of it - virtually the whole of the city centre - is now designated an off-limit 'Red Zone'. A notice on the fencing that bars entry into the Red Zone reads
‘Due to earthquake damage, parts of the Central City of Christchurch remain cordoned off to the general public. These cordoned off areas will reopen in stages during 2012 as remedial work is completed.’
I was - & in hindsight rather naively - taken aback with the scale of the damage & I took this picture through the Red Zone fencing while trying to contemplate the scale of the destruction in front of me.
Picture 84, Day 90 – Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. June 3rd 2012.
The Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, on the banks of the Avon River (didn't I say it was very English), is a 30 hectare botanic wonderland, planted with some 10,000+ specimens of indigenous & introduced plants. It’s also a very beautiful place to be this time of year, the southern hemispheres Autumn/Fall. The tree seen here was/is huge and provided a very big, very colourful canopy. This is one of my last pictures taken in New Zealand.
What’s Next?
We've come to the end of our 6 weeks driving around New Zealand & although we’ve only come to the end of another leg of the trip, it feels like something more than that. These past weeks have been a sort of a holiday within a holiday; we got comfortable having the same accommodation each night (our campervan) & we got into a routine of cooking for ourselves & driving to new and exciting locations at regular intervals. Oh, and of course we got used to that stunning scenery, something you just take for granted after a while. I don’t expect to be seeing many snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes, rugged coastlines or sheep over the coming 9 days, days we’ll spend back in Australia (Sydney, to be precise). Oh, & hopefully we don’t see as much rain either.
I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. And as I always say don’t forget you can keep up to date with my present whereabouts by visiting the dedicated travel page of my photography blog.
Until next time.
David M
There was a sort of melancholy vibe floating around the inside of Wilma, our campervan, this past week, days 85-91 of Mave On The Move. It wasn’t intrusive but it was there - it was noticeable. That’s because it was always in the back of our minds that our time in New Zealand was almost done, and each day we passed this week brought us closer to Christchurch, our last stop in the country & from where we fly, at stupid-o-clock in the morning, to Sydney, Australia. But I feel we’re going out in style, having this week taken in some of the scenic highlights of the South Island, namely Mount Cook National Park & Lake Tekapo. Here are 7 pictures (pictures 78-84) captured from the last 7 days, our last in New Zealand.
Picture 78, Day 85 – Dunedin Railway Station, South Island, New Zealand. May 29th 2012.
After skirting The Catlins coast, where you joined us last, we ended up spending a few nights in Dunedin, an arty, university town (New Zealand’s oldest university is here) first settled by Scottish settlers back in 1848. The main attraction in this part of the country is the wildlife of the nearby Otago Peninsula but the city has a few attractions of its own. This is the main hall of Dunedin’s Edwardian railway station. It’s one of many grand old Victorian buildings in town &, according to our guidebook, the most photographed building in the country. I took many a wide-angle shot of its exterior but I found the mosaic-tiled floor & stained glass windows of the main hall much more photogenic.
Picture 79, Day 86 – White Horse Hill Camp Ground, South Island, New Zealand. May 30th 2012.
We said goodbye to the east coast of the South Island and headed inland to Mackenzie Country, an area of high ground, clean air, expansive plains, distant mountain ranges & turquoise lakes - it all makes for quite a package. This part of the country is home to Mount Cook National Park, the highlight of which is Mount Cook itself, the highest peak in the country. The White Horse Hill Camp Ground sits about a 2 hour walk from the glacier lake at the foot of Mount Cook (see the next picture) & in the shadow of some of the other impressive National Park peaks – 22 of the 27 highest peaks in the country are to be found in this area. We spent most of the day driving here from Dunedin and once the sun went down I was out capturing extended exposure shots of the moonlight surrounds. This, a 30-second exposure at f/8.0, was my favourite of the lot.
Picture 80, Day 87 – Mt. Cook From The Hooker Valley, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
Our guidebook lists tramping in the shadow of Mount Cook as a highlight of a visit to the country. It certainly was a highlight of my 2003 visit to the country and I’m glad to say that familiarity did nothing to diminish the experience of my second visit to this magical part of the world. This picture was taken from the Hooker Valley, a valley leading from the White Horse Hill Camp Ground to the Hooker Lake, the glacier lake at the foot of Mount Cook. The 2-hour walk up the valley affords magnificent views of the peak – it’s a wonderful sight, especially on a clear day (I’m lucky to have been treated to two of those now).
Picture 81, Day 87 – Mount Cook Village & Surrounds, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
The first recorded summit attempt of Mount Cook was a failed 62-hour ascent in 1882 by, rather bizarrely, an Irish priest & 2 Swiss climbers. It was first conquered only two years later, on Christmas Day 1884, by a trio of local climbers. It was first climbed by a women in 1913 & in 1948 Ed Hillary, the most famous Kiwi of them all, stood on the summit with Tenzing Norgay; 5 years later they’d be the first to summit Mt. Everest. At 3,755m (12,319ft) it’s not a particularly high peak, certainly not by 8,000m+ Himalayan standards, but it has claimed a number of lives. This wide-angle shot shows the landscape surrounding Mount Cook Village (seen in the far distance to the right of the picture) & the valley we drove up from Dunedin to get to the White Horse Hill Camp Ground (out of frame to the right). The triangular Alpine Monument seen here sits at the entrance to the Hooker Valley (Mt Cook is behind me when taking this shot) and is speckled with plaques dedicated to those who have perished on Mt. Cook & the other peaks of the National Park.
Picture 82, Day 87 – Lake Tekapo, South Island, New Zealand. May 31st 2012.
Right in the heart of Mackenzie Country is Lake Tekapo. My fondest memories of New Zealand from my 2003 trip to New Zealand are from Lake Tekapo so I was really looking forward to returning here. Aside from a bit more development it hasn't changed all that much – it’s still stunningly beautiful. This is a picture of late afternoon sunlight illuminating the shores of the lake, the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin. Situated on the shores of the lake is the Church of the Good Shepherd (seen here), which, in 1935, was the first church built in the Mackenzie Basin. The church is arguably one of the most photographed in New Zealand and features an altar window that frames stunning views of the surrounding lake and mountains.
Picture 83, Day 89 – Red Zone, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. June 2nd 2012.
Our last stop in New Zealand was the South Island’s largest city, Christchurch. I remember this to be New Zealand’s most English of cities… & it was just as the doctor ordered; the 1850 settlement of the city was an ordered Church of England enterprise, the aim being to make the city a model of class-structured England in the South Pacific, not just another lawless, scruffy outpost. But memories are still all I have of the once beautiful city centre & the city centrepiece, its cathedral-dominated square. The earthquake that hit here with devastating effect in February 2011 killed 185 people & caused massive structural damage to the city, so much so that a large portion of it - virtually the whole of the city centre - is now designated an off-limit 'Red Zone'. A notice on the fencing that bars entry into the Red Zone reads
‘Due to earthquake damage, parts of the Central City of Christchurch remain cordoned off to the general public. These cordoned off areas will reopen in stages during 2012 as remedial work is completed.’
I was - & in hindsight rather naively - taken aback with the scale of the damage & I took this picture through the Red Zone fencing while trying to contemplate the scale of the destruction in front of me.
Picture 84, Day 90 – Botanic Gardens, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. June 3rd 2012.
The Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, on the banks of the Avon River (didn't I say it was very English), is a 30 hectare botanic wonderland, planted with some 10,000+ specimens of indigenous & introduced plants. It’s also a very beautiful place to be this time of year, the southern hemispheres Autumn/Fall. The tree seen here was/is huge and provided a very big, very colourful canopy. This is one of my last pictures taken in New Zealand.
What’s Next?
We've come to the end of our 6 weeks driving around New Zealand & although we’ve only come to the end of another leg of the trip, it feels like something more than that. These past weeks have been a sort of a holiday within a holiday; we got comfortable having the same accommodation each night (our campervan) & we got into a routine of cooking for ourselves & driving to new and exciting locations at regular intervals. Oh, and of course we got used to that stunning scenery, something you just take for granted after a while. I don’t expect to be seeing many snow-capped mountains, turquoise lakes, rugged coastlines or sheep over the coming 9 days, days we’ll spend back in Australia (Sydney, to be precise). Oh, & hopefully we don’t see as much rain either.
I hope you enjoyed this latest instalment. And as I always say don’t forget you can keep up to date with my present whereabouts by visiting the dedicated travel page of my photography blog.
Until next time.
David M
