SOUTH ISLAND TRIP 2016: DAY 14, 1 JULY
We woke up at a very chilly 6:45am , packed up the van and drove out of camp and back down to Klondyke Corner to see the sunrise. The sky was perfectly clear after last nights cloud and rain, but that just helped to keep the temperatures low. Suited up with waders (as much for the warmth as for the dryness). As we left the van we could see the soft light of predawn starting to light up the peaks of the mountains around us. We split up and shot in different areas, I spent most of the next hour lying on the exposed shingle in the middle of the Waimakariri River, trying to get the reflections of the mountains in a small pool of water (see the photo at the end of this blog for the result). During this process I learned that the frost gets thicker as you get closer to sunrise, and that neoprene waders will freeze to rocks and make it hard to stand up!
Soft Peaks
The sun rose about 8am, and cast a nice warm glow to the mountain tops all around us. I shot for a bit longer whilst Liz retreated to the relative warmth of the van and started making some breakfast.
Frozen Sands, Waimakariri River
Ice patterns
We headed off about 9:15am and drove east then south back to complete the loop of our trip at Lake Pearson. The lake looked quite different to the night we spent here 2 weeks earlier; there is much more snow on the mountains around the lake. We stopped to take some photos then carried on our way.
Waimakariri River from Paddy's Bend
Closing the loop, Lake Pearson
The road was generally clear but as we rounded the corner and headed up to Porters Pass there was quite a lot of frost and ice around, but not too bad on the road itself.
We carried on over Porters and down to the Canterbury Plains and made our way through to Christchurch and checked into our camp for the next 2 nights (Top 10 Christchurch) and parked up. We went for a walk to the Northlands Mall for some serious retail therapy and some lunch, then back to the van at about 1pm
We left the camp and drove to Avonhead to visit John Foster and Robyn Hay (FB friends) at their house. Again it was nice to catch up with fellow photographers and chat about photography stuff (and the coffee was good too!)
We left their place about 4pm and drove across town to Shag Rock (Rapanui Rock) in Sumner for the sunset, then had dinner at the Beach Bar in Sumner. Back to the camp at about 7:30.
Shag Rock
"There's a place I go"
Mt Harper, Mt Davie and Mt Stewart lit by the coming dawn, Waimakariri River valley, Arthurs Park National Park, New Zealand
D800, ISO100, f8, 2.5sec, 38mm, Lee Litle Stopper ND Filter