Life in Australia

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Entry # 9 - New Zealand

Wed – 7/12/06

So... moving on once again!

On Monday, I flew from Cairns to Brisbane. First off, I think I cut it closer than ever before when catching my plane in Cairns. I love flying in Australia! I made it to the airport in my rental car 20 minutes before the scheduled (& actual) departure, checked in, returned the car, and still made the flight! Not by much, but I made it!

When I got to 'Brissy', I had a number of things on my agenda, including doing some cold-weather clothes shopping, taking a ferry ride around the river, and heading up to the local mountain for great night-time views (photos) of the city. In addition to grabbing some brews and dinner. I did get the clothes, and some NY style pizza that I couldn't pass up, and then I headed back to the room (great hotel room by the way!) to get my computer for the pub, or my tripod for the night shots... TBD. At this point it was about 6pm and rather than push on, I passed out on the bed, sneakers on and feet still planted on the ground, for several hours. Got up around 10pm, cleaned up some of my crap and got things ready for my 6:40am New Zealand departure from the hotel and went back to bed. Brisbane trip wasted. ; ( After the previous week's running around though, sleep was pretty awesome in itself.

And so yesterday I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand. The city is on the South Island, slightly north of the center, and on the east coast (or at least pretty close to it). Rented my first campervan (sized for 2 people with a toilet and a shower, which is directly over the toilet, so you can take care of both at the same time if so desired!) and headed out to the grocery store and then camper van site. I bought 8 cans of soup, which is about equal to the total amount of soup I've bought in the last 4 years in total. 3 cans of tuna, a loaf of bread, vegemite (!), water, nuts and raisins, OJ, beer, and a few other things. No port and the liquor store was closed, so I'm still searching.

Today I unfort slept in, after being awake from around 5-6am, and then bussed it into the city. Walked around the streets with basically the worst day one could hope for, for good photography. Very cloudy, no sun at all. Visited the English modelled church (Oxford I believe) that Christchurch is built around. Very pretty and moody at the same time. Took the walk up the 138 stairs to the top of the tower for a nice view over the city square and out in 3 of the 4 directions (only 3 lookouts). The city is fairly small (around 350,000 people) and very reminiscent of an English city. The Avon is the river running through the center of the city and through the western botanical gardens. I caught the last punt of the day and was punted around the Avon in a boat with some 10 Asian girls yapping incessantly. Awesome. So much for enjoying the gardens peacefulness...

Christchurch Cathedral Punt on the Avon

Following the punt and a bit more walking, I made sure to stop at the local brewery Dux de Lux for a Black Shag stout, which is their attempt at producing a New Zealand Guinness, and a good attempt at that. What's better than a fresh stout on a winter afternoon??? And after a short walk through the (mostly dead) botanical gardens, I met up with the doc and his wife for dinner. The doc is a NZ photographer (and retired PhD of market research) I met in Adelaide a few months back. We met for a nice dinner and to review maps and the route I'd be taking over the days ahead. I left it completely in his hands with no plans or reservations whatsoever. Between dinner and the following camera club meeting and talk with his friend Beven, we determined the best route for me to take considering the approaching storm. I left with a good idea and felt more comfortable to have a plan! (The camera club, similar to the one in Adelaide, is funny. The average age must be early 50's and I feel a bit like I'm at bingo, but in this case it worked out quite well!)

Thurs - 7/13/06

Today I departed Christchurch around 8:30am for the west coast of the south island. The day surprisingly turned out to be quite nice, blue skies and all. Unsure of the decision to head west first, rather than south, I phoned the doc to confirm our (their) decision. Keep to the plan I was told and so I did. Basically the west coast and center of the island are the best for photography (the center being the best). With an approaching storm from out of the south, the plan was to hit the storm on the west coast, then position myself in the south at Queenstown and follow the storm back north for the better weather. ...So while the morning started off nice and I got a few snow-capped mountain shots early, by midday, the clouds had engulfed the mountains and then came the snow and the rain at lower elevations. The rain then continued through sundown and here I am.

Drive West from Christchurch to the West Coast

The caravan I rented is an experience to say the least. The 'bathroom' is almost unbearable to be in due to the extreme amount of ammonia put in the depository waste jug. I have to leave the door open to take a leak or else I start tearing due to the ammonia... and well, I don't think I'll ever use the shower. Not to worry though, there ARE showers at my nightly camping sites. The van is also interesting in the fact that if anything isn't basically already on the floor, or strapped down otherwise, it's going to become a flying projectile in the back when driving! My apples, bananas, sneakers, lonely planet, ... all ended up up front with me after rocketing off the counter or bench. I had to create a special little home for my camera on tripod under one of the benches, cushioned by the sleeping bag, or else it wouldn't have a chance of making it out alive! ...Driving it isn't bad, but I feel like I'm driving a school bus or big-rig with the diesel engine and sitting so high. So far the roads haven't been too bad, but I could see that later tonight after the sun went down, they started to ice up a bit. (Mom, keep in mind I am already home, safe and sound! : ))

Tomorrow hopefully the weather will clear a bit to check out the Fox Glacier on foot and possibly another helicopter ride.

Now it's back to reviewing of images after I've spent the last 2 hours or so chatting to a few English girls who have been travelling through Asia, Australia, and now NZ for the last 5 months. Always interesting to hear the stories, providing inspiration for my future travels...

Fri - 7/14/06

This morning was spent hiking around Lake Matheson just a few k's down the road from where I stayed the night. The walk around the lake takes about an hour and a half and leads you through a nice rainforest trail. I awoke for sunrise (ok, a few minutes late, but still pretty close) and began the walk. The hope was to catch a still lake so as to see the reflection of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook off in the distance. The lake is famous for this image, and so why be any different, right? ...Booooooooooring! And what I didn't know at the time ended up working out quite well for me. Between the wind and the ducks, there was no chance of catching a crystal clear lake for reflections, although I did snap the shutter a number of times anyway. As I headed back, slightly disappointed, I changed my direction at the last minute to head to the cafe rather than the camper, so I could call a tour guide company. On the way to the cafe I was delighted to find my image, a unique Matheson reflection to any other I've seen. And all it took was a small fish pond, maybe 20 feet in diameter! Rather than the same old tree line around the reflection I captured the frosted-over grass and other plant-life of the area and the colors are great!

Mount Cook & Mount Tasman reflections

Before leaving the car-park, I met a fellow photographer Paul who I had seen on the trail. Paul's been out on his own travelling and shooting the country for about 3 months and he's got another 4 or 5 more before he returns to Auckland. Man that must be lonely. He's got a sports utility truck and a 20 ft camper he throws on the back and spends two weeks in each National park. He's shooting digital and medium format stills for calendars and Quicktime digital video for something of an unknown project at this time. Interesting. We shared a coffee and spoke for a while about travel, Photoshop, and the business. Continued inspiration.

Unfortunately cutting the chat short, I had to run off to the helicopter place for my flight up to Mount Cook and Tasman and the Fox Glacier. If you read the Australian Cairns' travels journal, you'll know I took a chopper flight over the Great Barrier Reef which was really amazing. Well that one was nothing compared to this flight over the mountains and glacier! While the Reef was great, the flight was steady and level... whereas on this flight, we experienced the stomach dropping twists and turns around the 3,754 meter peak and over the glacier, looking down over the bright snow to the blue sea and horizon below. We landed up at the top of the glacier near the peak of Mount Tasman which at that height didn't look quite so big anymore! (Tasman is just shorter than Cook, still considerably over 3,000 meters. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in Australasia, which is comprised of New Zealand, Australia (incl Tasmania), and Melanesia (which includes Fiji, New Guinea, and many other islands north and north-east of Australia.)

Aerial photographs Mount Cook

In the afternoon I headed south and slightly inland to my next destination for the night, Wanaka... about a 3 hour drive. The drive was great and the distinction in landscapes was great... from rolling hills, to rainforest, cliffs, and the breaking sea. At one point, I drove around the corner to see explosions of water over the rocks straight ahead. I joined the other drivers on the side of the road to watch the incoming waves colliding with those heading back out to sea and the resulting explosions. What an incredible experience and great display of the power of nature.

Continuing on, the sun was dropping lower and lower and illuminated the mountains with a selective warm light. I pulled over to the side of the road to grab a few photos and when attempting to push on... I couldn't. Stuck in the mud... sweet. I tried rocking the van for a while, and then resorted to trying to figure out the snow chains I rented. That was no use as the tires were sitting in amongst way too much mud to even get them on. Next plan... flag someone down to help push. After a few no-takers, one of my road-friends from the breaking sea in another camper stopped to lend a hand. He then got two more cars to pull over and the four of us pushed while his wife grabbed the wheel. That damn thing was stuck good! Luckily the older man was the brilliant one and jammed a few sticks under the tires and voila! Not before covering myself in mud though. Here's a tip for ya, don't get behind the rear tires when trying to get the van out of the mud! Time for laundry. ....Nah, don't be silly!

Haast's Pass Alps

The rest of the drive was long, dark, and sleepy. Driving by what I'm sure was great scenery... if only the sun was still up. Good thing for Rollins to keep me up and entertained...

Sat - 7/15/06

Today was a short-drive day in comparison to the last two. The usual plan was to rise early and then head out to one of Wanaka's walking trails, either lakeside or up on one of the numerous mountains. Unfort staying up til 2am editing, shot that plan to hell. I finally awoke at 9am, rather than 7, and was on my way. After grabbing a few quick Lake Wanaka shots from ground-level, I set off and climbed to the top of Mount Iron for the beautiful morning views. *From a New Zealand tourism website: Rising 240m (720 ft) above the surrounding land, Mount Iron is an impressive rocky hump carved by glaciers. The summit provides panoramic views of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea, the Cardrona Valley, the patterned fields of the Upper Clutha Valley and snowy peaks of the Harris Mountains and Mount Aspiring National Park to the west.* The walk was a bit more than I expected with tripod & camera in one hand and full pack strapped on my back. The four layers of clothing also added a nice suffocating factor, and ripping off my jacket at the top was great. The views were in fact incredible, and accompanied by the Morgan Heritage family (reggae band) and the shining sun, it was a wonderful way to start off the day. The remainder of the day was spent driving, stopping, shooting, driving, stopping, shooting.... Only the stopping is a bit crazier these days in the explosive camper! As I've previously mentioned, I'm continuously greeted up front by a range of sneakers, bananas, paper towels, etc, etc. Didn't get stuck today though so that was a plus!

Lake Wanaka View from Mount Iron

Heading through the Crown Range south on my way to Queenstown was a trip. Signs lined the road warning drivers of the treacherous roads to follow. The 'Slow Down Now!' and 'Use Low Gear Now' signs were one thing, but the 'Are You Sure You Want To Risk It?' was truly another! In the end it wasn't too bad if taken slowly. And to provide an idea of scenery, think beautiful green (grass and trees), yellow (dead grass and spinifex), brown (dirt), and white (snow) mountains all around with a valley in-between and a road winding around the side of them. The drop down was mind-numbing and the wind was hand, face, and ear-numbing. As with the rainforests of the Daintree (Oz) in the late-day sun, driving from out of the sun-less valleys into the sunshine was like a warm plate of happiness to follow a long fast. ...What?! : )

Just before sunset I made it back down the mountains and into Queenstown, the adventure capitol of the world, or so it seems. People here are f'n mad, they'll jump and catapult themselves off anything and everything. From one mountain to the next at 150 km/h on a wire, or even faster at terminal velocity (200 km/h) in a chair... they say that one's for 'the couch potato looking for an adrenaline rush'!

Down at Lake Wakatipu, I caught the mellow sunset, but still made some nice images of the Remarkable Ranges and Cecil and Walter Peaks. Met a woman (~50 yrs old) from Edinburgh, Scotland who's travelling through NZ, Oz, and India after growing jealous of her travelling kids. Good on'ya!

The Remarkables Walter Peak

And unlike the motor camp I was in last night, the one tonight is equipped with spa and sauna rooms, wireless internet, and much more! I also made it out for my first time in NZ, and here I am... now I'll see where the night takes me...

Sun - 7/16/06

Well I suppose last night didn't take me overly too far... although a nice dinner with a few drinks and some writing was cool. After dinner I returned to the camper to finish up a little work and then get some sleep before today's long trip.

I awoke early to catch my ride out to the small Queenstown airport, where I'd fly in a small Cessna airplane west out to the Milford Sound, where I'd jump on a boat to cruise around, before returning by the same plane. We first set off and picked up a cute young girl named Sarah from out-front the visitor center. Sarah works in the center and was offered a free trip for the day... surely a nice way to spend a paid day at work! One of the perks of working in a field where you promote local businesses. And as most of my other tours have been myself and either couples or families, it was finally nice to have someone of a similar age to hang out with.

The plane ride out was nice and smooth, although still quite cloudy in the cold morning air. The plane was an 8-seater and I had the 2 back seats to myself so I could shoot from either side. Unfort without windows that would open, it was a big of a fight to shoot while minimizing vibration and reflection. Luckily the plane was quite new so the windows were fairly clear of dirt, scratches, and trapped moisture. Upon arriving at the sound, we were joined by many others and all boarded the ship and set sail. The morning's clouds began to thankfully burn off and reveal a bit of the blue skies hidden above. We cruised around the sound for about an hour and a half, and past the famous Mitre Peak, the sound's main attraction. Mitre Peak rises 1,692 meters (5,551 feet) above the water's surface, and while it looks like one single peak, it is actually made up of five very closely situated peaks. And if it looks somewhere familiar, that's because like much of New Zealand, this was one of the many locations where Lord of the Rings was filmed. The tour company I signed up with was actually the company and pilots to fly several of the cast around during the filming. They displayed a poster from the movie at their booth in the airport that showed how the movie's set designers took the peaks in the sound and 'stretched' them out (taller) in the computer, to give it a more dramatic and mysterious feel.

The flight back to Queenstown after the cruise was great, much better than the flight there. The clouds had broken up, allowing scattered light to make its way through and expose the mountainous land below. As seen below the shapes and differentiation between dirt, trees, lakes & streams, and mountains made for wonderful scenery to photograph. Now my third flight in two weeks (Barrier Reef, Mt Cook & Tasman, and now), I'm absolutely loving the aerial photography! It surely helps to put things in perspective... to show how truly small we humans are as this other dimension of the world is exposed.

Mitre Peak, Milford Sound, & Aerials between Queenstown and Milford

And while the plan was to hit the road and head north after the tour, my exhaustion convinced me to stick around for another night. After at least a minute or two of rest, I regrouped, grabbed my equipment and caught a gondola up to a lookout over the town for sunset and night photos. I also rang down to the visitor center in hopes to hang out with Sarah since I was sticking around. She was tired but would do her best to meet me down at the pub in a few hours. ...And continuing with the photography, I decided to walk down a small path on the side of the mountain so I could shoot around a distracting tree. With heavy pack on the back, lens and glass filter in the left hand, and camera on tripod in the right hand, I took a step and WOOOOOSH!, I fell on my ass... hard(!) and began to slide down the slippery grass. Holding on to the equip for dear life and attempting to yes, also save my own, I managed to dig in and stop my descent down this slippery mountain! Woh! ...Ok, chill, thank the man upstairs, deep-breath, check the bones and equip, and slowly stand up and proceed back up the mountain to the road above. Close call, but in the end, everything is all good. ...I hung around for the next hour or so, capturing the descent sunset, and then the blue twilight following sunset that I love oh so much.

Walter Peak Queenstown & The Remarkables

And then it was back to the camper for a shower before heading out for food, beers, and reggae night at the pub (unfort only a DJ). I wasn't there more than 15 minutes before Sarah joined me (she had actually beat me there, but was outside at first). It was cool, we continued our afternoon conversation as we drank and listened to the local and international reggae that was spun. She was familiar with the scene and told me of several of the bands, like Fat Freddy's Drop from the north island of NZ. After several hours of that and my ear about to fall off, we headed out for a Fergburger. Fergburger is the local burger joint where you can order from roughly 20 types of burgers and quickly quench those drunk munchies! Even on a freezing cold winter night (like now), people would sit outside after the inside closes and enjoy the burgers while fighting off the cold.

Mon - 7/17/06

This morning brought clouds of fire to Lake Wakatipu. Well they were really just normal dense clouds, but from the camper park they appeared as smoke from a blazing fire. I hurried down to the lake and began shooting as the formations drifted across the lake and from one mountain peak to the next. The sun had already rose, but remained behind the eastern ranges. Though at 9:35am as I was shooting with the use of my flash, the sun broke through and lit up the image, as if G-d had seen me struggling and lent a hand. And it surely made all the difference!

Cecil Peak in the distance The Remarkables ME

After continuing on for another two hours, it was time to move on... but unfort I instead ran into one problem after another. No need to bore you with the details but the shit was getting stacked high and I was at the bottom. Fortunately, I eventually came out ahead after some driving time admiring the scenery.

Tues - 7/18/06

Ok, so first off, I must say I'm growing bored of the rushed itinerary-style journal entries from the last two weeks. I've tried to write every night, along with editing etc, and so it's usually a rushed account of the day's experiences. Listening to Henry Rollins spoken word in the van has motivated me to try and put more time and attention into the writing. This morning I drove through the thick fog up to Mt Cook, the tallest mountain in Australasia at 3,754 meters, and enjoyed 2 cups of green tea and a tuna sandwich at the most famous hotel in NZ, the Hermitage, which overlooks the mountain(s). So anyway, with a bit more attention to the writing, here is an account of last night's shooting (no one got hurt):

Driving north through the fog towards Twizel, my place of rest for the night. The road leveled and I was driving though the plains, with mountains off in the distance to the west. The sun had set, without expression, and the grey fog was turning blue preparing for nightfall. When from out of the mist appeared small bodies of water on both sides of the road, dropped back some 100 feet. With the combination of water, fog, and the blue skies, I imagined the possibilities and quickly pulled off the road to the right. At this time of the day, the frost was beginning to form and cause the wet grass to grow increasingly more slippery. Luckily without a fall, I headed down to eye up the lake, trees, and photo opportunities... and to my delight, headed back to the van for the camera and tripod.

Prior to starting, I changed the iPod's output from comedian Dave Chappelle to R. Carlos Nakai, a Native American composer, which helped set the mood. Dark, foggy, desolate, and extremely quiet... trees caught in the mist and reflecting from out of the water of an unknown capacity, lost in the night.

My first vision was left unfulfilled, but quickly morphed into another and another which ended nicely. Although I was still desiring more. I took another glance at the waterline from around the corner and found THE shot. With time of the essence and my feet growing colder and colder in my old untied and now wet sneakers, I headed back to the van for a lens change. Back in a flash and set up, I attempted to focus but unfortunately at this time my auto-focus was 'spitting chips' (Aussie slang, Jeremy and Ross would be so proud!), as were my eyes in the darkness. Trusting the lens guide numbers I quickly, and luckily, achieved perfect spot-on focus. And with a few quick adjustments, I was indeed photographically, mentally, and especially spiritually fulfilled with the resulting emotionally brilliant painted image... (hope you agree!)

Reflection in Wairepo Arm

(After discussing the image with a woman working here at the Hermitage cafe, she informed me the body of water is called 'Wairepo Arm' ('Wai' is pronounced 'Y' and means water in the Maori (NZ native people) language). It's fed by the larger lake and dam systems in the area and kept stock with salmon and trout for fishing and the salmon farms. She also mentioned that the small (very small) town I stayed in last night was created specifically when the five dams were being built and the workers needed a town. It was supposed to dissolve with the completion of the dams, but the town's people wouldn't think of it and have since stayed.)

And now for today...

Today was a bust... big time. I've planned this whole trip out with the help of my Christchurch friends to put me in this spot during the end of the storm and therefore clear weather. The two lakes in this area (one that I'm camped out on right now), Lake Pukaki and Lake Tepako, were carved out by glaciers many many years ago. From Lonely Planet, "the blazing turquoise colour of Lake Tekapo (and Pukaki) is due to 'rock flour' (sediment) in the water. This so-called flour was created when the lake's basin was gouged out by a stony-bottomed glacier moving across the land's surface, with the rock-on-rock action grinding out fine particles that ended up being suspended in the glacial melt water. This sediment gives the water a milky quality and refracts the sunlight, hence the brilliant colour." This morning I got a glimpse of Lake Pukaki through the fog and they don't lie, it's the most amazing greenish-blue lake you've ever seen! Unfort I didn't get a descent image of either lake throughout the day as the grey skies cast a similar grey muddiness onto the lakes. Tonight it's supposed to snow and tomorrow morning I'll be heading back to Christchurch to fly back to the good ole' US of A.

Town of Tekapo w/ a slight glimpse into the color of the lake Further down Lake Tekapo with Motuariki Island in the center

And here's a little something I wrote driving along today:

Driving the frost-lined roads,

The fog disguises the black and white landscape.

The snow patched plains extend to infinity alongside the road to nowhere,

When mountains unexpectedly appear from out of the grey.

And the landscape changes... or has it?

Central elevations in fog

For all the New Zealand images... click HERE

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Apollo and I at Cardrona

It's been an absolutely incredible trip, both in the Cairns area of Oz and now here in NZ and I'm looking forward to getting through the images and displaying them. Through my time in Australia and now the last two weeks, I've grown more than I could have ever imagined in the realm of landscape photography. Without my usual reading and learning of photography for the last five months, I've managed to teach myself so very much and I imagine it will be (and now is) evident in the collection of work.

I want to thank you all for reading my many months of journals. At times they've been enjoyable to write and other times they been quite the opposite... but in the end they serve to capture these wonderful travels, for you all and myself just the same. For many more images, please visit www.shrubin.com and please do not hesitate to email me with questions or to request info on showings.

Signing off...

Cheers!

Seth