Wild South
Last week, I revealed that I’d been on a bit of a road trip and promised pics to come.
On Monday, I took a closer look at Dunedin’s Chinese Scholar’s Garden and on Sunday 19 (while actually on the trip) I snuck in a few pics of glorious autumn colour around Lake Hayes.
My route took me south from Dunedin, down through the South Island’s south-west corner, known as the Catlins, before I looped on through Southland and back up to Lake Wakatipu and Queenstown—wonderful ‘wild south’ country as I hope today’s photos will prove.
The wild began at St Clair beach in Dunedin (above left), but some unseasonally cold weather struck as I headed down through the Catlins, so there are fewer but also bleaker photos—and as I think the ’tilt’ on the trees shows, this can be very bleak country indeed.
By the time I headed north again, the sun had come out but the snow remained, so the wild was all in the mountains and the deep blue of Lake Wakatipu (right and below.)
Queenstown itself, and its outlying settlements, such as Jack’s Point, lie at the feet of a mountain range known as the Remarkables—not because of their stunning looks but because they run true north-south, which is apparently rare in mountain ranges.
They also made many appearances in The Lord Of the Rings film trilogy—entirely, I imagine, because of their stunning good looks.
So yup, the trip did have its “inside Middle earth” moments, but then again, it’s hard not to do that in NZ these days.
And there are some moments and vistas that are just, well, remarkable without being too wild or leaving you feeling over-awed—like these famous “Queenstown views” (below.)
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And now I hear LOTR soundtrack in my head. Thanks for sharing these, Helen!
I hope that LoTR soundtrack didn’t become an ‘earworm’, Paul. 😉
I think I have at least two more posts but think you will particularly enjoy the trip down Skippers Canyon to the Fords of Bruinen.