From the start of this trip, on the first full day, we were treated to the grandeur and splendor that New Zealand has to offer. As we drove from Christchurch to Mount Cook, the New Zealand alps were completely unobscured by clouds, providing us incredible views for our entire journey. We were traveling through a land highly influenced by glaciers. We took in the incredible views of these glacially shaped landscapes that were not only far off in the distance, but also right under the van as we crossed over broad glacial valleys and braided river bars. Approaching Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, gave us our first looks at water that shines in emerald brilliance due to the glacial silt suspended in the water column. Glaciers still slowly erode the landscape turning bedrock into ‘glacial flour’. These tiny particles travel downslope in one of numerous rivers feeding these beautiful lakes that reflect colors ranging from a chocolatey-grey to a bluish-turquoise, all depending on how much silt is in the water.
This is only one aspect for which New Zealand is known. On this trip, we would be treated to some of the oldest temperate rainforest on the planet, grand mountain peaks, amazing glacial landscapes, including Milford sound, sometimes coated in clouds and sometimes completely exposed as it was on the day of our excursion. There were days we adventured that were crisp and sunny, while other days we were explored in rain and snow. All of these diverse conditions made for invigorating and inspiring photo opportunities.
For many, this trip was a bucket list destination and our first day delivered a truly bucket-list-memorable kind of day. During the drive from Christchurch to Mount Cook the landscape was extremely engaging and the time seemed to fly by. In particular the last hour or so heading towards the New Zealand Alps gave us commanding views of Mount Cook, the Tasman Valley, and other marvelous glacial valleys. We all rejoiced at this wonderful opportunity knowing it was a hint of what would be an incredibly photogenic and memorable trip in New Zealand!
But the day did not stop when we got to the hotel in Mount Cook National Park. Immediately after dropping our bags, we loaded back up into the van with warm clothing, camera gear and our tripods to shoot sunset in the upper Tasman Valley.
Our destination was Tasman Lake. Just above the outflow of the lake was a ribbon of grounded icebergs telling us a story of the origins of this silt laden water. One could look up valley and clearly see the glacier supplying these icebergs that were resting on the lake floor less than 100 feet from our tripods. We had lots of time to spaciously photograph the outflow of the turquoise-blue glacially-fed river and the big peaks that shined with alpenglow as the sun gently dipped below the horizon. What a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the first day on what would be a truly memorable trip.
The next morning started cold, crisp, and cloudless. We traveled downslope into the lower Tasman Valley, where we got up on a small rise looking back towards the mighty New Zealand Alps. As the sun crested the low peaks to the east, the mountains facing us lit up rose and pink. We shot the morning alpenglow for a most pleasurable amount of time. Once everybody was pleased with the images we had made from the rise, we all descended the gentle grassy slope to the river where there were some small ponds. It was absolutely calm, not a breath of wind, and consequently there were some astonishing reflections; the kind of reflections that gives one cause to think if we didn’t know it was liquid water, it could actually be a mirror!
After a couple days in Mount Cook National Park, it was time to descend out of the Tasman Valley and make our way towards Queenstown. The area where we did our morning sunrise shoot was now being sprinkled with rain. However, the partly cloudy-partly blue skies allowed enough light to shine through giving us some beautiful shafts of light descending from the clouds and a robust rainbow in front of the van for most of the drive out of the valley. This seemed like a good sign!
We took advantage of various light opportunities as we continued to Queenstown. One option gave us rays of light shining down onto Lake Pukaki behind little bursts and sprays of water that were being plucked from the surface of the lake by strong wind gusts. Our next stop was an off-the-beaten-track-dirt road that looked like quintessential Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf was riding Shadowfax through the broad, beautiful valley rimmed with huge mountains. Stunning snowy peaks, a broad expensive valley, and big, big views. Little did we know, there are many parts of New Zealand that look like this. Our final stop on our drive to the popular town of Queenstown was Lindis Pass where we were looking at a landscape of handsome beiges covering rolling hills. The grasses flowed rhythmically in the breeze, stretching off into the distance from high to low.
We checked in at the hotel and after a quick break made our way up to Skipper’s Saddle for an enchanting and moody photo opportunity overlooking Skipper’s Canyon in one direction and a group of mountains in the other direction that are appropriately named The Remarkables.
The next day also started moody, with intermittent rain and shapely clouds. It created a nice opportunity for photographs of orange-yellow topped willows on Lake Wakitipu and some creative shots of the Glenorchy jetty. Following a tasty breakfast at a local restaurant, we continued on to our first experience of the New Zealand temperate rainforest, along the Routeburn Track of Mount Aspiring National Park. We spent a couple hours photographing the lush moss carpets, large diameter trees, and prodigious diversity of greenery for which the rainforest is known.
That night, the storm broke and the clouds cleared leaving us with stars and a crisp morning for a sunrise over Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables with a fresh coat of snow. They were truly remarkable this morning! We started photographing the blue hour and continued to shoot as the sun rose through the crisp air. The clouds lit pink first followed by the peaks shining bright with that fresh snow. This was a wonderful juxtaposition to our time in the temperate rainforest which was green, lush, and wet–equally engaging, in a very different way.
As we often find in the natural world, there is so much beauty and so much diversity. Midway through the trip, we were gently reminded of this precious aspect of our home planet. It was barely half-way through the trip, and we had already photographed big landscapes, expansive meadows, snowy mountains, golden beaches, aqua-blue rivers…and there was so much more in store for us.
Our time in Te Anau gave us our first look at Fjordland national Park. We visited the lower reaches of one of the eleven Great Treks in New Zealand: The Kepler Track. This lush temperate rainforest, although caused by the same phenomena of the rainforest on the Routburn Track in Mount Aspiring National Park near Glenorchy, was our first look at a thick understory of ground ferns as well as the massive tree ferns of the southern temperate rainforest that stretch towards the canopy of these verdant forests. Thick moss coated buttressed trees and the ethereal nature of this forest came to life. We were fortunate to have several hours where we could photograph without rain. Some folks even had the opportunity to observe a Kea, a parrot endemic to New Zealand holding the title of the ‘only alpine parrot in the world’.
The day we spent at Milford Sound in Fjordland National Park was a major highlight for us. We started early, driving by 8 AM heading down the Te Anau-Milford Highway towards and through more grandeur. This day was filled with quintessential temperate rainforest, big snow-clad mountain peaks of the New Zealand Alps, and an incredibly steep-walled glacially-scoured fjord.
Before we dropped into Milford Sound, we shot the rainforest of the Lake Gunn area. We had some perfect conditions for shooting in a rainforest: a little bit cloudy with some patches of sun here and there and no rain. The trail was flat and very accessible allowing us to engage spaciously with our creative pursuits. Everybody shared in this experience. We discussed that this was a real gift, to be treasured.
As we drove over the pass in the morning into Milford Sound, the clouds cleared up and blue sky coated the tops of peaks with puffs of white clouds, creating incredible texture for us to photograph. Milford Sound had calm seas, no wind and beautiful mountain landscapes that were completely exposed although there were high clouds for definition in the sky. Perfect!
We rejoiced in that it was not raining when we were on the boat ride exploring Milford Sound, however, the recent rain on the West Coast was a cause for numerous ephemeral waterfalls to flow off the steep granite walls. These only occur after big rains and then dry up very quickly. Photographing these from the boat was pure joy.
The granite walls stretching thousands of feet above the tannin-colored fresh water surface not only made for engaging compositions, but have a significant effect on the animals living in the sound. As the rain and the waterfalls cascade down through the beech forest, tannins are leached from the leaves, creating a tea-colored water. Because granite is relatively impermeable, this water eventually flows into Milford Sound. Because freshwater is less dense than salt water, it sits on the surface of the salt water. Since this fresh water is brown from being infused with tannins, it obscures sunlight from entering the water and makes Milford Sound a top destination for scuba divers. Due to the diminished sunlight, deep sea organisms that would normally grow much deeper where the sunlight does not penetrate grow at a much shallower depth due similar light conditions of the deeper depths. This affords divers the opportunity to observe these rarely seen organisms at an accessible depth.
From Te Anau, we spent a piece of the day driving through the beautiful countryside of the South Island to Wanaka and were poised for a sunrise shoot of the famous Wanaka tree in Lake Wanaka. As we had done several times before on this adventure, we woke before the sun rose, but this time we did not need to get into the vehicle. We were able to walk right along the lakeside from our hotel directly to the famous tree. The clouds began to shine pink as we arrived at the site. Slowly, they grew rich with more and more color. The wind was so strong that we were able to incorporate whitecaps as a strong photographic element into our image to help tell the story.
As the sun continued to rise, and the pink began to fade, it was replaced by beautiful, low angle and slightly golden light. It was not time to leave yet! We continued to photograph in the refreshing wind as the sun climbed higher in the sky and the light slowly changed from golden hour to daylight. Another wonderful way to begin our day.
The drive from Wanaka to Fox Glacier was a compelling and beautiful drive up the West Coast, the wet side of the island! (As if all the temperate rainforest we had already experienced did not indicate a lot of rain, now we were on the wet side!!) We made numerous stops to photograph iconic locations like Fantail Falls, The Gates of Haast, Thunder Creek Falls, and Bruce Bay. And this was all before our short break before a delightful sunset at Gillispes Beach.
Ascending Haast Pass was an adventure in itself, not to mention a lesson in weather patterns. Starting in big rain down low, we climbed into a snow storm due to the elevation change. This gave us striking patterns and textures to shoot Fantail Falls, a phenomenon our local guides had never seen before. As we descended from the pass, we dropped back into rain which swelled the river where we shot The Gates of Haast. The frothy mass of energetic water tumbling downslope due to combined melting snow and big rain gave us a seriously impressive flow of water.
As we continued north to Fox Glacier, we took the opportunity to shoot Ship Creek and the Swamp Forest. This is no southeastern United States swamp. This is a ‘southwestern New Zealand South Island Swamp Forest’. The only similarity to the swamps of the US might be the darkened, tannin rich water. That’s where the comparison stops. From this orange-brown water sprouted gorgeous temperate rainforest, although with a slightly different suite of species than we had seen up to that point on the trip. So, we frolicked and photographed for an hour or so, which could have easily been a much longer pursuit. Had it not been for the fact that we had additional engaging images to make downslope, we could have spent a couple hours here, easy.
Another highlight for us in southwest New Zealand was the sunrise at Mount Matheson. The quality of water to reflect as it does is truly a gift we might take for granted. If given some thought, I think we’d all come to the conclusion: ‘This is incredible!’. The calmer the conditions, the more robust and clear the reflection. Well, our morning sunrise at Lake Matheson may be one of the most dazzling reflections of a mountain landscape any of us had ever observed. So calm, so flat, so reflective, the lake gave us an unparalleled, mirror-like reflection. We all felt very privileged for such an experience.
After this exquisite sunrise shoot at the lake and a nourishing breakfast at the hotel in Fox Glacier, we began our drive west and north to Paparoa National Park. This is where we would shoot the renowned and celebrated Pancake Rocks at sunrise the next day. Of course, we didn’t drive straight through to Fox Glacier, but made several stops including the Kahikatea Forest Swamp.
This was another forest unlike we had seen up to this point on the trip giving us our first up close and personal look at the endemic Nikau Palms. This is the only palm species endemic to New Zealand and has many cultural uses including being traditional food, eaten raw or cooked, using the leaves to wrap food for cooking, and the old fibrous leaves are used for floor mats, waterproof thatch for buildings and Kete, a traditional Māori basket.
The front yard of our hotel at Paparoa was stunning beach leading out to the energetic Tasman Sea. Big winds and a full moon created tidal conditions that gave us a good look at the power of the ocean. Low tide on our first night occurred right about sunset which was perfect to photograph the layered pancake rocks for which this area is famous. Several of us walked the 100 yards from our hotel out to the beach and found many photographic opportunities including a quaint little waterfall cascading through the pancake rocks directly on to the beach. As the sun dipped and lit up the clouds, the waves crashed on the rocks and the rocks glistened in the colored light. It was a very special night and such a gift to be able to walk right from our room to the beach. A good night’s rest on comfortable beds and the music of the distant waves caressing the beach set us up for another sunrise shoot at the pancake rocks of Paparoa National Park.
The limestone rocks of this area have been uplifted and then eroded into the current landforms by a combination of two processes: the slow process of chemical erosion of the limestone due to the action of water flowing in joints and caverns; and coastal erosion which includes the collapse of caverns leaving towers and sea stacks. To say we enjoyed the sunrise would be an understatement! This section of Paparoa National Park is beautiful and inspiring. The smooth, wide trail coupled with the absence of any visitors was perfect for setting up tripods and having ample time to explore, create images and savor the experience.
Later that day we spent time in the local forests that had an abundance of the Nikau Palms. The canopy of the palms and the sporadic tree ferns scattered throughout was very photogenic. Different shades of greens, different textures and a diversity of shapes made for wonderful compositional elements. Add the Paparoa River for a water element and you’ve got just about everything you need for some great images!
After a late lunch and a bit of a rest, a couple of us made our way back out for the final sunset shoot. This would be at Hatter’s Bay. The low tide revealed a colorful pebble beach absent of any footprints. As the crashing waves descended the beach back into the Tasman Sea, the energy of the water flowing downhill moved the pebbles and produced that melodious sound of small pebbles rolling over each other, a sound that is so calming and refreshing. Various rocky outcroppings and a few sea stacks made for great compositional features as we watched the sun dip between and below the clouds on our last evening in New Zealand.
Our final drive from Paparoa to Christchurch on the Otira Highway started in the forest of the lower elevation before climbing up through the snowcapped peaks. As we climbed above the rainforest, we passed waterfalls, ascended into the snow and stopped at several breathtaking overlooks for photo opportunities. Our first stop gave everyone some more great looks at the world’s only alpine parrot, the Kea. Although some participants had seen one previously on the trip, this was a great opportunity for all to observe this large, courageous parrot.
As we descended the east side of the Alps from Arthur’s pass, back to the ‘dry side’, the snow and rain stopped. Blue skies with scattered puffy white clouds and freshly coated mountain peaks became our backdrop for images of broad, expansive braided gravel bars and vast fields of limestone bluffs. This was not ‘just a drive back to Christchurch’. This drive was indeed a main event as the landscape made for some exquisite photographs.
New Zealand is a land of superlatives: high mountain peaks and glaciers, tumultuous rivers flowing in various shades of blue and turquoise, vast temperate rainforest, and energized coastal landscapes all wrapped up in a culture that is friendly, welcoming and rich with tradition. This was the first time Van Os Photo Safaris has ran a New Zealand trip in a very long time. I am thankful it will not be the last!
