Autumn in the High Country

I've been procrastinating too much & look where that got me. I'm still in autumn! The photos are too lovely to miss so here you go an autumn photo fest. 

Out & About Around Twizel

Ben Ohau Station Stables

Clockwise- The Old Iron Bridge, Twizel Village, Loch Cameron,
 The Lagoon at Lake Ruataniwha, Glen Lyon Road ford, Glen Lyon Rd trees

Lake Ruataniwha & Ben Ohau Range

Ohau C Camp, Lake Benmore

The Lagoon, Ohau C Camp

Ohau C Camp looking very resplendent in autumn colours

Ohau C lagoon on a different day

Reflections- Wairepo Arm, Twizel

Kellands Pond, Twizel 

Hard to believe this was taken in NZ and in the high country

This is a favourite place to stop for a drink or just to relax for a few minutes when I'm photographing around the ponds.

Poplars always make a great show during autumn & are even more impressive when they line the entrance to a farm- SH8, Omarama

On my way to the Otematata Wetlands at Lake Aviemore I stopped at the top of the road overlooking a farm station & Lake Benmore in the distance- as you can see, other than the briar bushes, there's not much autumn colour away from the waterways. That's the A2O Cycle trail in front of me, heading off down the Waitaki Valley to Oamaru.

A farmer's work is never done.

Sailors Cutting harbour on Lake Benmore (this is the southern end of the lake, when I mention Lake Benmore it's usually the north end). Since this photos many of the willows that line the road side (where the boats are) of the harbour have been removed due to age & weakness. 

Otematata Wetlands, Lake Aveimore, Waitaki

With it's network of tracks and ponds, the wetlands are a great place to visit and especially in the autumn. The birdlife is also abundant & I was lucky enough to see a lone Kotuku/White Heron on one of the ponds.

Take a photo of the information board with the map or download the map from my link above because it's easy to get lost as the many tracks crisscross each other. There are several entrances, I went in off Loch Laird Road. One of the tracks ends up (or starts if you are staying there) at Boat harbour camping ground.

Boat Harbour- Otematata

Benmore Dam & the Waitaki River/Lake Aviemore

A quiet side diversion from the main lake & great place for children to play; Loch Laird camp ground.

Another high country station near Otematata.

Glencairn Station, Twizel

Clockwise- Pond reflections, Monster puffball, Beehives,
Chook house, Willow reflections, Wild turkeys

Simons Pass- SH8, Tekapo-Twizel Highway

Freedom Camping at Patterson Ponds which is sadly no longer available (Genesis closed it because of the perceived flooding threat) 

Patterson Ponds & Tekapo River. My beautiful Patterson Ponds are slowly dying, bird & fish life gone. The river course has changed, the inlet into the ponds is high & dry and much of the water has drained out. And is still draining out at the south end of the 8 or so ponds (see bottom left photo). This was once a vibrant and active little ecosystem, an oasis in the middle of a parched & dry landscape and it's so sad to see.

Aurora at Tekapo River- It was a new location for me when an aurora alert went off. It wasn't a strong one but I still managed to pick up a few beams.

Exploring Godley Peaks Road (again) down the western side of Lake Tekapo

Lake Tekapo

Another favourite; Lake Alexandrina

Lake Alexandrina; top, middle & bottom camps. Including a caretaker having a quiet moment with his pet sheep who follows him around while he checks the pest traps each morning (bottom left photo)

And to finish with, a chance sighting of a rare Black Stilt/Kaki 

Around The Lakes- Part 1

After hearing from the camp custodian that there was good cellphone reception at the top of the hill between the two lakes, David had climbed to the top to make a call. He had then continued on around Lake McGregor looking for trout and grebes. A day or so later he suggested we do the walk and I added the shores of Lake Tekapo to the end of it; there was a possibility of seeing black stilts near the dried out mudflats on the edge of the lake.

It didn't take long to climb to the top where there was a magnificent 360 degree view. Here's a pano of Lake McGregor from the top of the hill- looking towards Lake Tekapo and the Two Thumb Range. Our van is parked just out of sight at the end of the willows on the far right.

In the other direction is Lake Alexandrina; a steep bank drops down to the boat sheds that sit on the lake edge below the cribs. The mountains in the background are part of Ben Ohau Range which borders the western side of Lake Pukaki all the way up to Mt Cook and the Southern Alps.

This is Lake Alexandrina, the pano is quite distorted as there’s no dip in the centre- I moved too fast through the scene as it was recording it. That’s David on the right scanning the lake with his binoculars. The cribs at the left are at the top of the hill and would have an amazing view over most of the lake although I think the ones at lake level would have a more interesting outlook with the stream, waterfowl, fishing and holiday activity.

This one's a more proportioned shot of David looking up Lake Alexandrina towards Mt Joseph (1682m) on the far left and Mt  Hazard (2213m) in the centre.

It’s hard to pull ourselves away from the stunning views out over Alexandrina but just a few short steps to the otherside of the hill top and the view is just as lovely over Lake McGregor. I catch sight of a puff of dust on the lake road…

… and zoom in to see a motorhome leaving.

David makes his way down the slope to the sheep track that runs around the edge of Lake McGregor. I follow, wondering if there’s any Banded Rails or Spotless Crake in the raupo swamp ahead of us, I'm pretty sure there must be a few grebe nests.

It’s not long before David stops and waits for me to catch up; he’d seen a skylark flying off and suspecting it was leaving a nest, tracked his way to the spot. Sure enough, he locates the well camouflaged nest with three eggs, hidden in the grasses. As we move off, the skylark is singing way up above us, just a dot in the blue sky.

We follow the sheep track around the lake edge and locate not one but two pair of grebes floating about just off the shore. We’re certain one pair have a nest in the reeds near the swamp in the photo above, because, as was the case with the Lake Alex. grebe pair, one was floating about near the edge and was then joined by it’s mate after we left the immediate area.

In the end we lost count, but before we left the lakes, we would have seen at least 10-12 pairs of gebes; 6 or 7 pair on Lake McGregor alone. Pretty good considering they are critically endangered. (And in case I've confused you, the grebe nest & chick post from the other day was after we left the area, we're still looking at this stage)

A little further on we came across a small flock of merino sheep and lambs who seemed surprised to see us and moved off up the hill at pace.

Later that afternoon, while we were exploring the edge of Lake Tekapo, we could hear from the same area, a farmer whistling and farm dogs barking. The next morning the flock of sheep were grazing on the banks of the stream just across from our van, the lambs looking a little dejected and sorry for themselves. The poor little things had red bums and no tails, some also had a docking ring on other delicate parts! Poor darlings :(

It wasn't long before David spotted a big Brown cruising along the shoreline and decided to try his luck...luck he must have left behind in the van.

Further on another fisherman was trying his luck in the drowned willow area of the lake. His best friend watched on from the comfort of the boot, looking totally bored...

Or perhaps sad that he couldn’t chase the hares (‘teddy bears') on the bank behind the car. I spotted them before they saw me and managed to creep up a little way before they took off together up the slope, both stopping briefly to check out the situation, before bounding off again and disappearing out of sight over the top of the hill. One day I’m going to manage a close up shot!

We stopped for lunch near the road, finding a rock to sit on, on a reclaimed piece of ground that must be there to help channel the water into the road culvert and on it’s way to Lake Tekapo behind. David scans the swamp for birdlife.

A male paradise duck stands watching as his mate & 6 or7 ducklings swim off into the tangle of willows- I can’t quite decide whether he standing guard or too lazy to swim after them (I think it’s the latter), a Australian coot takes a rest on a sunken log while another trout cruises past heading for the culvert. A male NZ Scaup tries to lead us away as his mate and  5 ducklings duck and dive under the willows. Scaups are very shy and these are the first ducklings we’ve seen that we can recall this spring; their paler markings are more brown compared with mallard ducklings.

After lunch we cross the road and head for the expansive dried mud flats along the edge of Lake Tekapo, passing more shuttered up caravans waiting for the summer holidays, on the way.

To be continued....