Winter in the Mackenzie- Part 1

 Real-time

There's something magical about winter in the high country. If you're hardy enough to see past the regular heavy frosts, cold temperatures and odd foggy day, you'll be rewarded with an ever changing view of a stunning landscape. From spectacular sunrises & sunsets to snow covered mountains, big blue skies, crisp sunny days, hoar frosts and magnificent cloud formations, every day is different. 

Sunset- Ben Ohau Range, Twizel

Not to mention the crystal clear night sky. The Mackenzie Basin is one of the best places in the world to view the amazing night sky and winter happens to be the best time to view the world above us. The galactic core of the Milky Way galaxy is visible from the months of February to October in the Southern hemisphere and during the mid-winter months of June and July, the core is at its brightest. If you're lucky you might also see Aurora Australis, aka the Southern Lights, which can sometimes be seen dancing on the southern horizon during the long clear nights of winter.

Fog surrounds Night Sky Cottages

Fog is a regular visitor during the early days of winter when the land is cooled overnight after the warmer days of late autumn & early winter. Fog bows appear as the sun rises and the fog rolls in. I've seen several on our usual travels but this winter I've been lucky enough to see three or four over our back fence. Because fog water droplets are very small, fogbows have very weak colours or no colour at all, this is when a fogbow appears white, they're sometimes called white rainbows.

Fogbows don't last long, they're gone as soon as the fog obliterates the sun & blue sky. 

When the fog clears this is the view we have from our back fence; Ben Ohau (on the right) and the Ohau Range at the rear. Lake Ohau is tucked in between the two.

I did say you need to be prepared for cold temperatures didn't I? We had several days of -11c frosts.

After finding the laundry frozen one morning I purposely hung more out the next night so I could take photos of the frost on the pegs.

And then after some of my Facebook followers told me of childhood memories of clothing snapping in half in heavy frosts, I tried it with a tea towel. It rolled up instead.

The frosts made interesting patterns on spent flower heads, leaves and other items around the garden, including plenty of cobwebs. That made it easy to see where they were to clean them off.

After chasing hoar frosts around the South Island for four of the last five winters, I had my own mini ones right in my back yard! Click the photo to enlarge.

As I've already mentioned, the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular and so varied. 

Sunset Over Ben Ohau Range

I was setting my alarm to catch the sunrises for a few weeks during the middle of winter, every morning was so different and the colour was often gone within minutes as cloud rolled in or the sun rose higher. The infamous Canterbury Nor'wester provided some fabulous cloud formations (centre left) at sunset.

I held my breath waiting for the first snow to fall around the cottages. And when it arrived (June 6th) I was like a kid in a candy shop. It blew in from the south gently splattering on the window, building up  to a noisy crescendo and filling the window pane with icy crystals. 

It fell for a couple of hours and then by mid afternoon it had melted back into the landscape.

The next snow fall was on the first day of spring (September 1st), this time a little heavier.

Night Sky Cottages

But it too was gone by late afternoon. It's been a very mild winter in the high country this year, the surrounding mountains were looking a little barren until another recent spring dumping.

Snow settles around Kahu Cottage

At 720 meters above sea level, Lake Tekapo usually sees more snow than it's sister village Twizel (at 480m) and just 50kms down the road. When snow fell at lake level in mid June I took a quick drive over to Lake Tekapo to shoot some snow photos. 

The snow was fast disappearing but I managed to get some lovely photos-

'That' Church, sans people- Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

NZMCA Park, Lake Tekapo

And clockwise L to R- Lake Tekapo pedestrian bridge, my favourite Patterson Ponds & Two Thumb Range, the iconic Irishman Station letterbox, top end of Tekapo Canal, where very large fish are being caught and where next year this section of the canal will be closed for fishing during winter, families enjoying their hire motorhomes and fishing the Tekapo Canal and the last one, more from the Tekapo Canal.

I was delighted to come across this huge snow-kiwi while exploring, a clear path led me right to its location. The body had been rolled along through the snow, around a corner and down a slope, picking up everything in it's path including all the rabbit poo!

I love it how I'm now able to claim Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki and Aoraki/Mt Cook as being in my backyard.

Sunset over Lake Pukaki 
Aoraki Mt Cook is hidden under the dark cloud at the far end of the lake

I took the following two photos at either end of the same day; the moon sets behind Ben Ohau Range as the sun rises. The pink hue on the snow is known as alpenglow. Alpenglow is an atmospheric optical phenomenon which makes mountains appear to glow in a light pink or red hue. It occurs just after the sun sets or just before it rises.

Pukaki Canal & Ben Ohau Range

And at the other end of the day, the sun sets over Lake Ruataniwha (I'd been to Timaru and back in the hours between).

Lake Ruataniwha

It's not just snow & frosts during winter in the Mackenzie Basin, many days are sunny and settled. These big blue sky days are perfect for reflections on the many lakes and waterways around the high country. These ones from Lake Ruataniwha's 'Lagoon'- 

And this one from Kellands Pond-

Several times during the very cold frosts, the willow trees across the road that line the banks of the Fraser Stream were coated in frost icicles for most of the day. This localized hoar frost looked very pretty but with no blue sky it was hard to photograph.   

Although on one morning I had a hunch that the fog was about to clear so I headed off down the road towards the Pukaki Canal which is at the end of our road. As I neared Ben Ohau Station the fog started to swirl and lift and I was able to capture some of my favourite photos from this winter.  

Ben Ohau Station, Twizel

The station's merino sheep weren't too impressed with being interrupted from their silage breakfast though.

Ben Ohau Station's historic shed

The long grass and fences along both sides of the road were coated in ice; there's more build up when the moisture laden fog blows in over the open paddocks.

Loch Cameron is also at the end of our road, the trees on the little island were coated in frost.

I stopped to take some photos overlooking Fraser Stream from up on the canal road. I live by the motto of  'always taking the photo when I see the shot'. I never think to myself, I'll get that on my way back or after I've finished my lunch etc. Which is just as well.

I followed the canal road along towards Lake Ruataniwha and found a completely different world just 5 minutes down the road. Any fog that had been around had retreated and there were no signs of a hoar frost either. I turned around and headed back home passing Fraser Stream again, the hoar frost now completely gone from there too. 

Ben Ohau & the Ohau River

To be continued- My dream comes true; A Five Day Hoar Frost

Snow Photos- Canterbury

Catch-up

You wouldn't believe I've just had four weeks to catch up on blogs and photos and yet I'm still posting about Canterbury and the snow! 

Mt Hutt

We've been having a few weeks R&R, parked up at the Kaiteriteri Holiday Park in Tasman at the top of the South Island (actually that should be just one R, there's been very little recreation). It's been great to just relax and see out the end of winter, although the weather could have been a little kinder. It has rained often. One day it's fine and sunny, the next it's cold and wet. Back and forth it's swung on a very regular basis, much like winter for many New Zealanders this year I hear. It's been a funny old season all round. 

Mt Hutt Panorama (click to enlarge)

I actually haven't minded the weather too much, I feel guilty if I'm not out there enjoying the sun and exploring if it's shining. So it's fine (no pun intended) if I'm stuck inside on a cold or wet day, I always have plenty to catch up on. It took a good two weeks before I actually felt settled here though, I always have 'itchy feet' to get moving again after a few days, but this time I had to give myself a stern talking to. 

Mt Hutt Station

We've had a lovely time relaxing, meeting new people and catching up with others we've met on the road previously. But now with two pairs of itchy feet, the time has come to pack up and pull out. When you're on the road full-timers, you know it's time to move on when your doormat needs a mow, the ants are taking over the kitchen and the birds line up outside waiting for their breakfast every morning! Where to next? You know the answer to that one. Ask me tomorrow.

Rakaia Gorge

And now after that quick catch-up, back to the photos. I'm going try and do the next few blogs a bit more quickly because I really want to get up-to-date before we start exploring again. I tell you, it's a never ending vicious circle (not that I'm complaining of course!). So I'm planning on less words, more photos....well that's the theory anyway. Lets see how that goes.

I  took myself on a tikitour two days after the snow fall and several downpours of rain...

Before (above) and after the snow- Mt Hutt from Windwhistle at the top of Rakaia Gorge.

From Windwhistle, a fogbow- like a rainbow but with no colour.

The rickety single lane Old Rakaia Gorge Bridge, built 1880-82, crosses one braid of the Rakaia River...

...and this slightly newer New Rakaia Gorge Bridge crosses the next braid, just a few metres further on. 

Then the ever curious me decided to return to Mt Somers and head down the Ashburton Lakes road to see what I could see. Well, surely they'd be a lot of snow down there, right? The roads had been graded, there was a lot of mud and slush (and stinky cow poop mixed in too), a vision of David having to clean the ute flashed past my eyes...just for a second though. I kept on driving.

You have to watch out for flocks of birds on the road when the snow covers their usual food source- finches, sparrows, magpies & blackbirds are looking for bugs and things on the only clear area which happens to be the road you're travelling on at 80-90kph. You can see some on the road above, they leave it until the last moment to lift off too. 

Mt Barrosa and an old farm house.

More farm stations up a side road.

No. 8 wire kiwi ingenuity at it's best. We so need this on the van for rain fade!

And look at the historic Hakatere Farm buildings, looking picture perfect covered in snow and looking very different to the other day.

Uh-oh! The road has only been graded to Hakatere, the gravel road to Lake Clearwater is covered in snow. Hey, but there are tyre tracks....

But I'm not too sure I should drive it. I'm in 4WD. I have Diff-lock. I should be ok. Yeah, I'm sure I'll be ok. Do I? Don't I? I am sooo tempted but it looks very slippery and there's no phone reception if I get stuck. And how's David going to get here to rescue me anyway? Darn! I turn around and head back down the road....I so wanted to go up there. 

As I head back to Methven I see a fogbow again...I wonder if it's the same one, I'm about 40kms down the road. This time I shoot it with my wide angle lens so I can get all of it in.

And one last photo before I get home; North Branch Ashburton River/Hakatere near Pudding Hill.