Mirror Tarn Reflections- Oparara Basin

These stunningly beautiful reflections come from an amazing little pond deep in the Oparara Basin rainforest; the Mirror Tarn.

A forest pool of dark, tannin stained water surrounded and sheltered by tall trees, creates a surface reflection so perfect it’s difficult to see where the land ends and the water begins. It’s also hard to decide which way is up with the photos.

We can thank the foresight of a local bushman who saved the surrounding tall rimu trees from being felled, he saw the beauty in the pond and fought to save the tarn from being destroyed.

Can you see the face quietly watching?

The sun poked it’s head out for brief moment and lit up the bush in this corner.

With just the birdsong for company, this is a place for reflection and of reflections.

The Mirror Tarn was the absolute highlight of my visit to the Oparara Basin, it’s hard to imagine that such amazing beauty can be contained in one tiny pool of water.

Happy Easter Everyone- We're off to Lake Kaniere

Just a short blog post to let my regulars know that, rather than thinking we've disappeared off the face of the earth for the next week, we'll be enjoying ourselves at the Lake Kaniere DOC camp. Lake Kaniere is 22kms inland from Hokitika and I'm thinking that there won't be any cell phone reception there. After three mostly wet days at Punakaiki, we decided to head straight to the lake and get settled in there with a good site before the rush that'll probably happen over Easter.

Don't worry though, I'll resurface with a whole heap of blogs to catch you up to date, and some especially good ones too, of our visit to the Oparara Basin Arches north of Karamea and our time at the end of the road, Kohaihai.

Here's a taster; the Mirror Tarn at Oparara Basin.

Happy Holidays everyone, have an enjoyable & relaxing time, safe travels, and hopefully we'll all be able to catch the last of the summer sun (or some spring sunshine for those in the Northern Hemisphere).