on an early morning in june 2010, the morning before i visited lake mapourika (here), while the kids were still sleeping, i made up my mind to see for myself the infamous franz josef glacier, at westland national park, which we missed the previous day. at dawn, i drove alone from the rented room to the parking area, and subsequently walked for about 15 minutes, or 1.1 km in semi darkness through shrub forest sprinkled with pakihi vegetation and podocarps towards what is known as peters pool, a kettle lake that was formed by ice melting amongst glacial moraine, overlooking the terminal face of the glacier at quite a distance. the cystallization of ice on the lake surface was already apparent and all the shrubs around it were frozen solid.
i stood there for more than 10 minutes contemplating the quiet morning of the secluded wilderness and being surrounded by the majesty of nature while shivering, a cigarette in one hand, a dslr in another until the sun lighted mt. anderegg (2,362m) and mt. halcombe (2,665m) and the massive ice beneath it giving a spectacular view.

the location:

a jetty juts out over the mirrorlike waters of lake mapourika, the largest lake in the west coast, while the morning winter fog on the horizon had not yet lifted. the lake, calm and peaceful, saved only by the ripple of the resident ducks’ graceful sailing, outflows into the okarito lagoon. the dark reflective waters are caused by tannins, vignetting however, was unintentional :). june 2010.

the location:

a 2 year old girl stood in front of a grove of 110 year old californian coastal redwoods at whakarewarewa forest near rotorua in june 2010 to provide perspective and scale of the backdrop. the redwoods, botanically known as sequoai sempervirens were first planted in 1901. currently the largest redwood in whakarewarewa is approximately 67m tall and 169cm in diameter.

the location: