Te Ara Kairaumati | Fotoeins Fotografie

Aotearoa, Ka Tiritiri o te Moana, Lake Matheson, Maori South Island, Southern Alps, Tai Poutini, Te Ara Kairaumati, Te Wahipounamu, Te Wai Pounamu, Te Waipounamu, Te Waka a Maui, Te Waka o Aoraki, UNESCO, West Coast, Westland Tai Poutini National Park, World Heritage, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: RTW10, thirty

10 years ago, I began an around-the-world (RTW) journey lasting 389 consecutive days, from 24 December 2011 to 15 January 2013 inclusive.

22 July 2012.

After spending the morning and a part of the afternoon walking to and from the Fox Glacier, I arranged for an afternoon shuttle-bus ride from the township to (and back from) Lake Matheson (Te Ara Kairaumati). The walk around the lake is not physically demanding, and at the northwest end of the lake is the viewpoint called “View of Views.” A small clearing through the trees provides a view across the lake and beyond to the nation’s two highest mountains: Mount Tasman (Horokoau) and Mount Cook (Aoraki). As it’s my only day in the area, the timing is excellent at the final light of day.

The highlighted geographical feature in this post is located within the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Te Wahipounamu – South West New Zealand”. I made the image on 22 Jul 2012 with a Canon EOS450D (Rebel XSi) and these settings: 1/160-sec, f/4.5, ISO400, and 34mm focal length (54mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-mgJ.

New Zealand: Air Safaris’ Grand Traverse flight over the Southern Alps

The majestic mountain spine along New Zealand’s South Island is known as “The Southern Alps”; the Maori Ngai Tahu name for these mountains is “kā tiritiri o te moana”. For many locations around the South Island, you cannot avoid or ignore the sight of looming towers of rock and snow.

Between visits to the Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier, I’d been thinking about whether or not I should have a look at the mountains from above. It would be beautiful, but it also seemed very expensive. What to do, what to do … it sounds stupid writing it out now, but a unique opportunity had presented itself, and I knew I’d have deep regrets if I didn’t take it.

I bit the proverbial bullet and hopped onto a plane with Air Safaris for a 50-minute “The Grand Traverse” tour including aerial views of various glaciers, Horokoau (Mount Tasman), and Aoraki (Mount Cook).

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Lake Matheson, Westland National Park, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, fotoeins.com

New Zealand: Lake Matheson & the southern Alps at sunset

Rewards go to the patient, especially those on daytime walks through the temperate rainforest to the Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier.

After all, this area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After my visit to Fox Glacier earlier in the day, I arranged for a short 10-minute shuttle from Fox Glacier town to Lake Matheson (Te Ara Kairaumati) before sunset. Even in winter’s low-season, I was surprised by how few people were around to enjoy the view.

The sequence of photos below span a period of just over one hour in time. Appearing in most of the photos are the two grand snow-frosted peaks: Mount Tasman (Horokoau) on the left and Aoraki (Mount Cook) on the right.

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