PHOTO-A-DAY CHALLENGE
From Turquoise-blue Lakes to the Clear White of Snow-covered Mountain Peaks
Week 171 of the photographic documentary of my daily life
It’s been an interesting week. Interesting as a lot of it didn’t go according to plan, but what in our lives really goes to plan? This sounds weird, but it is meant in a way we don’t plan much.
And then there was the weather.
If our life should be described by one thing it is dependent on it would be the weather. As skydiving instructors, we are as much as one can be dependent on the weather.
- The wind is too strong — we can’t jump.
- The clouds are too thick — we can’t jump.
- The rain is arriving — we can’t jump.
- It’s hot and gets turbulent — we can’t jump.
And if we don’t jump, we don’t get paid. That’s how our line of work operates. To sum it up, we get paid for blue skies and sunshine. Up to a certain grade.
But this doesn’t mean I’m a good-weather-girl. I love the rain and I do enjoy those gray days. From time to time. As everything, in balance.
A few windy days in a row mean some extra off time. Sure, it’s unpaid leave, but it’s also additional time to explore, isn’t it? That is at least how we handle it and why we see so much from the world.
Instead of sulking about not being able to work and earn money, we rather spend a bit and collect more memories and experiences on new adventures.
And we did plenty of that this week. While our New Zealand Bank accounts didn’t have the chance yet to get filled, we emptied our European account a little more to embrace an unexpected three-day leave.
We only worked two days this week instead of five. Not the best start to a new job but plenty of time to explore the surroundings of our new home.
Let’s do this week day by day.
Thursday was one of our official off days (we have a 5-day on, 2-day off roster) and we headed down to Queenstown to buy a little car. We had been contemplating what kind of vehicle we should purchase for our short stay in the country and opted for the smallest one.
Because it’s the lightest on fuel and we’ll be driving far and to everywhere.
We have bought vehicles in three different countries before and if you count a scooter in, then even four. Never in our lives has it been easier, quicker and faster to get a car onto our name.
It didn’t take us five minutes in the post office in Queenstown, a quick online transaction to the seller and off we went. With our new little Toyota Vitz.
It only has 200,000 kilometers on its back. Let’s see how many more we’ll add to that.
To start our adventures, we drove along the shore of Lake Wakatipu and up the hills to a parking lot where a hiking trail started.
Queenstown Hill Summit was our goal for today, and after walking through a dense and invasive pine tree forest, we reached the treeline and could see across Lake Wakatipu and the mountains behind.
It was a bit windy and cold, but we enjoyed the views in all directions. We learned more about the damage of cairns and invasive tree species in New Zealand and why the mountain slopes look currently so dead.
It’s impressive to me to see how much the country is doing to erase invasive species and restore the native ecosystem. Very inspiring their undertakings.
On Friday, we had a busy day at work and I jumped with people from all around the globe. It was fun to be back in the air and exchange words with other travelers and locals of the area.
Coming home at 3 pm after having done 7 jumps already is the advantage of getting up early and starting to work in the wee hours of the morning. I really don’t mind it as it gives me lots of time in the afternoon to enjoy our new home.
And those backyard views of the vineyard.
Saturday wasn’t another good day at work, even though it could have been better. We had to cancel the last two loads of the day as the wind was getting too strong.
Coming home earlier, I put the lounging chair outside next to the yellow roses and stared into the distance.
And what is hiding behind the rose bush?
I almost forgot it. Here is our new mode of transport. With a frozen windscreen. Yes, that is how cold it is when we head out for work in the morning.
But luckily, the sun is strong down here and warms up everything rather quickly.
After seeing the predictions for Sunday (and the whole week ahead), we kind of knew nothing was happening. The way this works at our new job is that every morning, an hour before the clients arrive, we receive a ‘weather call’.
Three kinds of messages can come through.
- All go. Take off in an hour.
- Weather hold due to wind/clouds/rain, next update in an hour.
- Work canceled due to wind/clouds/rain.
Since weather predictions are rather inaccurate these days, these decisions will be made only in the morning and not the night before. This means setting your alarm, having breakfast and being ready to leave the house if the ‘all go’ message comes.
If not, you’re up and awake and have either some time to hang out at home or the whole day free.
Like Sunday. At first, they postponed the start for two hours, then for one more hour. At 11 am, the day got canceled. We didn’t have to drive to work for nothing and ended up having an unexpected free day.
In almost gale-force winds as the predictions were saying 30 knots.
Not the nicest kind of weather to be out and about, and I contemplated for long. David said immediately he wasn’t having any of it and stayed in.
But then I went out for a short hike just a five-minute drive from home. The place was exposed. Very. And the wind was howling. But the golden poppy flowers still drew a smile on my face.
Guess what? Monday didn’t go much different. They didn’t even bother in the morning with putting us onto a weather hold. They canceled immediately. The winds weren’t supposed to be any less, plus rain was predicted on top. Not a great combination.
I had looked up already a couple of places around Cromwell that were good for a day trip, and since David wasn’t keen on heading out in the rain, I drove alone to the old gold mining site on the Kawaru River.
Part of the adventure was a self-guided walk through restored settlements and past old machinery. The other part was a guided walk where more about the history of gold mining in New Zealand was explained.
All in all, it was more interesting than I expected it to be and certainly worth getting out in this rainy and windy weather.
Once I was back at the car, I sent a text to David asking if he was keen on joining me the rest of the day, and as he affirmed my question, I drove back to fetch him and then headed to the Bannockburn Sluicings.
This was another part of the historic reserve displaying the work of gold mining in the area, but next to informative boards, deep canyons and changed landscape, hills covered in wild thyme mixed with golden poppy flowers were what made me smile in still very windy weather.
On Tuesday, they put the weather call at 6 am, but looking at the forecast, we did poker a bit. We didn’t get ready and just set our alarm five minutes earlier to wait for the response. As expected, work got canceled due to still very strong winds.
This meant for us now, we had a certain three days off as Wednesday and Thursday are our official off days. Our 'weekend'.
A bit of arguing and discussing was happening as David said he couldn’t go on a trip spending money before even having earned anything in this country, but I brought up the fact we were living in a trailer the last season in Germany to save money and spend it on such occasions.
Yes, as the person mainly in charge of our financial situation, I did push my will through, and a few hours later, we were on the way.
With more strong winds and heavy rains coming down on the West Coast, setting a destination on where to go for the next few days was the most challenging part of this adventure, but we settled eventually on heading toward New Zealand's tallest, risking a rainy and windy experience.
Arriving in Twizel just a few hours later, we checked into our room and headed out again. Lake Pukaki is just a few kilometers out of town and is right at the base of the Southern Alps.
While the mighty Mt. Cook remained hidden in the clouds all afternoon, we embraced the turquoise-blue of this glacier-fed lake. A trail was leading around the shoreline, allowing us breathtaking views of the mountains while facing gale-force winds.
The next morning, we woke to a relaxed breakfast and then headed on toward the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Not like we wanted to climb this mountain, which is said to be more technically difficult to summit than Everest according to a Nepalese sherpa, but just seeing the 3,724 m (12,218 ft) tall beauty is worth the effort of walking to the foot of the mountain.
Taking the Hooker Trail up to Hooker Lake is about as far as inexperienced climbers can get to the mountain (except for helicopter flights), and it also is the choice of every traveler to the country.
I was rather surprised to see how many tourists did come out on this incredibly miserable (due to wind gusts above 35 knots) day and made the almost two-hour journey through the valley.
Of course, some were better prepared, some dressed in shorts and city shoes, but this well-prepared trail allowed all to reach their destination safely.
And it was certainly worth it.
Look at Mt. Cook and the Hooker Glacier, covered in layers of gravel down below. Avalanches coming off the mountain every year are covering the ice, and at first, I didn’t even notice what I was looking at. The glacier hidden underneath a layer of gray.
Such a beauty, the mountain.
And the last day of our adventure in the mountains will be covered in next week’s photo essay…
This has been my weekly photo essay. Anyone can join. Once. Or weekly. It doesn’t matter. We welcome everyone! Dennett started this photography challenge in 2020 and many have participated ever since.
Dennett / Erika / Eileen / K. Barrett / Juan / David / Mia / Susan / LensAfield / Kim / Barbara / Diana / Barb / Sandra / Shruthi / Ellie / Pene / Olive / Gustavo / Jane / Penny / Jillian / Shell / Ivy / Lisa / Lynne and new to the team came Julia A. Keirns with “From Tennessee to Alabama”
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