Mount Cook and Mount Sefton Photos

We awoke to a blue sky day. A few odd clouds came and went through the morning. We had decided to walk the Hooker Valley trail from Mount Cook village, a round trip of about 11 miles.

No clouds at all to start with. First shots were of Mount Sefton reflected in the lake at the foot of the Mueller Glacier. Then over 2 suspension bridges and a couple more miles to the lake at the bottom of the Hooker Glacier right below Mount Cook. The views were spectacular and I found a stream running into the lake for a bit of foreground interest. A low viewpoint helped to exaggerate the foreground water and reduce the blank section of lake water. I took lots of variations on a theme with various waterfalls in the foreground and Mount Cook in the background.

What a hot day! There was a breeze every now and then otherwise we would have fried. At last I have some clear shots of Mount Cook and the summit snowfields.

The day ended with drinks in the Alpine Bar at the hotel on the balcony looking out at both Mounts Cook and Sefton. The wind was gusting strongly here, so much so that one gust caught the sun umbrella which moved the table and spilled some of my beer, a cardinal sin!

Tomorrow we drive to Christchurch for 3 days before flying out on Wednesday. I collect my 99 rolls of processed Ilford FP4 Monday afternoon from Image Lab, hope they did them well as there were lots of good shots on them! Can’t wait to see what I have. Lots of night shots in Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland and Wellington and you’re never sure what you have until you see the negatives. Night photography is a bit of a lottery as I don’t have a light meter that works at low enough light levels.