One of the things I really like about travelling is having some flexibility in the plans to adapt to local information... after such a magic morning at the Moeraki Boulders, I needed to make it to Queesntown to meet up with the group of other photographers but I didn't have a fixed plan for the route... I discussed the different options with the motel owner when I checked out and got recommendations for things to see along the way...
Overall it's a very interesting drive across much of the width of New Zealand... every corner was a temptation to stop and explore... from one of the largest gold mines in the southern hemisphere at Macreas Flat to the home of Curling in Naseby... since I live in the south of Germany, i found it funny to see a Black Forest Cafe in Naseby so I definitely had to stop and have lunch there... it was really good food and I struck up a conversation with some locals at the next table... turns out they were hanging a selection of Night photos from around the world to prompt the listing of the local area as a Dark Sky reserve... I got a sneak peek as I was going to miss the main show and end up helping them setup some parts of the exhibit :-)
After lunch, I moved further down the road and made a stop in St Bathans, another old mining community... they have taken the time to really preserve the old buildings and ruins in the village and lots of information around town on the inhabitants during the glory days... the weather wasn't the best for photography (very flat cloudy skies) so I was more in tourist mode than photographer mode but that was soon to change...
As I left St Bathans and headed back to the main road, I was struck by some dead trees I could see beside the road... turns out they were in the middle of a dam beside the road... since it was clearly private property, I approached the local farmer to get permission to take enter the his fields... I think he was surprised there was anything photogenic on his farm...
2 minute exposure... Phase One XF IQ250, Mamiya 24mm Fisheye, Nisi 3 Stop Medium GND and 6 Stop ND, Custom holder
I hope you'll agree it was worth the stop... I really enjoy the long exposure effect of smoothing the water and clouds... by the time I was finished here, the rain clouds were starting to roll in and I still had approx two hours drive to get to Queenstown... there were so many other places I could have stopped along the way so it just means I need to go back and spend some more time in the area... I rolled into Queenstown and got checked into the Heritage Hotel before jet lag kicked in... as luck would have it, the others from the group were just meeting for dinner so it was a good time to sit down and get to know some new friends