23 January 2010

Morning light, Wanaka hills

One of the rewards of waking early

Dawn on the hills to the southwest of Wanaka township suggested a grey, dull day ahead. But shortly after six o’clock the sun slipped between the horizon and the blanket of low cloud and grazed the tussock and rock with a long streak of magnificent light. Soon after, it disappeared.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

10 comments:

Zhoen said...

Every day new.

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

This one ... I feel ... it feels molten ... and evokes Thoreau in his conclusion of "Walden": 'Only that day dawns to which we are awake.'

Jono said...

Lovely shot Pete. I love it when light "plays" on the hills like that. Looks like a crumpled duvet!

Laura and I are thinking of moving back to NZ at the end of year, can't wait to get out in the hills again..

Jono

Ruahines said...

Kia ora Pete,
What a great moment to be part of while it unfurls.
Cheers,
Robb

michael.offworld said...

Oh, you sure got me with this one.

pohanginapete said...

Zhoen, that's part of the excitement, I guess.

Barbara, thanks. A very apt quotation — the trick is in noticing what's there.

Jono, I'm sure you have some great memories of light on NZ mountains. I'll look forward to catching up when you're back; we'll have to check out some of those favourite Ruahine spots. (Saw Terry in Bivouac a few weeks ago — he'd just got back from a few days around the Pohangina tops: the weather was "diabolical". I'm sure you can imagine how he said that... ;^))

Robb, although I photographed this from the porch of a rented house rather than a camp high on the hills, it still looked lovely. Cheers :^)

Michael, thanks. I'm glad I got up in time to see this.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Wow. That's stunning!

pohanginapete said...

Cheers Brenda. I was certainly impressed.

Almanac said...

Love the light - God's torch. Finally got to visit Wanaka this summer but it rained almost the entire time. A must for a revisit.

pohanginapete said...

Thanks Al. Bad luck about the rain — we struck it very lucky. Definitely worth trying for a revisit. :^)