Plums, ripening

Just back from an extended weekend in Wellington, so here's a placeholder. Plums galore, but they're still ripening, and even when fully ripe they're not the best. The birds beg to differ, though.



[2 January 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 100–300 mm at 300 mm, ISO 200, 1/400 at f5.6]


All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Some days I feel like this

Not today, though. :^)


[24 January 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 100–300 mm at 246 mm, ISO 400, 1/15 at f5.6]

All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Oroua River, evening

The Oroua a couple of weeks back ran high and swift; the whio were nowhere to be seen. They can handle water like this with ease, though, so I guess they simply moved somewhere less affected by the flooding — perhaps a short way up a side creek, where the rocks from which they gleaned caddises and other invertebrates might have emerged faster from the floodwaters. By now, the pair we'd seen here shortly after Christmas might be back in this very spot.



[9 January 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, 1/8 at f11]

All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Ridgeline above mid Pohangina hut

On Monday, Jesse and I walked to mid Pohangina hut, hoping we'd see whio. We did — we watched a pair on the evening river, saw them first as they worked their way upstream, feeding, sometimes climbing out of the water onto a rock to preen a little before resuming their foraging. Later in the evening the female flew from downriver to alight on the pool in front of the hut. She swam around, calling, and climbed out onto a rock right in front of us as if posing. We saw the pair for the last time later still, a little way downstream. Cloud had lowered, hiding the tops in grey, ominous mist, but by morning the weather had cleared a little and shortly after I rose, warm sunlight hit the ridge on the far side of the valley.

Fewer people visit mid Pohangina hut than many of the other Ruahine huts (probably because much of the  track comprises a dispiriting series of descents and climbs into and out of deep gullies and has enough ongaonga to pretty much guarantee getting stung). The rewards can be well worth the effort, though.


[19 January 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 100–300 mm at 100 mm, ISO 200, 1/160 at f8]

 All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Dawn in the fjords of Chile [II]

As the dawn grew brighter we passed by mountains reminiscent of the Torres del Paine. I wanted to stop and explore, and wondered who might have been lucky enough to have done that. The possibilities seemed endless.



[6 December 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 29 mm, ISO 100, 1/50 at f11]

All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Dawn in the fjords of Chile

The berths on the Evangelista were only slightly larger than coffins, yet I slept wonderfully every night. Perhaps that was why I was also up early each day, sometimes before sunrise, so I got to see the first light, then the first sunlight striking the mountains, the islands. For the first day and a half from Puerto Natales we sailed through an almost incomprehensibly complex landscape of islands, and I couldn't help wondering when anyone last set foot on some of these places.


[6 December 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 100, 1/20 at f11]

All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Puerto Natales from the Evangelista

Late in the evening we boarded the Evangelista to sleep there for the night so we could leave at dawn the next day. The wild Patagonian sky didn't augur well for a friend's trek in the Torres del Paine National Park — in New Zealand, clouds like these mark a nor'wester and warn one to stay out of the mountains. But here the sky often looks like this and one learns not to pay too much attention to the forecasts. The trails in Torres del Paine are well trodden and well marked, and foot bridges provide safe river crossings in all but the worst weather.

Puerto Natales looked nondescript and uninspiring from the ferry, but I liked it; the town had grown on me. I stayed on deck until late, reluctant to turn away and accept I'd almost certainly never see Puerto Natales again.


[6 December 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 200, 1/25 at f8]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

Oroua river near Iron Gate hut

Yesterday I returned to Iron Gate hut with a good friend and his three boys. I'd hoped to show them whio, but the flood of the previous day had receded only slightly and the pair of whio I'd seen there shortly before New Year were nowhere to be seen. I assume they sought shelter elsewhere, perhaps up one of the side creeks. This shows a typical section of the river where we searched late in the evening.



[8 January 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 20 mm, ISO 200, 1/15 at f11]

All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Bridge, Laguna de los Tres trail

A small footbridge near the start of the final, steep section of the trail to Laguna de los Tres. On our return from the laguna, I'd skipped quickly down the trail, enjoying the feel of moving lightly over the boulders. I stopped to photograph this lovely little footbridge, then waited for Sophie and Janine at the shelter a minute or two further down the trail.

Janine smiled at me. "Pete the mountain goat", she said. I trust she was referring to my nimble footwork over the rocky trail rather than my smell.



[14 November 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 100, 1/13 at f14]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

Laguna de los Tres

In Argentina's Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, Australians Sophie and Janine and I walked from El Chalten to Laguna de los Tres on a wild, grim day. No one stayed long at the top, where the bitter cold turned the rain to ice and the wind drove it near horizontally. Fitz Roy reared into the cloud beyond the laguna, but  we could see almost nothing of this mountain, which in clear weather dominates the skyline. It didn't matter.

A long walk, cold and wet at times, but the mood of the place and the excellent company made it a day to remember.



[14 November 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 100, 1/100 at f14]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

Evangelista, moving through the Chilean fjords

The first two days on the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt took us through spectacular landscapes, and even the time on the Golfo de Penas, where seasickness can quickly afflict those unwise enough not to have taken dramamine, proved a delight because of the birds — albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters — following the ship.Not much to see on the final day, although those of us on deck early did see the spouts of many whales in the distance. I managed to get the binoculars onto one directly ahead, and given the size and the presence of the dorsal fin, this was almost certainly a blue whale.

If you're thinking of doing this journey, I suggest embarking at Puerto Montt for the trip south to Puerto Natales. This gets the largely uneventful day over first, while the novelty of sailing's still fresh. After that, the journey becomes increasingly spectacular.

[New post up on Pohanginapete.]



[9 December 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 14 mm, ISO 100, 1/3 at f11]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor

Beagle Channel boats, Ushuaia

At Ushuaia I found myself constantly looking along the Beagle Channel. Somewhere out there, Tierra del Fuego ends and Cape Horn faces the Drake Passage. Beyond that, Antarctica.

What is that draws us so strongly to these places; compels us to keep moving onwards?





[26 November 2011, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 100–300 mm at 100 mm, ISO 200, 1/640 at f11]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor