On the climb from Ngamoko hut to the top of the range last week, I stopped in the relative shelter of a hollow in the track about ten minutes before the summit. Cloud shadows slid across the mountainsides below and short sections of the Pohangina river appeared, grey and glinting, before disappearing around yet another bend. Down there somewhere, the whio I hadn't seen would have hidden themselves away for the day, under some log jam or overhanging boulder; here, wind lashed the snowgrass and a branch of leatherwood rubbed against another, making a sound like a small, strange bird. Morning sunlight crept through the tangle of tough, low tupare and lit a few of the leathery leaves from behind. Dense thickets of tupare can drive a person to the brink of despair, but fortunately the route back to the car never required me to push through more than a few knee-high metres of this tenacious plant. I almost felt an affection for it.
[25 April 2012, Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 45 mm, ISO 100, 1/40 at f8]
All content © 2012 Pete McGregor
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