NZ Travelogue Day 13

Wanaka
Wanaka is Otago's second resort town after Queenstown. 

 A trip to Puzzleword is highly recommended. Full of optical illusions.

 I was really fascinated by the walls of faces which turn as I move in front of them.

 And see how tall I am compared to Jo in this room!

 A visit to the Roman toilets is a must.

 Lake Wanaka, the fourth largest lake in NZ.

  Didn't know that people watching can be so interesting.

Where is the snow?
The lake supposedly reflects the snow-capped peaks of the Mount Aspiring National Park.

The water is crystal clear and would have been still, can do without the ducks and the boats.

The lake side was crowded with people engaged in different activities. It seems that we are the only foreigners.

Wonder how the boy got up on the tree.

 

What a relaxing afternoon we had by the lake. 

To top it up, we had ice-cream to cool ourselves in the warm weather.

After a day in Wanaka, we travelled west. On the way, we stopped at a lookout point on another side of Lake Wanaka and had a last shot of the lake.

NZ Travelogue Day 10 to 12

Dunedin

The drive from Te Anau to Dunedin took us past agricultural lands. Not fantastic views. And we were driving in wet weather too.

 The weather remained wet. The highlight of the day was sighting of  Queen Elizabeth moving out of the harbour. A few minutes' view after nearly 2 hours wait in the car along the wharf. And we were not alone. The magnificent cruise ship was anchored for only a few hours on our first day in Dunedin.

Captured the tip of the Otago Peninsula thru my lens while waiting for the cruise ship. The cape is the nesting ground for albatross.

After a day in the Dunedin city visiting the art gallery, we spent the following day back to the nature. Cruising the car through a series of S bends alongside the harbour was quite an experience. It's so windy too. Trying to walk straight at the Albatross Centre was a challenge.

The day ended with us looking at the Pacific Ocean along St Kilda beach.
At last, Blue sky again.

Day 12 - another long driving day from Dunedin to Wanaka. Weather cleared up as we left Dunedin city. On the way we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the shore of Lake Dunstan.
Glad to return to the mountains and lakes again.

NZ Travelogue Day 7 to 9

Te Anau, Manapouri, Milford Sound

Lake Te Anau is  the largest lake in the South Island and the second largest lake in NZ.

   

417m deep and 64 km long.

It is so relaxing walking on its shore and watching the activities around the lake.

Just sitting and looking at the water is equally enjoyable. 

We stayed at Te Anau for 3 nights, and used it as the base to travel to Manapouri and Milford Sound.

Lake Manapouri, about 20 mins drive from Te Anau.

Enjoyed looking at the moving, ever changing clouds and the reflections on the water.
Simply a magical place.

 This photo was captured on the way to Milford, which is about 2 hours drive from Te Anau.

Beautiful colours.

The magic of the Mirror Lakes, small tarns situated roadsides on the way to Milford. They give clear reflections of the mountains around them.

Milford Sound. 

The weather was rather dull when we got on a cruise ship that took us around the sound out to the angry Tasman Sea.

This place experiences about 200 days of rain every year. Because of this,  waterfalls spring up everywhere.

    

The cruise ship took us right underneath the massive waterfall. FANTASTIC!

 

Good bye, Milford Sound, another magical place.

NZ Travelogue Day 4 to 6

Lake Tekapo to Queenstown

After checking out from Lake Tekapo cottage, we made our way to Queenstown. On the way we stopped at a charming little place for a nice cup of coffee.

Next stop: Arrowtown. The Chinese came to Arrowtown in search of gold  in the 1860s. Where they lived has become a heritage site "Chinese Settlement' which is an open air museum showing the remains of the houses they inhabited.

 Our first morning in Queenstown happened to be a Saturday. There was an art and craft market by the wharf.  While visiting some art galleries in the town centre, we were rather impressed by the oil  paintings of an artist TimWilson who creates as many as 30 layers of paint in his landscape paintings.

 Queenstown, a gold rush town in the 1800s,  situates by the edge of Lake Wakatipu which is about 80km long.

 A rather dull day.  Well, this created the right atmosphere to visit Glenorchy, a rural village. To travel to Glenorchy, we drove along the side Lake Wakatipu to its northern tip, a 50 mins car ride.

Two islands in the lake
- Pigeon and Pig.



 Why visit Glenorchy?  This place is a backdrop to many scenes in the movie 'Lord of the Rings'.

It is really a small quiet village, with hardly any signs that show that the stars of the film have been there.

Next day - Day 6, we made our way to Te Anau - the gateway to Milford Sounds.

NZ Travelogue Day 1 to 3

Lake Tekapo / Mt Cook

 February 14 2012.   Arrived in Christchurch. After an overnight stay at the Christchurch, we traveled to Lake Tekapo - a 3 hour drive in the Mackenzie District.

 On arrival, we were greeted with the beautiful turquoise blue lake. 
The colour of the lake is created by 'rock flour' suspended in the water. The glaciers in the headwaters of Tekapo grind rocks into fine dust on their journey down towards the lake. The flour when combined with sunlight creates the unique blue colour.

 February 16 morning 

The three musketeers - Jo, David and Gek on the summit of Mount John.

Morning tea/coffee at the Astro Cafe on the summit where one can enjoy a bird eye's view of Lake Tekapo. Local operator runs a tour to view the night skies at the Mt John Observatory but it was too cloudy the 2 nights when we were there.

Lake Pukaki

We drove by the side of this lake on way to Mt Cook. About 90km to drive from Lake Tekapo, but we enjoyed the scenery every moment.

Coming closer to Mt Cook.

 There it is. Magnificent view!

At 3754 metres, Aoraki/Mt Cook is the highest mountain in NZ.

While these 2 were enjoying the afternoon tea/coffee at an cafe, I was busy taking some arty photos like this:

Before leaving the Mt Cook National Park we drove up the Tasman Valley Road and took a steep walk up to  view the remnant of the Tasman Glacier. A pool of milky water. Very sad.

WALL to WALL art

A week after passing by an art installation on a wall in George Town, Penang,

I  saw another wall art - this time at the Singapore EXPO Centre - a 12th Century Chinese Scroll, QingMing Shanghe Tu - from the Song Dynasty. It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today's Kaifeng.  With the use of modern technology, the people and animals come alive on the scroll.

 

From Abstract to Face

 After spending the last 3 years in painting abstracts, I decided to switch to faces.
More faces have appeared in my studio since October 2011.

FRIENDS, each face is on a 16 inch x 20 inch canvas.