Autumn in the Waitaki Valley/Mackenzie Country, New Zealand

[kiwiapple]

This past week the autumn colours in my part of New Zealand were just about at their peak so I made a few trips up from my town of Oamaru along the Waitaki Valley to capture them for posterity. For those of you unfamiliar with New Zealand, the Waitaki River flows from Mt Cook/Aoraki, our tallest mountain, to the Pacific Ocean. It was first dammed in the 1930s as a Depression-era works project, which led to the formation of New Zealand's national health system as the workers who had become accustomed to having their health needs looked after for them demanded that the practice continue even after the project was done. The Waitaki River has been dammed a few more times since then, and is a large source of electricity for the country, with a cable even taking power from here, deep within the South Island, across the strait to the North Island (where the majority of our population lives). This is why you see so many transmission wires in several of the photos.

The Alps2Ocean cycle trail, the longest in NZ at 312 km, wends its way from Mt Cook along the Waitaki River all the way to the sea in Oamaru. You can see some locals enjoying the trail in one of the photos.

 

[AlanLichty]

Beautiful fall colors and a delightful set of images. The reflections in the last image are gorgeous.

 

[JimFox]

Hey James, it's so cool to see fall colors in the spring!

My favorites are #3 and 4.

What a long bike trail. That would be so cool to do, and to end up at the ocean.

Do you have Aspen and Cottonwoods? They appear to mostly be golden colors.

 

[kiwiapple]

Hey James, it's so cool to see fall colors in the spring!

My favorites are #3 and 4.

What a long bike trail. That would be so cool to do, and to end up at the ocean.

Do you have Aspen and Cottonwoods? They appear to mostly be golden colors.

Ahem, it’s a well-known fact that when God created the world, He started in New Zealand. He reached into his bag and sprinkled the place with beautiful lakes, mountains, birds, etc, and then worked His way east, doing the same in the Americas, Europe and Africa, then Asia. By the time He reached Australia, the bag was virtually empty, so all he had left was red dirt and poisonous animals. (At least, that’s what we in NZ believe.) So autumn is meant to be from March through May, what you guys do in the North is all cattywampus.

I don’t think we have aspens or cottonwoods here. There are a lot of poplars though, along with beech and others. As far as I understand, most NZ native species are evergreen (but I may be wrong—I’m an immigrant!)

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Very nice and colorful images. Looks like a fun place to explore. A suggestion, if I may. In the last image the leaves in the upper right corner distracts - cloning that out should be pretty simple.

 

[kiwiapple]

Very nice and colorful images. Looks like a fun place to explore. A suggestion, if I may. In the last image the leaves in the upper right corner distracts - cloning that out should be pretty simple.

Actually, I agree--and I thought I did clone them out in my "to be shared" version, but apparently not. I've now fixed it!

 

[Ben Egbert]

Beautiful display of fall color

 

[JimFox]

Ahem, it’s a well-known fact that when God created the world, He started in New Zealand. He reached into his bag and sprinkled the place with beautiful lakes, mountains, birds, etc, and then worked His way east, doing the same in the Americas, Europe and Africa, then Asia. By the time He reached Australia, the bag was virtually empty, so all he had left was red dirt and poisonous animals. (At least, that’s what we in NZ believe.) So autumn is meant to be from March through May, what you guys do in the North is all cattywampus.

I don’t think we have aspens or cottonwoods here. There are a lot of poplars though, along with beech and others. As far as I understand, most NZ native species are evergreen (but I may be wrong—I’m an immigrant!)

Ha ha.... well I might even be inclined to believe that story!

Looking back at these, #5 has now become my favorite of the group.