#thatwanakatree

The alarm went off at 4.30am for our 5.15am departure.

Our destination for our sunrise shoot was Lake Wanaka – location of our recent flying exploits. It was pitch dark pretty much all the way; we timed it perfectly right as the light set the sky on fire just as we reached our sunrise location.

A tree.

Not just any tree, a very famous tree. It is said to be one of the most photographed trees in all New Zealand. It has its own Facebook page, and to date 10,380 posts on Instagram.

Funnily enough, The Guardian had an article about that very tree only a few days ago. It makes fascinating reading, and I for one couldn’t agree with it more and Gilbert van Reenen’s words resonate with me.

There were close to twenty photographers there this morning.

Andy and I have been discussing this very subject recently. Do we want to take the view, or create our own images? The landscape around us is spectacular and Autumn has brought us a softer light to work with. We’re still debating this one.

Maybe the difference is taking the photo as a landscape photographer and not as a result of social media and the ‘oh look, I’ve been there and here’s my selfie with the tree’.

Ignore me. I’m just annoyed that people are hurting a tree for narcissistic tendencies.

The colours in the sky were beautiful, and it was peaceful. We had clouds in the sky I’d never seen before; pancake shaped.

We stopped in Wanaka for breakfast. The Beanie Café didn’t look much from the outside but the food was very tasty. And the best bit? Our breakfast came with a bit of parsley which resembled the tree. A coincidence?

The journey back took us via the bra fence again. Back in Queenstown, we checked out of our hotel and went off in the opposite direction towards Glenorchy.

We stopped by the side of the lake. There’s a very old derelict pier, and that made a good foreground to the lake and the mountains. It was a lovely spot, and I was happy to shoot abstract. Lots of stones and driftwood to keep me busy. Swatting away the usual sandflies, I looked up in time to see the rainbow.

I did enjoy our morning’s excursions. Being in one place and having time to look around.

For lunch, we went back to The Boat Shed and just like yesterday, the food was awesome.

And then we were back on the road… to Te Anau. The drive seems shorter every time; this being our fifth time now. We checked into our hotel and got ready to go out for our sunset shoot. Andy managed to get himself a cup of tea.

Our sunset location was just out of town, a t-shaped jetty over Lake Te Anau. The light fizzled out so the group left for an early dinner. We stayed back another fifteen minutes or so and walked back into town.

We stopped at The Redcliff Café – a replica settler’s cottage – for a glass of Otago Pinot Noir.

Back in our room. The usual frantic hour – downloading photos, writing and uploading the post, getting our stuff ready for the morning and showers.

You won’t believe our start time in the morning…

4 thoughts on “#thatwanakatree”

  1. Loving the horizontal rainbow! And the genetically modified parsley. I’m glad you didn’t take a picture of the Bra fence.

  2. That sure is a photogenic tree – given the weather you have experienced surprised you didn’t get a water logged shot per G

    1. Our photographic leader’s been there many times and has never seen it water logged. Go figure.

Comments are closed.