On my road trip I stayed in Omarama  3 nights. The reason being I wanted to photograph the Lindis Pass and it was close to other places of interest. It  was these three days that  experienced the best times and the worse time of my two weeks.

Lets start with the best. I had a whole day with nothing on the agenda so decided to go to Mt Cook. I was thinking it is a bit touristy but I haven’t been to the Hermitage for a least 20 years so I will see whats changed. Short answer everything! I asked at the Hernitage if there was one walk I should do what would it be. They recommended the Hooker Valley walk as it was the most popular and relatively easy (ie no steep climbing necessary). Well they weren’t wrong.  Even though the carpark at the beginning of the walk was full of cars, the length of the walk seemed to have absorbed all the visitors so it wasn’t crowded. I even came across a chinese couple having their wedding photos at the first suspension bridge.

This walk must be one of the most beautiful walks in New Zealand .  Not beautiful in the sense of “pretty” (as discussed in a previous blog I don’t do pretty) but very dramatic. Three suspension bridges, wild rivers, tall mountains, and a glacier at the end with ice bergs floating in the lake. All we needed was some penguins or artic kiwis……But what makes this walk truly amazing is how accessible it is -providing you have a vehicle! Once you leave the carpark and head over the first rise you are there! The closest experience we get in Wellington is coming down the Ngauranga Gorge and seeing the view of the harbour.

When you come upon the first scene your jaw drops and you say “wow!” It was so impressive the first camera I picked up was my cell phone and I hate using cell phones as a camera. But I got this new HTC phone (HTC10) and its the first camera I got that takes those instant panoramas. So I shot the scene with a 180 degree twist of my waist . The shot was acceptible and ready to export it around the world with the limited social media skills I have. I really wanted to show everyone what a great place I’m in and hopefully make them just a little envious.

But back to the description ‘accessible.” How many other walks do you know where it starts being fantastic just a hop, skip and a jump from the carpark and continues being amazing for the next one and a half hours ending at a glacier? I did the Tongariro crossing and even with some training it took a bit of effort to get to the top (ie bloody tiring) and to top it off , it was so foggy I didn’t see a thing! This is so accessible that there is a chinese bride all the way from China wearing a wedding dress and her husband in a suit. Not exactly tramping attire!

It takes a lot to impress a cynical old curmudgeon  like me but this place did. I have even booked to stay in Twizel (not Omarama ) in January to take my family on this walk. And I would like to see it in the middle of winter with snow everywhere and hopefully spot some Artic Kiwis…. Maybe that would be my next road trip.

Before Omarama, I stayed in Ranfurly as it was convenient to St Bathans and Danseys Pass.  Ranfurly has come a long way since I last went through as a student. The motel (of the same name) was very clean and nice. The local hotel restaurant had great food and the place even had 2 Four Square  shops. Well thats progress …..competition.  Anyway I met this girl called Rose (aka Rose from Ranfurly) and my opening line was “when’s the baby due?”

She wasn’t pregnant…… great start Chris-how to win friends and influence people. She’s probably thinking who is this rude Asian. Hopefully she can tell from my accent  and limited English I’m not from NZ  but just another (rude?) Asian tourist. Lets blame the Chinese from Mainland China again. They seem to be the scapegoats for a lot of NZ woes like bad driving or Auckland house prices (both not true). At least they don’t freedom camp! We Chinese prefer hot showers and flushing toilets. However I digress….Yes the situation wasn’t good. One lone Chinese man in a bar full of burly farmers and he is insulting one of their locals. Where is Winston Peters when you need him? He should have the power to get (send) me home safely without getting hurt….

Anyway Rose from Ranfurly took it well after my apology and said she considered it a compliment as she was pass child bearing age. Whew, live for another day. And Rose did look young…… Anyway turns out Rose is a foodie and that explains the misdiagnoses. She asked me where I was heading and I said I got 3 nights in Omarama. Then she was less complimentary about the food in Omarama and apparently she had tried everything there. But she has a friend who runs a kebab place called “the Love Shack” and its the best food in the town as the owner makes all the sauces herself and is passionate about her food. Unfortunately I didn’t get to try her food as she wasn’t open in the morning near breakfast time, and I returned from my hunting late at night.

I did notice one thing though, I went to breakfast at this cafe that had a lot of Asian bus tourists visiting looking at souveniers. I needed to feel at home after the Ranfurly incident and it would be nice to feel anonymous again amongst a sea of black hair and brown eyes. Unfortunately I can’t speak mandarin but I can read english.

 On the menu was Eggs on Toast $12 -that sounded steep for me , but hey I’m Asian I can afford it! But the Scottish in me (must have rubbed off in me when I was training in Dunedin-epigenetics) said to check out across the road. There I had breakfast 2 days in a row. The cost of the  Eggs on Toast, $8.00! Wow, a 50% mark up just by crossing the road. Is that why the chicken crossed the road? To get more money for her eggs? Still to be fair I didn’t order the more expensive eggs on toast so I can’t compare the dishes directly, only menu prices. Maybe the expensive option had abalone, or manuka honey sprinkled on the toast or even served with a dash of XO brandy?

But the main point of this article is to let you know I stayed in the worse hotel room that I can remember since Kathmandu (35 years ago , Lonely Planet recommendation!). I have been in a few seedy motel rooms (really?) but this one takes the cake , or should say rotten eggs on toast?

All the bad reviews on Booking .com  were correct but I didn’t read these till after my stay. I chose this on price $120 a night instead of $160 upwards. Accomodation is expensive outside the main centres in the South Island -blame the epigenetics again. I tend to ignore negative reviews of accomodation in NZ as overall Kiwis have a high level of cleanliness and functionality. The room may be basic but still functional. Sometimes a lot of negative reviews are from tourists who expect 5 service and amenities  on 3 star prices. But boy was I wrong! Teach me to read the fine print next time.

First hint of things to come. On checking in the service was very matter of fact and on finishing registration she just pointed my attention to the Wifi number. No little piece of paper given to me with the number, no pen or paper offered to me to write it. She just expected me to remember it. Maybe seeing I was Chinese she expected me to be good with numbers, after all we invented the first calculator -the abacus, not the Casio.

Then when I climbed up to the room and opened the door , the smell. The room was so musty and warm. It smelt old, very old. I quickly opened the windows but they had no insect screens  so all the bugs can fly in. The carpet looked like an argument for decreasing biodiversity…. when was it last shampooed or vacuumed?

The sheets on the bed were unpressed and gave the impression the sheets had not been changed. So I had to apply the snift test. I wasn’t quite sure but it seemed clean. At least it wasn’t a sauvignon blanc with the the hint of gooseberry and cats pee….

The thought was would I survive my 3 nights here without oxygen? Would I be the first human to die in NZ from global warming and the green house effects?

Obviously I lived to tell the tale. There was no aircon or internal ventilation. But was there hot water? One review said there was no hot water. But I waited and waited  and literally 5 minutes later we got hot water. So every night and morning the first thing before doing anything was to turn on the hot water first.

I can see why there is a water problem in Central Otago. Everyone in the hotel (ie survivers) were leaving the taps running to wait for the hot water!

But at least the wifi worked….

I tried to go to the restaurant for dinner but it was empty and it didn’t exactly set the gastric juices on fire. The local pub was much better and friendlier.

On the morning of departure I was thinking what to say when on checking out as they normally ask “how was you stay”. I had my answer all ready with a list of issues. But again I was disappointed . The question never came The lady just talked about the weather and said see you later. I wonder why?

Next time I go through Omarama I must check out the kebab place but I definitely won’t be staying….

2.   View from Hooker Valley walk.

30 March 2017    Nikon D750    iso200    200mm    f11    1/45sec   Nikon 70-200mmf4

3.    Lindis Pass /Omarama Rd

  28 March 2017    Nikon D800    iso200    200mm    f16    1/20sec    Nikon 70-200mmf4

4.   Tekapo/Twizel Rd

31 March 2017    Nikon D800    iso 200    116mm    f7.1    1/160sec    Nikon 70-200mmf4

5.    31 March 2017    Nikon D800    iso200    70mm    f9.0    1/160sec    Nikon 70-200mmf4

6.   Naseby Diggins Rd

28 March 2017    iso200    24mm    f10    1/250sec    Nikon 24-70mmf2.8

7.   Loop Rd  St Bathans, near Cambrians

27 March 2017    Nikon D800    iso200    160mm    f7.1    1/160sec    Nikon 70-200mmf4

8.   Ranfurly Wedderburn Rd

27 March 2017    Nikon D800    iso200    35mm    f3.5    0.6sec    Nikon 24-70mm f2.8

Central Otago Evening Skyline    Ranfurly Wedderburn Rd

9.    27 March 2017    Nikon D800   iso200    95mm    f4.5    1/6sec    Nikon 70-200mmf4

Well the wifes not back  but the children are.

You had previously crossed out 2 weeks in your appointment book  to  go to Germany for a Dental trades show in Cologne. Then you decide not to go. So what do you do instead?

You go on another road trip  and leave the children at home-they’re old enough to look after themselves.

This time I fly to Christchurch and pick up a rental car for me and my three legged companion and we drive away into the sunset. Yes we are heading for the West Coast.

But wait, did I have an itinerary?  Did I know where I was going? Nope, not really, I only booked the first night in Arthurs Pass.This was the beauty of my plan and a long time dream. Just go and photograph with no time constraints or any other obligations -like wife waiting in the car!  You only need  fuel in the tank, and fresh water in the car. I did buy some fruit and a muesli bar as part of my survival kit if I did get stuck somewhere.

Just after picking up the car I dropped in to see my friend and mentor John Foster. He gave me lessons in the past on portrait photography and wedding photography. This time we sat in front of his laptop and John gave me a list of places  that I should visit. Most of them (should I say all) I had never even heard of. Places like Jacksons bay (below Haast), St Bathans (Central Otago), Hooker Valley (Mt Cook), Nugget Pt (Catlins) and the list goes on filling up the pages in my note book. John is a real expert on NZ and photographic locations as he runs photo tours regularly. I am especially grateful for John’s  willingness to share his knowlege.

To cut a two week story short, I had a great time, met wonderful people and other photographers along the way. You can tell the photographers from the tourist by their big cameras and long lenses. They also have their three legged companions and of different breeds. I took around 2400 shots but just a few made it to the website. My 5 and 4 star ratings (personal) make it to the Home page and Blog. The 3 star into the gallery. And the rest wait on my hard drive for their ultimate demise-“delete” or “reformat”. Actually its not really death row for the leftovers as I tend to keep then and eventually pass them over to another drive. As mentioned in a previous blog its amazing how you discover a “keeper’ months after or years down the track which you had previously passed over.

I have divided all my photos for the website into 3 separate subjects and release dates. The first being Aoraki/ Mt Cook and the Mckenzie Country area.

The second being The West Coast. And the third the Catlins.

You may also notice  that a lot of my photos are of insignificant objects or scenes. These are definitely not the beautiful great sweeping landscapes you see in the bookshops by famous NZ photograhers like Andris Apse and Petr Hlavacek- I visited both their galleries. The images I do are more what I call a photostudy  with a leaning towards photojournalism. This is an exercise in Light and how in just a few seconds it can change the scene, turning it from something mediocre into something magic. Its a bit like passing a South Island town- don’t blink otherwise you will miss it!

1.    Hooker Valley Walk. Mt Cook/Aoraki.

30 March 2017    Nikon D750    iso 200    f4.0    1/750sec    Nikon 24-70mmf2.8