ANZAC Day

A very moving service, reminding us all once again of the human cost of war...

Busker man...

The original pic before adding PS 'Poster Edges' filter.

The Ancient Mariner mk II

My alternative mariner........

The B-I-G boat...

The pictures hardly do it's size justice!

This ship doesn't just carry planes - it can carry the SHIP that carries the planes!!!

See here for some details about the Blue Marlin........

Welcome to winter......

Got up early to head to town to see the big ship come in and was shocked to find winter had arrived. Couldn't resist this bit of frost-graffitti on my sunroof!!!

Lake Matheson

This is a very typical and very much reproduced (but nevertheless, beautiful!) view of the reflections of Mount Cook and the Southern Alps in Lake Matheson. You have to be up very early to get to the lake before even the lightest of breezes begins to scoot over the lake if you want to get perfect mirror-image reflections. I was in no rush this morning so had to settle for the slightly more wrinkled reflections! Still, it's gorgeous anyway - and I was pretty lucky to see the top of Mount Cook which is usually shrouded in cloud.

Arrowtown cottages

OK - so it's a cliched pic - but i still love it! These are old miners cottages from the Arrowtown gold rush in about the 1860-70's. They're mostly businesses now and, because of their historical nature they're protected buildings. Very quaint!

Duck!

I've included this ducky pic simply because I like the reflection and the fact that you can see her body under the water.

She'd made a duck dive to go get some grub from down below and I decided to pan with her and see if I could catch a good shot of her swimming under water. This pic was by far the best, although the focus is poor. I still like it's unusual aspect though....

Both sides of the camera..........

I enjoyed taking this 'alternative' to the beautiful, scenic shot....... I'm not sure whether this guy was shooting the beauty or the ducks!!

Old farm building.......

An old Wedderburn farm building that looked pretty cool. Don't think I'd want to venture into it though with that big crack right through it!

The view from the top.....

This is the view from the 'high point' of the Rail Trail............a massive 618m above sea level and 448m above the start at Clyde (which, by my calculations, means that we'd climbed a humungous 170m through the 75kms ride!!)

How many sheep can you spot??

Start of the Ride

Well - this isn't the 'official' start to the Rail Trail but we were told that the ride along the river was much more interesting and scenic. It's a handful of kms longer but very well worth the extra.

Ahhhhh.......refreshment - and warmth!

The first leg of our Otago Rail Trail trip necessitated a stop at Chatto Creek for some liquid refreshment and a few hots chips!!