Sometimes landscape photography is a lot like hunting waves. Last week I found myself hunkered down on one small flat rock in a patch of speargrass tucked right up high beneath the Remarkables Range in Queenstown as the sun started to slip into the Tasman Sea. I had found a spot that gave me a pretty impressive view of Queenstown with Lake Wakatipu stretching to the centre of frame, out to the horizon and down to Kingston. Now all I needed was the clouds to play the game and the burst of light from sunset to match the lights of the bustling metropolis of Queenstown (seriously bustling, the queues for Fergburger were 60 minutes at least!). How could anything go wrong? I lay on the rock and waited.
I knew full well that there was a southerly front due, but I hadn't accounted for the northwest flick that was determined to flood my set with buckets of rain. At the start the rain showers cast the whole set into hues of pink and apricot – not what I had in mind, but pretty spectacular all the same as they filtered through each ridgeline as it plummeted into Lake Wakatipu. Then, just as the stars were aligning with the lights of town and the ambient glow of post-sunset, the rain set in and ruined my plans. Skunked.
I retreated in near darkness with the occasional stab from a hidden speargrass mound adding salt to my bruised ego. I got a great shot, there's one below, but missed the one I went there for. Sounds a lot like surfing doesn't it? I guess if it was all too easy we'd all be doing it. And in some ways the prospect of another visit to one flat rock in a precarious position in a sea of speargrass beneath the Remarks gives me another adventure to look forward to.
Our other adventure this week was taking the family down to surf in the Colac Bay Classic – a ripper surf contest put on by the team at Southland Board Riders and delivered with absolute style. You can read about the event here. And find out more about the club here – join even, it's worth it.
See you at the beach ... Derek
PS The Emerson's South Island Surf Championships are on this weekend at St Clair. Rumour has it Richard Emerson has even brewed a special beer for the ocassion: The Shark Bell. Bring on the waves ...
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