The Shipwreck

I recently spent a couple of days off and on, cleaning out my laptop of all my photos.  Saving them onto an external HDD and just looking to see what I have sitting there doing nothing.  While cleaning them out, I came across our walk to the Shipwreck at the Wairau Lagoons back in February 2011, while Steven was here.  That shows you just how far behind I am and I doubt that I'll ever catch up now, unless I stop taking photos for several years.  That's pretty unlikely to happen!

Blenheim has it's own shipwreck and it's very easy walking distance, and completely flat.  So even with my sore ankle, it's doable. Well it was last year, I doubt I could do it at the moment.  but to show you how easy it is, I've taken a few photos...  Nice flat easy walking...  The signs say it takes 3 hours return - but it's an easy 30-40 minutes to the shipwreck, so you don't need 3 hours for the walk.

Looking to the right over to the Mt Vernon cliffs.  Notice the love Marlborough blue skies?  We get that.  Alot!  Cloudless hot summers and although the 2011/12 summer wasn't that good, Autumn has been fantastic.

Here we are - From left to right - Debbie, Sheila, Carolyn and Steven.  There's *always* one or two people that don't look at the camera isn't there?

Along the river bed.  Usually there's lots of bird life, but that day seemed to be devoid of it.  All hiding.

Here's the first glimpse of the shipwreck.  Seems to be floating in a field of grass!! 

Determined to get to the shipwreck and taking the walk seriously!!  Note that the girls all have their feet off the ground. Steven did have to spoil it at the back there!!!

Looking back the way we came over to the Wither Hills.. 

The same image but this time with all sky - I like all sky images, but it's not for everyone.  It would be interesting to know what people do prefer though - so if you prefer all sky images or otherwise, leave me a message to let me know.  I like them because they are more minimalistic.

Closer to the shipwreck.  It's been described as a quasi-shipwreck - not a real one.  It was a steamer built in 1883 which did its last voyage in 1928 carrying supplies and miners to the goldfields of the West Coast.  It was then dismantled and towed to the Wairau River Mouth where it was then scuttled to make a breakwater.  However, the weather interrupted the scuttling and it floated into the lagoon where it still rests 80 years later.  It's since lying there for exploration, and has been used for army practise in the past as well..

Which might account for some of these holes...

The late afternoon sun threw our shadows onto the rusting hulk.  The sun brought out the beautiful colours though... 

Looking towards the sea - I walked over this mud trying to get an image from the other side, but the mud was sticky and well... muddy.  I gave up as it was making it difficult to walk!

Of the five of us, 3 of us had our cameras there that day - and Carolyn and Steven took every opportunity like myself to get every conceivable angle!

 Sheila had other ideas.

She explained to the rest of us landlubbers what it was like up there.  However, with my balance and foot, I didn't particularly want to cut myself on rusty metal!

Carolyn tried though...

And that was as far as she got - stuck!!!

It made a good opportunity for a photoshoot though!  With the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

The land was so flat you can see for miles...

The sun was dropping lower and lower so we started heading back...

The light on the wither hills was magic..

Debbie and Sheila got ahead of the photographers...

The pathway is along the river, but when you're on the path, you can't see a thing as it's so flat.

You can tell there had not been much rain due to the cracks in the mud.  The evening light made it really interesting though and I had to stop and study and photograph it.

I've grown to love this sight - the hills never look the same - every evening is totally different.   

Ducks going home ....

All in all - a lovely stroll in the late afternoon - I recommend it to anyone visiting.  Probably the easiest and flattest walk in the South Island.

The area also has about 70 species of birds that breed there.  There is also a large spoonbill population in the area.

I must go back again soon.

Wairau Lagoons

Back in March shortly after I moved into my new house, the Marlborough Camera Club had a field trip to the Wairau Lagoons. I slept in too late and missed the meeting time!! So I flagged it. It was early March and still very hot and dry, and when I saw some of the photos of the dried cracked riverbeds that the other members had taken, I decided I'd go up anyway.

Unfortunately, by the time I did get there, we had had a day or two of heavy rain. However, I still got some interesting shots....

Here's the entrance.  On the left are the Marlborough Poo Ponds, but once you get past those, the whole of the area opens up before you...

Quite a few board walks over the swampy bits. I was hoping for more bird life, but unfortunately there was very little that day. I probably needed to get there a bit earlier in the morning, or later in the day!

Here's looking back to where we were walking from. Guillemette and Brian were with me, Guillemette was walking on the boardwalk, and Brian is lagging behind somewhere!

As I said before, the whole area opens up to this huge wide expanse that is absolutely gorgeous. The paths were easy to walk on, and as one can see, not too many hills!!!

When taking photos, I like to take them in different positions to get a different perspective, not just the same photo from the standing up position. The more you move around your camera, the more chance you get of having a winning shot. This one is far from a winning shot, but one I like all the same!

I love the colour of the grasses, and the way the wind sweeps them into different positions reflecting the light. The blue sky in contrast really sets it off as well.

The Wither Hills make a perfect backdrop in this setting.

Even though the rains had filled the creeks, evidence of the dry cracked empty riverbed w as still there...

The water was pretty clear and unpolluted as you can see from this close up the river. I am determined to go back this coming summer when it's bone dry!

This is as far as we got, simply because my ankle still very sore and I couldn't walk long distances on it. How I hope this surgery has worked so I can start walking again soon! As you can see there are two ways to the shipwreck. I've heard now that the best time to go is late afternoon, so that's what I'll be doing in January!

On our way back to the car, I didn't find a dried up riverbed, but I did find a dried up pond.

I took a close up image of it - almost looks like dried up cow dung!

Finally, I stitched 6 images together to make one huge panormama of this area. Those hills far in the distance on the left is the North Island, to the Wither Hills on the right, and the path we were on in the middle. This gives you an idea of the expanse we experienced on our walk.

If you click on the image, it will come up on your screen in a bigger view to get more of an idea.

I'm definitely going back!