A Day in the Plitvice Lakes, National Park

The second day at Plitvice, we started at entrance two, then got the shuttle bus up to entrance four.  At the entrance was some food you could buy - looked interesting, but we didn't indulge having been the supermarket on the way to stock up on a picnic lunch.

The start of entrance four - crystal clear lake water, and stunning reflections...

The only bird I ever saw the whole of the walk.  I had been hoping to see more bird life around, but they were avoiding me that day..

I had my Gorilla pod and my ND10 filter and did my best despite the number of tourists around us! The board walks moved when people walked on them, so I could never be sure if my images would turn out or not...

We started walking. Waterfall after waterfall. Just when you thought you could not see anything more beautiful, we would round a corner and another spot would take our breath away.  

The waterfalls came from everywhere - through trees - it was amazing.

We did catch up with this Yellow and Black lizard who waved at me as he went past... This is apparently a Fire Salamander who lives in Central Europe, and likes hilly areas and deciduous forests. They can apparently live for 50 years.

Spring was definitely on its way...

Oh look - another waterfall....

These little mayflies were everywhere and they feed the trout in the lakes..

Tourists like us taking photos..

The many trout in the crystal clear waters..

We slowly made our way down to the boats.  By 2pm – it was cold, raining, and we were hungry and thirsty.  We were ready to call it a day,but caught the boat to Entrance 3  but stopped in the café for a hot chocolate and had our lunch we had packed – cheese and bread.  The sun then came out again, and we found some more energy somewhere within  us.  We decided to keep  going back to the big waterfall at entrance 1, then get the shuttle back to the carpark at entrance two.  Rachel, Anne and Steven took the high road above the cliffs, but I decided to keep going around the lake edges as the last little bit looked steep for my balance.

My path was really pretty, and for a time I walked with a ranger.  We saw a water snake, and she told me the insects we kept seeing only appear in spring, and were between a caterpillar and butterfly, and fed the fish in the lakes.  She also told me that the route I was taking would take longer than the others, so I decided to walk a bit faster.  I needn’t have – I arrived first!

I heard this and wondered what it was so stuck around for ages until I finally saw it.  Being deaf is pain sometimes as I cannot tell direction, nor ascertain what it is until I see it.  He was loud though!

I would have loved to explore down there but that part of the lakes was closed.

One of my favourite images using the ND 10 Filter..

Finally at the bottom by the Big Waterfall, we awaited our turn on the seats...

By the time everyone else arrived, we had 15 minutes to get to the shuttle.  I tried to hurry everyone up, but it was useless so I gave up!  We finally got to Station 1 shuttle station 15 minutes too late, so we had to walk the last bit to our entrance which took another hour or so.  It was worth it though - look at the views...

I think Anne sums up very nicely what we were all feeling.  Energised from being outdoors all day, inspired by the absolute beauty around us, and happy from being in such good company and having such wonderful photo opportunities.

I came across this beetle while walking back to the carpark. - I can't identify it but it looked pretty.

By the time we got to the car we had been walking 11.5 hours!  I couldn’t believe it.  It was a very pretty walk though and well worth it. My foot was sore, but not overly so.

We went straight to the restaurant, with one detour – where I stopped to photograph a house with bullet holes in it.  The house stands empty – it was obviously badly damaged in the war.  The restaurant was not much further – and was lovely – wasn't expensive either.  I had the special of BBQ’d veal which just melted in your mouth.  It was so big too, I couldn't eat it all, even though I wanted to just for the taste!

Back to the apartment where we uploaded the photos to our computers then hit the sack!

Day 6 - Wanaka and Frogs

Day six of our Trip to Lake Wanaka dawned bright and sunny.  It had snowed overnight, so the morning was crisp and cool, but everything sparkly fresh and green.  This was at the beginning of September and I can guarantee with drought conditions, that the area will not be green like this at the moment!  We headed down to the man-made lake which is just by the lakeshore of Lake Wanaka, to take photos of reflections, blue sky, mountains, and more Lupins.  In this image, you can see wild Briar Roses, Purple and yellow Lupins, native trees and the snowcapped mountains beyond the lake..

Here's Liz photographing on the other side of the lake from me.  The Blues were amazing, but they were brought out further with the CPL filter on my lens.

And when the breeze calmed down a bit, we got the reflections I had wanted...

Huge dragonflies buzzed around, but they were very hard to photograph, hardly ever stopping...

More snowcapped mountain prettiness...

And even more reflections - I was in my element....

This was a pristine site for photography but something was really bugging me. The continual sound of a chainsaw in an otherwise beautiful calm morning. It was really getting my back up and I was just about to moan to Emily and Liz about it when something caught my eye....

And this is when I realised that there were no chainsaws in the area at all, but what I was hearing through my cochlear implant was a sound I hadn't really heard before in great detail.  Hundreds of frogs croaking....

I loved how they just floated on the top of the water, with the reflections making them look like they had four eyes, not two...

To get these photographs, one had to stand in the same place and be extremely still. The slightest movement then they stopped croaking and disappeared from the top of the water. As soon as you were stock still again, you would eventually hear their call, and then see them floating on top of the water again..

I loved seeing the Bullfrogs in action - how they puffed up their throats, which in turn sent out circular ripples...

I was actually surprised how large their throats expanded without exploding!!

At first when I processed these images I thought the black spots were dust on my camera lens - but later I realised they were insects floating on the water.  The frogs would suddenly leap and get these insects. I was never fast enough to get the image though!

And just a reminder to what it was like around this man-made frog lake, lupins and mountains all around. Jealous?

Here's another Bullfrog.

I love the way they floated on the water too - they seemed to use their webbed feet as a floatation device... 

Note the insect getting closer to this frog. Once again I missed the action of the tongue snatch and grab - they were so fast!

It was such a gorgeous morning, even the damselflies were enjoying the day making out in public areas not caring that we were watching.  I almost felt like I was intruding...

A hop step and a jump away from the man-made lake, was Lake Wanaka - (which isn't man-made!)).  The beach was full of bright yellow lupins and I'm sure this tree will not be in the lake now, as I believe the water levels are now very low after our summer...

Kayakers were enjoying the morning and scenery..

The little beach I was on...

Emily with her big lens taking photos of the Kayakers as they were passing.  I was sitting on a rock with my feet in the water as my foot was so sore - at this stage I hadn't realised I had broken it.  The cold of the lake was bliss on the ankle.

This is such a stunning place for photography. Can't wait to get back there again. Seeing the frogs was magic as you rarely see them anywhere.. They are starting to become endangered.