The Southern Alps

This is an image of the Southern Alps (New Zealand's major mountain chain) in the middle of winter. The lake is one of central Canterbury's many glacial lakes, Lake Tekapo. The Southern Alps run the entire length of the South Island and rise up to about 4000 meters straight out of the sea. New Zealand's highest mountain, Mount Cook (approx 4000 meters) is in this area.

The photo was taken from the top of Mount John when I was there using the telescopes. Mount John is New Zealand's major observatory - the main 'scope is a 1 meter reflector and there are many others as well (have a look at Mount John from the road here).

This photo wasn't processed particularly well and the contrast and colour balance aren't too good. It can be a bit of a "lottery" with the quality of both the film and processing sometimes. The blue colours are fresh and crisp and depict the general feeling of the area at this time of year (cold - it was snowing the next day!)