Southern sojourn 2

Listening to: Mash ups on Active

Splode

As promised in a real life conversation, here is a clip of a mountain blowing itself to pieces.
(Mt St Helens, Washington State US, May 1980).


More Pretty Pics

To the Glaciers and Ch Ch
Mitre Peak close up. It was raining when we left Te Anau, but by the time we got to Lake Hawea things had gotten epic again.
Fox Glacier in the early evening. Not that you could tell, having lost the sun again somewhere near Haast.
In the river beds below the glaciers you frequently come across scattered bits of ice left behind after flash flooding. The ice is quite cool (no pun intended). It doesn't look like freezer ice; it is more like lots of air bubbles frozen togother.

In the still evening after settling into our accomodation at Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson was investigated. Unfortunately, Mt Cook was obscured. That said, it was generally agreed that we wouldn't have known which one was Mt Cook even if it were visible, so obscuration is likely a moot point.


Morning sun illuminated Franz Josef Glacier quite nicely. I loved the glaciers. I got a sense of immense power combined with immense vulnerability from them.

Typical West Coast driving scenery on the way north out of Franz Josef. On the dash is Sheepish (he's a sheep; geddit?) our worthy mascot. He went everywhere we did.


The brooding Tasman Sea from Hokitika.
Typical East of the Alps driving scenery. The contrast between the wet west and the dry east is almost immediate, and quite impressive to witness. The scenery changes dramatically in the space of a few minutes, from lush forest and bush to grass, tussock and barren scree slopes.
The Pacific Ocean from New Brighton Pier, Christchurch, seeing the sea from both sides of the South Island in the space of a few hours. I have seen them both at the same time before, but I was 15,000 feet over the Southern Alps at the time, which is kinda cheating.