Thursday 17th April

Today I drove to Queenstown airport to pick up two Auckland friends. They are both coming to stay with me until Monday.

On the way to the airport I made a detour near Cromwell, into Bannockburn, a famous wine growing area. There were some sluicings there to see. By sluicings I mean an area of land that had a large hose turned on to it in order to seek out the gold. The result is that the landscape looks like the end of civilisation. There is even a vineyard nearby called Mt Difficulty. The sluicings are now a reserve, I recommend a visit.

The top photo is one that I took today near Bannockburn.
I think that it is an improvement on what I have taken over the last few days. Certainly a contender for the calendar that I putting together.

The bottom photograph was taken by Vanessa,
one of the Devonport friends I picked up from Queenstown today. This photo was taken from the front of Henderson House, where I live while we looked over the Clutha River, the largest river in New Zealand. Largest I think means volume not length. I like her photo. The colour is exactly right. It really did look like that. At present the landscape can at times in this Autumn light, look almost on fire.