Fun with Frost

There's so much amazing stuff in Otago, you'd be nuts to think you could do it justice in a day, a season or even a whole year of photography.  But since I'm planning to take some clients into the Maniototo, I decided to dash over to Alexandra yesterday and travel down the Ida valley to make sure we're going to get some good stuff.

I wasn't disappointed.



My first stop was at Fruitlands, just before Alex. Mitchell's cottage is one of the finest examples of 19th century farmhouse stonework in the country. Boy was it cold though. Luckily I just got a merino beanie to wear under my regular one and some convertible fleece mittens. I would have liked to drive up all the way to the top of the Old Man range and Obelisk, but there was a little too much snow on the road, and I wanted to sus out the whole Ida Valley to St Bathans and Ranfurly before the useful light had gone. At this time of year, that's practically 5.00



The valley floor was pretty well fogged in, but the cottage was just sitting high enough on the range to get a peek of blue sky now and then.



We could easily spend a couple of hours here, on a good day or bad. The cottage is open and you could have a lot of fun in there with off-camera flash. But as good as it is, I think I'll stick to the Ida valley when my clients come. It was so good down there, but before that, I decided to hit a local dam for a little look.

More from that leg of the journey soon.