Roll Thirteen – The Hooker Lake
In August 2016, Rose and I finally went to New Zealand. I had been as a kid, but not old enough to remember much apart from visiting my Aunty and the airport (I love airports and remember lots about them!). It seems silly to have not properly been to New Zealand and explored until now. I mean it is so close, and I have known about how incredible it is (in both natural beauty and experiences) for a long time. I guess it is an Australian thing, we figure we will save the best/closest until last? We are trying to change that attitude about ourselves, and enjoy the opportunities we have now.
So, due to a flight credit (which I forgot about) we booked return flights to Queenstown in winter on a whim. We arrived to a chilly (but clear) Queenstown and picked up our camper, instantly realizing how much colder it will be in the van than we first thought. Our first night and -10°c confirmed this!
Ill get to the whole trip in due time, when I do a blog about our entire trip. This week however on The Weekly Roll it is about the Hooker Lake. I have known about the Hooker Valley and the amazing walk within the Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park for quite some time. It has always been spoken about as one of the best walks in the South Island. As you make your way up the valley you get to see the landscape unfold in front of you. As you follow the track you come across the Mueller Lake/Glacier, cross a few suspension bridges before finally arriving at the Hooker Lake (with the Hooker Glacier & Mt Cook at the far end of the lake). For me, I am all about experiences. I had built this one up for a long time as something I just had to see. I didnt consider that it would be even more amazing in winter, it was just a place I wanted to go and experience for myself. We planned our trip around it, driving quite a few hundred KM out of Queenstown (via Wanaka) just to get here to make the walk. We arrived late the afternoon before to a cloudy sunset and it was blowing a gale. To our delight, it cleared by the morning and we were left with an absolutely gorgeous sunny winter’s day with no clouds and it really brought the landscape to life.
I could go on and on about the walk and the beauty, but the photos of just the lake itself capture a lot of that. I shall share more of the trip in time, for now i’ll leave this roll one of my favourites in the project thus far.
Camera – Makina 67
Film – Kodak Ektar
Scanner – Fuji Frontier SP3000
Last Week – The Weekly Roll Twelve
The Weekly Roll is an ongoing FILM project by me, sharing a Roll of film.. old or new every week. I have spent years shooting film and want to share some of my oldest rolls, as well as new adventures and film that I shoot. You can find all weeks in the series here.
