Before dawn, The Stewart Island town of Oban must be one of the quietest, inhabited places on earth. It’s a wonderful place and walking the streets in the early hours as the dawn light is starting to appear, it feels like you have the whole place to yourself. As a settlement, local Maori who often visited the island named it Rakiura, meaning “Land of the Glowing Skies”. After European arrival, the town grew due to the demands of the sealing, whaling, saw-milling and fishing industries. Today, the island has a population of around 400.
There are two ways to get to this point in the Mackenzie background, one is walk and the other is fly. Walking takes you up to three days while flying was less than an hour. Which ever way you choose, you end up at 7000ft at this little hut called A Bad Decision Hut/The Whiskey Hut with outstanding views of the surrounding peaks, valley's and everything in between. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
When I came up with the idea of visiting Wānaka for a few days between Christmas and New Years, I prepared myself for many things. I was prepared for a lack of parking, a crowded lake front, youths gathering in public places with large amounts of alcohol, expensive Jet Skies populating the lake, crowded restaurants and take away outlets and loud base thumping music late into the night. In fact, I would have been a little disappointed if all these things weren't present. After all, it was Pre-Covid when the country was filled with tourists in the popular holiday destinations. John's Blog https://blog.caswellimages.com/ The latest print price guide: https://bit.ly/3oLw9OI
