Yay!

James sat up on his own today. He promptly fell over but it's a big step.

Invigorating!

The canterbury lakes are spectacular. The glaciers that flow into them grind rock from the mountain sides as they descend and this rock-flour flows into the lakes where it reflects sunlight to produce beautiful colours. Lake Tekapo is a brilliant turquoise and Pukaki (seen here) is a cool milky blue. The day was blisteringly hot and we had a three hour drive home so I just had to have a swim. For a glacial fed lake it was not too cold.

It was great to lie back in crystal pure water and look at Mt Cook and the southern alps in the distance.

Mt Cook at the Head of Lake Pukaki

Mt Cook is beautifully sited at the head of Lake Pukaki, I love driving along the lake side.

James and Mt Cook

Can I Drive Dad?

Weird Scenes

Climbing through a narrow gap in the cliffs revealed some really weird rock formations.

The Clay Cliffs

Today we visited the clay cliffs that look over Omarama. They are very unusual and again a total contrast to the scenery of the previous two days. These would not look out of place in Arizona.

Tracy Gets Her Feet Wet

We had lunch next to this stream. Then we turned back, the going was a bit too rough with a baby on my back. We will have to return when James is a bit older.

Canyon Creek Walk

At the end of the track we did a short walk to canyon creek. The weather was hot, there was not a soul around and the scenery was superb, as good as fiordland and so different from yesterday.

Nice Reflection

Ahuriri River

Today we drove up the Ahuriri river. This is a new conservation park that was only opened recently. It was a lovely spot. The river is a great for fishing and there are plenty of walks.

Icebergs in the Hooker Lake

At the end of the walk is a view of the Hooker glacier which flows down from Mt Cook. These small icebergs were floating in the lake.

Little Mountain Man (and his Mum)

James seemed to enjoy the view.

Avalanche

Today we walked the Hooker Valley track. This is one of our favourites, we have walked it many times but never with a 6 month old. It is an easy walk and there are great views of the glaciers which cover the valley side.

Shortly after I took this photo, the large chunk of ice fell down in a loud avalanche.

View Across Lake Pukaki Towards Mt Cook

It is Waitangi Day on Tuesday so we are taking a four day weekend at Twizel in the Mackenzie District. We had a great drive down, but Mt Cook was just obscured by clouds. The photo shows clouds from the west coast rolling over the divide into the Hooker Valley.

Fab and Groovy

This was how the future was supposed to be baby.

Nanu Nanu

The Futuro has landed in Christchurch. We saw this in the botanic gardens today. Designed in 1968 this was supposed to be the house of the future. They caused quite a media stir in their day and there was even a factory in Christchurch. They didn't catch on for obvious reasons, they are quite small inside and there is nowhere to park the jetpack.

Goodbye

As I mentioned the comet is fading and the weather forecast is bad for tomorrow so I don't know if we will get another view.

It was a privilege to see a 'once in a lifetime' comet. Especially after seeing Hale-Bopp back in the UK. Baby James woke up briefly and I pointed him at it. One day I will show him these photos and tell him he was there.

I think my photos came out OK but if you want to see a superb shot of this comet, you should check out the one taken by Rudi Vavra.

So farewell Comet McNaught. Hopefully someone will be watching next time you visit.

Two Tails

This close-up of the nucleus shows the two tails clearly. The gas tail is the bright jet moving upwards. This points directly away from the sun and is caused by the solar wind. The fainter dust tail is the one pointing at 45 degrees to the gas tail. This shows the trajectory of the comet.

The elongation of the nucleus and the background stars is caused by the earths rotation during the 15 second exposure.

Another View

Comet McNaught is fading and the moon is waxing so I decided to get another view while we still can. Also I wanted Tracy to see it as she missed out on Monday.

The weather in Chch was overcast but a check of the satellite feed showed a break in the clouds near Tai Tapu. We loaded James into the truck and headed out into the night. Within half an hour we had mostly clear skies. We parked up on the side of a quiet country lane and watched the comet descend over the next hour and a half.

There were no street lights for miles around, the night was mild and most importantly no wind to shake the tripod.

A Tall Tail

The most striking features of this comet are its brightness (apart from the sun and moon, it is the brightest object in the sky) and its size. The tail stretches over 10 degrees across the sky. It is over 30 million kilometres long.

This photo was taken with a 38mm lens which illustrates how much of the sky the comet covers. I had to switch to iso 400 to capture the fine striae at the end of the tail so the image is a bit grainy.

Well I hope you all got a chance to see this spectacular sight. It has left the northern hemisphere now but we should be able to see it for a week or so in New Zealand before the moon becomes too bright.

If you do miss out, don't worry you can catch it on its return in the year 87,006.

Up Close and Personal

This shot shows some structure in the nucleus.

Goodness, Gracious....

Great Balls of Fire!

The comet was supposed to be visible at 9:30 but it was hidden by the huge nor'west arch overhead. Lots of people gave up and went home. I drove further up the road to look for a quiet spot away from car headlights.

As I rounded a corner, I got my first glimpse of the comet. It looked so close that it appeared to punch through the clouds, like a rocket re-entering the atmosphere.

I set up my tripod and took the following images with a 15 second exposure.

Comet Watchers

A gusty warm nor'wester was blowing and an expansive arch of clouds stretched overhead from the Alps in the distance. Just below them a narrow gap of clear sky. Just where the comet was expected to appear.

All along the road there were parked cars and crowds of waiting people.

Sunset From the Port Hills

Tonight I drove up into the port hills and saw this wonderful sunset. But that wasn't what I came to see. Comet McNaught is visible over New Zealand at the moment. It is the brightest comet in over 70 years and I wanted to get a good look at it.

Thank You Very Much

Chch was heaving today. Loads of tourists in the arts centre. Each summer chch hosts the International Buskers Festival. Its a great laugh with comedians, jugglers, singers, magicians, acrobats: the lot! All for the price of a couple of coins in the collection tin.

This robotic Elvis statue was wowing the crowds on a sunny (yes it was actually sunny) afternoon.

Who's a Pretty Boy Then?

This cheeky young kea took an interest in us. He even tried to take a chunk out of my boots.

Devil's Punchbowl

James fell asleep by the time we reached the falls. He doesn't mind the rain at all.

Another Walk in the Rain

Another wet weekend and here we are again trekking through the New Zealand bush. This time it's the Devil's Punchbowl track near Arthur's Pass.

Maruia Falls

The week is over and our first holiday with James is over. We drove back to Chch via the Lewis pass and stopped to stretch our legs at Maruia.

The falls were formed by an earthquake back in 1929 and after all the rain we have had they were an impressive sight.