Wai-O-Tapu ... a Thermal Wonderland, New Zealand

I stepped back into life here in Belgium and, like an out-of-control magic carpet, life whooshed off with me.

Almost 3 weeks after the return, I finally created a space to go wandering through 2 complete folders from that trip through New Zealand.  There are so many more still to explore ... and process but most of the portraits are done now, with some massive ones still to do, Hunter and Clare, Peter and Christine.

Anyway, on our second day in the country, Christine and Peter took us on a North Island Roadtrip.  The image below was taken at one the ports of call on that first surreal and magical day. 

The Wai-O-Tapu thermal area covered about 18 sq.kms near Rotorua and it was area where collapsed craters, boiling mud pools and steaming fumaroles were the norm. 

They told us that the area is associated with volcanic activity that happened about 160,000 years ago and that beneath us was a system of streams heated by magma from earlier eruptions ... water temperatures of up to 300 celsius have been recorded.

Stunning isn't it ...

I miss my morning walks in New Zealand

Outside, there was that predawn kind of clarity, where the momentum of living has not quite captured the day. The air was not filled with conversation or thought bubbles or laughter or sidelong glances. Everyone was sleeping, all of their ideas and hopes and hidden agendas entangled in the dream world, leaving this world clear and crisp and cold as a bottle of milk in the fridge.

Reif Larsen, from The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet.

Meanwhile, I'm playing this song on repeat and up loud as I work here this morning. 

And before I forget, I found the opening quote over on the marvellous Terri Windling's blog.

A glimpse from one of those early morning walks I took, back home in New Zealand ... Cooks Beach, on the Coromandel Peninsula ... sunrise.


Back in a New Zealand Summer

Sitting here, having just completed 100-shot photo-shoot, a hotwater bottle on my aching back, Miss 8 downstairs with that horrible flu/cold that's going around, waiting for the predicted snow to arrive on a zero celsius day ... I find myself missing those sublime days, back in New Zealand, on that roadtrip in the little red car.

I miss pies too.

 

On Arriving in New Zealand ... this happened

On arriving in New Zealand, I was greeted by a character from Lord of the Rings. 

I was discombobulated for sure.

The creature knew my name.  He was shouting it, welcoming me, dancing around ... or that's how I remember it.

My friend, Christine, could see that I was not quite on the planet after 40 hours spent crossing the world ... she shouted, 'You don't know him!  Don't worry!' 

I appreciated that because I had no idea but felt it was entirely possible that one of my old friends, 8 years unseen, might have been messing with me. 

I had warned Gert that, in some instances, being loved by New Zealanders was a little like being loved by bears.  They're rough, it may hurt as they verbally sting you, and you might feel attacked but mostly it's love. 

And Peter, well there he was, behind-the-scenes, photographing that startlingly unusual welcoming committee.