This was the peaceful scene after speeding up the Dart River in a jet boat. This was also an accurate representation of the forest in it's natural form. Hiking trails and camp sites were scattered all over.
While on the Dart River Jet Boat cruise we darted passed a location called Paradise while the boat was travelling obscene speeds. This was my attempt to capture Paradise while fighting extreme winds.
This was the view after about an hour of hiking. That's Lake Wakatipu down below and a good representation of where I started the hike up to the Ben Lomond summit.
After about 3 hours I was pretty tired. The hike ended up being longer than I expected and this is where I took my lunch. A friendly bird joined me at this point.
Queenstown sat like a distant memory down below. This picture gives an excellent sense of scale as the green grass by the lake is where I started walking. 4 or 5 hours to the top, but well worth the effort.
This was the little fellow that followed me up the mountain. Coincidently, a satisfying shot of the snow still capping the mountains. Spring in New Zealand was gorgeous.