The plan was to drive to Arrowtown. This little town was established in the gold rush era of 1850s and has retained a street of shops in the style of that era to attract tourists – and it works very well.
1/100 sec f/8 ISO 200
This week is the Arrowtown Autumn Festival and although we missed out on seeing their parade (yesterday) we were able to enjoy an open-air church service right in the centre of the “town” (the tourist area) with the “missionary” all dressed up in period costume and leading the townsfolk in hymns and prayers. The choir were dressed up for the occasion too and I was fortunate to have the camcorder handy to record some of the singing.
Colin was taking so many photos through the windscreen that I gave him the camcorder today. He was so fascinated with the scenery that he wanted to take a picture every few seconds. Now, if you are interested, we can take you on a twisting, turning nail-biting car ride through the mountains! That should be fun! Colin has had a ball! For someone who is not interested in photography he is not being very convincing! He took 71 photos today as well as the video. This picture of some of the twists in the road was taken by me – but Colin has one almost identical! We did get out of the car occasionally!
1/80 sec f/9 ISO 200
As it is Autumn (Fall) I did chase the colour of the trees and leaves so that I would have proof of the time of year we visited – and the best colour was found right at our feet. The country here is almost devoid of trees, the only trees are the ones that have been planted. Obviously the choice of trees has been dictated by the desire to attract the tourist to visit so there are many Liquid Amber, Maples and Beech trees. 
1/60 sec f/8 ISO 200
We drove back to Wanaka from Arrowtown a different way and were fortunate enough to see a jetboat leave with a bunch of people who didn’t mind getting wet. I managed to get a few shots from the overhead bridge while Colin took some video. Since I cannot concentrate on using camera of different media I am only too happy to let him have fun with the video. Dialing in the different settings for the ever changing light on my SLR is enough to think about! Incidentally the wire across the water is a very old flying fox – I am not sure if it was to transport people across the river or goods. It is no longer used but is a permanent fixture. 
1/200 sec f/11 ISO 800
While in NZ all the photographs are being “fixed” and cropped in Picasa so if they are a bit over-cooked, or need perspective fixed, that is why! The mini notebook laptop I am using is not powerful enough to support any photo program more sophisticated than Picasa.
AJ
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