Hi all,
Chuck asked about snow levels etc in the top photo of this link
http://www.brianswale.com/zuikoholics/index.htm
Explanation ....
New Zealand has essentially a maritime climate for the most part since it is
narrow and few places are far from the moderating influence of the oceans.
Except for Central Otago which, at Alexandra, is as far from the sea as one
can get here. So the climate is more like a continental climate here, than
anywhere else in NZ.
But, the range of climatic zones is compressed compared with western
Canada, for example; their 12,000 feet set of climate and vegetation zones
is compressed into about 5,000 feet vertical in NZ.
In NZ, since it is south of the equator, south facing slopes are cold since
they face away from the sun, and north facing slopes are hot as they get the
full blast of the mid-day sun..
Alexandra is in an intermontane basin ringed by mountains with the Clutha
River entering through a gorge from the north (now flooded by Lake Dunstan
for hydro-electricity generation) and departing at the south at Alexandra
township. It is also a very dry climate and some parts seem like a desert.
Leaning Rock mountain, altitude 1647metres, is the highest point of the
Dunstan Range, and the side facing the camera (top link) is the cold south
side. Yes, there are a few km between that rock and the camera.
The second link photo is from the northern edge of Alexandra looking west
to the Old Man range across the Clutha river (in those willows) to the
eastern-facing slopes which have a modest amount of snow at the moment.
It does sometimes come right down to Alex. At the bottom of the photo you
can see some "tailings" from one of the 87 gold dredges that were busy in
the late 1800's and early 1900's.
The third photo is from near central Alexandra looking south to a range of
hills that face directly into the blast of the mid-day sun. It is very rocky
as
you can see; the strong NW winds that blow sometimes have blown away all
the soil that might ever have been there, and there is mainly rock. The
occasional self-sown pines you can see there are Pinus radiata, native to
California's coastal fog belt, and which grows very well in New Zealand
where it is the mainstay of the plantation forest industry, with Douglas-fir a
close second.
The bottom photo link is from the same spot as the 3rd, looking 150 degrees
clockwise to the NW, back to the Old Man range. I have only little (if at all)
altered the colours, as what motivated me to make the photo was the colour
similarity between the sky and the Beaurepaires sign. If I use the tools I
have at my easy disposal to lighten up the dark wall, that process destroys
the essential blues and browns of the background.
These E-3 (L SF ) jpg photos were reduced in size in 3 - 4 steps using Fast-
stone Image viewer, with mild sharpening after each reduction. This
stepwise method has minimised the creation of jaggies where angled
straight lines occur.
Enjoy!
Brian Swale.
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