Frozen Morning in the Rangitata Valley

The alarm went off at 6am this morning as I decided late lat night to head up the gorge towards Mesopotamia at dawn.

And what a beautiful cold start to the day it was. First stop was Lynn Stream at Mount Peel to capture the Milky Way before the sun rose.

I then carried on the climb up the Waikari Hills, then down to the valley floor below White Rock station. Rather than heading all the way to Mesopotamia, I stopped before crossing the Forest Creek bridge in the shadow of Ben McLeod, seen here under the pink skies of the daybreak. As I shot this the mercury had dipped to a rather fresh -5ºC...

As you can see, any water in Forest Creek is now frozen. The extra pictures show this a bit more clearly - one looking towards the Rangitata Valley, the other looking back up to Ben McLeod with the sun hitting the peak.. The other morning shot shows the view towards Cloudy Peak - at the confluence of the Clyde and Havelock Rivers - from Forest Creek. You'll also see the Milky Way over Lynn Stream, as captured just before daybreak.

It was a bit of a productive morning for photos - I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I enjoyed capturing them.