Reflecting

New Zealand Flax reflected in Mirror Lakes, in the Eglinton Valley.

I had meant to begin the Routeburn Track from the Queenstown side this morning, only to discover, due to complicated reasons that I won't hash out here, that I could not do so. In light of this hiccup I had to drive some 250 km back to Te Anau and up into the Eglinton Valley, to camp tonight and then start the track from the opposite side tomorrow morning.

The Valley, being the only way into Milford Sound, is totally overrun with cars and buses during the daytime. The road closes overnight close to the fiord itself (a temporary situation resulting from recent rock fall problems) so by the late afternoon the droves disappear and the Valley becomes very quiet and peaceful. When I stopped at Mirror Lakes--roadside reflective ponds that draw heaps of people out of their cars for photo ops--no one was there and I was able to sit in solitude, watching Grey Ducks and NZ Scaup foraging in the water. One Grey Duck I was photographing swam right into this brilliant reflection of a flax plant and drew my attention to the abstract beauty of it. I probably wouldn't have noticed it otherwise.