Winter Road Trip – One Word Photo Challenge – COLD

I love the crisp clear blue cold days of winter. I don’t mind layering up and I love a winter road trip. The scenery in my country of birth, NZ is spectacular with a layer of snow, just like the cold it can be breath taking.

In 2010, I did a trip with my good friend Pete. We headed over Arthur’s Pass and down the West Coast to the Glaciers. Franz Josef Glacier is hundreds and thousands of years of compressed powerful cold. As it inches forward or recedes back, it carves valleys and leaves its mark forever on the landscape.

Wanaka is one of the southern lakes and from high up on Treble Cone ski field we could enjoy the fabulous vista and see a now melted glacier’s work and how the lake was formed with the harder rock left and scarred by the grinding power of the glacier.

After driving down the coast and over to Wanaka we returned home by driving inland and up the center of the South Island. Tarras pass was bitterly cold but so picturesque.

Our journey ended back on the wide Canterbury Plains. The wind can be cutting in winter but the views across the plains are wide and the southern Alps make a stunning background.

Franz Josef Glacier. West Coast, South Island

Wanaka, South Island, Otago. View from Treble Cone ski field

Wanaka, South Island, Otago. View from Treble Cone ski field.

Tarras Pass. Central Otago

Cantabury Plains, South Island. Southern Alps in the background.

In response to One Word Photo Challenge:Cold

Previous Challenges:  Hot   Cloudy  Sun   Storm

Thanks to Jennifer for these great Challenges every week. I love her work. Check it out!

Yoroshiku Onegai shimasu

Leanne