Horsetail Falls 2019 Mar
As I drove past Horsetail Falls near dinner time on my way in to Queenstown, I noted that they were flowing properly, and made a mental note to return to them after dinner. The last time I saw them, they were a mere trickle, and not worth the effort of getting out the camera. The great guy who checked me into my Hotel confirmed that they were flowing well at present, so, dinner consumed, I set off to give them a go. Unfortunately, I wasted far too much time looking for Pearl Creek Falls first, so arrived a little later than I wished. I thought it didn’t matter, as it was raining lightly, which I hoped would add to the atmosphere.
I parked, hastily grabbed my gear and set out, planning to go across roughly on contour from the top of the track to the falls for a closer image. However, I was only about three-quarters of the way up the track when the light started to do magic things. There was no point going further: the light was happening (despite the rain) right now. I speedily set up the tripod and began to shoot as the whole mountain turned aflame, and wispy clouds floated around the summit of Mt Owen above the falls.
One of the best things about this night was that I got to share this beauty of our world with another photographer, and, wonder of wonders, this person was a female (Rebecca Brogan). I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but tripod-carrying, out-by-themselves-photographing-odd-spots females are a rare breed. Of course we hit it off, and stood there in the rain chatting until well after dark. Pelting, bucketing rain forced us to say a temporary goodbye before getting in our cars. I was scheduled to meet my friend Carrie so we could do Svengali together on the morrow, but right now, the rain was so strong I couldn’t drive. At least there’d be a good drop for us over at Rosebery. I hoped we wouldn’t get drowned or washed back downstream by the mighty current that might eventuate.