One of the six glacial lakes in Australia, Lake Cootapatamba certainly can’t take any prises for it size; however, it is officially holding a crown of the highest lake in Australia – 2042 meters above the sea level.
Shielded from the rough coastal climate by the mountains, Lake Tekapo enjoys what I call the loveliest weather in New Zealand. In fact, Lake Tekapo is among the six sunniest places in New Zealand, combine that with the mean annual wind speed of just 7km/h and you get that perfect weather formula.
With every new journey, I understand more and more that, for me, the ultimate prize of any trip is that unique feeling which you experience when you discover something totally unexpected. It can be a stunning view, a moment of a great light, new never tried before activity or just a spectacular place. One of such places, which gave me that great experience, is Lake Manapouri.
Every visitor of the one of the most famous and largest waterfalls of New Zealand can feel its power kilometers away – the deafening noise of the Niagara Falls spreads over many miles and in good weather can be heard on the coast.
New Zealand is rightfully considered as one of the untouched and purest places on Earth, but even there some places are more untouched than the others. One of such regions, Catlins, is a home for a 22 meter high McLean Falls, the most spectacular in the area.
No trip to New Zealand’s South Island is complete without visiting at least one of its’ famous glaciers located on the west coast of the island. Among them is a 13 km long Fox Glacier, named after a former Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir William Fox. Descending from almost 3000m to just 300m above the sea level and ending in a rainforest, this glacier is one of the few of this kind in the world.
Oaklands Falls is one of those rare locations where you can still enjoy Blue Mountains and surrounding rainforest without being disturbed by tourists passing every now and then, and, in fact, it is very likely that you won’t meet there anyone at all.
Everybody sees things differently, for example, Maori people believe that these boulders are calabashes or kumaras, geologists describe it as “septarian concretions” and trying to convince us that these rocks are cemented sediments, and at the same time, the most creative minds assert that Moeraki Boulders are nothing less than petrified dinosaur or extraterrestrial eggs.
Mungo National Park is a special place for me, and not just because it is overwhelmingly beautiful, but also due to the fact that it was the first NSW Outback place I’ve travelled to – this was the beginning, beginning of my long never ending plan to see every corner of Australia.
All images, photographs, text and other materials are © 2005-2011 Yegor Korzh, unless stated otherwise | ABN: 68 334 610 493 | e-mail:yk-web@yktravelphoto.com
