Foot of the St Bathans Range.
It’s the middle of summer and the golden tussock has overtaken its shorter agricultural cousin. Back down the Manuherikia Valley, bands of green grass run up the sides of the Dunstan Range. Productive Land they call it. Indeed it is, but visually that splash of green is at odds with the golden tussock or grand blue skies. That’s all south of the Home Hills, along with the letterboxes, farming equipment, and power lines. North of the Home Hills one gets taken back in time. There’s no longer the view over the wider Maniototo plain. Instead, the mountains close in and the St Bathans Range to the west and Hawkdun Range to the east become more prominent.
Landscape north of the Home Hills. Hawkdun Range.
Karearea (falcons) sat perched on wooden fence posts taking a break from their usual soaring ways. I tried to spot them as we were driving so we could pull over and take a photograph. They always saw us first, and would take a short jump off the fence post before ascending into the towering skies above.
Cue an incredibly photogenic hut. Speculating here – an old musterers hut? Now maintained by the station owner for supplies and a place to keep warm when it snows. There were two dozen old oil drums spread about the place. My first thought was it’s just rubbish, keeping in tune with the skeletal remnants of a fallen trees lying about. On closer inspection the oil drums were all cleaned, tops cut off, wooden shelf mounted length ways in the barrel, laying on the side. Shelter for young stock or farm dogs during the winter. The rabbits don’t need any help.
Hut against the Hawkduns.
The road is a horse shoe. We’d driven up the western side of the valley beneath the St Bathans range and were now at the most northerly point ready to cut east. It was sunset proper and the tussock covering the slopes of the Hawkduns reflected idealised light. The Hawkduns and its neighbouring ranges are free of scrub and trees. The shape of every ridge and alluvial fan are visible for all to see. In low-angled light or winter light these mountains demonstrate themselves. It’s the same characteristic or rocky alpine peaks covered in ice and snow, but with a very different form and mood.
Hawkdun Range.
The plan was to cross the valley and drive back down the valley beneath the Hawkduns. When we got to the Manuherikia river we saw the bridge had been washed out years ago. There wasn’t a ford to cross, so we turned around and drove back along the way we came. We reached the hut around blue hour. The last glow of western orange light picked up on the corrugated iron hut and surrounding tussocks, lighting it enough for the final photographs of the evening.
Hut at dusk.
The strong and dynamic contrast of blue and orange turns more muted. With just silhouette, not shape, the Hawkduns retreat as a subject of the frame and the hut in its austere environment is just there.
Hut at dusk II.
Photographs shot on the Hasselblad 500cm with Porta 400 film.
