The Famous Wharariki Beach

Wharariki Beach, or “that beach on the Windows desktop background”, as it is more commonly known, is one of New Zealand’s best kept secrets. As it is in the northernmost tip of the South Island, getting there from the Abel Tasman region takes a little bit of time, patience, and planning. I tried to leave plenty of time during my visit, allowing for two sunsets and a sunrise, but the weather was having none of it. Despite the overcast mornings and evenings, and the almost constant rain, we managed a partly cloudy mid-morning visit. It’s not all I had hoped for from this detour, but it was still certainly worth the trip.

The West Coast from Above

A bird's-eye view always reveals a different perspective on the landscape and brings out the true scale of the place. I had a few opportunities for aerial photography during my road trip through the West Coast of New Zealand, and I think these images really show off the untamed beauty of the region. The images below were taken near Tauparikākā Marine Reserve and Cape Foulwind.

A Tale of Two Glaciers

The reason my travels through the West Coast are some of my favourite memories of New Zealand are views such as these. Within a short helicopter flight, we saw two glaciers (Franz Josef Glacier and Fox Glacier), rivers, waterfalls, and had a clear view of the ocean! This flight included a short landing atop Franz Josef Glacier, where we could walk on the fresh soft snow. What a stunning little corner of the world that is.

Afternoon at the Beach

Kaikoura, only a couple hours’ drive from Christchurch, is one of New Zealand’s best kept secrets. The town and its surroundings are full of unexpectedly beautiful landscapes. During our visit, we stumbled upon this bit of coast along Beach Road. As always, I like to think that the images speak for themselves!

Wings Over Whales

One of my best memories of Kaikoura was taking a whale-watching flight with Wings Over Whales. Although circling the whales did get me a little dizzy by the end, it was amazing to see these marine giants from the air, where you can get a true sense of their scale. During our flight, we saw two sperm whales and a humpback whale, and as a bonus we got to enjoy the view of the surrounding mountains and ocean from the air also.

Laguna Colorada and Termas de Polques

Our final stops in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve were Laguna Colorada and Termas de Polque. Both spots amazed us with their scenery and provided yet another opportunity to see wild flamingoes.

Both these locations provided excellent opportunities for flying the drone and getting some aerial images, although we did keep it quite high so we didn’t interfere with the wildlife.

Here are some images from both land and air of these two locations, our last stop in Bolivia before we headed to Chile’s Atacama Desert.

A Sunset to Remember

Although I expected a much more dramatic sunset, our evening in Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia was nevertheless surprisingly pretty. The low clouds resulted in a pastel coloured sunset unlike anything I had ever seen before. The mirrored effect on the ground caused by a thin layer of rain added to the surreal landscape of the salt flats.

I only wish I had spent more time there to capture a variety of sunsets, as the merged land and sky makes for some truly spectacular scenery. Here are some of my favourite images from that evening.

If you are interested in travelling to the Bolivian salt flats as a photographer, make sure you check out our guide on Two Dusty Lenses to help you plan your trip.

An Expanse of White

Following on from La Paz, the Bolivian adventure followed onto the Uyuni Salt Flats. We had sunny and dry weather when we arrived, resulting in an otherwordly infinite white landscape as far as the eye could see in every direction.

This was an incredible destination and if you’d like to learn more and plan your own trip to Uyuni, I recommend that you check out our travel guide for photographers over at Two Dusty Lenses, which reveals all the best tips for an unforgettable trip to Bolivia.

But before you head on over and start booking your flights, I hope you enjoy the photo selection below!

Walking on the Moon

I recently had a chance to explore Bolivia for the very first time. The first stop of the trip was the capital of La Paz. In between several rainy days, we squeezed in a lucky visit to Valle de la Luna under a blue sky. This was a great place to explore a completely alien landscape from both the ground and from the air, with aerial photography.

Here are some of my favourite images from this location. I will be posting more selected photographs from the rest of the trip - including the famous Uyuni Salt Flats and the Atacama Desert - over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for more!

Snowy Countryside

Following a snowy morning in Lake Tekapo, our short South Island roadtrip ended with a long drive back to Christhurch through the countryside. We stopped several times along the way to photograph the snow-covered pastures.

Over the next few months I will be returning to New Caledonia and spending two weeks in St Andrews, in Scotland. More photos coming soon!

Snow at Lake Tekapo

The next day at Lake Tekapo proved to be a lucky one: we woke up at 5am to find that the town was covered in deep, fluffy snow. We headed out before sunrise to catch The Church of the Good Shepherd in the snow, and captured some aerial photography in the surrounding area.

The change of weather was a pleasant surprise. Over the span of three days, we had a beautiful purple sunset, followed by an almost-clear starry sky, and a snowy morning.

Mount Cook National Park

Our visit to Mount Cook National Park was an unlucky one, as the weather changed dramatically from the previous day and Mount Cook was nowhere to be seen. Nevertheless, the views from the Hooker Valley Track and Tasman Glacier Walk were still breathtaking.

Here are some of my favourite images from a very cloudy day at Mount Cook.

Return to Arthur's Pass

After working with the kea at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve earlier this year, I had the chance to take a short roadtrip through some nearby locations in the South Island of New Zealand.

The first stop was a return visit to Arthur's Pass National Park, where we photographed the fantastic landscapes and encountered some wild kea.

Here are some of my favourite images of our day at Arthur's Pass.