Our landscapes are all the more spectacular because they’re always changing.

ABOVE: Patterns of melting snow on a remote sheep station in the Lower Nevis with the Remarkables range as a backdrop.

One of the most common questions people ask when they have booked a photography tour is what happens if it rains. The answer is – we break out umbrellas, towels and lens cleaning cloths. Unless rain is so torrential that it makes being outdoors dangerous, we look forward to capturing some interesting light and action in our landscapes.

People are drawn to Queenstown by images of distant mountains viewed across an expansive emerald lake, cool, dark forests and sparkling streams. The Nevis is spectacular in another way. It’s the “roof” of the landscape; wild and lonely; treeless; graphic, intersecting patterns of valleys clothed in golden waving grass. It looks dry, but water is everywhere, rivulets running into creeks, creeks joining into streams adding to the crashing waters of the Nevis River.

The river rises in the Slate range near Garston and flows north for 80 kilometres before descending rapidly to join the mighty Kawarau. Getting here is a steep winding climb. When we enter from Bannockburn we gain spectacular views of Cromwell, Lake Dunstan and the Lindis Valley to the north, the Old Man Range to the east and the Remarkables to the west. Coming up from Garston, we look down over the winding Mataura River Valley, the green plains of Southland and the wild Eyre Mountains to the West.