Alpha Street

Yesterday I walked from the highway to Old Cromwell. Along the way I found this public reserve, early afternoon in hot weather. The reserve is alongside Alpha Street and extends down to Lake Dunstan. I rested a while here and looked at a few things. Central Otago, New Zealand.

1) a glance behind me – a distant glimpse of mountain and snow
2) Lake Dunstan/Clutha River with view toward Cromwell Gorge
3) rock face detail taken using the zoom
4) cute little scaup, endemic diving duck
5) section with orchard trees in residential area

---

Extensive reserve area. BBQ facility. Snowy mountain ridge beyond.

---

Lake Dunstan looking toward the Cromwell Gorge, pre-dam it would’ve simply been the Clutha River and water level not nearly so high. It’s a long gorge and eventually down there you reach the hydro dam at Clyde. That’s our route home, the highway’s built into the rocky slope on the left. There’s a few dots on the water.. New Zealand scaup ~diving duck, endemic to NZ. Cute as.

---

I zoomed in on part of the rocky slope where it meets the water.

---

The scaup were fairly close to me briefly, and I got this shot. They were constantly communicating in funny little whistles and whinnies. I was lucky to have four above water at once! They’re very quick to tip down head-first into the water and then bob up somewhere else like corks 😀

---

Further back on Alpha Street nearer the highway, among the houses on their sections, is this section which has the appearance of an old orchard remnant. It’s not fenced off from the street. Don’t know anything about why it’s there but it’s nice to see it in the housing area. Outside of the urban area there’s orchards and vineyards everywhere.

---

Text and photos by Liz; Exploring Colour (2022)