curving copper clouds

curving copper clouds

stretch probing fingers over

dark mountains and lake

At sunset the clouds look like copper fingers stretching north over Lake Pukaki, a long finger lake that runs north-south between the Southern Alps in New Zealand.

white cloud curving back

white cloud curving back

with the wind over the hills

rimming the blue lake

We camp in the wilderness at beautiful Lake Pukaki, surrounded by dark hills and the snow-covered Southern Alps in the distance. Many strangely shaped clouds paint frescoes on the blue dome of the sky, mirrored in the turquoise water.

moon over turquoise

moon over turquoise

Lake Pukaki – pink clouds

above Aoraki

From our tents on the shore of Lake Pukaki, we have a beautiful view of Aoraki and his two brother mountains through a gap in the hills. After sunset the clouds put on a moonlight sonata full of fans, curlicues and saucers. Lake Pukaki is the largest of three alpine lakes formed when receding glaciers blocked the valleys with terminal moraines. The lake is fed by the Tasman River, which has its source in the Tasman Glacier. Finely ground rock particles brought down by melt water from the glacier gives the lake its turquoise color