Near Wanaka, New Zealand where I was living for a year, there is an area called Haast Pass. It’s a really unique spot because it’s a huge contrast from the area around Wanaka. Where Wanaka is really wide open and sparsely vegetated, Haast Pass is closed in and covered in thick forest.

I’m not much of an expert on this sort of thing, but my figuring is that moisture blows in off of the sea on New Zealand’s west coast and gets pushed up over the mountains and drops all of its precipitation. So this area becomes green and lush and by the time the air reaches Wanaka, it’s dried out which completely changes the vegetation that grows. Again, this is just the theory that I’ve made up myself to answer my own question and the questions of others when they’re crazy enough to ask me.

Anyways, this photo was taken at Fantail falls in Haast Pass and as you can tell, the birch forest around the falls is coming in thick! I always like to try to show perspective of things by having a person in the photo and as no one else seemed to be volunteering to climb up the falls I had to do it myself. So I hiked up my pants, crossed the river, and clambered across the slippery rocks to the spot where I’m standing in the photo. Meanwhile, Hilary was back on the rocky beach and had completely forgotten about me and started talking to other people. I had to wave my arms to get her attention so that she remembered that she was supposed to be taking a picture of me.