Panorama of Cable Bay

Panorama of Cable Bay, New Zealand, originally uploaded by mattthew.

On Sunday I went on a hike around Cable Bay, just outside of Nelson. The first telegraph cable connecting New Zealand to the outside world landed there. Before that it was named Schroeders Mistake, but I can't find any explanation for why. In any case, the views - like everywhere in New Zealand - are stunning. This composite panorama gives some sense of that.

On this same hike we saw baby lambs literally bouncing along rock faces too steep for us to climb, then we walked down into a forest of fern and palm trees before ascending to views of our house in Nelson from a great distance.

What makes these views even more incomprehensible in person is that they change massively by the minute. The rapidly moving cloud masses change the sky, the reflection and shadows on the water, and the way that sunlight reflects off of everything. Every minute brings a totally unique vista that stretches out in unblemished clarity to beyond where the eye can make out.