Ten lions would not keep me inside today.
Yes, yes they say it is icy cold and wet, but nature's call is much stronger.
My main focus was to get some clearer shots of the snow on the mountain peaks and when the first large break in the clouds appeared, it was time to go. Now in this cold the best place to head for was the nature reserve, as there would be no people there and it offers a better sight of the mountains.
As we rounded the corner to enter the reserve's gates, I spotted the bird on the fence next to the road. Look at the sun spot on the fence.
The usual traffic was not around due to the cold weather and so the wild birds claimed their territory back.
I stopped the car and waited for him to reveal himself. He didn't dissapoint me and this was a Cape Spur Fowl(Pternistis capensis).
In the backdround of the the bird was this!
That's why we came here and so we entered the reserve via the main gate security booms. The security lady was surprised to see visitors and she told us that she had a heater in her tiny office.
It is very cold up there she said, shaking her head, but I just smiled at her.
At first we hit the dam as my thought was to get a snow mountain reflection in the water. I hope that you like it.
Then we hit the trail up on that wet and slippery dirt track and the icy wind was turning our ears into glass ornaments hahaha.
You know the running nose and watering eyes stuff, but it was all so worth it.
Look at that mountain rising up out of the ground like a stone monolith.
This was towards the eastern end of the mountain range and in the first photo with the start of rainbow is a section of the western end where the mountain runs into the ocean.
I will show more shots of that rainbow in another post.
Finally, here is a photo of the snow covered mountain peaks.
We had to leave as we spent about an hour up there and I have a total of 400 photos to sort through.
My left leg had many operations after an accident and during the climb and descent I thought that the leg would break off and take it's own route down the mountain side. I don't think that the leg likes the cold very much, but he just has to behave.
It was indeed a wonderfull trip and I was rewarded with some good photos.
Nature is our love and Marian accompanied me every step of the way doing her normal thing of looking for weird little things to collect. I showed her the skull of a raptor bird once and it now has pride of place on my bookshelf. I offered to put two big glass marbles into the skull's eye sockets so it can read the books, but she refused.
And That's All Friends.
I apologise for the long post, but I think that you can see our passion for nature.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX60HS Bridge.
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