The first three photos all show varying amounts of the constellation Orion, with the 3 stars in a line pointing towards the brightest star in the sky, Sirius. Note that the stars appear to be upside down compared to the Northern Hemisphere viewpoint - so Sirius was higher in the sky than Orion. In the first photo in particular, stars well beyond naked eye visibility can be seen, with the three closely grouped stars above Orions' belt being the relatively faint (to the naked eye) Orion nebula. The third photo was taken across the water from Lyttleton - the bright peak middle left is the lights from the restaurant at the top of the gondola ride up from the Christchurch side of the Port Hills. The final photo is a 45 minute exposure of Orion yet again - the picture is the correct way up - the tree was overhanging, honest!

A random selection of optical effects.....

First, a 22 degree halo taken whilst walking around Lake Rotopounamu - a small lake near Lake Taupo on the North Island.

Next, cloud spilling over a ridge on the drive back from Lake Tekapo to Christchurch. This was quite a sight - the cold air kept flowing down this side of the ridge like a slow moving waterfall. When I drove on past this ridge there was cloud and fog all the way back to Christchurch - that ridge was keeping the uplands warm and sunny!

Two versions of the same photo - the 2nd an enhanced version of the first. We'd just got to Haast (50 or so miles South of the glaciers) for the eveing when we saw these stacked lenticular clouds on top of a nearby mountain. The locals thought nothing of it - a very regular occurrence - looking bloomin's spectacular to me!

Some more usual lenticular clouds near Twizel (South East of Mt. Cook)

This cloud is blanketing a mountain at the very northern edge of the South Island - this picture was taken on the ferry from Wellingtonover to Picton. Coincidentally, there's an almost identical photo on a rather more dull day on the inside front cover of the July 2000 issue of Weather magazine.