Back On Elcho - Gitan in the Dry

After almost two weeks down south (Melbourne and New Zealand) it was back to Elcho Island to resume work at the art centre.

But at the end of my first week back I took a trip with friends to Gitan, a homeland about halfway up the Island.

The dry season had arrived. Here's what I catured on film...

NZ - MT Cook Up Close

Here's a few close up pics I took of the vegetation at Mt Cook. Very visually stimulating...

NZ - Hiking Mt Cook

On our second day at Mt Cook we did two of the hiking trails - one 4 hour and one 2 hour, around Mt Cook.

It was cold, there was snow, but the scenery was amazing...

NZ - Mount Cook National Park

Nathan and I spent three days at Mount Cook National Park.

We stayed at the resort (which is expensive, but has the most amazing views). Here's some of my pics from when we arrived - the first one is taken from our room. The second is a view of the resort (our room was about 3 floors from the roof, on the left).

NZ - Shire of Baggins

On our way to Mt Cook National Park we stumbled into Middle Earth and the Shire of Baggins (or what looked like part of Peter Jackson's hobbit show).

NZ - Cones on the South Island

My eye, and camera, caught these cones in and around Christchurch.

NZ - Littleton

On the way back to Christchurch we had dinner and a night walk through Littleton, a sea port town.

The town, like much of the surrouding region, featured in the Peter Jackson film, Heavenly Creatures. It has a pretty intersting mix of ship yards and country town charm, so easy to see why.

I really enjoyed taking pics here, even though wandering off into the dark annoyed Nathan to no end...

NZ - Akaroa

From Christchurch we took a day trip down the Banks Peninsula and stopped off at a number of villages along the way.

One of the best was Akaroa, a village nestled on the side of a old volcano crater now filled with sea water. There we had high tea with cupcakes, bought a sugar bowl and milk jug from an antique fair and took pics of the cute granny houses in the back streets.

A film set waiting for a film crew...

NZ - Christchurch

I headed south on Good Friday, then Nathan and I flew to NZ for a break.

We had been planning to go to Bali, but after the drama of the bush fires and my first two months on Elcho, Nathan and I wanted to go somewhere slow, quite and cool.

First up was a few days in Christchurch...architecture, trams, autumn colour and art galleries - the perfect Elcho Island detox.

iPod and Camera Beach Walk III

These are some pics from a walk I took the weekend before I headed down south to New Zealand for a holiday with Nathan.

From one extreme to the other - 35 degress on Elcho, only 5 degrees in Christchurch.

Anyway, first some more beach snaps...this time it was clouds, caves, crabs and crazy rocks.

On the iPod...Squirrel Nut Zippers. And I swam. No crocs in sight.

iPod and Camera Beach Walk II

Snaps from another of my walks pre-Easter.

This time it was sacred rock formations, tidal waterholes, boulders and mud flats and finally a view back at my house on Dhumbala beach.

I was listening to the Presets and Noah and the Whale.

A pretty good way to shake out the cobwebs...

iPod and Camera Beach Walk I

One of my favourite things to do on Elcho (when not at the art centre - which is increasingly hardly ever), is to grab my iPod, camera and go walking (such a southern balanda - white man from Victoria - thing to do, but its who I am).

Mostly I walk along the beaches around Dhambala, the homeland I am living on.

This is a sunset I enjoyed watching and photographing, whilst listening to Nick Cave (another southern balanda)...

Refurbished Art Centre

In early April we completed the first stage of refurbishment works at the art centre.

This included a fresh coat of paint inside and out (including feature walls), and new lighting and hanging systems for our two galleries.

With the revamped spaces we were able to re-curate both galleries and fill them to the brim with the new artwork created by our artists and purchased by the art centre in anticipation of the visits from 4 cruise ships in the coming weeks.

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.