Sutton Salt Lake

Today is Anzac Day in New Zealand.  I should have been in the office getting ready for my year review, but I decided to go for a trip to Sutton Salt Lake (New Zealand's only salt lake) with my friend Celia Mendes and her lovely mates.

We set out to Middlemarch, which is known as a base for filming Lord of the Rings, in the morning.  The landscape in the area is polka dotted with neat rock formations known as "tors".

Fortunately, the rain that we've had lately decided to take a break so that we could enjoy a nice day of photographing the lake.

Despite several days of rain there wasn't much water in the lake!

I thought it was fun walking around the lake trying to catch reflections on that puddle in the middle.

From the car park it was only an hour return trip.  A nice little walk on a nice day, I'd say!

We stayed long enough to need a wee lunch break.  Then we hit the road to be back in Dunedin by 5pm.  

I'd recommend this spot after a few days of heavy rain.  Celia's friend, Danilo, mentioned that the lake was bone dry the last time he was there, so I'm not sure how pretty it'd be without some water.

Unfortunately, no current plans to get out of Dunedin in the near future.  I need to focus on my year review that will take place this coming Wednesday!  After that, I might need to take a little break from thesis-ing for a day or two to recharge.  Lately, I find myself spending all day in the office, but only working for a small fraction of that time.  The next two years will fly by and so I need to start becoming way more productive!