Description: You wouldn't have thought you'd see much when you arrive late at night in the Arctic Circle -- but you'd be wrong! Even in the pitch black that coats the islands for most hours in early January, the scenery around us as we drove south into the islands was stunning -- so much so that we had to pull over and see what we could capture. We were both pretty happy with what we got!
Description: My Danbos arrived! For those that don't know, Danbo is a character in the manga Yotsuba&! that Amazon decided to adopt as its unofficial mascot in Japan. The figures are absolutely adorable! Little Danbo needs to learn about the world from his mother, so where else to start but with Apple? :-P
Description: Elsewhere on Johnson Lake, the ice was thick enough to run across in snowshoes. Here, near the bridge, the water had other plans and had done its best to break free of the ice despite the -20ºC temperatures. Unfortunately, those plans also included inundating one of my boots when I stood in an area that was a bit deeper than I expected. Luckily the car and its heat were closeby!
Description: I was lucky enough to see the northern lights many times while I was in Finland last year. One of the most memorable nights I had was the one I spent in a glass igloo at Hotel Kakslauttanen in Finnish Lapland. Not only did I not have to go outside in the -38ºC temperatures, but I could just adjust my bed to the perfect angle and watch them from bed! Read more about my night in the glass igloos on my blog at: http://www.bootsandabackpack.com/dozing-off-under-the-northern-lights/ Camera: Nikon D700 w/ 24-70mm f/2.8 lens
Description: At the end of my walk through the Isokuru Gorge area of Pyhä-Luosto National Park, I came across a small herd of reindeer that had found the last snow of the season to lounge on -- apparently the 15ºC that it was outside was just too warm for them! This guy was the only albino reindeer in the group, and I found his pink fuzzy antlers to be very impressive (even if his molting fur was a little less so)!
Description: We got very excited on the last night of our recent trip to Lofoten because it looked like everything was coming together. The sky was clear, the northern horizon was starting to glow green...and then this happened. Luckily we got a few beams before the clouds completely covered them up again!
Description: A tantalising hint of the aurora behind the clouds on Flakstadøya in the Lofoten Islands. Unfortunately these clouds were an ever-present part of our trip there so this was just about the closest we got to seeing the aurora. That said, there's no way we could complain, because Lofoten in January is one of the most stunning places in the world.
Description: Since we didn't have any set plans for this day -- except for driving to our next apartment -- we took the long way around, meaning we took a random road we found up the east side of Lake Pukaki (the main road to Mount Cook goes up the west) and drove until we felt like turning around. We found plenty of isolated spots along the lake and only had to share them with a few other people. This view was my favourite, even if it meant climbing up a large boulder with a bunch of rather worried family members looking on!
Description: I was really happy that my colleagues in Skellefteå (Sweden) told me that I should visit the old church village near the county church. This collection of rickety old buildings--where people used to come into town to stay on weekends so they could go to church--looked lovely in its healthy covering of snow!
Description: Natural Bridge is a favourite of photographers across South East Queensland. This difficult-to-shoot scene, found in the Natural Bridge section of Springbrook National Park, is part of a very short bushwalk through the area, which takes you along Cave Creek, into the cave, and then up and over it. It's best seen when there has been a lot of recent rainfall; otherwise, it can slow to a faint trickle.
Description: The night I spent wandering around the snowy outskirts of Skellefteå was full of gorgeous winter scenes like this one. It was hard to even know what to look at -- did I look at the tracks that seem to have been impossibly laid down in the snow given the massive snowdrift blocking me from them, or the sky, which seemed to be continually moving through the colours of the rainbow? First it was a deep orange, then a strong blue, and now an interesting shade of maroon.
