Nevis Valley

WORDS AND IMAGE: ANNA DUNLOP

High country heart

I took this photo in the wild and remote Upper Nevis Valley in Central Otago, where my partner’s extended family, the McLeans, mined for gold until the late 1980s, first by tunnel mining then later by ground sluicing. In the foreground, the McLeans’ huts at Bailey’s Hill now stand empty; in the distance across the Nevis River is Nokomai Hut, dwarfed by the Garvie Mountains.

TECHNICAL DATA • Camera: Nikon D3200 • Lens: Nikon DX18-55mm • Exposure: 1/400, f11 • ISO: 400