"Deep In The Jungle"

23 September 2025

As I descended the Heaphy Track towards the coast a few months ago, it was a beautiful autumn day & the nikau palms had started to appear in abundance as the track inched closer to the sea. I was looking for any views through the lush forest that might frame the Heaphy River, when my eyes were suddenly caught by these moss laden branches in the bush & then I saw this pond of water that was being struck by sunlight. I veered off the track a little to investigate & I was met by this stunning scene, blimey! Initially I shot portrait aspect with a wide lens, then changed to my standard 80mm lens, capturing 3x frames which I stitched together to create this larger file to retain all of the fine detail. But the absolute highlight for me was the spiders’ webs reflecting in the pond, isn’t nature amazing?

Click on the image below to enlarge the detail:

Beautiful timber framed canvas at Art By The Sea Gallery, Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, Auckland (click to enlarge):