THE NATURE OF WANAKA

by Gilbert van Reenen
Published by: Clean Green Press
Retail Price $39.95

80 Pages (plus printed end papers). 270 x 193 landscape. Case bound.
French Fold Laminated Foil Embossed Dust Jacket
68 photos (each spot varnished) and introductory essay by Jan Kelly, introductory poem by former NZ Poet Laureate, Brian Turner.
Printed at resolution of 225 lpi on 170gsm Japanese matt art paper. Bound in 8 sections with a full bleed double page spread at each centrefold.
Publication date: 15th November 2010

This stunner of a book features Gilbert Van Reenen's superb photographs taken in and around Wanaka, one of our most beautiful locations.

Here is Brain Turner's introductory poem:

WANAKA

Everywhere you look nature’s
re-ordering and ordering itself

and the benefits of its magnificent
mammoth arrangements go back

centuries into the barely perceptible
whisperings of time. Every landform,

every tree, every blossoming shrub,
crinkled slope, face or hill speaks to us

of a faith in what we hope
is time immemorial, for here

the how things are merge
with the why, and the results are both

stunning and subtle, enchant the eyes
as on days when the mountains

are swathed in blue and black,
rain spots stipple the lake,

and the nor’wester arrives, hits
the windows, pants under the eaves;

as when fusillades rake the poplars
beside Wanaka’s burred blue-grey water

and bands of wind scurry
towards the shore. No wonder

the shaggy tussocks shake,
no wonder the lavender’s excited.

And here are some photographs to give you a taste although I cannot do justice to the gorgeous photographs in the book itself:

Details of above photographs in descending order:

Kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) reclaiming the frost-covered low-fertility terraces below Stevenson Rd, near Wanaka Airport. The course of the Clutha can be seen cutting through the distinctive fluvial outwash terraces created by the retreat of the Hawea Glacier.

Fly fisherman casting for brown trout on the Clutha near the internationally renowned Deans Bank. Surveys of the stretch of river from the Albert Town bridge to the Lake Wanaka outlet have recorded some of the highest densities of trout in New Zealand.

Above Smoke tree foliage in Bindy Wilson’s garden at Stone Cottage, Dublin Bay.

Above Ruby Island from Rippon Vineyard. Wanaka is at the same latitude as the Bordeaux region in France. Pinot noir and riesling are the star varietals at Rippon.

Further Information:
Gilbert van Reenen
Clean Green Press
641 Ballantyne Road
RD2 Wanaka 9382

Email: gvr@cleangreen.co.nz
Website: http://www.cleangreen.co.nz/

Other titles by Gilbert van Reenen:
Central Otago, 2004, now in its 4th printing, 10800 copies sold to date
NZ South, 2005, 4000 copies sold to date