"That's awesome - so cool!'' Given the circumstances, it was the perfect quote from Debbie Pettinger yesterday when we rang to tell her she had won The Wash column's "Awesome Autumn'' colours contest.
As you can see from today's main photograph above, a panorama of stunning autumn colours in Arrowtown last month, it certainly had the "wow'' factor which, we believe, set it apart from the more than 170 other entries.
Click on links below to see more.
- Awesome autumn part 1
- Awesome autumn part 2
- Awesome autumn part 3
- Awesome autumn part 4
- Awesome autumn part 5
Debbie's picture shows her daughter Jade (20) on Feehly Hill "feeling small'' amid the "riot of colour in Arrowtown'', but as she modestly explained yesterday, "it was just one of those photos you take - it wasn't planned or anything''.
It was taken on Anzac Day after Debbie's family decided to investigate how to get to the top of the steep hill, taking a 15 to 20-minute walk up a track to admire the view others were obviously enjoying.
"We hadn't been up there before and found it is a pretty neat spot to go to,'' she said.
"We took our lunch up there and stayed for about an hour.''
Debbie, who works as an administrator for the Ministry of Education in Dunedin, describes herself as a keen photographer.
She and Jade, who is in her last year at teachers college in Dunedin, both decided to enter The Wash competition as did Debbie's father-in-law, Mark Pettinger, of Cromwell.
Debbie said she had been looking at the entries in the Otago Daily Times each day - "but, no, it's not there''.
Well, it is now!
• There are also six joint runners-up, whose photos we have republished today. They are Matt Corbett, Mike Wilkinson, Lorraine Adams, Raimo Kuparinen, Bert Kemp and Melissa Purnell.
