Ronald McKenzie’s Winter at Otira captures the wonderland that the Otira Gorge becomes in the heart of winter, covered with a thick blanket of snow. The bright crimson bloom of the southern rata seen in Stoddart’s watercolour has given way to the more muted tones of the winter months. The road over Arthur’s Pass and through the Otira Gorge is regularly closed in winter as southerly storms make their way up the South Island, dumping snow on the Sothern Alps and often making the West Coast Road impassable. (Van der Velden: Otira, February 2010)