Jacob Kearns x Nocs Provisions
10 Days Through the Deep South
The trip — same route, never the same.
My name's Jacob Kearns, and I'm an adventure photographer and videographer based in New Zealand. Recently, I took my Nocs along for a bit of an adventure through the Deep South — Christchurch down to Fiordland and back. We do this trip every year. On paper, it's the same route. In reality, it never really is.
We travel in a pretty groovy 1970s caravan that somehow becomes a conversation starter everywhere we stop. Lakes, riverbeds, the side of the road in the middle of nowhere — guaranteed someone will wander over for a chat.
The plan was simple. It never stays that way.
Split the trip between shooting, switching off, and showing a first-timer around. In reality, it meant early alarms, long days on the trails, and shooting whenever the light hit right. Roy's Peak was one of those. 2am wake up, headlamps on, straight into a climb that doesn't ease you into it at all. Those who have done it will know — nothing but 2.5 hours of relentless, steep switchbacks the whole way up. But hitting the summit as the sun comes up over Wanaka? Worth every step.
Fiordland doesn't need hyping up.
It's one of those places that just speaks for itself. Towering peaks, massive rock faces, hundreds of waterfalls cascading down. It has an incredible way of making you feel absolutely tiny, in the best sense. That's where I ended up using the Nocs the most — being able to scan those landscapes and pick out details you'd normally miss was pretty incredible. It changes how you shoot, but more importantly, how you look at things before you even pick up a camera.
All four seasons. A lot of sandflies. Zero regrets.
Conditions definitely kept it interesting — rain, wind, sun, fog, and an aggressive number of sandflies. Standard. By the end of it: 10 days, about 2,000km, a lot of great footage and even better memories.