Winter Walks

A photo taken in June last year - a wintry sky but a beautiful day.

On the track to Black Hill:

Winter Walks 2

Yesterday I had to stop my car and walk back to where I could get a shot of this glorious Liquidamber. I'm glad I did; there was a lot of wind last night, and today it has far fewer leaves on it.

Early this morning, from my house. The sun is just getting up, and its light is gleaming in the west, behind an almost-full moon and a street light. If it looks cold, that's because it was!

This morning we walked along a beautiful inlet called Tuapiro Point. The sea had almost no ripples - these guys were getting an early start.

Manu enjoyed a paddle, of course:

There were lots of dead trees in the plantation at the end of the beach - they've been thinned out, I suppose.

Please click on the photos to enlarge them.

Winter Walks

Our winter officially begins on June 1st, not on the shortest day. We had some really wintry weather in May, cold enough to make the town's deciduous trees put on a proper show.

I try to get out for a walk every day if I can - Manu gets grumpy if he doesn't get his walk (and so do I).



Here's some shots from a few days ago - a walk at the beach:

 Tuhua (Mayor Island) from Waihi Beach

Looking south. The beach is just the way 

I like it - deserted!

And yesterday we had a lovely walk along the river bank:

Please click on the photos to enlarge them.

Reflections

Thematic Photographic 410: Reflections

Carmi's prompt this week is one I can't resist! 

Reflections in the almost-dark:

And reflections at the beach at dawn:

Latin reflectere = to bend back

Sunday Snapshot

Winter morning, by the lake.

Hamilton, New Zealand

Pukeko

Monday...

Life in New Zealand

Photo - Nigel Rushton

Photo - Di Forbes

Photo - Dave Sharpe

Bodies of Water - TP 329

Serendipitous Thematic Photographic!

On Sunday and Monday the eastern coasts of New Zealand were visited by the remnants of tropical cyclone Pam, which earlier caused huge damage and a number of deaths in Vanuatu and nearby islands. (See here)

Where I live we had a lot of rain but luckily, not the damaging winds we had been promised.

This morning I got up and drove out to the beach before dawn, to see if I could get some shots of the sunrise, and of the big surf which is always a legacy of easterly storms. The surf doesn't look very big in these - the scale is deceptive.

Here are some of the photos I took:

 

 

See some other bodies of water at Written.Inc

Hit the Road: TP 328

I love a road trip, but I haven't taken many recently - sadly! Just one short one, 

which I've already posted a road pic from. 

Taken from the top of the Manukau Heads Lighthouse, it is evidence of our ongoing drought:

Here are some favourite road shots from the archives:

 On the road to Whanganui. It'll be at least another month before the leaves are this colour -

 

South Island road trip in 2013 -

This is the road I drive when I head west out of our town -

You won't get far on this road!

See how others are hitting the road over here, at Written.Inc


Hopeless Wanderer....

This Country: #3

Last Friday I travelled to Waiheke Island, 40 minutes by ferry from the Auckland CBD, 

to walk the sculpture trail along the headland of the island.

The track was about 2.5 kilometres, and was dotted with 31 sculptures. 

My favourite was the one on the top left; it was made up of a number of thin mirrored 

vertical slabs which created myriads of interesting collages.

It was an EXTREMELY hot day, and a long one - from where I live 

it's a 2 hour drive to Auckland. 

It was also quite crowded, as it was one of the last few days of the 

exhibition - but it was well worth the effort.

Here's a shot across the harbour looking back to the city:

Road Trip to the Wild West

On Wednesday I drove for a couple of hours over to the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, to an area I'd never been before called the Awhitu Peninsula.

It was a cloudy grey day, warm and muggy, but still a great day out!

One reason for going was to visit the lighthouse at Manukau Heads, where the 

Manukau Harbour opens into the Tasman Sea. I love lighthouses. 

Sadly this one is a replica of the real one, taken from the original drawings and plans.

It's also at a different spot (the old position was too dangerous), 

but the bonus is that you can actually climb up inside, and walk around 

the outside balcony, where the keepers would have walked.

This is looking down at the heads - you can see the beginnings of the notorious Manukau Bar, where many ships and small boats have come to grief; it was the site of our worst maritime disaster in 1863, when HMS Orpheus ran aground on the Manukau Bar and sank with the loss of 189 lives.

Looking the other way, you can see the road in to the lighthouse, with evidence 

of our hot, dry summer:

I enjoyed my day out immensely!

A very strange game...

Cricket. 

If you weren't born in a country which was once, or is still, part of the British Commonwealth, 

you won't get it. Trust me.

The World Cup is about to be played in Australia and New Zealand - we're sharing the running of the tournament...

We're not going to share winning it, though! It's all ours.

There are about 12 days to go before the teams from 14 countries begin the competition, 

which will take a month to complete.

I love cricket, especially the one-day form of it, which is what these games will be. Mr A was a pretty mean spin bowler in his day - he played Minor County cricket in England, quite a few years ago now, and then played 1st class cricket in Sydney and New Zealand - so he'll be pretty much glued to the television.

For the last few weeks, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have both been visiting for practice games:

We've been doing pretty well.

Did I mention that I love summer?

Summer

We had a very cold and windy non-spring, but now we are being rewarded for our forbearance with a fantastic summer. Since just before Christmas the weather has been beautiful - sunny and warm, with a high most days of about 27˚ C (about 80˚ F), usually with a pleasant breeze. 

There's been no rain, and I guess if this continues much longer people, especially farmers, will start complaining. But I love warm weather, and I'm happy!

Last weekend my daughter and her family went camping at a beach not far from here. 

It's not a surf beach, so it's perfect for little folk.

Low tide, sunset:

Sunrise:

Don't you love summer?

Strangers from afar - TP 306

Carmi's topic this week is Shooting Strangers from Afar

I'm going to post a shot I've posted before, because I really love it:

A beautiful autumn day in Otago, New Zealand. He sits on a rock reading, while she fishes from a rocky "island". They were so peacefully apart together that I wanted to catch the feeling.

Later the same day, on the shores of Lake Wanaka:

A mote in your eye - Dirty?

As some of the pictures that people have posted for Thematic Photographic 301: "Dirty" have already shown, "dirty" is in the eye of the beholder - or the person behind the camera.

A couple of years ago an old friend of Mr A's and his lady friend came to stay with us for a while. He is Austrian and lives in Klagenfurt, she is Chinese and lives in Shanghai. They borrowed Mr A's car and set off on a road trip to see New Zealand.

Some of you will know that the majority of our small country consists of two narrow islands which run north to south (ish). Generally speaking, the beaches on the east coasts of both islands are calm, smooth, sweeping, with light, often golden, sands. Those on the west coasts have black sands, wild surf, rugged cliffs and lots of driftwood.

When our visitors returned, all Ms Shanghai could talk about were the 'dirty beaches' - how nasty and unpleasant they were, and how they needed 'cleaning up'.  Needless to say, they had spent most of their trip driving along the west coasts.

These are examples of what Ms S was criticising: