Friday 26 June 2015

Winter skies over Tawharanui




Last winter I was playing around with the panorama function on my cellphone and happened to catch this awesome photo of a place I use to spend alot of time at - the Tawharanui Peninsula is just north of Auckland and is an amazing place to enjoy the scenery and do some fishing, both surf casting and out in a boat. This shot of stormy skies reflecting on the water in the low tide over the patterns on the sand is a glimpse of what winter in New Zealand is all about - days hibernating inside and seeing sights like this.

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Tuesday 23 June 2015

Winter lights at Auckland Museum





Last Thursday night the other half and I drove up to Auckland with his teenage daughter and two of her friends for a music concert. I was on the outer end of the flu I'd had all last week so I thought I was feeling better, but after dropping the girls off we headed up to the Auckland Museum -  one of my favourite places ever! This is somewhere fascinating and historical and it's somewhere I have been visiting since I was little when my parents use to take me, my brother and sister there for outings - and now my 3 teenagers love to go thtere too.

Unfortunately when I hopped out of the car I started coughing uncontrollably in the cold air so this was the only shot I got. If you look closely you can see a group of young people sitting on the steps chatting amongst themselves.

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Tuesday 16 June 2015

Tis the season for citrus and colds


Yesterday I was out and about with the other half getting out of the house and we stumbled across a tree laden with Mandarins - because it was on a property owned by the company he works for we were able to pick a few to take home with us and enjoy for morning tea. Because it's winter here right now citrus fruit are coming into season including lemons and oranges.


Something else in season right now are Camellias - this one I spotted next to the Mandarin tree, so nice to see some colours at this time of year. As for me I'm stuck with the flu at the moment and had to rebook a job interview I had for today to next week so I hope the rest of you have a great day :-)

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Saturday 13 June 2015

Te Puna Quarry park - Observing Nature




On another one of my travels last week I visited the Te Puna Quarry Park which is about 15 mins out of Tauranga and what a lovely place it is. This time of year for us is winter so I didn't expect much in the way of colour - and yet I was very surprised. Above is one of two Monarch butterflies I spotted on a native NZ Hebe plant.




Near the entrance this wonderful Autumn coloured picnic area complete with seats, tables and sculptures.




At some point I discovered a bush walk and on the way past the stream I saw this rather large Nursery web spider hovering underneath it's web on another native plant. Normally they are only active at night and thankfully it isn't poisonous in any way.




I found these colourful flowers in the nearby Louis Braille Sensory Garden and with some of the textures I can understand why. The pansies above still provide some colour at a time when most things here are slowing down and resting.




And cyclamens plus Gazania dasies are perfect - the latter tend to flower all year round at various times and love poor soil.

Hope you enjoyed this snippet of where I've been this week - have a great weekend - more Saturday Critters here :-)

Friday 12 June 2015

Omokoroa - a great little fishing spot


Two days ago, on my need to get out of the house I took a random road trip out to the tiny seaside settlement of Omokoroa, about 15 mins north of Tauranga. This place reminds me of Mangawhai, where I've moved from and it was so nice to take a breather while enjoying the scenery.


In this shot is the ferry Matakana which was moored next to the wharf  - it takes people over to Opureora 4 times daily.


When I was walking along the jetty there was a family just leaving who had been fishing at the end, I couldn't see that they had caught anything.


Some of many boats also moored in the bay, in the far right of the photo is Tauranga city where I drove from. Now my plan is to find other places to explore around the area...

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Wednesday 10 June 2015

Red hot Pokers - perfect Winter colour!


Despite us being in early Winter here there's still plenty of colour to brighten things up such as these Red Hot Pokers also known as Kniphofia. These are growing in orange clumps along my road and make a welcome addition at the moment.


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Tuesday 9 June 2015

Toadstool love!




On my last visit to McLaren Falls I was sitting in the yellow leaves on the ground enjoying the colours around me and the cooler temperatures when I spied this wee toadstool on the ground near a picnic bench. Very obviously a poisonous pretty thing I couldn't help but take a photo of it's lumps and bumps and vibrant red coat. I just love to photograph unusual things :-)

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Saturday 6 June 2015

Autumn morning reflections - leaves and rain




 This morning while out on a big walk I snapped a few photos of what I see when I'm out on my local travels. I don't know about you but I find if I don't do a bit of exercise each day I get tired by the afternoon so if I get out and do something I feel alot better for it. Above is a Bromeliad filled with water in the garden outside my bedroom window.



Autumn leaves close up at the end of my driveway, this tree is beautifully covered with red/yellow colours.



South Pacific Bible College just up the road from where I live - we woke up to some rain this morning so there are lots of puddles still about.



Watery drips still remain on alot of the trees - this one like many here are now bare and with this one I could just see a view of part of the city over a house roof.




I had to take a photo of this one - leaves resting on the back window of a black car I walked past along with leftover rain drops.

For more Weekend Reflections click here and have a great day :-)


Friday 5 June 2015

Winter morning skies in Tauranga City






This morning after a very encouraging meeting I was walking back to my car and spied the sun coming through the late Autumn/early Winter leaves on this tree near the edge of one of the parks. Sorry for the quality of the photos as they were taken on my cellphone.

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Wednesday 3 June 2015

People watching at McLaren Falls




A couple of weeks ago I visited McLaren Falls here in Tauranga - while I was enjoying the spectacular Autumn colours I decided to people watch. In the top photo was a mum with her toddler who was throwing leaves around and feeding ducks, in the bottom shot was a mum, child and grandmother making their way to the same area of the park (Cherry Bay).

What do you like to do with your camera? People watch? Nature watch or something else?

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Tuesday 2 June 2015

Coffee is made of hugs!


I spotted this a while ago in the Sandbar Cafe in Mangawhai, where I use to live, this place seriously makes the best coffees I have ever tasted and I think the quote sums it up nicely don't you? :-)

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Cobden Observation Post

  We've been living in Greymouth nearly 2 years now and we finally got to complete this walk to the Cobden WW2 Observation Post . It too...