I know I have done this before, and somehow on those previous occasions, I clawed my way back. It seems unlikely this time. Much as I love sharing my images with you all, the process of preparing the regular (!!!) editions of WYSIWYG no longer brings me pleasure. Sadly, it has become like having a perennially overdue assignment. Time to stop.
A wholehearted thank you to all who have been with me over the various phases of WYSIWYG over the last thirty or so years. I enjoyed your company.
As for me, I shall continue to share my images, though in an unstructured way through various channels. Most recently, I post images on Facebook. I will not bother to defend that choice.
Bristol F2B cruising over Hood Aerodrome, Masterton
Belatedly, a happy new year to all my readers. May it be the best yet. We had a great Christmas with four of our five kids and their families. The fifth couple had visited a month earlier so it was effectively a full house. We got lucky with the weather too.
California quail (F)
Trips to the Zealandia wildlife reserve are less frequent than they used to be, and my stamina has diminished too. As a result, I don’t get to the far corners of the reserve as I used to. Nevertheless, it was a delight to see this quail wandering about.
Duckling
It’s probably a common Mallard duckling. It was a pleasure nevertheless to see it preen its plumage.
Two Takahe at Zealandia
The takahe have very solid bills. They look as if they could be used to open a 44-gallon drum. It is amazing that they can be used for such delicate mutual preening.
North Island robin wrestling with a worm
The North Island Robin (Toutouwai) is a joy to be with. It tends to stay in the shadows and thus I find it difficult to photograph well. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to fear humans and seeks out the insects that we disturb as we walk, and will even hop on the toes of our boots. This one was beating up a worm against the rail at the edge of the path.
Quails on the nest
This quail pair had recently produced a substantial brood of chicks and were sitting on them within a few metres of the main road through the reserve. We were told that there were about fifteen chicks. I wanted top clear the vegetation but obviously could not.
Self Heal flowers in the rain
There were a few damp days in the recent weeks and this brought bright colours to the various weeds in the garden.
Amaryllis hippeastrum
Mary looks after a neighbour’s cat when they go away occasionally. She was rewarded with a beautiful Amaryllis plant which produced magnificent flowers for almost two weeks.
Viking Orion
Cruise ships are visiting the port in numbers that seem to be at least equal to pre-pandemic times. Here the Viking Orion shows off her smart white paint in the morning sun.
To Picton
In a rare evening venture, I went around the Miramar peninsula one night, and liked the contrast between the Kaitaki’s gleaming hull and the shadows on the city’s Western hills.
Kaitaki
As she emerged from the shadows Kaitaki came into the full light of the late evening sun, and looked to be expecting a smooth crossing to Picton
26/27 Packard six roadster
This beautifully preserved car was beside us as we neared Waikanae. I wasn’t driving so grabbed my camera. I got the one shot before it took the Waikanae exit. We went the other way.
Avalon
This image was made from our front lawn, looking North towards Avalon. The array of grey roofs visible below the Avalon tower are part of the “Shona McFarlane” retirement village to which Mary and I are preparing to move in mid to late April.
Shona McFarlane Retirement village
The town house we are moving to in the village is about to undergo a top-to-toe refurbishment. This image is made looking back to the South and our present home is somewhere behind that grey roof on the right. We look forward to being on the flat and with all maintenance taken care of.
Meanwhile, Mary and I are once again embarking on the process of culling unwanted and superfluous household items. Some of it is still in the boxes we put it in five years ago when we had an earlier plan to move. That’s all for now.
You may suspect I got lost. Since I last wrote, I have had Covid twice, and two teeth extracted. It has not been a particularly enjoyable time. I am hoping for an improvement in the weeks and certainly the year ahead.
Peony
The peony is among my favourite flowers. This was a particularly large and colourful one with a beautiful scent.
Sparrow egg
Mary was shopping and found this egg on a local footpath. It had been predated by someone or something, and though the access hole was small the shell was empty. After a lot of discussion among the local bird community, we decided it was a common sparrow egg.
Sea Lion’s last days
On many occasions, I have made images of the Sea Lion. This vessel began life as a naval tender in Adelaide. and eventually it ended up in Wellington. For as long as I can remember, she has been in private ownership in the region, serving for a while as a diving tender. Latterly it was a location for small conferences and accommodation. It acquired a kinky paint scheme such that its hull and upper works were covered in cartoon penguins. I wonder whether the money might have been better directed elsewhere, because the poor old thing was first moved to a more obscure berth and then she sank at her new mooring. After a week or two of exploring options, she was given up as a lost cause and was towed across the harbour to Seaview where she was beached on the sandy bottom near the shore. Just her wheelhouse and mast were showing for about ten days. I caught this shot on a still drizzly day while experiencing comparative wellness before my Covid relapse. After that, the remains of Sea Lion were dragged ashore in pieces and she was seen nevermore.
Common poppy
I think this is a common poppy, “borrowed” (with permission) from our neighbour’s garden.
Flour mill and bakery in Seaview
A sculpture in corrugated iron at the flour mill and bakery in Seaview.
The Golden Pohutukawa
As I have pointed out in previous years, there are yellow varieties of the pohutukawa. Every year, the media is taken by surprise.
Rose
Mary is a great procurement officer, and acquired these roses with the permission of our neighbour. The concentration on botanical subjects was something to take me out of the self pity while enduring the second round of Covid.
Hetairos
Once I was clear of bout two, I began to go out and about again, looking for images. This yacht moored at Oriental Bay is Hetairos, a 66.6m super yacht owned by Otto Happel. She is estimated to be worth NZD$55 million and is fitted for ten crew and ten passengers. She is not available for charter work.
Tui in the Aloes
While I was in Oriental Bay, looking for viewpoints on Hetairos, I parked near the garden at Pt Jerningham. There I was entertained by a pollen-stained tui seeking nectar from the aloes in flower there.
Female tree weta
I know this character does not bring joy to every viewer, but she is a a Wellington tree weta female. I tried for a focus stack, but she waved her antennae around so I was unable to get enough similar images.
Cactus: Orange snowball
Our elder daughter gave us a pretty little cactus earlier this year to mark our wedding anniversary. I may have even posted a picture of it back in April. It has sat there unmoving for seven moths or more. Then, with no warning, it sprouted a few buds, and they in turn became flowers. This happened in the space of three days at most.
Grace and Isaac arrive in Wellington
Speaking of blossoms, our eldest granddaughter and her young brother flew in from Brisbane with her boyfriend and her parents to spend Christmas with family. It was such a joy to have them here. We had not seen them since our last trip to Brisbane in July 2017. We had tickets booked for a trip in April 2020, but alas the pandemic intervened and we spent the next two years getting a refund from Air New Zealand. We did get it eventually.
Huhu bug
This creature is not everyone’s idea of a good time. It is Prionoplus reticularis, or Huhu beetle. It is the heaviest of New Zealand’s beetles and is typically between 40 and 50 mm long. The adult lives for a mere two weeks and it does not eat. Nevertheless, it can inflict a painful bite with its powerful mandibles. Most of us encounter one when a sound akin to a large helicopter comes through an open window on a summer evening.
And so ends 2022. Thank you all for your company this year, and I hope to see you again next year as we move on to brighter and better things. Happy New Year.
Indifference is destructive. Occasionally, I need to kick myself in the butt to re-activate my creative enthusiasm. All too often recently, unkind weather has quashed the urge to venture out in search of photographs. No remorse was felt. I do not need this to become a burden rather than a pleasure.
Evans Bay sailing lessons
People who freely give their time to coach youngsters in their chosen sport or hobby deserve the utmost admiration. Here on Evans Bay, the local yacht club is working with a group of juniors helping them to learn the basics of controlling their yachts.
Garden snail
For some reason, I see snails less frequently than I used to. Perhaps it’s that I no longer have any vegetable crops for them to attack.
Tiny spider
Not sure who this little guy is, but I loved the translucence of its legs.
Ants
We came to Normandale from Auckland in 1980. We were astonished that there were no ants. This year, we have started to see small signs of ants in the garden. Not the common black ant, but rather these glossy brown guys. Still trying to identify their species.
Wisteria
Wisteria in Riddiford gardens behind the Hutt City offices
Rangiora
Rangiora is a tree as well as a South Island town. It flowers in profusion.
Wellington Hospital
Wellington Hospital as seen from the ridge to the West. The new children’s hospital is the green building at the left. “Benefactors Mark Dunajtschik and Dorothy Spotswood contributed $53 million to the new facility. The Government contributed another $53 million and a further $10 million was raised by the Wellington Hospitals Foundation” (One News)
The old Dominion Museum
Way back in time, this was the National Art Gallery and Dominion Museum. It was replaced in these roles when Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) opened in 1998. It is currently leased to Massey University as part of its Wellington Campus.
The Man with the Donkey by Paul Walshe
In front of the old Dominion Museum building is the National War Memorial (currently closed until its seismic weaknesses are resolved). In from of that is this rather nice sculpture by Paul Walshe of Private Richard Henderson of the New Zealand Medical Corps who, along with the Englishman John Simpson Kilpatrick serving in the Australian Army Medical Corps, won fame for their courageous rescues of many wounded soldiers at Gallipoli.
The Tomb of an Unknown New Zealand Warrior
The tomb of New Zealand’s unknown warrior. It is a place of honour and respect, though it is not accorded the same quasi-religious reverence accorded to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington
Fountain
Part of the Pukeahu NationalWar Memorial Park is some classical statuary. This pool and the lion fountain caught my eye.
Whakaruruhau
Among the newer statuary at Pukeahu is this gift from the British people to honour the joint sacrifices of the two nations over many years. It is about 5 metres tall and represents a merger of the British Oak and New Zealand’s pohutukawa. It was designed and installed by Weta Workshop for the British High Commission in 2017. It was unveiled by Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson. Its name is Whakaruruhau … as I understand it, this translates to protection, shield and shelter.
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You probably already know that I rarely resist the temptation of a still morning at the Oriental Bay Marina. I am having to be more cautious these days. The concrete pad in front of the boat sheds is usually covered in slippery green algae and is a known hazard. My ability to lose my balance and do a full height face-plant is increasing with age, and I have managed it twice in the last month. The humiliation, physical injury and damage to cameras and glasses means I take less pleasure in such places than before. As they say, ageing is not for sissies.
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In one of the gardens at the foot of Pt Jerningham, this spectacular two-metre tall flower spike caught my eye. With the aid of the excellent Pl@ntNet app, I was able to identify it as the Chilean Puya.
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It’s strange that we are already past the vernal equinox, and yet we have had very little of the warm weather that the meteorologists have been promising. Mary and I have taken several opportunities in recent weeks to drive into the Horowhenua or the Manawatu whenever the weather has been even halfway decent.
This first image is of flowering cherry blossoms in the Featherston area. When this image was made, the nearby memorial garden was reluctant to burst into bloom, so I asked a friend who is resident in Greytown to report on progress over the next week or two.
Cherry blossoms – Featherston
On this day, we we drove up through the Wairarapa, seeing more and more signs of spring. A little block a bit North of Masterton was just a delight. As well as the profusion of daffodils and kowhai, there was a rabbit lurking in this picture. You might need to click to see it in the big picture.
Horowhenua Springtime
Since the closure of the Manawatu Gorge, the Pahiatua Track is one of only two roads that cross from the Wairarapa to the Manawatu. It’s an interesting road that traverses the Tararuas in among the huge wind turbines. On this first trip, I somehow missed the entrance to North Range Rd which allows the public a view of some of the many turbines along the Northern end of the range. Never mind. We ended up in Palmerston North where we enjoyed our picnic lunch beside Hokowhitu lagoon. From there we headed South on SH57 towards Levin. However, we got stopped by the glimpse of flowers in the grounds of Massey University. The flowering cherries were in glorious display.
The magnificent cherry blossoms on the Massey Campus
We weren’t the only ones enjoying the spectacle. There were lots of tui gathering the nectar and singing their hearts out. Such a shame that the Sakura season is so very short.
Tui enjoying the nectar
Spring is diverse nevertheless, and the next week, after prolonged rain, I wandered the Eastern side of Lower Hutt where I encountered mother duck guiding her brood across the road. It was quite funny watching the ducklings each taking their turn to breast up to the kerb and take several attempts to do a standing jump up onto the berm.
Motherly guidance
When the bad weather persists I turn to the late Sir Charles Norwood. He was founder of Dominion Motors, founder of the Wellington Free Ambulance, and the donor of the Lady Norwood Rose Gardens among other things. The Lady Norwood gardens include the rose gardens and the hothouses at the botanic gardens. Among the many varieties of begonias and orchids on display, there are some lovely water lilies.
Water lily
The orchids in the hothouses are each lovely in their own right, though they are often difficult to frame as an image with any artistic merit. I am reluctant to do any significant manipulation with Photoshop or similar, so am quite happy with this shot.
Orchids
A damp drizzly day in Breaker Bay and I was rewarded with this lovely blue shrub, Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans). The jewellery added by the soft rain lifts the picture substantially.
Pride of Madeira
Ika Rere (flying fish) is claimed as the first all electric ferry in the Southern hemisphere. I hate that statistic. It usually means they checked Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, Sydney Melbourne and perhaps Perth. We take it for granted that there is nothing worth checking in Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Montevideo or Sāo Paulo. Anyway, it is a pioneering vessel, and has entered the Days Bay ferry service. Unfortunately, it suffered an embarrassment when it ran out of power in the middle of the harbour, and had to be rescued by the police launch.
Ika Rere in service from Days Bay to Wellington
Tulips are a favourite for me, so I was delighted to encounter a wonderful crop of them at Mangaroa Farms in Whiteman’s valley. My first encounter was on a misty day with clouds of rain drifting across in the background.
Tulips in the rain
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Tulips in sunshine
A week later the weather dried out, so with permission from the farm owner, Mary and I revisited the farm and got a bit closer. I really liked being close to the flowers without the crowds of people you encounter in Wellington’s Botanic Garden.
Dark tulips
I love the dark varieties when it comes to Tulips. Sadly they were few in number.
My collection of annual photographic books
I have been getting up to date with my photo annuals. Each book is about 100 pages. and each page is fully covered with images. When you take into account the various image formats, that means about 120 images per book. I have books from 2011 to 2021. The company that produces them does a good job, though not cheap. One copy is typically NZ$60. Subsequent copies are inexplicably twice the price, So each of my books is the only copy.
Hutt Valley sunshine
Heading North on SH2 out of the Hutt Valley, I am always impressed by the view of the South wall of the Tararuas. Unfortunately, like many of the best views in the region, there is no place where you can legally park. Fortunately, Mary was driving.
Memorial garden to the Japanese prisoners of war in Featherston
Back in the memorial garden in Featherston, this time, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. Various people were making images there, including a long time friend from the days of the now defunct Hutt Camera Club.
Cherry blossoms
Honey bees provided the sound track , though I caught none of them in this image. Nevertheless. I thought the blossoms made a nice image.
Wind farm on the Tararuas above Pahiatua
We went up over the Pahiatua Track again, and this time, I remembered to follow North Range Rd along the ridge. There are a number of different wind farms clustered along the Range. Some are quite old, perhaps charcterized by two-bladed turbines, while others are bigger, brighter, newer and have three bladed turbines. I think they are amazing devices.
Queen Elizabeth II was a remarkable women who became queen in my 9th year. Despite my distaste for the notion of monarchy in general, Queen Elizabeth has served all her peoples with grace, dignity and unswerving commitment over seventy years. I do not intend to enter into debate with anyone on these matters, but it seems appropriate to acknowledge such a span of service.
Meanwhile, life continues at the coal face. Sometimes I find the routines of life a little uninspiring, and even depressing. Still, I love the process of making images. On the other hand, if I am not seeing or finding the images that bring me joy, the mood barometer swings downward again.
Hutt Valley rainbow
Mary and I had driven up to Palmerston North in the hope of finding birds or signs of spring. While I enjoyed travelling with Mary, the day was photographically, a bust. Then, as she was serving our evening meal back at home, Mary said “look out of the front window!” I begged a slight delay in the meal and grabbed my camera and a wide angle lens and went out onto the front lawn. Ever the sign of hope, the rainbow made up for much that we had missed earlier.
Cloudscape over Pt Halswell
It’s slightly weird when I am lamenting a down mood, that I can take pleasure in heavy clouds and grim outlooks. From Balaena Bay across Evans Bay to Point Halswell and the Miramar peninsula, I was attracted to the imposing cloudscape.
Rosemary in the rain
At the back door, Mary grows various flowers and herbs. They are just so ever-present that I often fail to see them. Now and then, they catch my eye. In this case, the rosemary’s blue flowers took some time on an otherwise damp and dismal day.
Evans Bay ripples
Evans Bay is a frequently visited site that occasionally yields a nice image. The still patch of water near the shore was disrupted by a row of incoming waves. Why do these waves differ from the chop on the water further out?
Interesting art in the back alleys
As I often do, I arrived too early for an excellent yum char lunch with friends and former colleagues in Courtenay Place. I filled the time by exploring nearby laneways. This image was made in Forresters Lane and is the front of a cocktail bar called “Love Bite”. Foreign territory to me.
Old familiar territory
Although I have done it many times before, I can’t resist still water in Oriental Bay marina.
Australasian shoveller
Despite the number of trips I make to Queen Elizabeth Park wetlands, I have not been rewarded with the hoped for birdlife in recent months. The only capture on this trip was this Australasian shoveller.
Tumbling water
Wellington’s Botanic Gardens are full of little surprises. This little waterfall is perhaps only a metre high, but adds to the music of the garden.
Tulip display
It’s tulip time again. Sadly it’s all too brief , but the gardeners always manage to arrange a good display of tulips for a few weeks. I got there the week prior to the annual tulip festival, so was limited as to the available colours.
Single bloom
I find it hard not to love tulips, singly or en masse.
Kaiarahi returns to service
Here is Kaiarahi (formerly Stena Alegra) just back in Wellington after many months sitting in Picton with a broken gearbox. The required parts were finally installed and here she is ready to resume service.
Urban forest
A splash of colour at the head Evans Bay. Urban forest’ (2008) by Leon van den Eijkel and Allan Brown is a stack of cubes designed to spin in the wind, of which there is plenty at the site. Sadly it fails often and just sits. Nevertheless, it is interesting and nine metres high.
See you next time, I hope.
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I can’t recall a more miserable winter than this one. Not in the sense of a Northern hemisphere snowy winter. Rather, it has been a season of persistent rain and sustained strong wind. Not a season to encourage much in the way of landscape photography in my opinion. And so it has been that I have made fewer images, and that the images were constrained by the subjects available, and by the often unkindly light of bleak wet winter’s days.
Apart from that, I somehow let time slip by, so I have accumulated a few more images than usual.
Little black shags getting ready for a hunting foray
The little black shag intrigues me. As far as I know, it is is the only shag that hunts in packs. All of the others are solitary hunters.
The flock in pursuit of a shoal of fish
It fascinates me to watch the flock herding a shoal of fish into the shallows where they can feast on the fish which have no escape route.
Winter weather in Island Bay
I mentioned the winter weather. One aspect of it that I rather like is the Southerly swells. Big slow moving waves with long intervals between each crest are so impressive. This is at the Western end of Island Bay.
Weight of water
Huge swells (by local standards) seem to glide almost silently towards the coast. Of course, the wind is shrieking but that seems separate from the water.
Welcome swallow
We’ve met this guy or one of his relatives before. For whatever reason, the wetlands at Queen Elizabeth Park have not had the usual variety of bird life. No coots or dabchicks have been seen in my recent visits. It’s a really tough day when there are no Welcome swallows. The flax branch just outside the bird hide is a favourite resting spot for them, and if I am lucky, it is open to the occasional shaft of light.
Tui in the rain
The tui was named Parson bird by early colonists because the white throat tufts have the look of a clerical collar. It is a member of the honeyeater family. Many people tend to think that its plumage is dark, almost black. If you catch it in the light, however, you find that its coat is an iridescent blend of blues and greens, brown and white. It seems to be increasing in numbers over recent years and that brings me joy, despite its bullying behaviour towards the smaller passerines.
Hard to keep the lens dry in such squalls
Somedays it sucks and then it blows. Though it’s warmer than the Southerlies, the Northerly wind can produce miserable conditions. Here we are in Evans Bay as the strong Northerly squalls rip the top off waves on Wellington Harbour.
Tui tries exotic foodMana
Another tui shot, with the clerical collar in full view. As I said above, it is a honey eater, and likes any source of nectar. I was surprised to see this one slurping on a banana that Mary had placed there for the waxes.
Mana marina
One of my struggles is to find different ways of looking at the broad scenes in front of me. In this case, I was at the Mana Marina. Normally I would choose a wider angle that reveals more of the boats, but on this occasion I liked the pattern or texture of all the boat bows nosed into the marina gangway.
Flowering cherry appeals to the tui
I promise this is the last tui in this edition. Spring is with us next week, but some of the flowers are ahead of the officially approved timetable. As I said, this is a nectar feeder so the sudden outbreak of new flowers is a delight to it.
The answer is always on the web
I think I have done this before. The bird hide at Queen Elizabeth park is not always productive, and I fill in time by making images of the spider webs around the view ports. I suppose the existence of the webs suggests that not much photography has happed here in recent days.
Pride of Madeira
There are some cliffs near the Seaview Marina, and as I was driving past, I spotted a beautiful splash of deep blue. Later investigation identified it as a member of the borage family called Pride of Madeira (Echium fastuosum) . Anyway, I snaffled a single bloom and photographed it in my dark box and quite liked it.
Sea shells from the sea shore
Wet windy weather persisted. Mary had braved the weather to walk Petone beach and she found some shells. OK, still life is good practice. I have no idea which particular mollusc this is but I liked the translucence.
Nuts
More still life – guess what the weather was doing. These walnuts have sat in the bowl for several months now.
Graffiti colours
I despise most forms of graffiti, especially the ones that are the equivalent of a dog marking its territory. Now and then, the colour choices catch my eye, as in this case in Lyall Bay.
Beautifully flat landing
I was eating my lunch in my car on the corner of Lyall Bay near the airport when this Pilatus PC12 approached the South end of the runway. It’s not a great shot of this fine little 9 seat aircraft, but I paid attention because it was making the perfect three-point landing without the usual nose-high flare more commonly seen. OK, so I’m a nerd.
More graffiti … I wonder how much this paint cost
More graffiti. This example is on one of the water reservoirs at the top of the Haywards Hill. If I had my way, the manufacturers and distributors of spray cans would be taxed annually based on the estimated square footage of external private property that is covered in their product. That includes every rail wagon and every wall defaced.
Elizabeth St, Mt Victoria
I don’t often look at Wellington from the East. This is from Elizabeth Street on the lower slopes of Mt Victoria. Those who know the city will recognise the Hunter building at Victoria University across the valley.
Pou Whenua
Further up Mt Victoria, near the summit lookout, is this fine pou whenua. I suppose a pou whenua is roughly equivalent to a totem pole. It is a statement of heritage by the tangata whenua (the people of the land).
Central city
Somehow, I find panoramic images are rarely satisfying, yet I keep attempting to make them. This one is a stitch of eight or nine images. I knew something was different in this one and struggled to identify it. It was only as I was checking that the stitching between images had worked that I realised there was no scaffolding on the Post Office headquarters building (extreme right). Scaffolding has surrounded this building since before I retired in 2011. Apparently apart from many other issues, this has involved asbestos remediation.
And so ends another edition. Sorry for the long gap this time. The weeks slip by ever faster. If you want your copy emailed, please subscribe below
One of my favourite mentors, Alastair Benn this week asked his subscribers what makes a good photograph/photographer. Any of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that this is a sure way to trigger all my anxieties and self doubt. He also asked whether we thought it was feasible to judge your own work.
Solely in relation to my own work, I regard a good photograph as one that I like, that I am pleased to have made and one to which my first reaction is not how much better it could have been “if only I had done something else.” In my view, although I love to get affirming opinions from others, the vital component is that I like it myself. I take it for granted that the image is made competently. After that it is a matter of what I saw and how I extracted that seeing from all that was in front of me.
So here follows the usual collection of images made since the last edition of this blog. I like some of them. Others not so much.
Cape Halswell Light in the mist
Winter mist on the harbour and all is blank beyond Pt Halswell. The Hutt Valley is probably still out there, though there is no evidence of it.
Little Black Shag hanging the laundry out to dry
I like the little black shags. Their plumage is beautifully patterned but not coloured. This one was hanging the wings out to dry in whatever thin substitute for sunshine was available.
Misty on the Wainuiomata Coast Road
Misty conditions appeal to me, though the resulting images rarely match the vision I had when I made them. This was on the road South to the Wainuiomata coast. Silhouettes against the mist always appeal to me.
A constrained view from Wright’s Hill
Now and then I get the urge to go up Wright’s Hill at the Western end of Karori. The problem with geographic lookouts such as Wrights Hill, is that they are constraining. Every time I go up there, I end up in the same place looking at the same view. Only the light, time of day and the weather change. I need to get more inventive.
Evans Bay looking inland
Unlike Wright’s Hill, Evans Bay offers myriad different vantage points. Some face East, some West. Some look into bays, others look out. I liked this view because it is an angle not often seen.
White cabbage butterfly
As far as I can tell, this caterpillar is going from left to right. I will further venture that this is probably a white cabbage butterfly seen here hanging under a parsley plant. Two aspects caught my eye. A droplet of water on the caterpillar’s back was interesting because I have no idea where it came from. The other thing that drew my attention was its pointy little feet.
Sunset over the Hutt Valley
A seemingly perfect day seemed to promise a spectacular sunset. Sadly, it didn’t happen. Instead, a wall cloud developed to the West and we had a fairly ordinary sunset. The only consolation were the glittering reflections in the Hutt River and the Waiwhetu Stream.
On Ivey Bay (again)
Ivey Bay is a frequent haunt of mine. Among other things, I like it because of the character of the boats moored there. As I have observed before, these are not plastic “gin palaces”, but rather, honest working boats, probably built by the original owner.
Tapuae-o-Uenuku
Looking from the top of the Wainuiomata Hill across the Cook Strait, there is usually a splendid view of the Kaikoura mountains. Tapuae-o-Uenuku is always magnificent, especially considering that summit is 130 km away.
Tākina – the Convention centre
Here is the new kid on the block. This is Tākina. It is the almost finished Wellington Convention Centre. I quite like it, though birders are not pleased with so much glass that could injure the birds.
Aquilla coming home
Aquilla is one of the local fishing trawlers seen here returning from the Cook Strait with a swarm of sea birds hovering hopefully in her wake.
Porirua Harbour
Porirua Harbour has its moments. I especially like it when there is no wind, and that is much more often than you might think. This is a multi-image panoramic stitch made between two trees near the Whitireia Polytchnic.
Tulips
Mary had a birthday recently and the family turned up and provided morning tea at a local cafe. Jack (15) arrived with a bunch of tulips for the occasion. Flowers for the win!
And that’s another edition in the can, though I had a repeat of that sudden loss of editing. I might have to see if there is something more reliable than WordPress.
Winter solstice was in the week just ended. Spring seems so far away. And yet there are signs already. We have had a few bright winter days but for the most part, strong winds, cloud and rain. I try to convince myself that there is beauty to be found even in bad weather, but some days do not encourage me to venture out with the camera.
Nevertheless, I do get out in rough weather now and then, especially if there is the hope of large swells on the South or West coast. If, however the water is merely ruffled, and the weather is grey and bleak, I stay home. I seem to have got out reasonably often since my last posting.
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Pukerua Bay normally offers a view across the water to Kapiti Island. On this day a howling Nor’Wester was driving swells in excess of 4 metres directly towards the beach. I chose to make my images from inside the car, using the passenger window as my portal to the storm, and the width of the car to protect my lens from the spray. I got some reasonable wave shots, but my favourite of the day was this image taken after I rolled the window back up. And that’s when I found that the passenger seat was absolutely soaked!
Seed spreaders
Aaaghhh! I had finished typing this edition when WordPress suddenly decided to stop saving and to go back four days and lost everything from here forward. Everything from here on is a rewrite.
Another dull day and my attention turned to the birds in the tree just outside our dining room window, Common house sparrows were doing battle over access to the birdseed bell that Mary had hung out there. They are messy eaters so if there any viable seeds on that thing, there is a strong likelihood of something exotic growing from fallen seeds around the tree. Last season, it was sunflowers. Who knows what next.
Steam excursion
The observant among you may notice the red light on the right hand end of the locomotive’s buffer beam. Yes, this is the back of the train. Steam Inc were running out and back trips between Paraparaumu and Manakau. If you look closely or click to enlarge, you will see a vintage diesel locomotive down the other end. The diesel hauls the train in the Southbound trips, and the steam locomotive leads the way back North. It burned 5 tonnes of coal in the two days on which the excursions were running.
Under tow
In contrast this ship, La Richardais was burning no fuel except by the generators. She had lost power a few hundred km off the coast of New Plymouth and had been under tow ever since. The large tug is MMA Vision which normally spends her time as a tender to the Taranaki oil fields, and was released to tow La Richardais first to New Plymouth and then to Wellington. They are seen here arriving in Wellington assisted by the two local tugs, Tiaki and Tapuhi. They spent a week in Wellington. I suspect that no local firm was equipped to achieve a repair so the tow resumed. MMA Vision will take her to New Caledonia and another tug will take her onwards to Singapore and presumably a repair.
Weight of water
Long long ago, when I almost understood such things, I did an applied mathematics course at the University of Auckland. I bandied around terms like amplitude, frequency and period and knew a few formulae on how to find one of those if I had the other two. I have a lingering sense of the importance of those characteristics of a wave. The ones that impress me the most are the amplitude (Height from trough to crest) and period (the time between successive crests). I know I am in for a visual spectacle if the amplitude is greater than 4 metres and the period is greater than 10 seconds. This image was made at Pukerua Bay.
Kaitaki bound for Picton
In a different set of circumstances, I was at Owhiro Bay when the view across the strait was crisp and clear. Mighty Tapuae-o-Uenuku was soaring skyward up into the clouds hovering around its peak. The Interisland ferry Kaitaki which seems sorely in need of a paint job passed at speed across the face of the mountain., heading towards Tory Channel and Picton.
Straitsman bound for Wellington
Even as Kaitaki was heading West, the competing ferry Straitsman emerged from Tory Channel. She has recently had a major overhaul, and her crisp clean paint job was quite a contrast.
Throw no stones
From Oriental Bay, the high-rise blocks of Wellington’s CBD are eye-catching. The Deloitte building is especially so. Recent seismic losses were undoubtedly in the minds of the architects when they used such a thoroughly triangulated structure. I imagine that those angled tubular columns are a nuisance in the building’s interior, but offer some reassurance whenever the earth moves, as it often does in Wellington.
Spotlight
I have no idea which site is served by this crane, but the way it was picked out of the late afternoon gloom by that shaft of sunlight made it an image worth taking.
Ash clearance
As I mentioned earlier, the weekend of running up and down between Paraparaumu and Manakau consumed 5 Tonnes of coal. This produces a lot of ash, much of which remains in the firebox and the rest is carried through the boiler tubes and falls to the base of the smokebox. There are access hatches in the sides of the locomotives, but that is the only concession to convenience. After that, it is shovelled by hand from the collection area into a wheelbarrow, and then wheeled to a tipping area behind the locomotive shed. It is a tedious task, but these members of the crew laboured away until the job was done
Steel grey
Crepuscular rays are a magnet for most landscape photographers. This view from Oriental Bay looking North conceals the usual view of the Tararuas. It’s a full colour image that could easily pass as monochrome. The steel grey colour of the harbour is probably a good indicator of just how cold the day was.
Dandelion
I am sure there is someone who could dispute the botanical identity of this seed head. I don’t care. It walks like a dandelion and quacks like a dandelion, so … I struggle to choose an exposure that does justice to the outer sphere, and to the spectacle of the inner parts where each seed attaches to the plant.
Kelburn Park
Kelburn Park fountain is perhaps outclassed by the Carter Fountain in Oriental Bay, despite its spectacular coloured lighting at night. Nevertheless, it is worth a look. It wasn’t until I got home that I saw that I had caught a gaggle of sightseers the lookout platform atop Mt Victoria 2,240 metres away.
Pineapples and Bananas
The Kakariki is less than a year old, and her paint reflects that. The only significant marks are those left by the black rubber buffers on the nose of numerous tugs assisting her into her berth.
That will do for this edition. I hope to see you again soon.
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With the road trip behind me, my challenge now is to keep the photographic flame alive. That can be hard while living an everyday life in suburbia. Many times before, I have referred to seeing familiar things in a different way. Some of my photographic friends have the gift of “finding a different place” to stand when making pictures of things that I see every day. What I need to do in my search for something worth photographing is to pause, and to not make the picture until I have considered other ways of looking at it. This might be to go round the other side. It might be to include (or exclude) another element. Perhaps it is looking at the subject through a different lens. The wide angle offers a different picture to that made by the telephoto. Anyway, for now at least, we are at home on the Western Hills of Lower Hutt and Winter has officially begun.
Before I totally forget the road trip, many thanks to all the nice readers who sent kind words and affirmation. Your messages were greatly appreciated.
Fizz
A crranberry flavoured tablet made a spectacular fizz. I tried to catch it in my lightbox. That went OK, but I wondered whether a dark box might give a better image. The illusion of a reflection is createrd by the simple trick of standing the glass on the base of an identical glass inverted.
Receding planes
One trick for seeing a view differently is to make a part of the scene substitute for the whole. Looking from Oriental Parade up the harbour, Wellingtonians are familiar with the view of the hills to the North. I have tried to present that view differently. The dark mass in the foreground is Matiu/Somes Island. Behind that are three folds in the Eastern hills of the Hutt Valley and I suspect the highest visible hill through the haze is Mt Climie behind Upper Hutt. A popular track with runners runs 6km from Tunnel gully to the summit. Masochism at its finest.
Depth charge?
Big swells on the South coast tend to attract the surfing community to Lyall Bay. It also attracts photographers. I am not sure why. Though the surfers may be different, it’s essentially the same picture each time. The only thing that rescues such an image from being the same as last time is the extent to which the light conditions or the waves are different. In this case I think the explosive burst of a big swell on the breakwater at the end of the airport runway makes a difference.
Royal spoonbills
Recently a flock of Royal spoonbills has taken to spending time on the Pauatahanui wetlands. It is often the case that, even when the rest of the inlet has a bit of a chop on the surface, the wetlands are perfectly still. These birds are still not quite the equal of the white heron, but they run a close second.
Morning glory
On Ivey Bay, there is often a variety of shore birds. In this case, a pied shag is proclaiming dominance over the bay. Across the inlet, the hills to the North of Grays Rd tower above the foreshore. I mainly liked the light.
Ivey Bay anchorage
That same morning, the water was perfect and one of the classic older wooden boats in the bay served as a focal point for my image making. I have no idea which boat it was, but as with previous captures, I have a preference for the simple old-fashioned working boats.
Swells in Owhiro Bay
We have been blessed with a relatively mild winter thus far. No deep cold, no sign yet of snow on the Tararuas. The only real symptom of winter has been a few heavy swells from the South. I like to try to catch these big waves, and hope to convey the weight of water behind each one. I am fascinated by their slow ponderous advance. I know conditions will be interesting when the gap between each wave is about ten seconds.
Lodden Lily
In the grounds of St James Church, Lower Hutt, shared by the public library except on Sundays, there is a lot of history and a great deal of horticulture, mostly carried out at the expense of the Lower Hutt City Council. I spotted these little beauties and thought they were some kind of spring flower that got confused. These Loddon lilies, however, are a winter flower so they were perfectly on schedule and it was only me that was confused.
Abandoned
Unilever has been part of Petone’s scenery scenery since 1919. The big factory building with its constantly steaming exhaust stacks came much later, sometime mid-century. At its peak, about 600 people worked there. Automation in the latter years apparently reduced the on-site numbers to about 30. The distinctive glass office block was built in the 1980s. In 2014, pursuant to global restructuring, Unilever transferred its New Zealand operations to Australia and the Petone factory fell silent. Some of the lesser buildings at the Eastern end of the 5 hectare property seem to have been leased or sold to small businesses. The office block remains dark and reflects the equally still factory block.
Wet feet
A long-proposed cross-harbour pipeline will improve resilience of Wellington’s water supply. The present sole pipeline runs alongside the main highway and crosses known seismic fault lines in several places. Construction began on the new line this year and is expected to be complete in 2025. A barge with some heavy machinery has been in Lowry Bay for several months now and has established some piles. I saw these two intrepid workers being lowered on a work platform to inspect one of the piles. I got the impression that they were controlling the crane themselves. If so, they were not afraid to get their feet wet.
So many still days lately
I shouldn’t tempt fate with a caption like that. We have endured some vile weather in recent days. No surprise then, that when conditions are good, I seize the day. This image is from the walkway beside the marina below Pt Howard. You can see traces of the morning mist dissipating over the Western Hills.
May I urge you to click on any image that appeals to you to see a larger version.
I don’t know why I didn’t discover it earlier, but WordPress has a feature that allows its readers to sign up to receive each new edition of a blog by email. Simply enter your email address once in the space below. Once only and not if you are already getting it by email.
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