For such a poor sailor, I wonder why I am so drawn to the sea.
Yesterday’s images begin on the South Coast, somewhere to the West of Island Bay at the rocks known as “The Sirens” . I think this is a reference to the sweet singers of Greek mythology rather than to the sound of emergency vehicles, and may have a connection to the attraction I feel to the area. A stiff Southerly breeze was pushing some fairly solid swells over and through these jagged rocks, and of course I couldn’t resist the allure of my neutral density filter and the resulting slow exposure. The shutter was open for thirteen seconds in this shot, and that yields the vision of a steaming cauldron. Only as you look out towards the horizon do you get a sense of the size of the incoming swells. (Click to enlarge)
Later in the day it was around Pauatahanui where I saw no useful birds. I paused at the Paremata bridge to take in the bright colours of the boats near the sheds. Rather than going back over the Haywards Hill, I went back down the motorway, and on a whim, diverted up the Takapu Valley.

Up the pole, round the bend, screaming mad, or at least that’s what I would be up there. He on the other hand was laughing and joking with his colleagues on the ground.
I had left it far too late in the day as most of the valley was in deep shadow. At the very end of the road, adjacent to the Belmont Regional park, there was some residual sunshine, and a crew of linesmen were working on some high voltage lines. I presume that the lines in this case were not live, but I could be wrong.
For no apparent reason, a cluster of dead thistles caught my eye as I was leaving.
And that’s the end of the day.
I like the first one, though I’m drawn for some reason to power lines.