August 28, 2015 … what a magnificent day

When I opened the curtains yesterday there was a golden haze in the North East.

Into the golden haze, on SH2 just North of Naenae

Not a single cloud in the sky, not the slightest breath of wind  and all the signs were there that this would be one of those perfect Wellington days. Much earlier than usual, I set out for Pauatahanui, hoping to catch the mirror calm that had eluded me the previous day. Even on the road out there, that golden haze persisted, and I ducked off SH2 onto a little slip road called Hebden Crescent to try to catch the sense of the morning.

I am guessing that this is a dispute over mating. The bird in the air is trying to get away from the one below with its beak firmly clamped around the throat of its rival.

Over the hill and through the village on Gray’s road, there was a brief stop to watch the many pied stilts in their immaculate black and white uniforms  feeding, flirting, fighting and flying.

Breathless calm

Did I mention my hopes for a mirror calm day?  I made lots of panoramas, this one looking from Ration Point back towards Pauatahanui village and the Eastern edge of Whitby. It’s been a while since I enjoyed such a prolonged period of perfect windless calm at the inlet and it  was still calm when I drove home almost two hours later. Wonderful.

Kingfisher with crab

At Motukaraka Point, I took the Canon out for a walk and managed to catch some kingfisher action. I still need to get more practice. Each time a bird left the tree I had trouble picking it up in my autofocus system, and the bird had dived, got the crab and was on its way back with dinner by the time I caught it.

Perfect Paremata

From there, I lingered a little with the white-faced herons near the bridge and then went on to Paremata. This area is my happy place in circumstances like these.  I came home from the inlet with a couple of hundred images and spent a happy afternoon processing them. Normally that would be a good day, but it was not over yet.

The Lux festival at Frank Kitts Park

In central Wellington there is the Lux festival. In case you think of soap, the word Lux is Latin for Light. A cluster of lighting special effects is set up around Frank Kitts Park and crowds come to enjoy the show and to eat at the many ethnic food stalls set up for the occasion.

Crowds of people ignore the chill as they walk to the lux festival

The night was clear, but by now the wind had risen and the temperature had dropped to around 7 deg C . That didn’t deter the crowds strolling along, perhaps buoyed and still warmed by the perfect day behind them.

That will do for now.

 

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