Summer in the air

November has been an amazing month of endless sunny days, many of them warm. There was even time to dash up to the Sounds with my sister and spend two wonderful days relaxing and eating great food with family. We discovered that Pelorus River had warmed up enough to warrant a dip, we returned with our togs that same day and spent considerable time splashing about in the emerald water and jumping off rocks into the deep pools. Pure bliss! Then it was back home to work and start thinking about the silly month of December when everyone suddenly wants to have a BBQ, or street party somewhere.
It feels more like the holidays than it has for years - the sunshine and smiles of everyone around? Probably!

Central calling

Once you have spent several days in Central Otago, quietly peddling along trails in the shadow of a land beautiful and wild - it will stay with you. And you will keep going back to re-saturate yourself with more. I have cycled the Rail Trail four times, but this time I drove it and took my camera. And at long last I had the time to really indulge! And loved every single minute....
My local camera club cycled the trail and I was torn; I wanted to peddle too but I wanted the time to pause and drink the scenery and think about how I could freeze that moment into a digital image.












And one of Mt Cook for good measure...

To Lewis or not to Pukaki

We were both meant to be off on a photo safari to Lake Pukaki but accommodation options got mucked up and we thought it better to stay at home and go for day trips.
So to Lewis Pass we went. Prehistoric forests, crisp, fresh mountain air and a feeling of supreme contentment. Walking on soft leaf-carpeted tracks, over gnarled roots, and the sound of water never far away... All topped off with some hot cocoa back at the Smurf beside the Lewis River, looking up at the green slopes of the mountains topped with snow. Nice way to spend a Sunday...

Epstein makes his mark

As part of my camera club's effort to promote the Waimak region for next year's PSNZ Southern Convention (we're hosting it), they have decided to create a video. And whom might you ask is one of the stars?
Based loosely around the ABS ads featuring Goldstein & Sir, this take is of "Epstein" and Sir... no prizes who that might be.
Started off well but towards the end Epstein started making demands his trailer wasn't big enough and he wanted a PA. I tell you!

Polar bears of the weather

Yes we've had a polar blast and it's meant fires and hot toddies and nice big stews and casseroles. We tasted a very nice 18% alc. boysenberry wine today. I kept thinking how nice it would have been if warmed up.
There has been a fair amount of snow thrown about up here and we drove to Mt Grey and Lake Janet to get a better look. Lake Janet was just begging to be photographed but boy it was tricky to get the right exposure. Low light meant tripod but you can see why I had to endure the cold to get the pic.
Off to French Farm tomorrow and if the weather holds we hope to walk up to Pulpit Rock. A really cool volcanic dome on Banks Peninsula. Camera goes too. Expect mud and more mud and if it aint snowy, Rog will run up.

Moeraki

We should have expected the chill would be memorable and it WAS. Dunedin had a snow storm but miraculously Moeraki just missed it. You could see the edge of the storm from the surrounding hills as we drove about. But we couldn't avoid the wind, chill factor of at least -8, it was utterly unbelievable! Gusts of over 100km/hr which sent birds sweeping down hillsides, hopelessly trying to navigate the other way. Check out the seagull photo, talk about hunkering down!
What this all meant of course that outside ambles were short and sweet and most of the time we spent indoors eating and talking and having coffee at Fleurs. Some lunatics DID get up early and photograph the boulders simply because they do that sort of thing. But not us.
We stayed at Palmerston with Mary & Mike and on the Saturday morning we left the house in a blizzard. Arrived at Moeraki for breakfast to find the sun shining.
Crazy weather.
I only took 101 photos and pretty much binned the majority. Only one black and white I've kept for a possible inclusion in a future competition but the rest here are merely photo snaps.

Packing for a cold weekend

We're off to Moeraki this weekend for a photographic safari. Forecast is cold, sleet and well, anything because the Met office get it so wrong. Recently we had a smattering of snow on Mt Grey. It melted within hours. This morning there was a blanket of mist - perhaps a precursor of things to come.

The icy grip of winter - Waipara style

The original Pemberley website has been decomissioned and in so doing I now have to find another server to host our news. I've decided not to upload all the construction photos again but concentrate on progress since the house was built. AND any activities that go on in the area or in our lives.
So here goes.
Life in North Canterbury!
To start with we're in Winter and that means it should be cold - and it can be. But May was anything but. It was warm, windless and utterly wonderful. We headed up to Mt Cass as often as we could - Roger running up and I more sedately walking. Every time I take the camera and snap snap snap. I have watched the Autumn colours of the Waipara River bed change from golden yellow to a soft brown... the big blue mass of Mt Grey ever present in the distance.
The walk up Mt Cass is 400m over 7.6km. The GPS tells us so. That's from the carpark to the viewing area. The trig is at 525m but the farmer has put up a fence to discourage walkers. Roger now runs a loop - down the spur and then back up.
We never tire of the vistas. I hope you see what I mean...