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...