Category Archives: Daily Post

Feb 28 2013
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Georg and the weka

Tuesday 26th February 2013, 6.35pm (day 551)

Georg and weka, 26/2/13

First day on the Heaphy Track. To save all three of them being just landscapes here is some human – and animal – interest. The bird is a weka, a flightless relative of the kiwi, unique to New Zealand and – this particular one anyway – seemingly well practiced in the art of thievery. This was taken at the shelter/campsite of Gouland Downs, a very atmospheric spot; comedy value was high as Georg, camping out, kept having the weka sneak up behind him, only to scurry away as he turned around. Here the nemeses come face to face with each other.

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Feb 28 2013
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Daily Post, Landscape

Historic cemetery, Collingwood

Monday 25th February 2013, 1.55pm (day 550)

Collngwood cemetery, 25/2/13

A day killing time in Collingwood before heading down to the start of the Heaphy Track. This graveyard sits on a hill above the town, and most of the graves date from the 19th century. The engravings etched onto the headstones are often a story in themselves, highlighting the harsher nature of life in the past: the graves of three teenagers, one who drowned trying to cross the nearby Aorere River, and two brothers who died within three days of each other (presumably of the same infectious disease), were the most touching.

As we are at another 50-day milestone – day 550 – I have added some photos to the ‘Best of the Rest’ page. I also note that today marks the end of 18 months of doing this blog since I started on 26/8/11.

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Feb 28 2013
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Daily Post, Landscape

Evening scene, Collingwood

Sunday 24th February, 7.25pm (day 549)

 

Collingwood evening scene, 24/2/13

I’ve not posted for a few days due to being on a long walk, the Heaphy Track – which you will hear about presently. This seems a long time ago, therefore. This scene is in Collingwood, a small town in the extreme top-left corner of North Island. I had another nice shot of a sunset, but that seemed rather cliched the more I looked at it, and I like the composition of this one.

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Feb 23 2013
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Daily Post, Interior

The best pub in New Zealand

Saturday 23rd February 2013, 5.05pm (day 548)

Sprig & Fern, 23/3/13

Officially so. As voted in, in 2012, by the people whose opinion counts in this regard. And a damn fine pub it is too – the Sprig and Fern on Milton Street, in Nelson, at the top end of South Island. The sign to the right is worth reading.

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Feb 22 2013
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Grasses, Sawdust Bay, Stewart Island

Friday 22nd February 2013, 12.25pm (day 547)

Grasses, Sawdust Bay, 22/2/13

Nice photos as they are I feel that both of the last two days’, being taken in the evening, haven’t captured the brilliant light of this place – particularly as it is having unusually bright, warm and settled weather at the moment (apparently their whole summer has been good). This was taken on the second day of my walk round the Rakiura Track, a 25-mile yomp through, well, rather a lot of forest actually, but this moment the light did open up.

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Feb 22 2013
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Daily Post, Landscape

Sawyers Beach, Stewart Island

Thursday 21st February 2013, 7.10pm (day 546)

Sawyers beach, 21/2/13

 

This is pretty much how I imagined New Zealand was going to look. I had to walk several miles north of Oban to find it, on the Rakiura Track (see my post here, on my other blog), but here it is, on a spectacularly beautiful evening.

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Feb 20 2013
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Daily Post, Portrait

Waiting for the penguins

Wednesday 20th February 2013, 8.55pm (day 545)

 

Waiting for penguins, 20/2/13

First night on Stewart Island: not only the most southerly place I have been, but pretty much the most southerly place one can go. Only the very bottom of South America, the Falkland Islands (or Malvinas), and Antarctica are further south than here.

Evening entertainment in Oban, the only settlement on Stewart Island, consists either of going to the one pub, or hanging out here on the dock waiting for the penguins to turn up. We did see one. But as is often the case, it turned out more productive to photograph the crowd and not what the crowd was waiting for. (Incidentally, having got to know her a little tonight, it turns out the woman to second right here is a highly accomplished photographer in her own right, far better than me – see her blog here.)

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Feb 19 2013
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

On the bus to Invercargill

Tuesday 19th February 2013, 2.20pm (day 544)

Bus to Invercargill, 19/2/13

Since I took this photograph I have been speculating about the reason why this item of clothing exists, and I’ll be damned if I can work it out.

Still, it was more interesting than anything I could find in Invercargill tonight. On to Stewart Island tomorrow.

 

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Feb 18 2013
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Daily Post, Urban scene

University of Otago campus, Dunedin

Monday 18th February 2013, 11.30am (day 543)

Otago campus, 18/2/13

 

The city of Dunedin is dominated by this institution, the oldest university in New Zealand I believe (and pronounced o-TAH-go, not o-TAY-go). I spend a lot of my life on university campuses and can authoritatively state that this is a particularly fine example of the genre.

Incidentally I just about tolerate the car that has sneaked into this shot. I bet you can count on the fingers of one hand the number of cars that have appeared on this blog. I think virtually nothing ruins an otherwise pleasing shot more than there being a car in it. With the exception of vintage ones, they’re all identical, ugly, boring and vastly over-rated machines. OK, rant over.

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Feb 17 2013
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Daily Post, Transport

In-flight entertainment

Sunday 17th February 2013, 3.40pm [New Zealand time] (day 542)

In flight entertainment, 17/2/13

 

Could have offered up photos taken from the plane, but there will, I’m sure, be plenty of New Zealand landscapes coming up over the next few days, and I also got a good shot of Auckland but that’s also a theme used a few days ago. So here’s a photo taken of the plane. Here is everyone plugged into their little worlds as we fly over the Tasman Sea.

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