Raspberries for breakfast every day at the moment. Yum!
summer
Rā 344 Rātu 12 o Hakihea
Another hot day in the Tron. Caught the tail end of the day on my way home.
Rā 343 Rāhina 11 o Hakihea
The heat keeps on. Love it. And the garden is blooming. Lots of raspberries to come…if the birds and elves don’t eat them first!
Rā 333 Rāmere 1 o Hakihea
First day of summer down here in the southern hemisphere. It has been unseasonably hot this last week. Today was no exception, though there was a decent cloud bank on the Kaimais as we drove over to Tauranga this morning. But here is day 5 of the black and white challenge. Hairy Mclary and his mates.
Rā 76, Rāmere 17 o Poutū-te-rangi 2017
Catch up day! One of the fall outs of being on the road is catching up with ‘real work’. That was today! Good to be able to enjoy the summer in my own backyard though. The butterflies are still enjoying late blooms on the buddleia. (I managed to wipe out the paper wasps with a good dose of fly spray!)
Rā 60, Rāapa 1 o Poutū-te-rangi 2017
Rā 47, Rāpare 16 o Huitānguru 2017
Hamilton. Rain. That’s it! The cat couldn’t decide whether to come in or go out, so decided to sit in the flower bed.
Rā 36, Rātapu 5 o Huitānguru 2017
Day 2 of a long weekend. Boy wants to stay home and hangout with friends so we head off to Opoutere. Across the flatlands of the Waikato in the cloud which starts to break as we hit the hill climb from Kopu to Opoutere. Little car decides enough is enough and hiccoughs it’s way to a halt on a really inconvenient part of the snaking road. I don the hi-vis vest and walk back down a couple of bends, take my life in the hands of mad NZ drivers racing up the hill to wave frantically at them to slow down for a hazard.
Little car eventually decides it has rested sufficiently to carry on. A Good Samaritan follows us to Tairua to check we’re ok. Thank you, man from Kopu Bed and Breakfast place.
The stunning views from the top of Paku – an extinct volcano are worth the steep, hot 380m climb.
I get my first ocean fix at Ocean Beach, Tairua. Golden sand, blue sky, deeply shelved beach so waves roll and crash magnificently. Floating beyond the breaking waves, being lifted on the rise and fall, eyes closed, weightless. Then swimming into the wave before it spills over me, exhilarating. Rest afterwards, the warm sand under me, sun beating down so just a few minutes. Bliss!
Opoutere in the early evening, in beautiful light is stunning. A walk through the pine forest. I love the smell of pine trees, the soft carpet of fallen pine needles and the crunch as they break underfoot. And the patterns against the blue sky as I look up at them towering above me.
Another ocean fix; the water seems warmer, the sun less harsh, the breeze less fresh, the waves gentler. Then we walk along in the shallows watching the play of light on the water, the shifting sand as the waves roll in and ebb out.
Wee Dotterels sitting on their nest pop up and draw us away, marching primly, pausing, looking, and on again. Nesting right in the middle of a sandy beach….hopefully their chicks survive.
We are warned off by male Oyster Catchers fiercely defending their young as they forage on the waterline, breaking tuatua and pipi with their bright orange beaks.
Then, a stretch along the muddy estuary as the sun is going down. The edge of the mangroves, leaves bursting from their seed cases, shellfish providing sustenance for birds, a living, breathing landscape.
Finally, a bright blue flash – the wings of a tiny kingfisher as he darts through the sky to land on the top of a tall ponga tree stump. Perfect day.
Rā 19, Rāpare 19 o Kohitātea 2017
Rā 17, Rātu 17 o Kohitātea 2017
Summer is hotting up. Moved to my outdoor office today – so nice to work outdoors. Nigel and I walked to the gardens and took a detour to the river where I snapped this angler fly fishing- reckoned he caught a good size trout this morning. The boys have gone up to a concert in Auckland. It’s a bit scary – my boys heading to the big city together!