The latest Lens-Artists Challenge is Pastimes and I thought I might take part. Thinking about pastimes I thought ‘places and plants’ because when we’re not doing necessary things, we love to visit places and/or look at plants. I looked through Nigel’s archives and soon had too many photos to do a nice neat post for the Challenge so here’s an informal presentation of some – I’ve deliberately mixed them up a bit!
Most taken by Nigel and if I’ve taken the shot it’s with his camera.
Click on ANY image below to enlarge
This is a big farm garden in the rural back country of Central Otago called Clachanburn developed by Jane Falconer. We loved it and even stayed in the cottage on site. This is on arrival, we’d pre-ordered a devonshire tea 🙂
Cromwell district in Central Otago, interesting additions for travellers’ entertainment! New Zealand back roads are great fun to travel 🙂
Best to click on this to enlarge
Nigel and I have in the past done a lot of tramping together, from day tramps to 4-5 days continuous tramping carrying our tent and food. Here we were heading out on a full-on day walk at Wyuna near Glenorchy (near Queenstown).
Nigel took this clever photo when we visited Crank Up at Edendale, Southland. It’s a big show of steam-powered machines, classic tractors and more.
Prior to the car we have now, we had this Ford Courier ute so the start to a tramp would look like this. This must be on arrival as I wouldn’t be looking so smiley if we’d been out tramping all day.
Limestone rock in Canterbury.
The start of a long day’s tramp, also in Canterbury. We were staying in a cottage on a remote high country farm. It’s exciting heading off into mountainous landscape like this! Poled route with tall orange-capped poles for better visibility in snowy weather.
Same location as above. I’m not a rockclimber but we still encounter some steep climbs when out tramping… I’m usually exhausted by the time we get back.
Another garden visit, this is at Cromwell. We enjoy seeing plants both in the wild and in gardens. Nigel is a Landscape Architect but looking at plants is a fun thing we both enjoy.
If visiting a particular town can be called a pastime we just love to visit Oamaru over on the east coast with its Victorian whitestone buildings, steam punk, lively arts scene and great cafes. Judging by the colour, this is licorice ice-cream! Deja Moo is an amazing ice-cream shop in the Victorian Precinct. 31 Jan 2017.
Let me know if you enjoyed this post – I’d selected more photos and could do another post in similar vein if there’s the interest. Cheers!
Text by Liz, photos mostly by Nigel else by Liz; Exploring Colour (2020)
I really enjoyed tramping vicariously with you! These places all look so inviting!
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Wow, what a fun post, Liz and Nigel. Great to see the both of you out enjoying the land. And you have a great smile. 🙂
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Great fun seeing your tramping adventures, Liz. Absolutely bring on more!
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Thank you Ellen! really nice to know you enjoyed seeing these 🙂
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This is a fine place for tramping and camping, and I wish I’d had the chance to get into that sooner, because I used to love doing just that! [At this point, I was on the verge of quoting a verse from a song that I wrote recently, but instead I decided to do a post featuring it. It’s about time. Stay tuned.]
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How intriguing Gary!
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All excellent images, Liz that show your enjoyment of your leisure pursuits. The dirt road is so back country NZ. Love the picture.
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Thank you Wendy.. all good times!
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Oh, I do miss New Zealand…
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It is special here in NZ, granted. The only part of California I know (just a little) is LA – we have wonderful memories of our brief stays on 3-day stopovers there, freely wandering around exploring both city and residential via walking (a lot), bus and subway. Loved it!
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I must say that in my somewhat biased opinion, the best part of California starts about 150 miles north of LA. 😉
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Beggars can’t be choosers but we didn’t feel like beggars! We saw lots of lovely trees, plants and flowers and best of all, hummingbirds! And people’s home gardens were very nice to look at.
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I remember the first time I saw Southern California. I was indeed bowled over. But then, drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, along the Big Sur coast and up to San Francisco, over the Golden Gate bridge, and beyond through Marin Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Go to google maps satellite view and follow along at high magnification, and you’ll see what I mean.
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Neat shot using the shiny headlight!
It looks like a great place for hiking, and reminds me of southern Colorado, one of my favorite places.
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I imagine our high country trails and routes would be very enjoyable for you to explore Robert! Thank you
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Wonderful pastimes, Liz! Love the road sign! Spending time in a garden is one of my all time favorite pastimes. It’s been so long since we’ve been able to go tramping that I’m not sure if we could stand the pace now, but I’m so looking forward to giving it a try. Nigel did a splendid job with the creative car shot. Thanks so much for participating in this challenge.
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Pastimes was a great idea Sue! thank you
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Great post and series of photos Liz & Nigel! You both appear to be really in your element and having a lot of fun! 🙂
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Thank you Peter! Yes, it’s all been very good fun even when some of it wasn’t hehe 🙂
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I loved the post–it is wonderful to see so many of the places you have visited and a real bonus to see your smiling face (and Nigel’s too). I knew that you did a lot of day trips, but like Steve Schwartzman, I did not know that you enjoyed multi-day tramps with a tent.
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I love that you loved the post thanks Mike. We’ve done many multi-day tramps in the past and covered a fair bit of ground. Also around the Cornish/Devon coast in the UK although much easier there ’cause shops, ice-creams, pubs and devon teas were never too far away 😉
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I have seen so many videos of photographers hiking to a remote location and spending the night in a tent so they can be in place when the sun is just rising and the mist is still hanging over the mountains. I can imagine myself doing that, Liz. 🙂
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You’re part-way there already then! Next thing is to find yourself good sturdy hiking boots that are comfortable – but you probably have those already. So… tent? 🙂
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I have a tent and even a sleeping bag. They may not be ideal for serious hiking, but would work in a start. A few years ago, I travelled to a wedding in another part of Virginia and hiked a few miles along the Appalachian Trail which passed through that region. Almost 550 miles (885 km) of the 2135 miles (3435 km) are in Virginia, my state and I have thought about trying out a few overnight segments to see how I liked it. Now, of course, any such hikes are out of the question.
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Have you read Bill Bryson’s “A Walk In the Woods?”
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I have heard of it, but not read it. I know that it sparked a huge amount of interest in the Appalachian Trail. I have always been fascinated by the folks who do the whole length of the trail in a single season. The hike itself is an amazing physical challenge, but the logistics of resupply are equally daunting.
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I think you’d really like it. Robert Redford made a movie of it with Nick Nolte, and it’s ok, but nowhere near as good as the book. I recommend it (the book) quite highly!
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I just ordered the book on Amazon–it should get here in a few days. The movie version seems to have really mixed reviews.
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Wow! The images are great and the different sceneries are amazing. Love your smile there in the car and the reflection of Nigel became nice as well. What amazing and exciting experiences you both have had with many memories to look back on. Thanks for sharing Liz!
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Glad you enjoyed seeing some more of our NZ scenery, some of which most visitors wouldn’t be likely to see on a trip here!
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I didn’t know you guys have a history of tramping and roughing it.
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Yes, we’ve done many of those trips in the past but a lot of our photos were taken on film.
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