Wild In Lawrence

Saturday evening I saw our PM was to do a Covid announcement at 9pm. That had to be bad so I watched. Auckland immediately into alert Level 3, the rest of NZ into Level 2 ('immediately' is my word but the new alerts took effect from 6am Sunday). Level 2 limits gatherings to 100 people...

Gracious Homestead

We recently happened upon this beautiful old homestead that dates back to 1906 while aimlessly driving out in the country on a back road. No historic signs or anything, just a privately owned beautiful old house. The owners were lovely and allowed us to have a look at their garden area around the home. Prior...

Shape of a Smile

I was intrigued by this friendly old house at Colac Bay, Western Southland, New Zealand. Initially I noticed the quizzical eyebrows but didn't notice the Mona Lisa 'smile' until I did the editing 🙂 What you may think is an odd-looking tree is a native cabbage tree or Cordyline australis. If you're from the UK...

Reshaping

We headed south-west to the coastal town of Riverton on Saturday 09 January. Nigel worked for a couple of hours, the rest of the day was ours. Crazy weather, constant cycle of sun, showers and heavy rain. Still got a few pics 🙂 Good to have a day away from social media and news .....

Festive in Dunedin

Christmas Day in Dunedin offered a fine morning and then the weather deteriorated in the afternoon. Fortunately we headed out to the beach early and got to visit the Botanic Gardens before wet weather came in. Last night we attended a beautiful Christmas Eve service at Knox Church with lots of candles and music and...

Gill’s Cnr Shelter

Beautiful bus shelter on the Otago Peninsula (end of the peninsula, on the route to Taiaroa Head where the Royal Albatross Centre is located). We visited the Centre on October 10, 2020 and this shelter caught my eye, featuring a Northern Royal Albatross on the front and one end, the other end has a yellow-eyed...

Bracken Hall

Great cafe and gift shop at Mossburn (which is on the route to Fiordland). When Nigel was over that way for work on 24 November I asked him to check if this place is still open. Still very much open (yay!) and he was able to get refreshments there. Southland, New Zealand. Toad of Bracken...

Kaitangata

Small rural town (population ~800) 12km from Balclutha. The mighty Clutha River flows through Balclutha, then winds its way past Kaitangata ('Kai'). We took a drive out there yesterday, 18 October 2020. Clutha District, New Zealand. Click on any photo to enlarge Hut and jetty by the Clutha River, at Kai. Where we'd stopped, I...

Mitchells Cottage

The building of this cottage began in the 1880s and was finally completed in 1904. It was built by two brothers with stone masonry techniques learned from their father in the Shetland Islands - John and Andrew Mitchell. According to the information sign, the cottage housed John and Jessie's family of 10 children. Andrew remained...

Brewery Ruins

The Black Horse brewery opened in 1866 and by all accounts did a very fine brew. The business changed names several times and was eventually bought and closed down by NZ Breweries in 1923. The workers moved to Dunedin and started working for Speight's. Most of this information is from a web page on  Weatherstons ...

Crossan’s Cottage 1865

Driving along the Roxburgh East Road through the Teviot Valley, I spotted this gorgeous old stone cottage down below. Nigel stopped so I could get photos. Looking for more information I found a Facebook media-set of photos taken 04 October 2015 and was amazed to find the cottage was just a derelict ruin then! Someone's...

Powerhouse River

Roxburgh hydro dam, on the Clutha / Mata-Au River often referred to as the 'Mighty Clutha River'. I always feel huge respect for this amazing river. There's two big hydro dams on the Clutha - the Roxburgh Dam (completed 1957) and Clyde Dam (completed 1993). Here's some overview photos I took from the top of...