Blue Day, Reflections

Butchers Dam and lake on a perfect autumn day with clear blue sky and good reflections. Near to Alexandra in Central Otago. New Zealand. Flat Top Hill Conservation Area, dry land ecosystem.

Blue and Yellow

Autumn landscape beauty. Roxburgh, Central Otago. Yesterday afternoon. New Zealand

Stark Difference

When the gold miners arrived in Central Otago in the 1860s they didn't bat an eyelid at radically and massively transforming the environment. The initial influx of individuals and small groups gave way to larger operations that harnessed the power of water to obliterate large parts of the landscape. They extracted relatively small amounts of...

Eye Popping Poppies

Can't beat the Californian poppies for their eye-catching colours. I saw these at Roxburgh on our drive into Central Otago, 29 October 2022. We stopped there for a bit, by the highway, and wandered around looking at the roadside verge and private gardens. These were growing in a rough grassy patch between street and private...

Wild Side Again

The glorious riot of colour again.. another four photos taken by me when we drove along the East Roxburgh road on 25 September 2022 and came across this spring display of profuse yellow and pink blossom at a private property, on the road frontage. Forsythia and, I suppose the pink blossom would be cherry blossom....

The Wild Side

When we drove to East Roxburgh on Sunday afternoon, 25 Sept, I was delighted when we drove past this glorious riot of colour along the road frontage of a private property. Few would be brave enough to layer great masses of yellow and pink blossom in the same planting but somebody's had the courage to...

Shower of Golden Flowers

Beautiful kōwhai tree, golden yellow blossom. Reigning over a sheep paddock. This evening.. Moa Flat, West Otago, New Zealand.

Good For My Spirit

Rudbeckias (I think). Gorgeous autumn colour from Dunedin Botanic Garden, New Zealand. 24 March 2022. Today's a dull damp winter day so these pics of bright, cheerful flowers are good for my spirit!

Golden Clematis

Golden clematis always stops me in my tracks. I found this not far from our motel in Ranfurly, Central Otago on 13 March, New Zealand. Early autumn. I think it must be Clematis tangutica, from central temperate Asia.

Handkerchief Tree, Autumn

Dove Tree, Chinese Dove Tree, Ghost Tree. Davidia involucrata. I initially found this tree in Dunedin Botanic Garden in the spring of 2020, 24 October to be exact. But Nigel and I were unaware of the autumn form of this fascinating tree. Just a couple of days ago on 07 May we were back in...

Clyde Shadows

These photos are from our trip to Clyde in Central Otago on 02 April. We arrived for the afternoon and it was bright and sunny, providing some interesting shadows. Clyde's a lovely town with lots of old schist stone buildings and a gold history dating back to the early 1860s. These days there's a major...

Struck Gold!

Happy to get this shot of a honeybee visiting a kōwhai flower at Dunedin Botanic Garden today in the native collection. I saw a bee enter a flower (and completely disappear up into the flower), got my camera focused and waited for it to back out again 😀 Part of a string of old seed...