Summer Playground

A weathered but wonderful playground at Black Gully Reserve, near Tapanui. West Otago. New Zealand. 28 December.

Round The Bend

A drive through rural back roads in Southland, Waikaka area. 29 December. New Zealand.

Dunedin Blues

Summer delights. Good blues.. happy blues 🙂 From our visit to Dunedin Botanic Garden on 15 January. New Zealand.

Way Out West

'Tis true! These photos were taken west of where we live *and* (Nigel's just reminded me), we live in West Otago! So.. I spotted this old wagon when we did the long country drive on back roads through farmland, technically in Southland as the regional boundary is close to where we live. We were nearing...

Into The Blue

Into the blue! Southland, New Zealand. 29 December 2022.

Shadow Pattern

As I wandered past some native plants at Black Gully Reserve, the shadows caught my eye. The large bright green leaves catching the shadows belong to a Griselinia species. Tapanui, West Otago, New Zealand.

Red Livens Things Up

I want to share with you how lovely the red form of our native mistletoe looks when it's up in a tree, with this type of mistletoe that's where you look.. upward. It's their spent flowers on the ground that usually alert me to their presence higher in the trees, always reminding me to look...

Spitting Image

When I was at Black Gully Reserve on 28 December, I found a spittle bug on a slender stem of a tree. I hadn't seen one of these so convenient to photograph before and it was fairly well-lit. It turns out they're pretty interesting creatures! Below the photo I'll give you a 'gift-link' to a...

Christmas Mistletoe

I've still got a few photos of the native mistletoe that are perched on trees at our local public reserve at Black Gully. Happily they flower in December and a few of them reside at the edge of the big open grass area so no big hike is needed to access them. I took these...

Country Road

Here's a new intersection but still on our country drive of 01 January. First up is a gravel road, lined on one side with a long line of our native flax plants and they're in flower hence the tall stalks. After that are three photos of swirly field patterns. We're well into summer now and...

Rural Intersection

The rural triangle intersection we found yesterday. Photos by Nigel, except the last one by me (my picture of the old kettle). Clutha District, New Zealand.

Yellow Crop Field

Yellow crop field we suddenly came across during a back country drive this afternoon. Clutha district, Otago. New Zealand.