New Zealand
Petrified wood at Curio Bay, The Catlins, Southland, New Zealand. These three photos are of one particular log, taken by Nigel when we visited the Petrified Forest on 11 November 2019. He's also captured some seaweed / marine plant life in the photos. This preserved Jurassic forest site is amazing to explore! Click on photo... Continue Reading →
Curio Bay is a fascinating place to visit. "The highlight of Curio Bay (Tumu Toka) is watching the outgoing tide reveal a 180 million year old Jurassic fossil forest – one of only three such accessible fossil forests in the world. Millions of years ago the Curio Bay area was part of the eastern margin... Continue Reading →
Curio Bay in The Catlins, Southland. Site of the petrified forest (more to come). The bird is a white-faced heron, self-introduced in the 1940s. By Liz 11 Nov 2019.
As far south as we can go in the South Island of New Zealand - Slope Point, The Catlins, Southland. To get there you drive country roads till you reach the carpark. Then it's a reasonable distance walking over farmland (and carefully avoiding the animal manure) before you reach the Slope Point signpost and small... Continue Reading →
Southern most point of the South Island of New Zealand. Slope Point, The Catlins, Southland. To get here you walk across pasture from a distant carpark. 11 Nov 2019, Liz.
This afternoon we drove home from Dunedin via the south coast, rejoining the main highway at Waihola. Along the stretch between Brighton and Taieri Mouth I found a little pull-over area where we could park and enjoy the view. The beach stretches out for a long distance broken occasionally by a rocky reef. The sand... Continue Reading →
Had to share this with y'all courtesy of 'rob allan' @allanrob9 on Twitter. Port Chalmers is this wonderful port town near Dunedin. The huge container hoists down at the harbour dominate the town. Main street has an eclectic mix of old buildings.. real interesting place. This older post of mine shows the huge hoists loading... Continue Reading →
Spotted shags and a single gull, found by Nigel yesterday when he visited the Kaka Point area in The Catlins. Looking at the photos last night, neither of us knew the identity of this shag but I'm confident from my online research that these are Spotted Shags. This is on the south coast of the... Continue Reading →
Group of shags (cormorants) and single gull on a rocky outcrop at Kaka Point in The Catlins, South Otago, New Zealand. Taken by Nigel 14 June 2019
Steve Schwartzman gave me a link to his stunning photo of kelp swirling in the surf at Bluff taken 24 February, 2017. Bluff is a port town right down the bottom of the South Island (not far from Invercargill). Southland, New Zealand Here's part of the description from Steve's blog-post: "The bull kelp (Durvillaea antarctica... Continue Reading →
This unusual photo of a butterfly flying over water captured my imagination. As soon as I saw it on Sunday evening I felt compelled to write a poem so this wannabe poet swung into action, spending two or three hours labouring over the words to express my feelings about the scene. Eastern Tiger Swallowtail flying... Continue Reading →
Wild and free but beware the hazardous sea at Waipapa Point. More sea, more paths plus photos of severely windshorn trees, victims of gale salt-laden winds. The photos are taken by me 17 Feb 2019 except for the two close-up tree photos taken by Nigel during our 2014 visit. Continues: Waipapa Point, Ways For: Which... Continue Reading →
