THE SECOND HALF OF LIFE

Grade A grey day

2012-02-05T20:55:00.004+13:00

This was the scene that greeted me when I woke this morning - dad & the kids rowing out into the bay for a spot of pre-breakfast fishing. I simply hopped out of bed walked a few metres to the beach and captured the scene. What a lovely start to the day :)

Westhaven inlet is a beautiful is a beautiful expanse of water, even when the weather isn't so good it retains it's beauty.

Close but no cigar!

2012-01-22T23:28:00.002+13:00

Got the shot just not the clarity. ON the right tracks though. Patience.

Kereru

2012-01-17T18:54:00.004+13:00

On any other day, this chap would have been my blip! Thank you Mr Kereru :)

Parachute Rock

2011-04-24T11:54:00.004+12:00

The unintentional hike took us to this magnificent view

Jungle gym fun

2011-03-15T22:19:00.002+13:00

The B-I-G 1000!!

2010-12-15T23:08:00.002+13:00

Well worth a look close up - but be warned - it's B-I-G!

Swallows - or are they swifts??

2010-09-20T21:38:00.003+12:00

Swallow #1

Swallow #2

Founders Book Fair

2010-06-09T22:33:00.004+12:00

This lovely lady was hunting a copy of "To Kill A Mockingbird" because her original copy has disappeared. It's good to see that she's picked up a few other bargains too, even though couldn't find the book she was after :(

Mervina Mantis

2010-04-15T21:45:00.006+12:00

I've had a problem today deciding which shots of the beautiful, pregnant Mervina mantis to post on blip. These 2 lost out but I figured they were still worth posting.

Lake Rotoiti

2010-04-02T23:09:00.002+13:00

I haven't been here for sooooooo long and being here today told me that I should come down here more often. It really is a stunning place no matter what the season.

LB's beautiful eyes

2010-03-06T22:20:00.003+13:00

I know I've blipped LB's eyes before but they did look rather gorgeous today - so here they are :)

Impromptu Portrait

2010-02-18T23:24:00.004+13:00

Say Hi to D - the nice guy who didn't mind me snuffling around an old rusty beer tanker stored at the back of his brewery!

Thanks heaps for letting me do my thing D - and for allowing me to shoot you too :) You're now famous all over blipland and blogsville!!

Cheers

:)

Waitangi Day

2010-02-06T23:13:00.004+13:00

This was my second choice for a blip today, but seeing as kanyl mentioned it, here is 'the long tongue' version!!

Un-masked

2009-10-18T11:47:00.005+13:00

The annual mask parade - but I had too many choices for which shot to blip!! Thought a collage would look quite cool :)

Going dotty too!

2009-05-22T21:20:00.004+12:00

In answer to those who asked, I guess a high contrast b/w version might look something like this......

Blooming......

2009-05-10T23:13:00.004+12:00

Almost there - just 2 weeks to go before 'Lump' meets N & T in person......

Ball 'Eds!!

2009-05-08T21:49:00.004+12:00

What can I say?!?!

Ball heads!

2009-05-08T21:33:00.003+12:00

Aliens....??

The colour version......

2009-04-01T20:51:00.001+13:00

Maybe this will help you - though somehow I don't really think so!!

So what is it??

Horse fly

2009-02-22T22:01:00.001+13:00

This was my second choice shot of the monster fly!

Flying try

2009-02-12T22:28:00.001+13:00

....the original unadulterated shot....

Bainham PO boxes

2009-01-27T13:27:00.005+13:00

I love old things.

These PO boxes at the Bainham Store and Post Office must have carried a whole library full of stories of long yearned-for mail as well as much unwanted mail: love letters, bills, travel postcards, court orders, photographs of new babies and weddings, eviction notices, wish-you-were-here cards, dear John letters........

Thanks goodness some people see the value in the 'if it 'ain't broke, don't fix it' motto. There's no need to replace perfectly functional PO boxes with bright, shiny new red ones just because they fit the PO's corporate image.

Long live common sense and old things!!

Baby A

2009-01-21T00:30:00.004+13:00

Original baby A with only minor adjustments ;)

Saturday 3rd January

2009-01-03T12:58:00.001+13:00

Friday 2nd January

2009-01-02T12:57:00.002+13:00

Thursday 1st January

2009-01-01T12:57:00.002+13:00

Wednesday 31st December

2008-12-31T12:56:00.001+13:00

Tuesday 30th December

2008-12-30T12:56:00.001+13:00

Monday 29th December

2008-12-29T12:56:00.001+13:00

Sunday 28th December

2008-12-28T12:55:00.001+13:00

Saturday 27th December

2008-12-27T12:55:00.001+13:00

Friday 26th December

2008-12-26T12:54:00.001+13:00

Thursday 25th December

2008-12-25T12:54:00.001+13:00

Wednesday 24th December

2008-12-24T12:53:00.001+13:00

Tuesday 23rd December

2008-12-23T12:53:00.001+13:00

Monday 22nd December

2008-12-22T12:53:00.005+13:00

The day dawns bright and still at 6.45am!

The Smith family - Kelsey, Ryan, Lee and Maree

I hate pictures of myself.......

...I really do!!

Crossing the South Crater - "It's just like being on the moon up here isn't it?"!

Mount Ngaruhoe and yours truly.....

What appears to be cloud at the top left of the crater turned out to be a bit of puffing steam...!

After crossing the craters the weather began to close in. Luckily, we'd seen the best of the walk in brilliant weather :)

There was a little bit of snow in some sheltered spots. Can you spot Kelsey in the background gathering snow for a snowball she subsequently hurled at me?!

Ah! A nice, peaceful, relaxing stop at Ketetahi Hut - along with about 50 other people all out for a fresh day in the wilds on NZ!

The longdrop tanks were being changed over whilst we were here. A new tank was helicopter lifted in to where a man was waiting at ground level to change the full tanks over with a new one. The downdraft caused havoc with the loo seats and the longdrop 'contents', as Lee found out whilst he was in there! And the foul air was blown right through the crowd each time a helicopter came by. Y-U-K!!!

Sunday 21st December

2008-12-21T12:52:00.002+13:00

Ooh yes - that looks like (more!) rain to me!!
Wanganui to National Park road

Saturday 20th December

2008-12-20T12:51:00.002+13:00

Waiting for the ferry in the rain!

Crossing was pretty good - good enough for a few pictures! Pencarrow Lighthouse, Wellington

Strange courtship rituals......

2008-12-16T21:42:00.003+13:00

....and a missed opportunity :( Wasn't quite quick enough to get the settings right to get both of these two in focus which I'm annoyed as hell about!! Ah well - next time (yea - right!!)

The other bowl of cherries

2008-12-13T21:30:00.000+13:00

Hmmmm.........

2008-11-27T18:06:00.002+13:00

As I drove out from my driveway this morning my eyes were drawn to this new piece of street art that had appeared! I'm sure it's significant - but I have no idea how! A very strange neighbourhood I seem to live in!! This piece is only 100m or so from another amusing neighbourhood icon.....

Broadgreen Rose Gardens

2008-11-18T20:10:00.002+13:00

It's such a pity you can't smell the picture, but at least you can see some of the gardens!

2008-11-17T09:48:00.002+13:00

Here's a link I'm so excited about - my first ever 'published' book !

The Second Hal...

2008

By Caroline

Book Preview

Fun on the beach....

2008-11-03T21:22:00.006+13:00

In a country churchyard......

2008-09-30T22:30:00.004+13:00

Blue skies.......

2008-09-15T20:31:00.003+12:00

A wonderful day of good ol' Nelson blue skies. I think this may have been the 12.30 from Auckland to Christchurch!!

Escher-esque

2008-09-08T08:21:00.005+12:00

Another angle. I hadn't seen it that way, but now that MissRAble and others mention it, it does look quite Escher-esque!

Rabbit Island cloud

2008-09-05T22:39:00.003+12:00

The original big black cloud. It really was rather menacing! And big?! It dwarfs the mountians

Monaco sunset

2008-08-26T22:31:00.004+12:00

I took quite a few pics of this glorious sunset tonight and it was a tough task to choose just one for blip.........so here's a couple more I really liked.

Grey Tahuna....

2008-08-25T22:04:00.004+12:00

This is the pre warming filter shot so you can see the effect the filter has. I've added the blip pic too to make viewing comaprison a bit easier :)

(Warming filter details: PS CS3, Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter... > Warming Filter (85) at 25% density)

Hope this helps :)

Market kuia........

2008-08-24T11:37:00.002+12:00

I couldn't decide which pic to post on blip of the dear kuia at the market. This was the alternative............

Wharariki.........again!

2008-07-21T23:27:00.003+12:00

Wharariki - the south end of the beach........
Wharariki Beach - the arches.

Dirty washing!!

2008-07-13T18:06:00.004+12:00

They say you should never hang your dirty washing out in public.......oops!

Well actually - this is clean washing. And anyway, how could I resist displaying it publicly when it was such a blue-sky day?

Salmon pink flowers in need of identification!!

2008-07-04T19:57:00.003+12:00

If anyone knows what this plant is called please let me know. I'm going crazy trying to remember!!

A real cutsie!!

2008-06-14T18:11:00.005+12:00

Overspill pics of a very cute wee 1929 Austin 7

And some special pics for anyone who always wanted to know what was under the bonnet of one of these things!

The answer is "Not much"!!

Golden Bay

2008-06-13T00:45:00.009+12:00

Within minutes of this pic being taken the sky clouded over again and returned to grey :(

Wharariki Beach #2

Shot taken from inside a large cave on the beach.......many thanks to the 2 sillhouettes for adding a human element :)

Wharaiki cave men

The grey after the blue.......but the waves always pound in like this here!

Wharariki Fury

Farewell Spit's inner beach is packed with Black Swans. This one was spotted a little further south at Puponga enjoying a late afternoon preen. He was a bit far away for my lens to do him justice and this has been heavily cropped. You get the idea though....!!

Black swan

Couldn't resist this early evening shot of the beautifully peaceful Pakawau. The hills in the background are the southern end of Goden Bay

Peaceful Pakawau

Wow!

2008-06-04T21:03:00.003+12:00

An impressivly talented student plays her impressive electric violin.........
What an impressive combination!

Another 'Wow!' kind of day......

2008-05-31T21:07:00.007+12:00

The pics speak for themselves. I had my feet very firmly on the ground!!

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Boulder bank and back again......

2008-05-30T21:28:00.004+12:00

Spotted this cute wee Kingfisher when I was driving back from the Boulder bank...

...then he flew off.....

I also spotted this Heron having a mid-afternoon feed....

Seafarers Memorial - Sunderland Marine Pier

2008-05-27T16:05:00.002+12:00

This poem inscribed onto the Seafarers Memorial is a great dedication to the regions seafarers (click the pic to see a bigger version!)

A magical flight...

2008-05-25T22:05:00.007+12:00

Today's totally unexpected invitation to join a friend and her learner-pilot husband on his training flight over some of Nelson and Golden Bay's beautiful countryside was a totally brilliant way to spend a few hours. These pics say more about how beautiful it was than I ever could........

1 Nelson Haven

2 Mapua
3 Mapua

4 Motueka Coastline 5 Biggles!
6 Abel Tasman National Park

7 Abel Tasman National Park
8 Abel Tasman National Park
9 Return to Nelson

Duck!! No, plane!!

2008-05-21T21:27:00.002+12:00

This pic was a hasty snap as I stumbled round the perimeter of the airport in total darkness.

Do you know how close those planes get to the perimeter fence when they come in to land?!?!? I swear I saw the pilot shake his fist at me!!

Smoke Tree....

2008-05-18T19:57:00.002+12:00

...the original, unadulterated version!

This is the Smoke Tree pic before I tweaked it. It looks pretty blah in this state!

Good ol' PS eh?!

Funny....

2008-05-15T09:56:00.002+12:00

More bloody sunsets!!

2008-05-13T19:58:00.014+12:00

Well - maybe not bloody so much as golden!

Mr Fantail

2008-05-07T20:35:00.008+12:00

I was so pleased to have met a fantail who actually enjoyed having his picture taken!!! He hung round for ages and seemed very happy to be there!

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ANZAC Day

2008-04-25T15:12:00.003+12:00

A very moving service, reminding us all once again of the human cost of war...

Busker man...

2008-04-22T21:42:00.003+12:00

The original pic before adding PS 'Poster Edges' filter.

The Ancient Mariner mk II

2008-04-20T23:27:00.004+12:00

My alternative mariner........

The B-I-G boat...

2008-04-20T23:13:00.003+12:00

The pictures hardly do it's size justice!

This ship doesn't just carry planes - it can carry the SHIP that carries the planes!!!

See here for some details about the Blue Marlin........

Welcome to winter......

2008-04-20T18:00:00.002+12:00

Got up early to head to town to see the big ship come in and was shocked to find winter had arrived. Couldn't resist this bit of frost-graffitti on my sunroof!!!

Lake Matheson

2008-04-11T00:37:00.000+12:00

This is a very typical and very much reproduced (but nevertheless, beautiful!) view of the reflections of Mount Cook and the Southern Alps in Lake Matheson. You have to be up very early to get to the lake before even the lightest of breezes begins to scoot over the lake if you want to get perfect mirror-image reflections. I was in no rush this morning so had to settle for the slightly more wrinkled reflections! Still, it's gorgeous anyway - and I was pretty lucky to see the top of Mount Cook which is usually shrouded in cloud.

Arrowtown cottages

2008-04-09T13:02:00.000+12:00

OK - so it's a cliched pic - but i still love it! These are old miners cottages from the Arrowtown gold rush in about the 1860-70's. They're mostly businesses now and, because of their historical nature they're protected buildings. Very quaint!

Duck!

2008-04-09T02:29:00.001+12:00

I've included this ducky pic simply because I like the reflection and the fact that you can see her body under the water.

She'd made a duck dive to go get some grub from down below and I decided to pan with her and see if I could catch a good shot of her swimming under water. This pic was by far the best, although the focus is poor. I still like it's unusual aspect though....

Both sides of the camera..........

2008-04-08T21:04:00.000+12:00

I enjoyed taking this 'alternative' to the beautiful, scenic shot....... I'm not sure whether this guy was shooting the beauty or the ducks!!

Old farm building.......

2008-04-05T20:18:00.000+13:00

An old Wedderburn farm building that looked pretty cool. Don't think I'd want to venture into it though with that big crack right through it!

The view from the top.....

2008-04-05T19:38:00.001+13:00

This is the view from the 'high point' of the Rail Trail............a massive 618m above sea level and 448m above the start at Clyde (which, by my calculations, means that we'd climbed a humungous 170m through the 75kms ride!!)

How many sheep can you spot??

Start of the Ride

2008-04-04T16:58:00.000+13:00

Well - this isn't the 'official' start to the Rail Trail but we were told that the ride along the river was much more interesting and scenic. It's a handful of kms longer but very well worth the extra.

Ahhhhh.......refreshment - and warmth!

2008-04-04T16:32:00.000+13:00

The first leg of our Otago Rail Trail trip necessitated a stop at Chatto Creek for some liquid refreshment and a few hots chips!!

Where's mum...??

2008-03-29T20:53:00.004+13:00

"Where'd Mum go? She just took off and left me in here... Still, it's better than being out there getting my paws wet!"

Autumn through the window...

2008-03-29T20:49:00.001+13:00

When it's raining outside it's nice to be inside looking out........

Papillon...............a wee cutie!

2008-03-26T22:28:00.006+13:00

This wee cutie was having his walk on the back beach when I took my walk today. Well actually, he wasn't doing much walking. He had this fun game that involved running around at high speed in big circles, stopping for a breather, chasing his walking mate (another, older, Papillon dog) then starting it all over again. Hugely entertaiing to watch :) Clearly at his age (4 months) he had energy to burn - I bet he sleeps well tonight!

Papillon Ears

2008-03-26T22:26:00.001+13:00

OK - so the framing's not up to much, the focus isn't even close, but check out those EARS!!!! Wow!

Tahunanui Back Beach

2008-03-26T22:21:00.002+13:00

This is my second reject Blip-pic.. There seemed to be quite a bit going on when I went for a walk tonight but I don't think I did a good job in capturing it. This fisherman seemed much more contented with HIS evening on the beach!!

Fred Slocombe............

2008-03-25T11:49:00.000+13:00

This picture is a photo of a picture I have at home. When I saw mojopin8's photo of a wood near her home I felt quite spooked - it was like I'd been there before............

Sundown over Tasman Bay

2008-03-23T23:31:00.000+13:00

This is Tasman Bay, at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. This evening was such a beautiful, still evening and I decided to get up somewhere high (ish!) to try to capture the sunset over the bay and Tahunanui/Stoke. The greenish lights to the right of the picture is the airport - the red lights to the middle/left are the runway.

Crystal Butterfly

2008-03-23T23:26:00.001+13:00

It took a long time to be able to capture the light at just the right angle so the rainbow kind of explodes into the picture. I was pretty pleased with these two though so I guess the time and effort was worth it.

The colourful still or the wonky knocker...??

2008-03-22T22:19:00.003+13:00

This is the front door entrance to the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company Building where 26000 have moved to produce their vodka. The colourful still won out for the Blipspot but I still feel the wonky knocker deserves a viewing. I found it pretty odd really - what place does Tutankhamun have on the door of a Nelson, New Zealand distillery!??!? (And don't you think "The Wonky Knocker" would make a great English pub name?!?!)

Cicada casing on leaf

2008-03-21T21:17:00.004+13:00

This was the actual casing but once I'd seen the effect of viewing it's shadow on the reverse of the leaf it was an easy decision to go with the BlipPic I did !!