A Happy New Year

Photo courtesy of Otago Daily Times

Wishing you all a happy and blessed 2018,

Diana and Bob

Merry Christmas

From our home to yours,

 we wish you all a very happy 

and blessed Christmas.

Don't fence me in

I like to sit on my back step occassionally and have a cup of tea or coffee. I did this recently and felt decidedly claustrophobic, this hasn't happened before. I realised it was not only because of the rampant spring growth but also because the view had changed. Where I had previously had a clear view, through the section over the street out to the hills, now all I can see is a high wooden fence. There have been several fences built in our immediate vicinity in the last year. Some attractive, some not. Sigh :(

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Joining Gosia for Fences around the world

The impersonator

This is part of the native section of the 

Christchurch botanical gardens but I am

 not sure that the palm in the centre

 is native to New Zealand.
I could be wrong of course.

Here's lookin' at ya

A starling looking for bugs in the grass.

joining Eileen at Viewing nature with Eileen
for Saturday's Critters

Granny's bonnet

Pretty in pink

Blossom trees in the Christchurch Botanic Garden

City tour tram

Christchurch, Canterbury,

New Zealand

A parson bird

 or as it is more commonly known, a Tui.

Spring is here and so are the birds.

Waxeye on blossom

What am I?

This tiny moth was on the mat as we stepped inside the door. 

Does anyone know what its name is as I don't but I think it is rather attractive. 

It is only about an inch across.

A sign of spring

Beautiful magnolia blossom

Goldfinch

Canada Geese

On Hamilton Lake, 

New Zealand

A birds eye view

Recently I flew from Dunedin in the South Island to Hamilton in the North Island - and back again. These are some of the photos I took of the mountains, from the plane window.

The Seaward Kaikouras

Mounts Tongariro and Ruapehu
in a sea of cloud.

Mount Taranaki, (Egmont)

The Southern Alps

To read the legend of Taranaki, Ruapehu and Tongariro go here.

Sharing with Debbie at Friday Foto Friends

Evening on the lake

Lake Rotoroa, aka Hamilton Lake.

Hamilton, New Zealand

The swollen stream

The Silverstream in flood, 21/07/17

Cave Stream Scenic Reserve

Follow the path to the entrance to the caves.

Near Arthur's Pass in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Evening sky

A harbour view

taken from Roslyn, Dunedin.

Peace on the river

Reflections

Clutha River, 

Clutha District, New Zealand

Frosted

but surviving.

Looking back

taken from the engine of the old steam train

The Cobden tiphead

The mouth of the Grey River,

Greymouth, NZ.

Looking across to the Cobden tiphead.

A shifting sandbar runs across the river mouth

 making it treacherous for shipping.

Sunset over the Tasman Sea

West Coast, New Zealand.

Horseless carriages

Shantytown, West Coast,

New Zealand

Western weka

Weka, aka wood hen or Maori hen.

 West Coast, NZ.

joining Eileen for Saturday's Critters.

Bush hut

Shantytown, West Coast, NZ.

The waterwheel

Shantytown, West Coast, NZ.

Overlooking the Tasman Sea

from the Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki, NZ.

Autumn growth

This looks like a flower but is a fungus.

Cabbage trees amongst the flax

South Beach, Greymouth,
New Zealand

Anzac Day

April 25th