Photo by Brendon & Keryn Wind Turbine by the road to Ellendale Pool. The morning, once we’d had breakfast, was largely spent driving with our destination for the day being the town of Kalbarri and the nearby Kalbarri National Park. Naturally there were a few stops along the way to take photos of turbines in […]
Perth
The flight from Melbourne to Perth wasn’t as long as I thought it would be, pity though that the aircraft was an older Qantas model that creaked a fair bit and didn’t have any wiz-bang back of the seat entertainment. At three and a half hours it wasn’t too bad and by the time we’d […]
The Zealandia takahe
A pair of takahe were introduced to Zealandia at the end of January and spent their first few weeks in isolation outside of the public eye. In the last month they have been let out into a larger area encompassing much of the swamp at the top of the lower lake. Named Puffin and T2 […]
Walking Locally
The opportunity finally presented itself (good weather, the tide was right, we were both available and willing) for a chance to walk the coastal path between Pukerua Bay and Plimmerton on the weekend just gone. We caught the train from Plimmerton to Pukerua Bay and then headed down to the Bay before following the coast […]
The Union Mine track
On a hot afternoon a few days back I went in search of wildlife at Zealandia. Each visit I tend to make up the route I walk, tending to target areas where I’ve seen interesting animals in the past. Recently this has meant walking the path linking the Union Mine track and the Beech track […]
One Saturday
Saturday was another in a long line of sunny, warm days to have hit Wellington so we got outside and spent a few hours walking around at Zealandia. We got to see lots of wildlife, Keryn say the falcons for the first time and we managed to get dive bombed by the feisty male, even […]
Karearea
As mentioned on twitter a while back I’ve become addicted to watching the Karearea (NZ Falcons) at Zealandia. The breeding pair have one chick this year and it has recently fledged. I was lucky enough to stumble upon the chosen resting spot earlier this week and got some good photos. I’m also lucky enough not […]
South Island: Kaikoura to Picton
Out whale watching trip was booked for 7.45am so I figured up get up extra early and see the sunrise. The weather looked good as I walked across the railway lines out the back of the hostel and went down on to the beach. I watched as the snow capped mountains turned pink with the […]
South Island: Hokitika to Arthur’s Pass
Our last few hours on the West Coast started by heading north from Hokitika towards Kumara Junction where we turned eastward. At Kumara we stopped to have a look at a photo gallery. The work was very good and I bought a print, I’ll have to have a look at it later to get the […]
South Island: Denniston, Cape Foulwind & Punakaiki
Our first trip of the day saw us heading north of Westport to the old mining town of Denniston. On public holidays, today being Labour Day, the Denniston Friends of the Hill historical society (the FotH website appears to have expired) opens their doors at the old School building and their records can be viewed. […]
South Island: Karamea to Westport
A short drive today down from Karamea to another Marram house, this time just out of Westport at Carters Beach. Today’s walk was on the Charming Creek Walkway, accessible just behind the coal works at Hector. The first section of track follows the old railway line that was used to facilitate coal extraction from further […]
South Island: The Heaphy Track & Oparara Basin
We got a fair bit of walking down today, even though the weather wasn’t the best with occasional showers getting more frequent as the afternoon wore on. Driving north from Karamea we headed towards the start of the Heaphy Track, passing farmland seemingly populated more by pukeko and weka than cows and sheep. We were […]