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Me and Tink. Perhaps appropriately blurry...this year has sure felt that way....but I feel more optimistic for the coming year : )
Winery for sale in Napier, New Zealand. Could not check prices, but I suspect it was far, far above my pay grade!
Lumber is one of the biggest businesses in New Zealand, along with sheep farming and dairy. Most of it is exported – not surprisingly – to China, and needless to say, China also wields much influence in both New Zealand and Australia.
All these logs are prepared for shipment to China. While they make for nice photos, at first sight, the deforestation seems shocking. But New Zealand is blessed with amazingly fertile soil and year round rains, and they plant trees expressly for export. Most, if not all these logs are from trees that were planted some 20-25 years ago.
This is one of several photos of the same lumber yard taken from different angles as we drove around it.
These two shots show our cruise ship, the Holland America Noordam, in the background.
In spite of an overcast day and mild rain, the bays at Picton were charming, with low clouds and lush greenery. This is either Bob's Bay or Shakespeare's Bay, or maybe both. But as Shakespeare would have no doubt agreed, a bay by any other name is still a bay.
At a wildlife conservatory park in Cairns, Australia. This place was like a zoo, but much larger and much more open. The birds and animals here were captive, but the space was large enough that they lived in semi-freedom.
Most of the birds here are native to Australia, but they have a few immigrants as well. I have a list of all the birds, but I haven't had the time to look up and identify each bird by name. I'll get around to it when I have a free moment.
This one is called a Galah.
At one of several stops we made for views and photos while driving from Queenstown to Glenorchy, New Zealand.
Leica 28mm Summilux-M
The Craggy Range winery near Napier, New Zealand, has one of the most beautifully landscaped grounds I have ever seen. It is in a valley surrounded by mountains all around, has a sprawling lawn with an artificial lake, and even bronze statues of a cow family and a chicken family.
The compositional possibilities at this place are endless! I took a whole bunch of photos and this is one of a series of these shots.
This was a spectacular day in Queenstown, our single best day yet in New Zealand. It felt like a summer day in California, with only a few whisps of clouds in an otherwise brilliant blue sky, with crystal clear visibility.
This was a loser look at the mountains a couple of hours after my sunrise photos (e.g., below). It's hard to believe these are the same place!
Dunedin, New Zealand. This lighthouse on a hill is accessible by land only if you hike up the hill. We didn't have the time for it, so I could only shoot from a distance. Here are a couple of shots from land and a couple from our cruise ship. At the base of the hill is an albatross colony that's tough to get close to.
Akaroa is a region that is a little like a mini Florida sticking out into the ocean on the east coast of New Zealand, just south of Christchurch. However, Akaroa is a mountainous region with a few sparse roads and it is mostly uninhabited. It is great for a drive and for hiking, though. The views of the sprawling mountains and various bays formed at the interface between the mountains and the ocean, are really spectacular.
New Zealand