A photo scavenger hunt

I am joining in a photo scavenger hunt this week with Hawthorn and friends over at I live, I love, I craft, I am me. Some of the photo's are from the archives, some I have used recently and some of you will have seen them before but I hope you still enjoy them.

1:  The setting sun

We had been up the coast to visit the blowholes and the pancake rocks. At the end of the day we headed back to daughters holiday accommodation for a pizza tea. This is the view we had of the sunset over the Tasman Sea from the upstairs sitting room :)

2:  My local wild place

This is a garden in the town where my GKB grew up, so although it is local it is not local local. It is on a hill on the other side of the city. It was established by the artist Ralph Hotere and overlooks the Otago Harbour. All of the plantings are native trees and bushes and those legs you see belong to a sculpture by Shona Rapira Davies titled They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky. A lovely peaceful place to sit and relax and enjoy the native bush without leaving the city.

3:  Mug of favourite drink in the garden

Christmas Day 2016. The family had gathered at youngest daughter's home to celebrate. Dinner was over, the dishes were all cleaned up and put away and it was time to take a cup, or glass, of our favourite drink and relax somewhere and chat. The photo below is me, my daughter and grandaughter sharing a quiet moment together in the backyard. The other two possibly had a glass of wine but my drink of choice was instant coffee, made the way I like it :) Goodness knows where everyone else was, there were at least 20 of us there for the day.

4:  My kind of beautiful

Isn't she beautiful? Well I'm guessing this is a she, cos she looks pregnant to me. Anyway I love these big draught horses and you don't see them around much these days. Don't ask me the breed, I couldn't tell you, I took the photo from the car while we were doing some sightseeing last time we were up Middlemarch way .

5:  Look to the skies

On the same trip up to Middlemarch this was early evening sky at the camping ground we stayed at. My GKB took this photo and some people have said the cloud formation looks like a giant hand in the sky. Anyway I think it is quite dramatic.

6:  Mini beasts

Well you can't see the mini beasts as they are inside the nest. 

This is the nursery web of a nursery web spider and the babies stay inside for couple of weeks. I guess if you don't mind spiders you won't think of them as beasts but if you see them magnified they are very definitely little monsters.

7:  Rain

One evening late last winter we had a shower of rain. Or maybe it was early in spring as I see new buds on these branches. Overnight we had a good old frost. In the morning my GKB took a sequence of photos. The raindrops had frozen on the bare branches of this bush and it looked rather pretty with the early morning sun shining on them. A little like the spindly little bush had been draped with a string of diamonds :)

8:  Something summery

Flowers always say summer but this is 
a photo I love, taken one hot day last summer.

Wouldn't you have thought it would be easier to just get under the table instead of clambering up on top of it to find the little bit of shade afforded by the sun umbrella? This puppy is a real character :)

9:  Urban wilderness

What can I say? An urban area in the wilderness. 

Queenstown, New Zealand.

10: My own choice

Parked up for the winter, caravans on a
 bleak winter's evening in Central Otago.

I hope I haven't been too wordy

See you next week.

Diana

Hotere Gardens, Port Chalmers

 I know we are a day or two into the new year

 but as this is my first post this year I would like

 to wish you all a very Happy New Year

 and all you could wish for during 2016.

************

On New Year's Eve afternoon my GKB and I went down the harbour and spent the afternoon with his sister 

and her husband. It was a beautiful day and we spent 

a large part of the afternoon sitting out

 in their garden overlooking the water. Beautiful.

Unfortunately I never took a photo of the view 

but here is another one of the harbour 
from further up the hill at Flagstaff Lookout.

On our way home we decided to go up Flagstaff, 

we haven't been up there for years, and we had a nice surprise.

When we turned around from taking photo's we saw 

a sign telling us about the Hotere Gardens Oputae. 

So take a load off your feet and take five minutes

 to have a look around the garden with us.

They were new to us and definitely new to my GKB 

who grew up in Port Chalmers. So we went exploring.

Ralph Hotere is (or was) a New Zealand artist 

who lived in Port  for a few years. My father knew him 

and I think Mum may have met him once or twice 

when they lived there. I have seen his work in art galleries

 but it is not to my taste. I just don't get it. Other people do.

This is his work.  

It is called Black Phoenix.

I like the fact it has been incorporated in a native garden

 along with three other sculptures from other artists.

A totem pole. It has the word Aramoana carved onto it.

Aramoana is where there was a lot of political controversy 

about an aluminium smelter being built.

Several years later a shooting tragedy occurred 

involving the whole community and I'm not sure which event

 is being commemorated with the totem. Maybe both.

It was carved by Chris Booth.

This is a sculpture by Shona Rapira Davies.

The plaque nearby reads:

They do cut down the poles that hold up the sky. 1989.

This one is by Russel Moses and is named 

Brick Column.

It was a lovely day just to stroll around the little garden, 

and it is small.There are nice paths to walk on and one

 or two seats to sit and just enjoy the garden or the view. 

Take a picnic lunch. And ponder!

And when you are finished if you want to you can walk 

down a path to the road around to Back Beach 

or the Yachting Club.

I hope you've enjoyed this little hidden gem as much as we did.

And if you want to know more just click

 on the links in the dialogue.

joining Stephanie over at:

roses of inspiration 

and

Amy at Love Made my Home for:

Five on Friday

Have a wonderful week,

look after yourselves and 

I'll see you next time.

Diana