POP: Nature.

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	46 Images.

		Undergrowth and Rocks. Wandering along a dirt road through an Ecological Reserve, south of Mt Ruapehu, I found this darling little snippet of nature.
Near Mt Ruapehu. 9:17 am, Sun 17th Jul, 2005

		Young Flax Plant. Eco Reserve; a nice wild flax plant, a little yellow and spotted, but it still looks healthy.
Tongariro National Park. 9:20 am, Sun 17th Jul, 2005

		Tussock and Sand on the Desert Road. Stopping at a rest area, I found myself looking in the opposite direction to Mt Ruapehu at the richness of the desert road vegetation.
The Desert Road, east of Mt Ruapehu. 11:27 am, Sun 17th Jul, 2005

		Sparrow on a Fence Batten. Sitting in my car at another rest area, this little Sparrow came to check me out, I hope those feathers are warm.
Waipapa Rd, west of SH1, next to the Waikato River. 1:27 pm, Sun 17th Jul, 2005

		The Wood Pigeon Sitting on a Mamaku Frond. At my friends place in Waiatarua, this Wood Pigeon was seen often amongst the wonderful bush. Hearing these birds fly is great, they sound like a very slow spinning helicopter.
Waiatarua, Waitakere, Auckland. 3:37 pm, Wed 20th Jul, 2005

		Mamaku Waving in the Wind. The fronds of a Ponga Tree (in fact a Mamaku Tree) move in a gentle gust of wind.
Waiatarua, Waitakere, Auckland. 10:19 am, Fri 22nd Jul, 2005

		Dew Speckled Cob Web. Such busy little things are spiders, although when they are not building webs they seem to sit round for long periods doing nothing at all. I guess when you depend on something to bring in the dinner, you spend energy on it :)
Waiatarua, Waitakere, Auckland. 3:57 pm, Tue 26th Jul, 2005

		Mamaku Stems. Native New Zealand bush is pretty moist stuff, much of the forest is classed as rain forest, and it is full of smells and mush, but it is also very refreshing to be in, so long as you don't plan on going far through the tangle of virgin bush.
Waiatarua, Waitakere, Auckland. 4:07 pm, Tue 26th Jul, 2005

		Nice Place to Sit and Contemplate? The camping grounds I stayed at here had lovely and well maintained grounds. Situated between 2 small rivers that joined, meant they were virtually surrounded by river.
Whatoro (I think), or Kaihu. 5:20 pm, Mon 8th Aug, 2005

		The Two Rivers Join. Here is where the two rivers merge, they are not big rivers, and have a nice babble to them, though I saw some pictures in the dinning block showing much of their grounds under water when they had some bad rains.
Whatoro (I think), or Kaihu. 5:24 pm, Mon 8th Aug, 2005

		Raggedy Leaf, Drinking the Moisture. A Blechnum Fern, looking fresh and green with its wetness. Water seems to stick to plants, like it was designed to or something. Perhaps a lucky coincidence.
Waipoua Forest. 12:17 pm, Tue 9th Aug, 2005

		Little Leaves. I think these are young Kauri tree leaves, but I'm not certain. They say that the leaves of young Kauri trees are larger than the leaves on fully grown Kauri trees. When you see a large Kauri, you don't notice the leaves much so they must be correct :)
Waipoua Forest. 12:18 pm, Tue 9th Aug, 2005

		Skin of the Father. Home to many forms of life, Te Matua Ngahere and his ancestors have been growing for tens of thousands of years, specimens of Kauri trees dug up from swamps have been dated as growing 30-50,000 years ago. As the Kauri grows, it sheds flakes of bark, thus getting rid of parasites that may eat deeper in than the bark.
Waipoua Forest. 2:16 pm, Tue 9th Aug, 2005

		Big Bird in a Dead Tree. Arriving at The Wairere Boulders, that were recommended to me at the Whatoro camping grounds, I spotted this Heron in a dead Pine tree. I was lucky to get this shot as the Heron was quite timid and as I inched forward, I crossed some line and off it flew, making a most incongruously ugly grating 'croaking' noise of complaint.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 11:22 am, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Moss Covered Boulders of Wairere Boulders. The Wairere Boulders are rather unique, they were formed by a layer of Basalt lava having the clay beneath eroded away by the Wairere river, causing the lava layer to break up and slide into the river valley, over 2.8 million years.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 11:28 am, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Boulder Soup. Part of the uniqueness of these boulders is the 'fluting' on them, believed to be the result of organic acids washed from Kauri trees, etching the basalt rock away. Incredibly there were Kauri growing amongst these rocks when the Europeans arrived here.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 11:33 am, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Forgotten Land. Thought worthless land till not so long ago, the Wairere Boulders was bought and turned into a touristic venture. The path amongst the boulders is a wonderful adventure, and was apparently exciting to build.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 11:49 am, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Shelobes Lair? This is both alluring and disturbing all at the same time. The curves, textures, and colours are wonderful natural art, but the spiders web and the black hole look worthy of care. The burnt end makes me wonder how natural it is.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 12:08 pm, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Boulders on the Move. The fact that the fluting on some boulder runs horizontally, is mostly due to the boulders being dragged down the slope by gravity and erosion de-stabilising them, and so they roll to a new resting place, with a changed orientation, ready to make some new fluting.
Wairere Boulders, off the road to Kaikohe. 12:21 pm, Wed 10th Aug, 2005

		Maori Spirits Depart. This is the spot (I believe) the Maori jump off after they enter the spirit world, to go and join their ancestors. The plants are so hardy, I love their resilience (kia kaha)!
Cape Reinga. 5:01 pm, Thu 11th Aug, 2005

		Boulders Break Away from the Cliff. This is where the dark boulder came from, it looks like some form of peat to me? Although the clay slightly further down from the dark layer looks like normal clay, oh well maybe someone can let me know :)
End of Te Paua Road, Parengarenga Harbour. 9:47 am, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		Flourishing Growth Over the Harbour Waters. Some places just abound with growth, like this little spot! Our relationship with the plant world is usually very one sided, but plants grow where they can and don't complain too much. Perhaps sometimes what we call dumb things, are often smart things, but we just can't relate to the smartness so we arrogantly call it dumb, which kind of makes us the dumb ones in such circumstances, as if the plants have failed an IQ test.
Far North Road, Pukenui. 11:44 am, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		Bursting With Life. Flax, Cabbage trees and pampas grass all co-existing happily together (or so it would seem). The pampas grass is an import to New Zealand and tends to out grow and rob the native Toi Toi, which is very similar but much more delicate. Toi Toi flowers tend to lean over whereas pampas grass stands strait up.
SH10, West of Kaeo. 3:38 pm, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		Glorious Native Bush :) Such a rich tapestry of native colours!
Hillside Above Matauri Bay, Matauri Bay Rd. 4:58 pm, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		Looking Down on More Native Bush. More lovely trees growing happily. I would not be surprised if the naked branches are the result of Opossums eating the new growth on the branches. They are devastating for our native trees, although there seems to be plenty of healthy growth there as well.
Hillside Above Matauri Bay, Matauri Bay Rd. 4:59 pm, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		The Western Sky. Looking towards the hill, west, and the rich glow of the setting sun in the sky.
Matauri Bay Camping Ground. 6:03 pm, Fri 12th Aug, 2005

		Huka Falls in all it's Glory. The landing place of all that water, I wonder what it looks like down there under all the water?!?
Huka Falls, Taupo. 3:25 pm, Tue 16th Aug, 2005

		Just Finished its Milkshake. One of the weak calves that my sister was giving personal attention to while they got stronger. I think that's your good side calf 'don't care, give me more milk!'
Levin, 45 miles north of Wellington. 4:30 pm, Wed 2nd Nov, 2005

		Native and Introduced Trees. A native Tree and an Import living next to each other, what a messy tree the gum tree is though hehe.
Levin, 45 miles north of Wellington. 4:37 pm, Sun 4th Dec, 2005

		Growth in a Rock Pool. Rock pools are strange, but wonderful, they're another example of how life strives to survive, in spite of the whims of nature.
Breaker Bay, Wellington. 2:43 pm, Fri 20th Jan, 2006

		Red Flowers. Are these red flowers or are they red leaves? I guess they are flowers but the petals look so much like the plants leaves.
Peka Peka, Kapiti Coast, Wellington. 4:05 pm, Sat 8th Apr, 2006

		Dew Droplets on Grass. I think everything (almost) has hairs, this is a plain old blade of grass with droplets of water on it.
My backyard! 4:22 pm, Wed 26th Apr, 2006

		Humble Bug on Humble Daisy. The world of macro is a wonderful place, but we just cant really see it most of the time. Humble insect on a humble Daisy!
My backyard. 4:24 pm, Wed 26th Apr, 2006

		Leaves with Seeds. Normally this plant looks a bit like a fern, and the spots are dark green bobbles, but I guess here the tiny seeds are getting ready to fall to the ground, or whatever method they use to propagate themselves.
My Place, Wellington. 3:50 pm, Thu 11th May, 2006

		Rock Pool. Colours everywhere and textures I can almost smell the sea.
Point Dorset, Wellington. 4:25 pm, Sat 24th Feb, 2007

		Mini Tumbleweed. Sand again, and a sand inhabitant.
Waikanae Beach. 6:08 pm, Thu 8th Mar, 2007

		The Hutt River. I heard someone say once that animals were not as worthy of our efforts to help them survive because they are not 'Sentient'. Well I ask you, what is the point of our 'Great' sentience if it is simply to glorify ourselves, is sentience a great thing at all if we use it for merely 'Surviving' in the face of the extinction of Any life. I look at this water and its play with its environment, it's highly complex and vitally important part in the functioning of the world, and I wonder what prevents us from recognising the life this water has? Is it simply that we cannot 'Kill' it? We are very ignorant sometimes with our sentience, very un-scentient, very un-conscious and sometimes very guilty.
The Hutt River, Wellington. 3:55 pm, Sun 2nd Sep, 2007

		Home in the Rushes. I guess very soon this Pukeko will have to build his/her nest somewhere else since the council in all its wisdom is going to build a road through this little paradise. Pukeko are quite common, they have one of those ghastly rasping cries when they feel threatened, but otherwise a lovely New Zealand bird.
Waikanae, north of Wellington. 1:15 pm, Mon 10th Sep, 2007

		Nature At Work. There's one of the Bumble Bees! For some reason Bumble Bees seem to make me think about how brimming over the world is with life and beauty, they are so tireless, and so successful at their job.
Pekapeka, north of Wellington. 5:45 pm, Fri 21st Sep, 2007

		Bumble Bee on a Clover Flower. It took a few pictures of the wind blowing the flower around, the Bee moving and my glasses making it difficult to see the focus to finally get this, I was hoping for one of it's face but that will have to wait. It amazes me how un-creepy Bumble Bees are to look at, they are just cute all over!
Botanical Gardens, Wellington. 2:52 pm, Tue 6th Nov, 2007

		Kelp. Some of these strands of Kelp would be 5-6 metres long, they all appeared to belong to the same 'plant' which had attached itself to the rocks on the side of a channel leading to a large rock pool. It amazed me that the Kelp remains attached since every 10 seconds or so it would all be dragged back down the channel towards the open sea, only to be caught up in the next incoming surge of water! The coming and going of the water is not tranquil and calm either, far from it as you can see with all the frothing of the water, yet it was one of the healthiest looking 'clumps' of kelp I could see.
Island Bay, Wellington. 3:55 pm, Mon 19th Nov, 2007

		Expectant. Something rather spooky and creepy about these spider 'nests', but they are most intriguing!
Above Houghton Bay, Wellington. 4:38 pm, Mon 17th Dec, 2007

		Give Me That Nectar! They are like Bumble Bee sleeping bags! They could shelter in them when they leave it too late to go home ;)
Ohakune. 10:28 am, Sat 29th Dec, 2007

		Not Your Average Moth. One night this moth turned up, I have never seen one like it that I can remember, and soon after a dark green one appeared so I assume one was a male and the other was the female. They both have a sort of tuft at the front end of their back which looks kind of cute. Amazing wee critters.
My place, Wellington. 3:36 pm, Fri 29th Feb, 2008

		The Other Half. The green Moth of the two visitors. The 'fur' is actually a little like feathers on its back, or blades of grass with the tips cut off. You can see the tuft on its back, but this one differs from the black and white one in that it has a few of them running down it back getting smaller the further back they are. I hope they got together and made some babies (assuming they are not a pest of some kind)!
My Place, Wellington. 5:20 pm, Fri 29th Feb, 2008

		Monarch Butterfly on Hebe Flower. Like little flying works of art. They are quite difficult to photograph I find since they are always jumping from flower to flower and with such a limited depth of field I end up spending most of the time they are in reach trying to get them in focus hehe.
My place, Wellington. 2:43 pm, Sun 9th Mar, 2008