Southern Coastline

Waihao River Mouth, Waimate. Nov. 2008. Ajr I love the barren, blue-skied beauty of stony eastern coastline of the South Island. I took this shot at the Waihao River mouth, just south of Waimate a few weeks ago. Most of my other photos were of the whitebaiters but I'm always more drawn to a landscape completely devoid of humans. To see some of the other images from the area click on Waiha0 Marae in the label line below.

Seagulls - A Tryptych

Gulls on the Wing

Waihao River Mouth

Waimate District

Nov.2008. Ajr

A Pair of Basilica

Top: St Patrick's Basilica, Waimate: Centre&Bottom: Sacred Heart Basilica, Timaru. Nov.2008. Ajr

It’s just as well I LIKE candid photography snapped from moving car windows because that’s all I got a chance for when I was driven south (by a speedy driver in a hurry) last week. As we went through Timaru (2 hours south of Christchurch), I managed to get these delightfully ‘vague’ shots of one of my favourite churches – The Church of the Sacred Heart. This Basilica is part of a cluster of Catholic Church buildings on a large site in the centre of Timaru. It was designed by the very busy architect, F.W. Petre (1847-1918), who designed a swathe of stunning churches all over the South Island, including the gorgeous Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, which I have featured here several times before. The top image here is also his design – the very pretty St Patrick’s Basilica in Waimate, which was built 1908-09. It’s three tower bells were cast in Belgium (I hope you’re reading this Hermione) and the largest weighs three-quarters of a ton. Petre was New Zealand’s most significant Neo-Classical architect and he’s also renowned for his design of the Wellington Sacred Heart Cathedral (1901); St Patrick’s in Oamaru (1894); St Patrick’s Dunedin; St Mary’s Basilica, Invercargill (1905) and the Catholic Church in Gore (1914). To see the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch, click on the name (or Churches) in the label line below this post.

Wallaby Country

Yello Shed, Waimate. Nov. 2008. Ajr

When I first arrived in the South Island eighteen years ago and saw this yellow shed, just south of the highway turnoff to Waimate, I thought it was a joke - that wallabies could be found there I mean. But it's true - these funny little Australian kangaroo relatives have established quite a colony in the Waimate area. I've never actually seen one for myself and even today there is still a remnant of suspicion that it's all a big myth, but who am I to argue? Meanwhile, this must be one of the most photographed sheds in New Zealand.