A Week of Rain

We've had a week of rain, hail, sleet and snow in Christchurch and during that time, I've been more than a little transfixed by the effect its all had on the city. So today, my camera and I went to inspect - long after everyone else has already covered the worst of the elements but there was still plenty to see. In fact, it seemed to be the activity of the day. With a little sunshine, everyone was out walking, eyeing up the still swollen rivers and creeks.

Certainly the river that normally meanders at a gentle pace through Beckenham and Opawa (is it the Heathcote River perhaps?), was still a fast-flowing torrent lapping at the edges of gardens.

The paper-delivery girl stopped in her tracks.

The extensive surface flooding in South Hagley Park giving birth to a tangle of reflections

The black, bare branches looking slighting ominous and animate.

The South Hagley cricket pitch 'rained off.'

The riverside picnic tables stranded in the meddle of fast-flowing floodwater at Beckenham.

Roads closed all around Opawa.

Little Hagley Park in the north - the gaunt trunks of giant trees sleek and shiny with winter wet.

Opawa, where river and street merge

Making the most of extra water at Beckenham

And impossible for me not to refer the earthquakes at some level. Here, a reflective view of the ruins of the Catholic Basilica - always a sad sight.

"in a winter landscape - especially in a wood - there is the same kind of purity that the Greeks saw in the unclad human form..."

A Study in Winter

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one king of a world and wake up to find yourself in another quite different......."

J.B. Priestley

Apes and Angels

I'm ready to wake up in a different kind of world

A winter world of snow and purity

Of stark trees and mists A world devoid of ruin and uncertainty A world where the air is still

A world where the ground is still

And reliable. All Photos taken in Christchurch and Lindis Pass Ajr 2011

City Treescapes - Auckland

I love a city stripped bare by winter.

That time when trees 'come to life' in a new 'semi-dormant' way that alludes to a shadowy 'other presence.' I have an active imagination at the best of times and trees seem almost human to me - imbued with a dignity and a beauty

Admirable somehow. Lively and interactive.

Most especially, I love the way winter trees interact with city architecture. For me it's an intriguing coming together of Nature and the manmade - as if one is striving to outdo the other. I took a whole series of photos when I was in Auckland this last winter - strolling along Symonds Street at dusk, observing the contortion of limbs writhing toward the sky, up and across the face of surrounding architecture. One tree skeleton after another seemed to come to life in a new way, with their silhouettes reflected in nearby glass towers.

Mirror images, a tangle of shadows.

Stretched limbs, reaching, scratching against glass and concrete.

There's a purity in all those 'unclad' forms - a severe natural beauty

That comes to life in the afternoon slant of winter light.

And Just to Confuse You.........

A Winter Window High Street, Christchurch August 2009. Ajr

One Tree

A Tree Skeleton

Christchurch Arts Centre

The End of Winter

August 2009

Passing through Porters

Porters Pass, 88 kilometres west of Christchurch is the highest point in the journey from east to west (it’s 20 metres higher than Arthur’s Pass, further into the journey). It is also one of the prettiest spots, especially in winter, when it attracts many visitors, who come to toboggan the slopes, ice skate on nearby Lake Lyndon, or just to play in the snow. Nearby Porter’s Pass Skifield is also popular with skiers and many will be pleased to hear the skifield is on the verge of a major multi-million dollar expansion.

I’ve never been a snow bunny myself, so I’m more attracted to the area because of its geography. The landscapes here are magnificent and ever-changing at any time of the year and as you stand in the middle of it all, it’s hard to imagine the 19th century pioneers walking across the pass to the goldfields on the West Coast. They must have been a hardy bunch. I drove up to the pass a couple of days ago and while the weather was foul – driving rain and wind – I still managed to stop and photograph a very pretty group of stark birch trees. I think I can now safely say I have photographs of Porter’s Pass from every season, every time of the day and in every possible weather variation – which might be one of my oddest boasts.

Mountainscape

Just one of the many stunning mountainscapes I passed on my way to and from the West Coast a few days ago. This is how dawn looks in Porter's Pass Porters Pass. August 2009. Ajr

Remembering Summer

Waikuku. Feb.2009. Ajr

It was high summer when I visited Waikuku Beach last - about 30 minutes north of Christchurch. The clouds were clearing, ready for another blistering hot day and early walkers were out and about before the heat. I wandered the beach for a while; I picked my way through part of the pine forest that separates the little community from the sea; I photographed some of the fantastic fat hedges that enclose old baches; and I sat on the edge of this river, watching shags fighting in the trees along its banks. As I sit here now, in the middle of a freezing, bare, bleak Christchurch winter, it seems a world away - a place and a time so remote and removed as to be unreal.

Winterscape

Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch. March 2009. Ajr

Shall I do this one in colour or black and white?

Why not a bit of both?

It's Snowing Down South

Crown Range, Wanaka. May 2009. Ajr

The weather forecast predicted savagely cold temperatures for the deep south this weekend. Personally, I don't know how it can get any colder than when I was there two weeks ago. I drove out to Cardrona, near Wanaka one afternoon and although the sun was shining and the skies were blue, it was perishingly cold. I sat on a quiet road in a rather unlikely subdivision (half developed) and soaked up the total silence. The mountains were covered in whipped cream snow, falcons soared in the skies above and all nearby houses looked as though they had been sealed for the winter. I never saw a single person. Needless to say though, the people at nearby Cardrona Alpine Resort will be rubbing their frozen hands together in delight. The omens are pointing to a bumper early ski season. www.cardrona.com

A Winter Afternoon in Dunedin

Dunedin. May 2009. Ajr

I've just spent the last two days of my 2009 Frommers New Zealand Road Trip in one of my favourite New Zealand cities - Dunedin. I raced about like a person possessed, checking everything I needed to check (nearly), meeting people and taking photographs. By late afternoon yesterday, the sun was still shining but the temperature had (characteristically) plummetted, creating a weird calmness and a soft, shimmering haze over the harbour. I took these shots from the overbridge at Roslyn on Maori Hill at about 4pm.

One Day in the Far North

Cable Bay. April 2009. Ajr.

Now that I'm back in the deep south weathering ice, snow, fog, mist, rain, hail and wind, my days in the Far North in April suddenly seem far too distant a memory. The day I took this photograph at Cable Bay, near Mangonui, it was actually raining believe it or not. If I have to endure a rainy day, that's the sort of rain I'd like down here. www.northlandnz.com

Driving Into A Southern Winter

This is the Lindis Pass landscape I drove through a couple of days ago on my way south to Wanaka. White, Empty, Silent.

May 2009. Ajr

A Southern View

Lake Wakatipu and the Remarkables

As seen from The Heritage, Fernhill

Queenstown

May 2009. Ajr

Thinking of Winter

A Chill in the Air

Imagining Trees

Stripped Bare

Ajr 2009

Winter Green

Hagley Park, Christchurch. August 2008. Ajr

Hopefully this is one of the last

Chilly winter landscapes that I will post

For this year

Winter Walk

Cashmere, Christchurch. August 2008. Ajr

Sunday Walkers

An Archway of Bare Trees

Bring on the Berries

Napier, North Island. June 2008. Ajr

Our gardens may not be brimming over with floral colour during the winter months; but you can always rely on berries to inject a punchy burst of colour when most needed.

I found these beauties in a Napier garden in June.

Mellow Yellow

Christchurch. July 2008. Ajr

There are always bright spots - even on cold winter days.

I stopped to photograph this crazy yellow garage overhung by an abundance of yellow crab apples when I was out biking yesterday afternoon. If you don't believe me...that's the shadow of my bike against the garage door.