Catching the last rays

These birds were lining up to watch the sun set over the harbour. It was nice to have a day of sun. I had my last lecture for the first year paper I did for fun today. Now I have to make the serious decision of what to do for my doctorate ...

Windows

The rain has stopped, the sun is peaking through and the curtains have been opened for the first time in a week...

Cup of tea on a rainy day

Nothing like meeting a friend for coffee when the day is miserable. This is at my favourite cafe in Dunedin - Nectar

My view

Day 5 - rain ...
I feel like I'm writing a survivor's diary. It has rained non stop for the last five days. This is the view from my office window that I look at time to time while I'm working. Believe it or not there is a beautiful ocean and a little island off to the distance, obscured by the rain clouds that now live in Dunedin.

Soggy autumn leaves

Winter is washing away the lovely autumn leaves ...

A miserable day on campus

It has been raining non stop for three days. I had to go to Otago University for my lecture (you can tell I'm a 'mature' age student because we were the only ones who turned up in this dreadful weather). Umbrellas were a common sight and the water in the Leith was racing past.

First fire of the year

We now enter the second day of constant rain. As luck would have it, our heat pump decided to break down at the same time as the bad weather arrived. The trusty wood fire has been recalled into business, there is nothing as nice as a warm cosy wood fire.

Dunedin harbour

There's bad weather coming they say. It is definitely a grey and waterlogged day.

Starry night

I thought I would try a long exposure at night. This is from my back deck and wasn't a very carefully set up shot. But it was interesting to see how quickly little star trails form with only a 30 second exposure. There was a really bright moon last night so I couldn't include that in the shot.

First church

This is the First Church in Dunedin. It is quite a beautiful building and there is a story about it being moved, or second or something, but I didn't listen very well.

Friday night taxi

On a Friday night I like to sit and relax and watch a video. Alas, we don't always get what we want. In reality on a Friday night, I run kids around and then finally get to sit down some time past 7 oclock. Tonight's image is taken on the road on one of the many taxi trips. Wouldn't it be lovely to have the time to pack your camera gear, travel to a chosen location, and wander around looking for good shots ...

Duck in Hyde Park

Okay, so I'm cheating today. Jill Hammonds and I ran a workshop on the curriculum for the small schools cluster in Blenheim. I took a couple of shots of Jill in action however, we downloaded them to her computer and I didn't get a copy !! So I don't have a photo that I have taken today, but I do have this photo which I really like from my trip away, so it will have to do as a stop gap. I saw this duck in Hyde Park as I was walking through one morning. I quite like the composition.

Dinner

This is not a very good photo but it was hard to get a photo for today. The problem is I have taken a card full of lovely photos today of the children at Renwick School so therefore I have lots of photos but none for this blog. Then when I finally had time to take some photos for myself it was night time. This is the restaurant in Blenheim where we had dinner tonight. It is not a very good photo but the thing I do like about it is that I switched my camera to manual and set the aperture, shutter speed and iso myself to try and get an image which looked the same as it did to my eye. Learning is fun.

Blenheim

I'm in Blenheim making a digital story at Renwick School. There are so many beautiful things to take photos of and hopefully I will go for a drive tomorrow to catch more of the country side. Today I am stuck at ground level in the township but I spotted this amazing church spire I think it is an art gallery but it was striking against the hills and the setting evening sky. Made me think of a fairy tale.

Clock tower

The autumn leaves made a nice frame for the clock tower in the Octagon. There's free wifi in the Octagon now, if you're visiting.

Have a seat

I was inspired by Martha's 'Have a seat' picture so I thought I would try my own variation. I really like the dappled light and autumn colours, but I haven't captured the depth of the experience as Martha has, so I will keep trying

Robbie in the Autumn

The Robbie Burns statue in the Octagon was looking striking with the autumn leaves behind.

Princes Street (smarty pants!)

I thought I would take a general shot down the main street today. It has been raining and overcast. This is the beginning of George Street facing into town.

Doors

I've decided to do a first year paper at uni on web development as the extra qualification would be good for my current work. After spending quite a few years as a post grad student it is very funny to be back in a class with 18 year olds (and a scattering of more 'mature' students). The workload seems to be very light compared to what I am used to and the exam is a simple cram, remember, regurgitate and forget type multi choice. Anyway, the doorway above is the door from the department at the uni. I quite liked the highly polished floor and red door handles.

A foggy start to the day

It was a foggy start to the day today in Dunedin. This scene struck me as with the sun so muted by the clouds and fog, it could quite as well have been a night scene with a full moon.

Facebook again

I tried to set up a shot today with autumn leaves but I got the shutter speed wrong, so I will try again tomorrow. So instead here is an image of some one who can't seem to be away from FB for too long at the moment. Oh the joys of teenagehood.

Candlelight

One of my mothers' day presents, a lovely scented candle.

Basketball

Mother's Day in our household usually contains an outing. An outing for our family always involves a sport of some kind. So today we all went down to Arthur Street School for a game of 3 on 2 basketball. As always it was the two boys against the rest of us. And they have the advantage of long spidery teenage limbs.

Long forgotten

Signs of a childhood left behind. The dolls house lays forgotten in a corner of the garden.

Ipod family

We have had quite a few ipods over the years. I couldn't think of whether we got the ipod classic first or the ipod mini, so these two could be in the wrong order. We then have the Nano followed my my iPhone. Missing is the iPod touch which was at work with the boss.

Bushmere Winery

We finished our tour of the top of the east coast and headed back to Gisborne ready to fly home. (lovely little 19 seater plane, oh how I love that). We had an hour to kill before the flight so we visited Bushmere Winery. The lovely lady there jumped off her tractor and took us for a private wine tasting even though we visited out of season. It was lovely. If you are ever in Gisborne, visit Bushmere Winery for the lovely wines and the lovely company (must find a new word for lovely).

Mt Hikurangi (I think)

Christina and I are visiting schools up on the coast past Gisborne. This impressive mountain in misty blue hues was set off nicely by the corn (? maize?) fields. I loved the colours.

Tokomaru Bay

I'm up in Tokomaru Bay to shoot a digital story at Te kura Hiruharama and went for a walk this morning to watch the sunrise. Looking to the right I saw this beautiful land mass jutting out to sea, and looking to the left I saw the sunrise. I couldn't choose between the two.

Wharf at Tologa Bay

I'm working up around Gisborne for the next four days, shooting stories in two schools. We stopped at this wharf in Tologa Bay, it made me think of things marching out to sea.

On my run

A lovely windy sky down near Portsmouth Drive where I run.

Great Expectations

My very talented son has been playing Compeyson in the play of Great Expectations. The play has a run of five shows and we got to see him in action tonight. It is great being a mum.