Titahi Bay walk

On the 4th of January we decided to go for a walk. Since Brains has his learner license Boar got him to drive us there. A while ago I'd walked to the right of the entry to the beach. You don't get far past the boat sheds when you come to a wall. However there is a track and also you can walk around the rocks a wee way before you hit water.

Looking between the point on the left and Mana Island on the right you can just see a smudge of the sounds in the distance. Not so clear as some days.

It's a pretty sheer  rock face although has quite a bit growing on it. The tide must come right up to the greenery as there is a lot of driftwood there.

It continues on for quite a way but I wasn't game to go through the water or scramble round the rocks.

Lots of little pools with seaweeds in them.

Brains walked out a fair distance

Boar, Brains and Locket had a good look in the rock pools.

I was intrigued by the formations on this rock

A lot of different plants growing between the rocks. Must be tough as they survive the tide washing over them!

A different plant with sweet wee flowers.

Some big waves must have deposited this log here.

More seaweeds

Someone enjoyed a feed of mussels!

Precariously poised rocks.

A bigger rock pool

I wonder if it was the waves constantly coming in that eroded the rocks in these almost straight lines!

The art you see if you look up!

A close up because it really amused me. looks a bit like a sheep with wonky horns  :)

The colourful toilet block.

A New Year beckons!

31 December 2015

One of my best friends from college (high school) days came to visit on New Years Eve day. A was over to see her parents and siblings for Christmas and came to see me. She always tries to get here when she comes to NZ. I'm hoping to one day have the funds to visit her where she lives in Australia now.

A came bearing this lovely basket of fruit for us and also some pastries and cakes - I didn't think to take a photo of them before they were all eaten! They were yummy though  :)

As usual A and I chattered away catching up on what has been happening in our lives. After dinner in the evening A left to go into Wellington City as her mum had gone in to watch the New Years Eve fireworks.

Brains and Locket had also gone into the city with friends. From what I heard they had a great time :) That left the rest of us at home and I was so tired that I had to go to bed! It's the first time for many a year I haven't stayed up to watch the New Year in. Boar usually looks on askance as I go outside and bang merrily on a saucepan!! Well, he didn't have to worry this year - he was asleep too!

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Since this post marks a change of year I thought I'd wish everyone a Happy New Year all over again!

From the Garden

November

In our front yard we have a succulent in a pot. At least I think it is a succulent! If you are a gardening person and know and I'm wrong - please correct me! It flowers for only a few days. I managed to remember to get a couple of photos.

9 November 2015

2 days later - 11 November

 It's pretty and makes a vivid splash of colour when it flowers. I think someone was throwing it out and Boar brought it home and put it in a pot!

We also have a lovely rambling rose. At least I'm pretty sure it is a rambler - it just goes where it likes!  Boar knows that I like it and so when they start to come out he usually brings me in some of the first ones. Sweet man  :)

22 November 2015

I think this bottle came from my parent's house when we were clearing it out. It was in one of the kitchen cupboards. It would have had a rubber teat, long gone by now. It has written on it "Agee Pyrex Feeder" and measurements in ounces on the side.

A number of years ago I splashed out on a copy of Botanica and over the years it has stood me in good stead when I want to find out the name of a plant or information about it.

I'm pretty sure the rose I have is Alberic Barbier from the picture and description of it. Once again I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

Here is the picture from the book:

Also there is a description:-

It has got a bit wild over the years and there are bits coming up in places I don't want them to. So I need to do a bit of pruning. Apart form that it is a lovely rose, one of the ones that has been here the whole time we have, has had no real care, and yet keeps growing!

Otari-Wilton's Bush Walk

Jumping forward now to October 25th last year. I decided I wanted to push myself a bit and see how I went on a longer walk. Longer than 10-15 minutes I mean!

Growing up we spent a lot of time in Wilton's Bush as we knew it then. We lived in Wadestown and it was around a 15-20 minute walk from home. Pa often took us there on a Sunday afternoon. Or we'd go ourselves when we were 10 or so. No parents - just us! The fun we had - walking over the pipes across the stream - they're all boxed in now - going across the stream and I do recall on one occasion I met up with a stinging nettle bush! Suffice to say it was not fun.  :(

As my own children grew up we often walked here too and they almost always walked back along the stream bed. There should be a billboard:-

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The board at the entrance to the walk. The green area is all within the boundary of Otari-Wilton's Bush.

Sunlight breaking through the trees, dappling the rocks and stream bed.

Tiny rapid, mossy green rocks, fallen down branches, nature will have her way!

Fungi growing on a stump

A hollowed out trunk . . . 

. . . Room for a Locket though!  :)

The walk into the picnic area is basically flat. Many of the trails are not! I was still feeling pretty good and so we decided to go on a bit. There was a short trail and I remembered it being not too steep. So . . . yeah . . .steps! I had to pause a couple of times to catch my breath wait for people to pass, but I made it to the top of the short hill.  =D>  I was glad to turn off the main trail though as I remember it goes on for quite a distance!

Pretty hard to see but we had to go down to the stream bed then up the other side. The trail is well marked but hard to see through the trees.

Near to the end you walk over the intertwined roots of these two trees, again the sun is peeking through the gaps.

On the way back Boar decided to walk along the pipe - and of course Locket had to as well! And I wonder where they get it from. This probably is one of the pipes I walked over too  :D  I was a lot younger than I am now though!

If you look closely you can see a grey patch near the middle of the photo - Locket! I'm standing on the trail. Boar is somewhere on the pipe too, just ahead I think.

Brachyglottis repanda

Rangiora - or colloquially "Bushman's loo paper"!

I love the way the sunlight is shining through from the back and you can see all the "veins" on the back of the rangiora leaves from the front.

The small yellow trail is the one we walked around from the picnic area. I edited my photo to show the arrows.

A larger photo which shows how small the trail we took really is in comparison with some of the others. For me on that day it was plenty. Since it was my first big walk since my PE I was really pleased with myself. I was tired but I achieved a few things:- a longer
walk, all up around an hour; steps!; pacing myself through the walk.

All in all a lovely way to spend an afternoon.  :)