Very little progress or engagement with the hobby this week - for some reason I have been lacking motivation - although I did put a black undercoat on both the 3D church and bridge recently acquired via Temu - so hopefully one of those should be ready soon.
In the meantime, I will bore you all with some more images from last weekend's trip to the S Island
Saturday's trip took us north to Kaikoura, famous for whale watching and seafood (we did not partake in either, however!)
A seal colony north of the town
View showing the rugged coastline
Back in Kaikoura proper
A seal that did not quite make it!
Information board explaining the geology
The view from the "canoe" observation point described in one of the previous information boards
Your correspondent in situ
It is quite a dramatic drive along the coast
A few years ago, the Kaikoura earthquake put large sections of this road (and the adjacent railway) out action for over a year.
Some token indigenous MΔori content π
AS it was only about 4pm, we headed out to New Brighton beach to take a look at the pier
First up was a beach side war memorial
The pier from the beach
And some views of the coast from the pier
A couple of shots of our meanderings around Christchurch and evening meal
An Indian this time - and very nice it was too!
The bell came from a historic church that did not survive the earthquake
I was quite taken with this one house on Manchester Street, presumably constructed from recycled historic bricks after the earthquake, and including a customised street sign obviously intended to reinforce the "English" look of the building!
That's all for today - I might manage to produce something toy soldier related next time; you never know your luck!
Well, if the next post is not toy related, keep those travels photos coming.
ReplyDeleteThat's very decent of you Jon - I have plenty more photos of our S Island trip, but I am conscious maybe not everyone is desperate to see them all!
DeleteAlways interesting Keith. It has been years since I have been to the South Island myself, but I have always enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence, I hope I am bringing back some fond memories in that case!
DeleteSome great scenery Keith, always enjoyable to see your travels especially as it is a grey dreich winter day here in Northern Scotland! Somewhat brightens my day!
ReplyDeleteCheers Donnie and I can well imagine it - for the non-Scots reading this, an explanatory note:
Deletedreich
/driΛx/
adjective Scottish English
(especially of weather) dreary; bleak.
"a cold, dreich early April day" (but in Scotland, the month could be June or July! π
You keep posting those holiday snaps, I’ve no problem with them. The chances of me ever getting to see these places in the flesh are almost zero, so it’s nice to see another bit of the planet. Is it wrong that my first thuought on seeing the dead seal was “I wonder what seals taste like?”
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the pics JBM - I will keep on posting! I don't know if that's an odd thought - but I didn't think it! I am picking they taste pretty awful - otherwise, they would be an endangered species because we would have hunted them to near extinction - or, we would have ocean based farms to produce them like we do with mussels and salmon!
DeleteGreat looking scenes, and history. NZ is a beautiful place (with vibes similar to Hawaii), but as mentioned above I'll likely never make it there. A bit past my traveling limits.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean - I assume there is some distant connection between Hawaii and New Zealand (particularly between the indigenous populations EG In MΔori culture, Hawaiki is the ancestral homeland and spiritual birthplace from which the first people and the great waka (canoes) journeyed to New Zealand. It is a sacred place, considered both the source of life and the destination to which spirits return after death. While the exact location is debated, it is believed to be somewhere in the central Polynesian region)
DeleteIts only about 8 hours flight from Hawaii to NZ I think......
Nice pictures, if the seal tastes as bad as the artic shark, which they have to bury so it decomposes to get rid of the ammonia, then I can see why we haven't eaten too many of them, tried artic shark in Iceland and it was bloody awful! I'm willing to bet seal tastes better!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain - what is it with Scandinavians and eating rotten, stinking fish??!
DeleteMy assumption is seals are similar to whales in terms of eating - and whale meat is so unappetising, the Japanese can hardly get any of their population to eat the stuff!
Great looking photos Keith.
ReplyDeleteNow back to the painting desk!
Thank you Ben! Funnily enough. I have been painting today....3d bridge is done and I am halfway through the church too!
DeleteLovely photos from the NZTB as always Keith;)! Nice to see some blue skies as I heard this has been the dullest October here since records began. All our piers seem to be completely knackered and closed to the public and close to collapse, so nice to see one that is at least open and looks pretty durable too.
ReplyDeleteHappy to be of service and help brighten your day, Steve!
DeleteI don't remember the exact details, but the original pier was damaged beyond repair in the late sixties and the current one is its replacement. I expect the ones in Britain were all built in the Victorian or Edwardian eras?
That's what I think Keith and hence why the cast iron superstructures have rusted away to the point of collapsing or being completely unsafe. Mind you in today's day and age, the attraction of a traditional pier has probably waned somewhat...
DeleteAll true Steve!
DeleteLovely scenery sir!
ReplyDeleteCheers Michal!
DeleteMore splendid work for the New Zealand tourist board Keith…
ReplyDeleteThey should give you an award/medal/free painted toy soldiers π
All the best. Aly
Free toy soldiers would be my choice of reward, Aly!
Deletewe were very lucky with the weather, the previous week, we had extremely high winds, rain, flooding and even some roads closed by excessive snow in the S Island
Some blue sky which we haven’t seen for a while π
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt, we certainly had some very nice weather for spring, this week has been quite wet again
DeleteNice pics. good scenery.
ReplyDeleteNow
get
back
to work painting.
(π)
I know, I am a bit of a slack bstrd, amn't I? Sorry Stew, I will try harder in future!
Delete