The Changing Seasons, May 2018

/ Su Leslie

My month began in Dunedin on the tail end of a South Island trip to connect with the Big T’s Canterbury roots and to explore the possibility of becoming Mainlanders (1) in the future. It was especially poignant for us to spend some of ANZAC Day in the churchyard of St John’s Hororata, where an extraordinary number of T’s forbears are buried or commemorated.

James Isabella Gray (nee Thompson), the Big T’s 2x great grandparents. Arrived from Scotland in December 1860 with four children under 10. Their voyage took three months. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Andrew and Emily Ann Gray (nee Oliver), great grandparents. Andrew arrived from Scotland as a five year old. Emily Ann was born in Christchurch, three years after her parents arrived in NZ from England. Also memorial to their son Eric, who is buried in a Commonwealth War Cemetery in the Somme Valley. Image: Su Leslie 2018as children
The Perc, Dunedin. Image: Su Leslie 2018
New favourite cafe: The Perc in Stuart St, Dunedin. Image: Su Leslie 2018
T’s breakfast, The Perc, Dunedin. Image: Su Leslie 2018
The Perc, Dunedin. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Last coffee before heading home. Lyttleton Coffee Co, London St. Lyttleton. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Farewelling the big skies and empty spaces of the Canterbury Plains. Inland Scenic Route at Ashburton Forks, Canterbury. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Glorious afternoon in Lyttleton. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Ashburton Forks, Canterbury Plains. Image: Su Leslie 2018

Back in Auckland, we’re both missing the South Island’s big skies, mountain views, gorgeous autumn colours, relaxed people, and the relative ease of driving on roads that aren’t permanently congested.

And although it rained pretty much all the time we were in Dunedin, it still remains top of my list of Southern “happily relocate to” places. The main drawback is distance from the boy-child.

Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Otakau, Otago Peninsula. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Highcliff Road, Otago Peninsula. Image: Su Leslie 2018

One of the things I love most about this time of year is the spectacular sunsets, with Oamaru and Wellington, where I’ve just spent a long weekend, turning on the coolest shows.

Sunset, Waterfron Road, Oamaru. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Sunset, Wellington waterfront. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Sunset, Wellington waterfront. Image: Su Leslie 2018
Sun’s last rays reflecting on ‘Invisible City’ 2003 sculpture by Anton Parsons, Grey St. Wellington.

As I write this, the wind is howling and tormenting the trees outside my window. It definitely feels like winter has arrived.

About The Changing Seasons

The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge, originally hosted by Max at Cardinal Guzman. I’ve taken over hosting duties this year, and if you would like to join in, here are the guidelines:

The Changing Seasons Version One (photographic):

  • Each month, post 5-20 photos in a gallery that you feel represent your month
  • Don’t use photos from your archive. Only new shots.
  • Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so that others can find them

The Changing Seasons Version Two (you choose the format):

  • Each month, post a photo, recipe, painting, drawing, video, whatever that you feel says something about your month
  • Don’t use archive stuff. Only new material!
  • Tag your posts with #MonthlyPhotoChallenge and #TheChangingSeasons so others can find them.

If you do a ping-back to this post, I can update it with links to all of yours.

UPDATE

If you haven’t already, please visit check out these posts from some very cool bloggers around the world:

Magnificent May, from Joanne at My Life Lived Full

The Changing Seasons, May 2018 from Lee at Ladyleemanila

Change of Seasons from Tracy at Reflections of an Untidy Mind

May in Brussels from Klara. This is Klara’s first Changing Seasons post, so please visit and welcome her.

May: Summer Weather is Here from Deb at The Widow Badass Blog

The Changing Seasons May 2018 from Ju-Lyn at Sunrise, Sunset

The Changing Seasons, May has been very yellow from Tish at Tish Farrell Writer on the Edge

Changing Seasons: May 2018 from Pauline at Living in Paradise

The Changing Seasons: Flowers are Blooming from Marilyn at Serendipity — Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth

The Changing Seasons — May 2018 from Sarah at Art Expedition

Back to School from Ruth at RuthsArc

Changing Seasons May 2018 from Jude at Under a Cornish Sky

Changing Seasons Challenge May 2018 — At the Museum from Yvette at Priorhouse Blog

The Changing Seasons May 2018 from Mick at Mick’s Cogs

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Colloquial term for those living in the South Island of New Zealand.

78 thoughts on “The Changing Seasons, May 2018”

        • They were. Other families were not so lucky. Andrew Gray’s wife, Emily Ann Oliver (headstone above) was born in NZ but her mother had already given birth to a child while onboard one of the immigrant ships. The baby died, along with several other children on that journey. It was a particularly horrendous voyage — at one point, the ship virtually capsized and lost some of its rigging.
          I will try to remember that the next time I moan about lack of leg room on a flight 🙂

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      • Yeah, me too. I guess we measure discomfort against what we are used to. Our emigration to NZ involved three days of flying (with lots of stops). At the time, it was more usual to sail, but my mother absolutely refused to get in a boat. Good choice really, since flying was quite glamorous in those days and I can’t remember “leg room” ever being an issue. The downside for me was that the boat trip took about 5-6 weeks — which means 5-6 weeks of NO SCHOOL for those kids. I felt so cheated!

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          • I was almost six; and had hated school from day one, so the prospect (however remote) of skipping it for a six whole weeks would have been absolute heaven. I get my mum’s point of view totally.
            Flying was still quite unusual in those days; and very posh. It was like being in a very high-end restaurant for hours on end. There weren’t many kids on board, and my brother and I got fussed over and spoilt a bit. Especially my brother who was about three, had very blonde hair, huge brown eyes and a total “butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth” look. 🙂

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    • Horrendous. And even worse when you consider that they were steerage passengers, crammed into a tiny space with about 170 other people. A “good” voyage took about 12 weeks — but some took nearly five months if weather was bad or the ship sustained any damage.

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  2. Love the skies, Su. Such beautiful dramatic clouds!

    While winter is settling in in your world, we are getting blasted with summer. It seems we skipped spring completely.

    Are you getting closer to make a decision on the big move?

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  3. You live in a heartbreakingly lovely place. It’s one of those places I always wanted to visit but your pictures are about as close to a visit as I will make in this life.

    I’m still trying to recover enough photographs for this post. I’ve got three more camera chips to check. Tomorrow I will try to get to all of them, then download and process. I still haven’t completely restored my tools, either, so this is a work in progress.

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    • I’m sorry about your hacking experience — sounds like a total nightmare. It got me rushing off to talk to my IT department (the Big T) about our cyber security.
      I hope your computer reinstall? rebuild? (you can tell I’m not tecchy right), goes smoothly.
      🙂

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  9. Quite a decision to make Su. Such a beautiful place, but I think the winters would put me off. Incidentally I’m wondering about the rules for this challenge, were it says no archive photos only new shots. I do find it difficult to show what has happened during the month without using photos already in the archives. I wonder what others think…. Open for discussion?

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  10. Wow! Love the big skies and the sunsets! And the lovely misty picture with its dreamlike quality. You had a very busy month, Su. 😊 Around here it’s getting hotter by the day and I’m craving for a slight breeze. 😁 xxxxxxx

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  12. Beautiful photos – and I can see why you like that café 🙂

    As for relocating, well sometimes you just have to take a chance. Your boy is growing up, already making a life of his own and I am sure you have taught him well. At least you would still be in the same country! Good luck with the search and one possibility is renting for a year to see how things go. Are you and the Big T on the same wavelength with the move?

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    • Thanks Jude.
      You are right; he is a big boy now and pretty resilient. I think my niggling fear is around having to fly to get to each other. It’s irrational, but somehow the independence of being able to get in the car and leave at a moment’s notice is reassuring. Not only to see the boy-child, but my dad too. It would be a real mission to get to him from Dunedin!
      We have talked about renting somewhere new, and also about buying a little cottage or townhouse that needs a bit of work, and doing it up while we live in it. That way, we’re not paying rent, and putting the house sale proceeds to some use.
      I think T and I are generally on the same page; but there are definitely differences in the detail. 🙂

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  29. I’m in awe of New Zealand’s beauty – you seem to have great options. I can relate about wanting to be driving distance to Boy Child. My Girl Child is grown and lives 90 minutes away in a nice area that I have no desire to live in. So I’ve been on the fence about moving for a couple of years. Wishing you well wherever you decide!

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    • Confusing huh. The South Island is larger, but has a much smaller share of the population. Dunedin, where we’d like to move, is about 1500km from Auckland. Realistically, we’d have to fly.even if we wanted to drive, we’d still need to catch a ferry across the Cook Strait.

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