It’s been a busy month, and not always in a good way. I feel that I’ve wasted spent far too much time on household admin stuff. As the month closes, I’m still waiting on others’ to provide information I need to make decisions and cross these things off my “to-do” list.
One the plus side, there’s only so much book-keeping and financial planning a person can do before they lose the will to live (for me that’s not very much), so there has been plenty of need for distraction. This has mostly taken the form of still-life photography (much of which you’ve seen), trying to improve my embarrassingly basic PhotoShop skills, and spending quality time with my journal and some watercolour paints.
The Big T and I have only managed to escape the city once — for a long weekend in the Waikato. The weather was mostly great and the scenery awesome in that green hills and big blue skies kind of way — especially on the day we went to explore Kawhia, on the west coast.
Although it’s only about 60km from the nearest town, Kawhia feels quite remote. The land is mainly farmed or forestry and there is only one other settlement on the way there — Oparau, with its “sells everything you could ever need — at a price” general store and the bike fence.
I don’t know if it’s a Kiwi thing — do people in other countries adorn fences with collections of found objects? We have the bra fence in Cardrona, Central Otago; several jandal (think flip-flop) fences (Foxton, Kaeo and the Bay of Plenty); a hubcap fence in West Auckland; and apparently more than one bike fence.
I didn’t count the number of bikes cable-tied to the fence in Oparau, but the installation stretched for at least 100 metres.
Kawhia is a tiny settlement nestled inside a large, flat harbour. The tide was out during our visit, so I’ll spare you shots of the muddy estuary — except this one of the Kawhia Museum, because the building is so pretty.
The ocean beach, a little beyond town, was beautiful and almost deserted. It is a hot water beach, which means you can dig a hole at low tide and soak in the naturally hot spring water that seeps through the sand.
This sounds like a great idea, and unlike the more famous Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel, there weren’t thousands of other people trying to do the same thing. But it IS still winter, and it’s impossible to dig a particularly deep hole, so the prospect of having a warm bums and legs while the rest of us froze just wasn’t that appealing.
Our trip home involved a detour to Te Aroha for coffee, and Ngatea for a fairly disappointing lunch. Luckily the local St John’s charity shop was open and turned out to be a treasure trove. The Big T and I both left with goodies — and we now have a loyalty card. I’m not sure quite what that says about us.
About The Changing Seasons
The Changing Seasons is a monthly challenge where bloggers around the world share what’s been happening in their month.
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
Please check out these bloggers and see how August played out for them
Ju-Lyn at All Things Bright and Beautiful
Tracy at Reflections of an Untidy Mind
Klara’s Brussels in August
Pauline at Living in Paradise
Jude at Under a Cornish Sky
Marilyn at Seeking intelligent life on Earth
Tish at Writer on the Edge
Joanne at My Life Lived Full
Max at Cardinal Guzman
It’s still very hot and humid here, Su. I hope the nice weather is coming there too.
Leslie
LikeLiked by 1 person
I certainly don’t envy you the humidity Leslie. It is warmer here, especially in the mornings. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The humidity can be a bit much but I love the warm sunny days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love that last image!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sue 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, those green hills and the rustic fences and the long flat beach bring back so many memories of my visit to Raglan. I am rather annoyed now that my son didn’t take me to a beach where I could get a warm bum! We went as far as Ruapuke beach which was absolutely gorgeous. New Zealand has stunning beaches and landscapes. And I am now regretting throwing my old windows away!
PS I think Kiwis and Aussies have quite a weird sense of humour regarding stuff that litters the landscape and is classified as ‘art’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kawhia is a bit of a hike! Apparently Aotea Harbour, which is between Raglan and Kawhia, is really nice too. We thought about exploring, but ran out of time. I agree that we still do beaches pretty well (though I have started avoiding all but the most remote in summer). And you’re right about the pop-up “art” installation stuff. Perhaps to be expected from a country where the local authorities condone (and promote) giant fibreglass “sculptures” of carrots, crayfish and soft-drink bottles as tourist attractions. Sigh.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha @weird sense of humour. Yes, we do Jude 😊😜
LikeLiked by 2 people
Su, your post nearly made me feel homesick! Brilliant photography 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much. 🙂
LikeLike
brilliant photos. no room, but a view (through those windows). one man’s trash is another man’s art. you really have beautiful coast.
https://lessywannagohome.blogspot.com/2018/08/brussels-in-august.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Klara. The windows are a commissioned artwork — made of steel I think. Auckland is finally getting more public art.
LikeLike
Ah, when I look at the alluring ocean photos, I feel the urge to break from our smoked in environment and escape to the fresh air near and at the sea. Great job, Sue! I am glad you were able to break free from your to-do list of duties. Best wishes! Peter
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Peter. I’ve always lived near the sea, and never tire of how restored I feel by its presence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love to see those rolling green hills. This is countryside and scenery that’s so familiar to me (high school in Matamata, and Teachers’ College in Hamilton) and I still think fondly of it, especially during drought in Australia. I hope the bikes on fences thing doesn’t grow as ponderous as the padlocks on bridges in Paris and other places. Your photos make me want to take a quick NZ fix!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Glad to give you a taste of the past, if not home 🙂 We lived in Tokoroa when I was a kid, and used to travel to Auckland via Matamata. My parents really loved it and so we always stopped “to stretch our legs” there. It’s so busy now, with all the Hobbiton tourism.
The padlocks-on-bridges thing seems to be inceasingly widespread. The footbridge at Frank Kitts Park on Welly’s waterfront is festooned, and I noticed a few recently in a really odd place — I can’t quite remember where, but it did prompt a bit of a WTF moment.
LikeLike
Beautiful photos, Su. Those op shop purchases look like they were a real highlight of your month. And the green does make NZ look postcard perfect. I’m just putting the final touch on my month and will send the link through shortly. It is hard not to get preachy about climate change and sometimes I fail abysmally. Regards. Tracy.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks so much Tracy. It’s funny how finding a couple of cheap, interesting objects in the op shop raised our mood after a pretty disappointing lunch. And I don’t think the lunch would have bothered us much if it hadn’t come after so many other average to disappointing meals that weekend. Either T and I have a cafe jinx, or there are an awful lot of sub-standard eating places around.
And I don’t think we can ever say too much about climate change. I agree it’s difficult not to sound preachy — but sod it — it’s too important not to keep talking about 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, those precious finds can give one a boost. What a shame about the quality of the cafes. I tend to think if you can get one or two really good ones in a town or region, then that little bit of competition helps raise the standard all round. I don’t know if it is purely coincidental that on our travels, those towns with a great cafe were doing well. Those without, were very sad indeed. Have good coffee and food and they will come?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Changing Seasons – August – Reflections of An Untidy Mind
Lovely pictures Su, and I think I rather like your idea of winter. Ours is coming up sooner every day and it will look nothing like winter in NZ!
Deb
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks Deb. I suspect our winters don’t seem real to lots of people. Apart from lower temperatures, winter doesn’t look all that different to summer on some days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like your finds, Su. You have some lovely shots of beautiful places. Hopefully all else will work out soon.
janet
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Janet. The admin stuff is getting there — I am just frustrated having to chase information and then getting wrong or incomplete answers to my questions. But these things will pass!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
And you’ll be SO happy!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!! It’s amazing how one or two things that can’t be quickly resolved start to feel like a burden. I’m already anticipating the resolution and thinking of fun things to do as a reward.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great idea. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting month Su. Ah the green green grass of home…. sighs…. I still miss NZ. Fortunately I left offspring over there so an excuse to visit. Lovely photos you’ve captured the country so well. Jack is an op shop fanatic. I don’t think I’ll tell him about loyalty cards. Though I have never heard of them over here. I just took photos this morning for my August changing season, better get to it before the month has gone….
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was good thinking, to keep family here to visit 😂 I had never heard of op shops having loyalty cards, but the nice lady offered and it seemed churlish to say no!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Daughter is in Tauranga and son on a small farm near Waiuku. Both good places to visit
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely. The Awhitu Peninsula is one of my favourite places.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Son has a boat and a Bach on the Waikato river that we love to visit
LikeLike
I meant to say mai-mai not Bach that is the Aussie name
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 I thought a mai mai was a duck-shooter’s shelter.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes that is what it is, my son is a hunting shooting fishing sort of a bloke…
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 I don’t know anyone who hunts (or fishes) much these days. My teenage years were spent in Tokoroa, and there seemed to be a steady stream of duck and venison and boar turning up on the dinner table. My mum found it a challenge to cook, but my dad was never one to pass up free meat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He doesn’t get so much time to hunt and fish these days, but he always goes bush on his annual holiday, and the opening week of duck shooting is sacred….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hehe. As it should be!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A loyalty card for an op shop! Priceless! I would take one in a flash. 🙂 Household admin is such a chore. Just as well you had a chance to freshen your spirit in beautiful surroundings. I am wondering how long it will be before the Kawhia museum is washed out to sea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d never heard of it before. But the nice lady offered … The boy-child and his partner are op-shoppers and travel through Ngatea to visit her parents, so perhaps they’ll use it more than us.
I must say, I did wonder the same thing about the museum, and in fact most of the commerical buildings. The musuem was featured in a programme called Heritage Rescue that we saw on Choice TV. It got a really comprehensive make-over, and we were keen to visit, but wasn’t open, despite the sign suggesting that it should have been at the time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have seen a couple of Heritage Rescue programmes but not sure I saw that one. Did you happen to see a programme on Country Calendar recently about the farm near Kawhia Bay? I think it was this place. Beautiful scenery. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/82277318/time-of-the-gentle-greys-is-coming
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t see that. I forget Country Calendar is one for long stretches, then really enjoy it when I so see the programme. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I so enjoy seeing the land where you live, Su. Stunning land and seascapes. The bike fence is surreal though (in a good way) and apart from people attaching padlocks to bridges (due to whatever film it was), or bits fishing twine to the boardwalks in Maine, I have never seen these kind of collections. My mind is boggling at the bra fence: a sort of liberation installation?!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Tish. I have to get out of the city to remind myself how lovely NZ is.
Maybe the fence is a NZ thing? I’ve seen bits of rural fencing with wellies and flip-flops attached, but the bikes were new to me. But we (as a nation) do have an odd sense of what’s appropriate or interesting in public spaces. Several towns have giant fibreglass representations of objects that “define” the town — a huge carrot in the town of Ohakune, a crayfish in Kaikoura, a soft drink bottle in Paeroa (there is a lemonade-y drink called lemon and paeroa). Matamata likes to think of itself as Hobbiton because of the Hobbiton movie set nearby, and the town of Te Kuiti briefly re-named shops and streets, etc after an ex All Black who lived there. I suspect it’s a slightly insecure part of the psyche of a very isolated country “showing off” to the grown-ups — the way kids say odd and inappropriate things to get attention. But I’ll probably be branded a traitor for even suggesting that. Here’s a link to the bra fence btw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardrona_Bra_Fence
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bless you for the bra fence link. It’s amazing. One might even say uplifting 🙂 Am now picturing a giant fibre glass carrot.
LikeLiked by 1 person
et voilà: https://www.visitruapehu.com/things-to-see-and-do/family-fun/ohakune-carrot/
Some friends of mine wrote this a few years ago about our “town attractions.” Sadly, it’s missing John’s photos, but I think it’s quite interesting. https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/you-are-here-small-towns-with-big-ideas/
LikeLiked by 1 person
While I have to say the carrot park with assorted other giant vegetables is more than a touch whacky, Claudia’s article makes some good points. It’s also making remember that it’s quite an ancient human proclivity, to make some kind of physical statement that tells strangers they are entering the territory of a particular community. Arches, poles, human effigies – though often more of a warning than a welcome. At least the giant carrot is a big welcome sign.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a really good point Tish; identifying markers of community have an ancient history, and in times when it seems people are less tolerant of outsiders, long may we continue to welcome visitors to see our carrots, crayfish and bra fences. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hear, hear!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A hot beach—I’ve never heard of that before! Sounds very cool (I know, wrong word to use here). And we don’t have such fences. I did see in Prague the bridge with all the locks on it. But so far, the craze has not reached this part of the US anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
NZ is very geothermally active. There are hot springs all over the place and sometimes they flow under beaches or streams. Many have become tourist attractions and are no fun to visit anymore, there there are still some that are more remote or just not as well known.
The padlocked bridges are starting to happen here — and it’s worrying engineers because padlocks are heavy! But the fence thing … sigh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your pictures are always so beautiful … wow. Wonderful.
My post is up day after tomorrow. For once, we had more pictures (and more events) than I could fit in the post, but i certainly tried!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Marilyn. 🙂
LikeLike
I love those luscious green hills, and the fences are certainly …. different. Can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a thing before so maybe it is a Kiwi thing. I’m sure it makes drives through the countryside rather interesting though 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
They definitely add character to our country roads 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: The Changing Seasons, August 2018 – All things bright and beautiful
Lovely photos. Like Amy, I hadn’t heard of hot water beaches. It would be fun to try one. I am assuming an op shop is what we would call a thrift shop but for the life of me I can’t figure out what the op is short for. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Marie. Hot water beaches are pretty cool, but tend to get a bit crowded and less fun! The op was opportunity, but to be honest, I’m not quite sure why. And yes, they’re thrift shops.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. Su. Perhaps it is because of the opportunity to find good stuff at low prices. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That makes sense! 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Changing Seasons – August – Under a Cornish Sky
Pingback: Changing Seasons : August 2018… – Living in Paradise…
Here I am back again with my contribution Su. My word where is the year going… https://retiredfromgypsylife.wordpress.com/2018/08/28/changing-seasons-august-2018/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Pauline 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I find Australia’s obsession with big things annoying but do like quirky fences. I think there are some themy things going on over here, especially in Tasmania where they are a little bit wacky. Nice bunch of pics Su. Must get my act together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Mick. Tasmania’s near the top of my go-to list, so perhaps I can investigate weird fences there!
LikeLike
Pingback: THE CHANGING SEASONS: AUGUST 2018 – AS SUMMER ENDS – Marilyn Armstrong – Serendipity – Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth
Pingback: The Changing Seasons ~ August ~ A Change In The Weather In Wenlock – Tish Farrell
Here’s my Changing Seasons – on the last lap: https://tishfarrell.com/2018/08/30/the-changing-seasons-august-a-change-in-the-weather-in-wenlock/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Tish.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Mea Culpa – My Life Lived Full
Love Kawhia it’s so pretty there! NZ has the most beautiful beaches and I think even more beautiful in winter!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely better in winter!! I hate what the weight of humanity descending on a place does to the eco-system.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your trip to Kawhia looks beautiful though I can feel with you about being disappointed by the quality of the lunch. The adorned fences make me laugh! Never seen a thing like this but then I love in a city and open landscapes with fences to be adorned are hard to come by anyway. 😉 The hot beaches sound fascinating! Never heard of them either and hope we can plan this into our trip one day! 😄 xxxxxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’ll definitely add Kawhia to the itinerary. And there is a very cool art gallery there that sells local artists’ work. Some of it was sooooo good. xxxxxx 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Deal! 😄 xxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yay!!! xxxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on LIVING THE DREAM.
LikeLike