A River Runs Through It

Robert Redford and Brad Pitt were in the Rocky Mountains in the early 1990’s, and now in 2014, we’re in the Tararua mountain range, Reikorangi valley with the Ngatiawa arm of the Waikanae River, to be more precise.

After the heavy rains at the end of April, we went for a short stroll up Ngatiawa Road (west) to see what that part of the valley holds for early autumn.

This arm of the Waikanae is joined lower down by other streams to eventually flow into the Tasman as the Waikanae River proper. The level of water rose relatively for a couple of days after the heavy showers, but has since subsided into its babbling brook nature once more. Here we are standing on the (single-lane) Kents Road traffic bridge.

(Above): Shane’s property borders along the left bank of the river and includes the bridge area. Here Shane’s Billy sports the latest style in goats-wear (in their favourite colour)….

 
(Above) … while Shane’s Milly walks in the udder… sorry, other, direction. By the way, does this outfit make my bum look big? Billy and Milly are names I use purely for ease of reference – not even sure whether Shane indulges in this naming-thing…

Ngatiawa Road is a “No Exit” country road (called a “Cul-de-sac” in some countries). On this dead-end arm of the road, we encountered this newly fallen tree – quite a large specimen, but causing no damage or harm to traffic or life and limb – just like nature intended in the days of Adam and Eve and their kids… and goats… if they had.

 
(Above): Compared to a couple of months ago, the verges and adjoining vegetation have very little in the way of floral displays. We spotted quite a few of these which resemble Chinkerichee flowers, but the plant structure is different. Maybe something like “may-bells” – maybe a reader can help? Anyway, pretty and clean.

 
All along the verge embankment next to the roadside streams, toadstools and mushrooms of various sizes and descriptions can be found…

Whilst I wasn’t too sure about this toadstool/mushroom argument, I did some reading up on the subject. I still haven’t changed my mind and can confirm: Don’t listen to old-wives-tales or family rules: What remains important about toadstools and mushrooms are the following facts:

• They are the same and no scientific distinction exists between them.
• They cannot be defined by shape, color, or appearance, since there is no standard differentiation between them.
• Mushrooms aren’t fungi with caps and stems while toadstools lack caps and stems.
• Fungi are not defined by level of toxicity: anything classed as either may be nontoxic, mildly toxic, hallucinogenic or extremely poisonous.
• People should never consume anything classed as toadstool or mushroom without having it first examined by a professional mushroom hunter.

(Above): Not only does a River Run Through It , but there are many little streams which run all over the shop. This one trickles road-side for hundreds of metres, until it takes a sharp right turn and heads for the river. If you stop to listen, besides the birds here and there, the gentle babbling of the shallow water over the small pebbles is all the breaks the silence of the clear fresh air…

(Above): Although Mayday was cloudless, the air was still quite crisp and a light jumper not out of place. Here, near the end of the road, the girls took time-out to sit in the warm sunshine and to soak up the sounds of the birds and the river in the distance, for a while before setting off back home.

(Above): To their left, Ngatiawa Road with the lush green kaleidoscope of vegetation overhead and all around – a voyage of discovery for a budding botanist, and (Below) rolling green mountains into the distance.

A Simple Morning Stroll

This morning, the sun was breaking through the dwindling cloud cover: ideal warm weather for strolling, without being unpleasantly sweaty. Today it was the turn of the up-route towards Terrace Road.

Fresh wild flowers, pink, violet, white, yellow ones, lace flowers, thistles and the rest litter the verges on both sides of the road against the multitude of shades of green leaves of the many trees. Sounds a bit soppy? A bit like Wordsworth?

Besides the flora, there was quite a bit of fauna. Well, probably not “classifiable fauna”, but animals, in the general sense of the word. Sheep, bulls, cows and a few goats and some others which like posing for the paparazzi, to wit: some spiders, a family of horses, and a couple of geese:

Spiders: I know that many readers may suffer from arachnophobia, so I have purposely not revealed the spider himself, simply one of the many neatly woven nests all along the roadside. Estimates are that approximately 8 billion spiderlets may be born shortly – beware the insect world – you’ll be on the menu!

Horses: In these rural areas, where the road vehicle traffic is reasonably sparse, property owners camp off sections of the extended verge where the width is sufficient, and use it for temporary grazing – this also cuts down on pavement maintenance. Here Mamma, Pappa and Bambino laze around in such an annexed area.

Geese: If you photograph birds, and you use an entry-level camera like me, then you’ll know about “snapping when you can”. Whether the shot is well-composed, or in focus or not, you have to press the shutter NOW, or else you will have absolutely nothing. As I have not seen any of these geese locally as yet, I grabbed the chance. High tension power lines got in the way. Tough.

Highland cattle: The stout critters were standing in the paddock down below, virtually out of view. Not wanting to trespass, I decided to rather photograph their owner’s property. A very serene and peaceful setting against the large plantations of pine on the Tararua range.

Olives: The trees in this Olive Grove are all growing within 200 litre metal drums. I can only guess that they were originally propagated in the drums (perhaps bottomless?) as saplings somewhere else, and then relocated as such (without the need of transplanting?). The orchard could have been used for grazing during the time that the saplings were still in the nursery stage?  Perhaps someone can enlighten me?

 
47: This has very little to do with the stroll: simply a custom-made mosaic sign indicating the entrance to the property at 47 Terrace Road. Made quite simply, yet tastefully and artistically, I like way they have used solid shiny round tiles for the numerals and have also omitted some tiles here and there to give a mirror-like see-through effect. I like it.

 
Berries and Pods: We’re in that season where the plants are starting to drop their seeds, or whatever they do to propagate and perpetuate their species. These are two growing along the road – I know not what their names might be…