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…
