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Tom Park Fountain, Napier, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather. Download the high resolution version »

Tom Park Fountain, Napier, New Zealand. Napier is New Zealand's Art Deco town - completely rebuilt in 1931 after an earthquake. Tom Parker owned a men's outfitters shop in Hastings Street and was a colourful town character who made many gifts to worthy causes and to the city.

On one of his regular visits to Britain he was impressed by a modern, illuminated fountain at Bournemouth. On returning to Napier he donated £1,000 for a similar fountain which was built on an area previously occupied by a children's playground.

Mirror Lake on the road from Te Anu to Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.. Get the high resolution version »

Mirror Lake on the road from Te Anu to Milford Sound, Fiordland, New Zealand.

This is an old photo from four years ago, shot on my old Sigma SD-9 - terrible camera, this one of the half decent shots though.

Doubtful Sound, Fjordland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather. Get the high resolution version »

Doubtful Sound, Fjordland, New Zealand - named by Captain Cook, has he was unsure that he could navigate it by sail - and he worried that if he entered, he might not get back out.

Without doubt (pun?), one of the coldest places I've ever been in my life. It was July, so Southern Hemisphere winter, in a region that gets 8 metres of rain a year, and I was wearing seven layers on my upper body. Yet, I couldn't get warm.

But mindblowingly beautiful.

Photo made July 2004

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Black Backed gull and chick nesting on pontoon at Gulf Harbour,, originally uploaded by blather.

Taken back in December, on the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi, an island off Auckland, New Zealand. Black-Backed gull and chick nesting on pontoon at Gulf Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand - right where the ferry to Tiritiri Matangi pulls in! There's one egg unhatched. The black-backed gull is the largest gull in the world.

The gull woke up, berated the embarking passengers, and then settled down again on the nest.

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Close up: Gannet at Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Gannet Colony, Otakamiro Point, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand

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Australasian Gannet, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Gannet Colony, Otakamiro Point, Muriwai Beach, Northland, New Zealand

Whitehead chicks, native new zealand bird, originally uploaded by blather.

The Whitehead (Mohoua albicilla) or Popokotea is a small species of passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. I spotted these little guys waiting for their mother to feed them on Tiritri Matangi wildlife sanctuary island in the Haruki Gulf near Auckland.

The whitehead held a special place in Maori culture, especially as the hakuturi, a multitude of small birds sometimes called Te Tini o te Hakuturi - "The myriads of Hakuturi", the spirit guardians of the forest. In a Ngati Mahuta story, the culture hero Rata went into the forest and cut down a tree to make a canoe, but failed to perform the proper placatory rites to Tane, god of the forest. Whiteheads and Riflemen whistled shrilly at him in admonishment and gathered together the pieces of the tree until it stood whole again. This happened several times until Rata showed remorse and the birds felled the tree and made the canoe for him.

Get high resolution version: South Piha beach, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

South Piha beach, New Zealand, Monday evening at dusk.

Get high resolution version: Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

The Sky Tower is an observation- and telecommunications tower located on the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets in the central business district of Auckland, New Zealand. It is 328 metres tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, and the 12th tallest member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

Kokako, native forest bird in New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.
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Kōkako or Kokako, endangered native forest bird in New Zealand, photographed on the island of Tiritiri Matangi. It's one of the three species of wattlebirds in New Zealand, and is now endangered, due to predation by cats, stoats, possums, rats, mice, etc. It can't fly very well, and uses its strong legs to hop from place to place through the forest. Only 400 pairs are known to exist of this subspecies, the North Island Kokako.

On arriving on the island of Tiritiri Matangi, where there's around 16 of these birds in 220 hectares of regnerated forest. We were told "you'll be lucky to see one". In fact, we saw six!

In Maori myth, it was the kokako that gave Maui water as he fought the sun. The kokako filled its wattles with water and brought it to Maui. His thirst quenched, Maui rewarded the kokako by making its legs long and slender, enabling the bird to bound through the forest with ease in search of food.

Get high resolution version: Tui in a tree. Tiritiri Matangi island, originally uploaded by blather.

Tui - known in English as the "Parson Bird" because of its white ruff. Spotted this on in a tree while on Tiritiri Matangi. They're quite plentiful on the island, and make lots of noise.They're clever birds, can can mimic lots of things - including humans and mobile phones - thank to their two voiceboxes! Some of the sounds they make are inaudable to humans - they're outside our spectrum of hearing. They're also quite agressive - I did see them involved in many tussles with each other as well as other species of birds on Tiritiri.

Get high resolution version: Tieke or Saddleback, on Tiritir Matangi island, New Zealand, originally uploaded by blather.

Tieke, Saddleback, on Tiritir Matangi island, New Zealand. Largest of the arboreal insectivores in New Zealad's forest ecosystem, they're classed vulnerable. They're not shy. This one gave our yards to me for being anywhere near it's water bath!

The recovery of the Saddleback is considered by many to be one of New Zealand's greatest conservation success stories.

There are two sub-species: North Island saddleback (Philesturnus carunculatus rufusater) and South Island saddleback (P.c.carunculatus). All saddlebacks are extinct on the mainland, and live either in captivity or on islands. The most endangered of the two species is the South Island saddleback, with only 650 birds in existence. There's several thousand North Island Saddlebacks now.

© 2007 Dave Walsh

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Got slagged off for taking photographs of such 'common' bird - but I think they're very pretty. On the beach at Matauri Bay, 10/7/2005, after coming ashore from the Rainbow Warrior:

Sunday, July 10th, 2005:

Rainbow Warrior 20th Anniversary website »

More Art Deco - Napier was levelled by an earthquake in 1931 - so all the buildings that sprung up were in the then fashionable Deco style.

(this photograph is available via davewalshphoto.com)

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It changes colour. No, really.

This is where I'm staying last night and tonight. With the masons!
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Roadside attraction, Pahiatua, on the Wellington-Napier road (Highway 2) New Zealand, yesterday...

Just north of Masterton, North Island, highway 2, yesterday.
Purchase print of red barn »

Made me think of:
Tom Waits Murder In The Red Barn
(Tom Waits/K. Brennan)

There was a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn
The trees are bending over
The cows are lying down
The autumn's taking over
You can hear the buckshot hounds
The watchman said to Reba the loon
Was it pale at Manzanita
Or Blind Bob the raccoon?
Pin it on a drifter
They sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin
And sleeps inside a fridge
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
Someone's crying in the woods
Someone's burying all his clothes
Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer
Slept outside last night and froze
Road kill has its seasons
Just like anything
It's possums in the autumn
And it's farm cats in the spring
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house
Or covet thy neighbor's wife
But for some
Murder is the only door thru which they enter life
Now they surrounded the house
They smoke him out
They took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised
And we had months of heavy rains
Now the raven's nest in the rotted roof
Of Chenoweth's old place
And no one's asking Cal
About that scar upon his face
'Cause there's nothin' strange
About an axe with bloodstains in the barn
There's always some killin'
You got to do around the farm
A murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn
Now the woods will never tell
What sleeps beneath the trees
Or what's buried 'neath a rock
Or hiding in the leaves
'Cause road kill has it's seasons
Just like anything
It's possums in the autumn
And it's farm cats in the spring
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
Now a lady can't do nothin'
Without folks' tongues waggin'
Is this blood on the tree
Or is it autumn's red blaze
When the ground's soft for diggin'
ANd the rain will bring all this gloom
There's nothing wrong with a lady
Drinking alone in her room
But there was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

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Download High resolution version of Marlborough Sounds »

Just before dinner too!

I'm really happy with this shot. The reflection came out perfect!

Went out in the boat yesterday morning, with Oscar, to take photos...

The sun took its time yesterday, finally poking through the mists to flaunt a sacred halo...

Sundog at sunrise Croisilles Harbour, Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand - a halo of ice crystals around the sun.
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The weather was tough - but not all the time. From the deck of the Rainbow Warrior:

I shot dozens of photographs of Albatross while out in the Tasman Sea. I took this one from an inflatable as it flew past...

Deep Sea weblog

Greenpeace NZ »