Monday 22 April 2013

A Few Memories of Northland

The crossroads of two forest logging roads.  A solution by someone with a sense of humour methinks.


Many Northland roads are still metalled (gravel) and the MX5 couldn't negotiate a lot of the potholes and ruts and large stones.
and some are quite hairy
A last view of the Uppity Downity Mountains my last and very gloomy morning
The occasional (then) much needed shower rushing by in the distance
I just loved this house near Langs Beach past Waipu.

16 comments:

  1. The roundabout is just brilliant.

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    1. Yes Adrian, Pauline was very keen that I should see it and given that the road is just about as remote and quiet as it gets it does seem a bit bizarre. Mind you it could have been worse: they could have installed traffic lights.

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  2. Lovely to see these - takes me back many years to life up there ... I well remember those roads!

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    1. I have to say, Fi, that anyone who masters driving on loose gravel can master driving anywhere.

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  3. I agree with Adrian. That roundabout is a classic! Somehow I think the roads look worse in photos than it is to drive them.

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    1. That, I would suggest, Pauline, is because you are such a competent driver.

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  4. Is that a pheasant? I didn't know that there are any in NZ (probably been introduced and not originally native birds there, right?). The white house is beautiful. One likes to think that happy people live there.

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    1. Yes, Meike it's a pheasant. Yes it, like all gamebirds here, was introduced.

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  5. The top photo looks like it could be Sweden. We have lots of pine forests. And as the roundabouts are taking over almost every crossing in the cities I wouldn't be too surprised to find them even in the forests now... ;)

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    1. Monica roundabouts are good for traffic flow. In this case I suspect that at some time in the past two logging trucks have met here and someone decided it was potentially dangerous. A roundabout was probably either a serious over-reaction or just someone's idea of some fun.

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  6. Just yesterday my friend told me that the native NZ trees had almost become extinct and were replaced by pine. Your first photo really his home when I saw it this morning. There they wee ...pine trees!

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    1. It depends where one is in NZ Red. Some trees, such as Kauri, were very seriously depleted for the wood trade and much native scrub removed for farmland but oday we still have a total of nearly 6.5 million hectares of native forest remaining – covering around 24% of New Zealand.

      In 2002, more than 13.3 million hectares of New Zealand’s land was covered by native land cover, as estimated by the Land Cover Database. This equates to 49.6 per cent of New Zealand’s total land area of 26.9 million hectares.

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  7. Lovely photos.
    Loved the huge art piece as well....I can see myself crawling inside and rolling down a hill somewhere.

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    1. There was lots more art Virginia but I'm leaving it to another visit when the light might, hopefully, be better.

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  8. I like roundabouts. But as I learnt to negotiate New Zealand roads first on a motorbike, I don't like metal roads. Brrrr. You must have been quick to catch the pheasant!

    6 days...

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    1. They certainly help traffic flow Katherine when they are used properly. I always have the camera in my hand when I'm a passenger looking for photos. There was an element of luck though I have to admit.

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