A Gift More Beautiful

one could not be given:

Wednesday

Thursday

It was a little budding rose,
Round like a fairy globe,
And shyly did its leaves unclose
Hid in their mossy robe,
But sweet was the slight and spicy smell
It breathed from its heart invisible.

A Little Budding Rose by Emily Bronté. For those of you familiar with the poem in its entirety you may understand why I wonder about Emily Bronté and her tales of deepest love. I'm sure that in her head she saw the dark as few do see it.

Chorus Cicada

What an odd place to lay down and die. Or was it a case of death by jandal? Surely my shoe's not that bad. On the subject of cicadas I was driving in Town yesterday when I heard the loudest cicada ever. I suddenly realised that it was in the car with me. The roof was down as usual. But it really was LOUD. As I turned my head to look I realised it was on my shoulder. No wonder it was deafening me.

An Odd Newcomer

Poecilopachys australasia (Araneidae) known as the two-spined spider is a comparatively recent immigrant from Australiahaving arrived in the Auckland area some 40 years ago. The female (of which these are photos) is a medium sized orbweb spider and has the two dorsal horns whilst the male is quite small and is without horns. This lady appeared in the garden last weekend.

The Manawatu Gorge

Last weekend, as readers will know, I went to Palmerston North. Palmie as it is affectionately known is in the Wairarapa-Manawatu region and is on the other side of the central mountain ranges from Napier. To get to Palmie from Napier involves driving through the Manawatu Gorge - the only other route being the Saddle Road across the tops - a road frequently closed by the weather even in Spring. The Gorge is between the towns of Woodville and Palmie and between the Mountain Ranges of the Tararua to the South and Ruahine to the North.

Through the Gorge runs the main State Highway 50 and the main, and only, railway line between the North and South of the North Island. The passenger train which uses the line is known as The Overlander. I managed to get a photo as we came through the Gorge on the way home.

The Overlander

I think this is the landslip which closed the Gorge for several days recently

Railway line and one of the tunnels

Looking East

Looking West

7 kilometres of double yellows

Looking into the Gorge from the East side of the Ranges

A tunnel was removed from here recently

Aren't lorries little?

The Bridge over the Manawatu River to The Café Beyond The Bridge (behind me)

North Island

Last year I posted the North and South Island maps to make it easier for readers to locate places about which I was talking and to get an idea of distances. I have repeated the North Island map above. If you click or double click on the image it will open at a readable scale.

One Whale = Ten Elephants

Last weekend I was playing croquet at Palmerston North. We were staying out of Town with friends but went into Town for a take-away on the Saturday evening and I was shown this amazing sculpture by the New Zealand artist Paul Dibble in the forecourt of the library.

The sculpture entitled 'All Creatures Great - One Whale = Ten Elephants' sits outside the main entrance to the Central Library in Palmerston North. The sculpture is based on a notion from an old children's nature book. Paul says "When I was a kid in the 1950s, some English books used to use numbers of one thing to give an idea of the size of something else. For instance, the height of 10 elephants equals the height of one whale". These endangered mammals hold a lintel upon which is an oversized arm holding a plumb bob."The elephant is the largest land mammal, and the whale the largest sea mammal. Lots of emotion is attached to saving these creatures and one of the great concerns as we reach the end of the century is saving the planet. The hand and the plumb bob signify 'it's in our hands' as we manage the planet, the environment. It goes back to preciousness, balance and protection. It's a very fine balance." The piece was entirely cast here in Palmerston North at the Dibbles' studio.

Also designed by Paul Dibble and architect John Hardwick-Smith is The New Zealand Memorial in London's Hyde Park Corner which commemorates the enduring bonds between New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and our shared sacrifice during times of war. It is a symbol both of our common heritage and of New Zealand's distinct identity. The memorial consists of 16 cross-shaped vertical bronze 'standards' set out in formation on a grassy slope. Each standard is adorned with text, patterns and small sculptures. "Through the words and images, any New Zealander visiting the memorial will recognise home, and British people may learn something of the relationship between our two countries," explains Paul Dibble.

A Near Perfect Day

Yesterday was Monday. And it was a lovely day. I've said that before because I like to feel that every day is a lovely day. But, with apologies to Orwell, some days are more lovely than others. And yesterday was one of the more lovely ones.

I started off the day with the intention of proposing a non-busy day. The sun was shining. The washing went in at the crack of dawn. A lazy breakfast on the deck. Then some emails and transfer photos from camera, blog, iron (and watch StrictlyCome Dancing for the 22nd November which arrived on Friday), try and finish my Christmas cards, hoover the house, and generally footle around.

Wendy was coming down for morning coffee. No croquet. No petanque. Yes, the day was to be an Easy Day. No deadlines. No pressures. I am a very lucky person. Sometimes I wish I believed that there was a God to thank!

How did the day turn out?

It started as planned. Then Wendy came down for coffee. We got engrossed in our currently favourite topics of Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time and Richard Dawkins' various propositions. We eventually dragged ourselves into the realisation of the need to achieve rather than just enjoy our conversation. So Wendy cut the grass round the agapanthus and other plants getting swamped in front of The Cottage whilst I hoovered and we both listened to music at full volume. More conversation over a long lunch and then off to pick up the children and have ice cream.

Off to town and shopping. I returned to a lovely garden rose on the table and then a wonderful Thai curry up at The House with the family. By this time any thoughts of more work were abandoned. Wendy suddenly discovered a apricot tree. It's odd what you can find hidden a few metres from the house when you have 5 acres of mixed tree and pasture and garden around the house. So we collected apricots. Or rather Fraser scaled the tree and dropped the apricots to David whilst Wendy harvested the reachable ones.

And Comet joined in

Then, as the dusk fell, the children went grass sledging down a bank.

Late to bed and then Wendy and I settled down to more chat and some wine as a hard-working Martin returned from a day as a dentist. I should add that Wendy does work too! She was having a day off.

Days don't come much better than yesterday.

The Café Beyond The Bridge

Just before the Manawatu Gorge (of which more in a later posting) there is a bridge off to the left as one drives South. Over the bridge for 500m is a café: The Beyond The Bridge Café. Ever since I first went to the Manawatu, people have been advising me to visit the café. Today Jayne (driving Lucy - all our vehicles seem to have names), Colleen and I met up there with Sandra and Gaynor on our way to Palmerston North and the Grades Tournament. What a splendid lunch we had. I shall return one day to this area if for no other reason than to spend a day photographing and lunching.

Opossum Trap

You may recall (but then again you may not) that in last visit's blog I wrote about a most unusual museum dedicated to the extermination of the Opossum from New Zealand.

The Opossum (generally called 'possums' here), however furry and cuddly it may look, is a major and serious pest in the Country and a major ecological nightmare.

Yesterday's gadget is a possum killer. Called a Timms trap, it kills possums quickly using a spring loaded metal mouth which snaps down on the neck of the animal breaking the neck or windpipe resulting in a rapid death. Timms traps need to be baited with fresh fruit such as an apple, orange or carrot to entice the possum to stick its head through the key hole. Marcel came nearest with a Wombat Trap except that the Wombat is a native of Oz which has not managed to procreate over here.

What Is It?

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