Pond weed

I rescued the fish in this pond from a dismal life today. I didn't think there were any still alive. But there are quite a few. They just couldn't move.

I spent over three hours forking several hundred weight pond weed out.

I think they are grateful.

Street party

A very English affair. North Oxford. Very middle class. Doctors and academics...

...and Giles playing his drum...

...and May putting on her new shoes. The latest fashion. Georgie has some too. They have dolls secreted in the heels. It's a terrorist plot to take over the world.

...and Leo, sporting a mask I made him...

One of the jugglers - not this one - lost control of his fire poi, and it landed between the feet of a five year old princess in full tafeta regalia. There was a collective holding of breath, before disaster was averted - God knows how. Fire retardant?

New van

I have just bought a new/ 2nd hand van, which I am very proud of. It's the unexpected things that please most. Power steering that is as light as a car's. A load area I can stand up in. A fully secure, alarmed load space, with neither visible locks, nor windows in which I can leave my tools in overnight. I think it is going to improve my working life enormously. No more aching shoulders at the end of a job, from the drive home. It even has electric windows and mirrors, which feel indispensable already. All my tools now have a home inside. And my name is emblazoned - albeit discreetly - on the side.

I bought it on eBay without even seeing it. Felt very rash, but have subsequently decided that I had just been discerning. The description looked and sounded honest, and so it proved to be. The bodywork looks great for a six year old vehicle.

Sketchup

While I was in Wellington last, a friend showed me a model he had created using Sketchup. It is a computer programme I had already downloaded, but always baulked at experimenting with. But then I figured that if a pancake flipper could master a design programme - albeit a pretty smart pancake flipper - who was I to avoid this new technology. And within a couple of hours I was up and running.

It's great. So good, I may rarely touch my drawing board again.

More engineering icons

Another of those DIY Kiwis was an inventor called Richard Pearce, who is credited by some with making the first manned flight, nine months before the Wright brothers. His 140m flight ended up in a gorse bush, so he didn't consider it an unequivocal success. Indeed he died in obscurity. But his reputation has in recent years been elevated to that of Kiwi hero status, along with Burt Monroe of "The World's Fastest Indian" fame.

And John Britten, who's 1000cc motorbike revolutionised motorbike design in the mid 1990s and took the racing bike world by storm.

Barton's mower

One of the things I love about New Zealand are the men. Many of them are deeply practical, and resourceful despite limited resources, and have a shed for tools and spare parts. One avocado grower I met through my friend Grant, knocked up this mower to cut the grass in his orchard. Probably better than anything on the market, it looks like it belongs in a Mad Max movie.

Tramperman

Just thought you should see just how ridiculous I sometimes looked going up mountains in New Zealand. Here Tramperman makes an appearance in Peckham with his friend Batman. In the Kiwi backcountry, such an outfit barely raises an eyebrow. The emphasis is on practical clothing, which keeps you warm and dry. So cotton is eschewed in favour of polypropylene and merino wool products. And sometimes wool mixed with possum fur, which is hollow and therefore a great insulator. However, it still amuses most Poms to find themselves running around in tights and short shorts rarely seen since Kevin Keegan was performing on Britain's football pitches.

Wellington

Last view of my beloved Wellington from the Massey Memorial.

Wanganui River

Three days of paddling with friend Jo (Yes, just a friend!) down the Wanganui. Not much to see, but sunken logs, water, and steep hillsides covered in bush.

And the Bridge to Nowhere. Built to give soldiers access to land given to them for services rendered in the aftermath of the 1st World War. Unfortunately the bridge came to late for most of the soldiers and their families. Most had left by the time the bridge was finished. The terrain just too hard.

Tararuas

Went walking in the Tararua's just north of Wellington. Climbed up to Mt. Hector (about 1500m) for great views of Kaikoura mountains on the South Island.

All the way to Ruapehu in the North.

Wanted a bush walk really, but got lost, had to camp out for the night - fortunately weather was fine, otherwise it could have been dodgy - and walk out the way I came in. Over the mountains instead of along the valley.

OK, just one...

View from Picton, getting on to the ferry back to North Island.

Hanmer Springs

Stopped off on my way north at these thermal springs. There are a few of these dotted around New Zealand wherever there is the appropriate geothermal activity. Cost? About five pounds. Sheer self indulgence at very little expense. One almost feels obliged to go.

Bank's peninsula

There is a beautiful outcrop of land to the East of Christchurch. As usual the result of volcanic activity! Rolling hills and tranquil estuaries radiating out from the middle like spokes of a wheel.

Gave me an opportunity to add to my current series of reflecting water shots. These replace the misty mountain shots of yesteryear.

William Morris

Heading north back to Wellington. Stopped in Christchurch to pick up a new/ second-hand laptop to replace the one I dropped a couple of months ago. Visited city Art Gallery for exhibitions of William Morris and Colin McCahon - New Zealand's foremost artist (deceased).

One day soon...

... all cars will be built this way. Jenny's "hybrid" car. Powered in part by electric motor and in part by internal combustion engine, you get this continuous read-out which tells you when the wheels are being powered by the batteries, or vice versa(if you are free-wheeling) and when they are being powered by the engine. Good job the scenery wasn't up to NZ's usual standards and I wasn't driving.

Rosa Boyle

Visiting Jenny Coutts in Geraldine - as I did at this time last year. We went to the church where her mother is buried, and where this sweet angel atop the font was carved in memory of her mother, Rosa Boyle, who died four months after Jenny's birth. She was 26.

Aoraki

Drove north up the Eastern flank of the Alps to Lake Pukaki. Decided to drive up to Mount Cook village for the night. Mount Cook (or Aoraki in Maori) is the highest mountain in New Zealnd at 3754m (Ben Nevis is 1344m. Just to compare.) As usual it was hidden from view by clouds rolling in from the West Coast. But I wasn't really expecting to see it. I was just drawn by the idea of a pint in The Hermitage hotel and a sauna in the YHA.

The village is also host to the Edmund Hillary mountaineering school. New Zealand's most famous son features here in bronze, but also on the $5 note and very much in the hearts and minds of Kiwis right now since his death in January this year.

Nearby the Tasman glacier spills into this berg infested lake.

Kepler track

I kind of surprised myself by deciding that this was going to be my last tramp down here in the South Island. A combination of cold weather, an excess of tourists and the realisation that it is really the rainforests further north that I am in love with.

Having said that I had a great time. Day 1 I walked out of Te Anau town and walked along the Waiau river to Lake Manapouri, where I camped in a small old hut by the lake with a Kiwi mountain man called Brian, who was practically living there full time. From there the track went up a valley to a second camp in a frost covered clearing.

And then up about 1000m to the snowline and views over Lake Te Anau of the Southern Alps. Had planned to spend another night on the track, but full of energy, opted to keep going on the last day and finished at about 6pm.

Forests

The woodland here is more reminiscent of European forests, which is probably why the trees were called beeches by the early Pakeha settlers. They are not related, but the lushness of the northern rain forest is diminished despite all the moss and lichen. One of the things that I notice is the proliferation of fallen trees. DOC's wilderness policy dictates that nothing is removed. Ultimately, it is this fallen, rotting vegetation, which creates the soil and nutrients the forest depends on.

Grant was telling me that the trees sometimes get stuck in small creeks, then accumulate and form dams. When they finally burst, the devastation can be dramatic.

Rees-Dart track

Headed for the backcountry again. I was feeling a bit nervous. An extreme weather warning had been issued for indefinite rain. And I was heading up towards the snowline. I love the way you are not discouraged from doing it anyway in this country. An element of risk is considered acceptable. Warnings are issued and it is left up to your own recognisance. So I bought a new mac. Most expensive item of clothing I have ever owned. But I felt more comfortable with what I was doing. The track was serviced with huts, fuel, etc., but the track itself was more basic than on the Great Walks. The only markings sometimes were cairns every few yards. All very zen in amongst the alpine plants at the higher altitudes.

The only existential crises here are concerned with heat, water, food and shelter. Company would have been nice, but it was also special knowing I was the only person for 20 or 30 km. This country is so benign in many ways. The only dangerous critter is a tiny spider called a white tail, whose bite can take a while to heal, but they only attack when provoked. I have at least three living in my van! But rain can lead to flooded creeks and avalanches later on in the year. One bridge on this track is removed every winter because it would be destroyed otherwise.

Despite the warnings, the weather cleared for a few hours on my last day in.

The Lakes

Lakes Wanaka, Hawea and Wakatipu follow in quick succession. The land feels very different. Like Scotland or the Rockies in Colorado. Mainly due to bare hillsides and the introduction of non-indigenous trees, which are displaying their autumn plumage.

Haast valley

Up the Haast valley, and over the pass southeastwards.

Glacier

On the road south along the West Coast, there are a couple of glaciers, which reach down close to sea level, by courtesy of the high rain/snowfall, a large high altitude collecting basin for the snow, and a steep narrow gorge through which the glacier descends at the rate of about 1m/ day. The power of the ice to move/ remove rock is astonishing.

As it descends over the uneven substrate, the ice shatters forming crevaces.

Tramper's tree

Weka

These cheeky birds seem to withstand the onslaught of rats, stoats et al. better than most of the native birds. In this area at least. Each hut seemed to have at least one resident weka, nosing around.

Cabbage tree in flower