What a difference a day Makes

This is the third post in my 2018 Christmas South Island Road Trip series with Steve Richards.

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As I lay in my little tent, the cold slowly seeped through my summer weight sleeping bag and into my bones. The rain had stopped and the stars had come out and the promise of a fine morning meant a possible rematch with the Black-Fronted Terns.
But that was cold comfort for me at the time and man did I wish I had my winter sleeping bag with me.
It’s the 22nd of December for goodness sakes, it isn’t supposed to be this cold in summer.
Eventually, I drifted off to sleep and as what happens most nights, the morning arrived chasing away the darkness.
I crawled my way out of my tent to be welcomed by a pale blue sky.
Steve was all comfy in the wagon but it took little persuasion to get us back down the road to take on the birds. We were on a mission.

Molesworth Station, Terns, Hares and Dabchicks

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This is the second post in my 2018 Christmas South Island Road Trip series with Steve Richards.

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This January and most of February has been spent much the same way as previous years, namely endlessly sorting and processing images from our Christmas trip.

Molesworth Station

My last post finished up with Steve and I in Blenheim preparing to travel through the 180,787 hectare Molesworth Station.
Steve and I had always been intrigued by the thought of doing the 207-kilometre trip through the Molesworth, from Blenheim to Hanmer Springs. We wanted to explore the scenery and take some landscape images.

 

A Disappointing Start

This is the first post in my 2018 Christmas South Island Road Trip series with Steve Richards.

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The Wairau Lagoons, just outside of Blenheim was to be our first port of call on our latest trip south this Christmas. We were there to find and photograph the Glossy Ibis, of which we saw only one, but it was seen at a great distance away. However, what we did see up close was heartbreaking.

An hour out from dark, cats started to make an appearance. Not just one or two but perhaps as many as half a dozen were seen as we walked back to the car.

Cute Kitten, but disastrous to bird life and Lizards.