Moon Over Mount Hutt

Mount Hutt, Canterbury

Praying mantis in winter.  I don't recall seeing a praying mantis in winter before. This one I found this afternoon looks rather frost bitten.  Orthodera novaezealandiae

Praying Mantis

July Moonset

 Days are noticeably longer now.  More sunshine is falling on the Torlesse Range.

Mount Torlesse at Midday

Winter Sunrise

The snowy mountains catch the early light in dramatic ways. Here is how they looked this morning.

The Rubicon Peak of Mount Torlesse

Back Peak and Otarama

This is the sky that was reflecting colour onto the mountains.

Riccarton Bush

Today I was in Christchurch and decided to have my lunch at Riccarton Bush. There is a small patch of original forest, all that remains of the native forest that covered much of Canterbury at one time. There is a path that takes the walker on a circuit of the forest.

In some places there is a boardwalk over pools and wet ground.

Reflections on water of cabbage trees in the forest

Winter Afternoon

Folds of the Land

 On a brilliant midwinter's day that was amazingly warm I went up to the Malvern Hills, in Central Canterbury, New Zealand. The air was clean and full of birdsong.

The Malvern Hills in the foreground and the snowclad Big Ben Range beyond.

Midwinter Shadows