Rainbow

For the first time in months we had some real rain, earth-soaking rain, relief from the drought. At sunrise the sunlight slipped through a narrow gap in the clouds and lit up the underside of the cloud cover. Then, for a couple of minutes, the most magnificent rainbow appeared. The colours were so intense. The light below the rainbow was so radiant compared to above the bow.

Because of the low angle of the sun the arch was very high. I could not capture the whole of it in one shot. Here are two shots, the first at the climax of the colour, and the second as the sky began to darken.

It was a marvellous experience standing in the rain with that brilliant arch towering above me.

Sheffield Ewe Sale

Due to the drought the Sheffield Ewe Sale was bigger than usual. On offer were some 12000 ewes and a hundred rams. The sale yard had to be extended to accommodate them all. Hopefully, all the sheep went home to different farms tonight.

Click on a photo to see the large version.

Checking out some of the ewes before the sale.

The sale gets under way. A few of the many stock trucks can be seen lined up on the roadside.

The sheep are auctioned pen by pen.

The rams in front take an interest in the proceedings. Their turn will come.

A stock truck driver's mate waits to get back on the road.

Snow In Summer

Mount Torlesse with a recently harvested grain crop

Back Peak and Otarama

The moon over Porter's Skifield

The moon at 6.35 am

Lake Lyndon and Porters Pass

Lake Lyndon was a spectacular colour today.

Lake Lyndon

Lake Lyndon near the West Coast Road

The blue flowers are vipers bugloss and the yellow are birdsfoot trefoil

Coral Broom

Baby Grasshoppers

A Large Grasshopper

A hairy colletid bee escapes into her burrow.

Hairy Colletid Bee

I found this bee outside in my laundry basket. I took some photos of it against the white plastic and then placed it on a sage flower. It dived into the flower to sip the nectar and then rested on an empty calyx.

This is a New Zealand native solitary bee of the Leioproctus family. At 1cm in length it was a lot bigger than the usual solitary bees I see here.

The bee uses the hairy parts to collect pollen, which with nectar, is stored in each nursery chamber with a single egg. The burrows are in soil.

Porters Pass

I went to Porters Pass to look at the wildlife. There has been snow in the last couple of days, but it has melted quickly. The summer sun is hot when it shines.

The hillside above the pass

A Southern Tussock Grasshopper (I think)

Roadside plants

Coral Broom, Carmichaelia crassicaulis

Small Hover fly, Melanostoma fasciatum

Snowberry, Gaultheria sp.

White moss and lichen

Dracophyllum longifolium is the main plant in this area

Summer Snow

The first two days of summer have been cold, with two falls of snow on the mountains.

Mount Torlesse, the Rubicon Peak

Back Peak and Otarama

Castle Hill Peak and The Gap