Shadow Shot Sunday...

Shadows have been hard to find this week, not much sunshine, but lots of wind and rain. So I have taken these from my archives, shadows from the climbing frame built from old tyres at the playground at our local school.

 

Thanks to Tracy for hosting, check out the link above and join in with all the rest of us shadow chasers from around the world.

Flowers on Saturday..

It is Winter here in New Zealand, my Camellia bush is producing some lovely blooms even though they are getting battered about by the wind and rain.

Shadow Shot Sunday...

Taken at Bland Bay a few weeks ago, I found this old abandoned shepherds hut at the end of the bay where the farmland came down to the sea.  Great shadows to be found..

Head on over to Hey Harriet and join in with Tracy and the rest of  us "Shadow Chasers" from all over the world.

Have a great weekend everyone...

Flowers on Saturday...

Apricot Hibiscus taken early morning..

I ♥ Auckland - Manukau Heads Lighthouse

 A few weeks ago, before the big storm hit us we went for a drive up to the Manukau Heads which is as far as we can drive up the peninsula from our house.. It was windy, and very cold and the view was awesome as usual.

Looking up at the light..

Looking out to sea to the west, you can see by the clouds that the weather is starting to look bad.

Looking from the top of the lighthouse toward Auckland City

 The information below was taken from the Lighthouse website:

The Manukau Heads Lighthouse, which dates from 1874, has been meticulously rebuilt, using original parts, by volunteers from the local Awhitu community.
The lighthouse ceased operation on its former site, a couple of kilometres away, in 1986, and important parts were placed in storage.
It has now been relocated next to the Manukau Heads Signal Station Platform, which has been on the site since 1865.
Information panels tell the story of the light house and of the wreck of 'The Orpheus' a Royal Navy ship which foundered on the Manukau Bar in 1863 with the loss of 189 lives.

Storms reek havoc on West Coast of New Zealand.....

The weather here in New Zealand over the past few weeks has been unbelievable. I have never experienced such high winds - between 100 - 120kmh, heavy squalls with sleet, hail and heavy, heavy rain. For 10 days it was unrelentless, our house shook constantly from the high winds.
With the winds coming in from the West, it meant that our local beach was pounded with the high seas.
As much as I wanted to go down to see how the beach was faring, I decided that it wasn't a good idea for safety reasons.

By last weekend the storm had passed, and on Sunday we ventured down to the beach to see how things were looking. And I must say, the wind and the high seas have changed the face of our beach forever....

 In January this year, this little sand dune was a favourite place for Lucca to play in, he had so much fun running up and down in the sand, now it is only half the size it was, and there is no seagrass at all.

 This seaweed has been caught up on the fence line from the force of the waves. The seaweed is hanging on the top of the wire fence, the sand has blown up so high it has almost reached the top. This is just on the other side of Lucca's sand dune and is probably the sand from his dune...

 

This shell encrusted piece of driftwood was washed up on the beach too...

But the saddest sight of all were the hundreds of sea birds, Prions, that have been blown onto the beach, some caught in the high seas with no way to survive and have drowned.

I hope that it is a very long time before they are subjected to anything like this again.

 The link below is a news story talking about what is being called the "Seabird Wreck", although it is talking about New Plymouth , a West Coast city hundreds of miles from us, the birds were blown up the whole of the West Coast of the North Island.


 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/231952-New-Zealand-Storms-create-seabird-wreck-

Road Trip North and Shadow Shot Sunday...

Last weekend we took a five hour road trip up North to spend some time with Steve, Alys , Sam and Roland,  and to get away from the foul weather we have been experiencing. We have had nothing but howling winds, up to 125km/per hour for 8 days, and combined with the daily thunder storms, lightning strikes and sleet and hail storms , enough was enough. Any weather that comes from the South is usually nasty as it blasts it's way up the country from the Antarctic.

We arrived late on Friday night, at Bland Bay,  and the first thing we noticed was how calm it was, no wind only the sound of the waves . BLISS!!

At 6.30am on Saturday morning I woke and went down to the beach to check out the scenery, it may be called Bland Bay, but bland it certainly is not. The dawn that greeted me was amazing, and the sunrise like something out of a travel catalogue. The whole weekend was magical, the weather gorgeous, with sunny blue skies. Perfect for capturing some shadows... I can't wait to go up there again.

Check out the other great shadows from around the world over at Hey Harriet, thanks Tracy for hosting.

I ♥ Auckland - Cathedral of St. Patricks and St. Joseph..

I take this opportunity to welcome you to the website of the Cathedral of St. Patrick and St. Joseph. There has been a church on the Wyndham Street site since 1842, so we've been in downtown Auckland since the very beginning of our city. Over the decades the Cathedral has been a place of welcome and celebration, to locals and visitors alike.
The Cathedral reopened in 2007 after being closed for nearly two years for major restoration and conservation work. It is a very special place; a wonderful place of worship that the Catholics of Auckland can be proud of. It is a sacred place where all are welcome to visit, pray and experience peace.
A place of prayer. God's house.  An icon of Christ. Our Mother Church.  Bishop Patrick Dunn

For more information on the Cathedral check out the website above....
 
Photos were taken a few weeks ago, I love the contrast of the Cathedral against the modern buildings of the city, and the gorgeous angles and arches...

Flowers on Saturday..

 

Poppy, taken at the Botannical Gardens a few weeks ago, before the cold weather arrived.