Beach Visitor

…sun….sea…and the great smell of sealion…..

…(non-tagged female sealion soaking up some rays before going for a feed)…

2017

…last sunset for the weather tree……things were built……shit got real……Tiny Pieces of Eight played under a bridge… …well, next to a bridge, but still my gig of the year….

…then Dee bought me a kitty…

…so I gave kitty an octopus…

…and wrapped it up…

…and gave it back to Dee….

…happy new year….

…soon.

This one…..

…or this one….

…?

 

 

….scroll bait.

New Zealand’s Native Clematis

…in my experience, is usually flowering at the top of a tree….you can see it from afar, but it is too high up to appreciate at close quarters…let alone photograph…

…this lot is growing in sand dunes on low scrub bushes…

…mmm, clematis.

Wassat

…in the water there…

….oh…a bloody great leopard seal……never seen one in the water before…let alone on the harbour side of the spit…and I’m sure the bugger was sizing us up as snacks….

….I think I’ll stick to dodging sea lions on the beach….

…female hauled up beyond big male pictured above after lunch…(his flipper in the foreground)….…or viewing fur seals from above…

….mmmm…pinnipeds.

 

…(if we’d seen a sea elephant we’d have the whole set!).

This One

…or this one?….

…I can’t decide….

…and where’s my tripod?

Aramoana Sunset

…the sun going down behind Mt. Cargill…

…and Dee standing in it…

…listening to the young mullet (we think) jumping to catch bugs….

….like standing in the rain without getting wet…

…then a royal spoon bill flew low in line with the other side of the inlet all lit golden like a painting on silk….

…shit.

Pinnipedic Extravaganza

…seals at the head of the Aramoana Mole……and at the Northern end of Victory Beach….baby seals left to there own devices whilst their mothers fish……meanwhile back at Aramoana’s Shelley Beach….large male sealion at rest……sea lion pup, Janet, practicing challenge charges in the dunes……whilst mother, Pattie, and another female sealion take a nap……next morning, Pattie & Janet napping on the beach…..…later that same day…Janet most definitely not napping…….and to top the day off…..

….”lunch” with unidentified female sealion….

….I had the Croissant with Camembert.

Through The Mist And Rain Of Mid Summer Dunedin

… everything was made indistinct and distinctly damp.

In Advance

…Happy New Year…

…may your 2016 be completely unlike an abandoned paint can in a conservation reserve….

: )

 

 

…(last usable photo of 2015 from my image library …couldn’t think of anything to say about it)….