24: Skating up an Appetite

There's still no snow here, but that doesn't stop the Queenstown Winter Festival. This year Simon Green has organised an ice rink to straddle Horne Creek on the village green. It looks very pretty when it's all lit up at night (I'm a sucker for fairy lights twinkling in the trees) and kids of all ages (yup, that's right - me too!) are having a twirl on the ice. When I say 'twirl' I mean tottering steps followed by solid thwack in my case, but it's fun none-the-less.

Even though there's no snow, it's still cold and the good folk at the food stalls are cooking up bacon butties and steak sammies to keep us all fuelled with 'hearty' fare.

23: Cyclocross practice

Last weekend, Him Outdoors decided to try his hand, or rather his legs, at cyclocross.The Queenstown Mountain Bike are hosting the third NZ cyclocross championships next month in Jardine Park. He hasn't yet adapted his touring bike, so he took his mountain bike out for a practice. There were a few other people there having a thrash around the course, but I suspect there will be many more on 2nd July.

22: On shaky ground

Last weekend in Christchurch I thought I might take some photos of the earthquake damage. There were nineteen shakes in one day. We stayed with friends in Lyttleton, and witnessed piles of rubble, condemned buildings and white crosses on every corner and throughout the little community. 

One by one the pubs and cafes are struggling to re-open. The markets are gone but some hardy souls drive coffee carts around delivering caffeine where it is most needed, often for free. In the face of this, I felt voyeuristic taking photos of rippled concrete and damaged brickwork. Instead we went for a walk around the coast on an overcast day and I looked outwards at the boats, birds and beyond.

21: Picture This

As part of the Arrowtown Autumn Festival, I submitted some art-work for the exhibition. This is one of the pieces featuring the old station huts along the Central Otago Rail Trail. I wanted to show just the hut and the sky and I put the pictures into black and white and framed them in a 'distressed' silver wooden frame. The scenery along the rail trail is stunning and much photographed, but before it was a tourism spectacular, it had a very practical function, and the basic buildings didn't have to serve any aesthetic purpose, which is what I've tried to capture.

This picture now hangs in our hallway. You can click on the image to make it bigger if you want a proper look. Or you can come and visit us!