Old Boots

I felt like going to New Zealand... again... There is nothing wrong, I thought, going there again and again, if one likes it. Forest Gump, if you have seen the movie, went to the White House quite a few times, and every time he had rewarding experiences. If Forest Gump can enjoy it many times, I can do it, too. So I went. here are some pictures from my most recent trip to New Zealand.

The ferry in Marlboro Sound.

Queen Charlotte track.

I found the famous bike tree, but unfortunately the bike was not ripe.

Nice resting spot in Lochmara.

A woodman.

A dedicated reader.

A beautiful day one on the Travers-Sabine circuit.

Mt. Travers from the valley.

Rock'n flowers.

Mount Travers from the saddle.

St. Arnaud range.

The Alpine Fault. The huge Australian and Pacific plates collide under this mountain.

Sabine Valley.

A scree slope.

Mount Franklin.

Descending the Travers saddle.

Mountian flowers.

Descending the Travers saddle.

Lake Rotoroa.

Wild swan.

Funny track.

The track.

Robert Ridge.

Speargrass hut.

Lake Rotoroiti.

Anchorage bay on Abel-Tasman track.

Leaving Anchorage.

Bark Bay.

Near Bark Bay.

Nice wild landscaping.

Onetahuti beach.

Boater's paradise.

This is the Southern hemisphere :-)

It helps to be a duck if you want to go to Totaranui...

... because you may need to swim on this track :-)

Awaroa inlet.

A rockman.

A swimming man.

The swimming pool from a distance.

Mutton Cove.

Whariwharangi hut. Can you pronounce that?

Whariwharangi hut from a distance.

The meaning of BACH.

Read below, if you wish.

It is hard to judge what is good and what is bad. For example, is much seed is a good news for birds? Not necessarily. Here is why. One may expect that a beech mast year (a heavy seeding year) is good for birds because they can possibly feed on the seed. A beech mast year actually provides an abundant food source for rodents whose numbers increase dramatically. This in turn results in explosion of stoat population feeding on the rodents. When the seeds start to germinate and are no longer available as food, the rats and mice die off and the hungry stoats then search out birds, eggs, and chicks. Thus, a good seed year is a bad news for birds, such as kaka. Illustration: the last picture, which was actually taken in the St. Arnaud visitor center.

See more pictures like these at http://www1.chapman.edu/~radenski/personal/ .