Capture: A Place to Stand
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View from the trail north of Bethells Beach (Te Henga) on Auckland's West Coast (on what is now part of the Hillary Trail).
Harakeke in the foreground. Across the sea some ways (a long way) was where I was born, but home is here.
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The garden of my favourite pub in Jakarta, my adopted home. New Zealand long since having stopped feeling like anything but alienation.
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This is Little Trees Hill, part of the Gog Magog Downs, just south of Cambridge, UK. It's the highest point for a while, which at 74m isn't going to break records. Very flat, East Anglia.
I grew up a stone's throw from here and still like to go up there when I go home (from this home to that), from where I can see my folks' house, Addenbrookes Hospital, the cycle bridge over the railway, Kings College Chapel, Trinity Library. -
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
A green and pleasant land…
the Gog Magog Downs
Spooky, I was just reading about T.C. Lethbridge and Gog and Magog at the weekend, and found one of his books on Trade Me – he’s always been of interest to me since our plumber showed me how dowsing works when I was a kid.
Which also resonated with the excellent piece on Kim Hill’s Saturday Morning show about atoms, time and light with Bill Phillips where he says everything has it’s own length of ‘tick’ much as Lethbridge found different lengths of string on a pendulum found different elements… intriguing.
Nice stand of trees, covert or copse at the hill crest there, I imagine you could well get the ’ley’ of the land from there… -
Home for cats.
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My Mum spent her teen years living in Central Otago and Dunedin. Where I live now, in the country south of Dunedin, there used to be market gardens. Mum remembers admiring the hillsides of daffodils in the spring.
The paddock behind my house is grazed by sheep most of the year, but for a short time in the spring the owners keep the sheep elsewhere so the daffs can have their moment. They gather a few armfuls of blooms, and so do I, but mostly the daffodils sing their golden song uninterrupted. Photos don’t do justice to the experience of standing among so many thousands of shining faces.
Last year there was a lunar eclipse and I sat at the top of the garden to watch it. My cat preferred to be face-down in the cat-mint, but each to their own. It was very late, very dark, and very quiet. When I decided I’d better go to bed I stood and picked up my chair, and turned around…and got a huge fright. I’d forgotten the daffodils, and my dark-adjusted eyes were startled to see this bright multitude standing to attention, just behind me.
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And, by popular demand, here is my assistant.
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Jackson, I see your footprint and raise you a hoofprint!
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(not mine)
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Many creatures use my local beach, not only racehorses.
Here’s a variable oystercatcher, and some flying stilts.
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And a sleeping gull.
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The rocky outcrops make excellent fortresses for shags. On the occasional very low tide, I’ve walked past our local colony of pied shags. It’s basically exactly like the shag-colony diorama at Canterbury Museum. Sadly I didn’t get any good photos as I was worried about drowning.
But here are some shags looking impressive. -
We have spoonbills visiting our local stream. They are even more comical on the wing, with their long faces and long legs.
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This seal had hauled out for a rest.
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This young sea lion, however, was feeling feisty and chased me off the beach.
There’s a rule about not approaching sea mammals. I thought I was being discreet, and sat and watched him from a distance. But apparently the beach wasn’t big enough for both of us!
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I’ve swum on this beach for many years. It’s cold but wonderful.
Surfers more usually wear wetsuits, and can be seen surfing here even in winter.
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Mostly, I just look at the water. There’s a lot to see.
And there’s me, standing. This is my place.
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Looking across Tauranga Harbour towards the Kaimai Range (with Coromandel away to the right) from Fergusson Park, Tauranga. Always a nice place to be.
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It's a farm house in central NSW, largely unchanged since my mother was borne there, 80-odd years ago.
See the table in the background? Just in front of that is where I learned to walk. With my childhood house in Auckland now long gone, this is the exact site of my earliest memories.
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Walking the base track on Mauao (the local name for the Mt Maunganui landform) is one of my favourite things to do. Stopped to chat to a friend one day and what should come round the corner, but ...
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Driving down country two or three times a year one of my favourite places between Tauranga and my childhood home is the Desert Rd. Seeing the mountains is a bonus, but the it’s just as good without. Have just got back from Japan where our scheduled ‘viewing’ of Fuji-san was a washout, completely invisible thanks to low cloud. Two weeks later I was travelling between Hiroshima and Tokyo by train and happened to pause in my reading and look out the window. Wham! The window was full of Fuji. Magic.
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Another favourite place to walk is Te Puna Quarry Park, about 15 minutes north of Tauranga – here’s a shot from the top terrace (the gardens are pretty cool too).
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And finally, my backyard.
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Summer on the farm - flowering grass and little blue butterflies (not in shot).
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