Posts by Jackie Clark
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Capture: Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime, in reply to David Hood,
That is just gorgeous, David. Just divine.
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Summer this year has been dominated by dogs and beaches, for me. Were it ever thus. And as I draw to the close of my (this year, greatly shortened) summer break, I reflect on the people I have met and enjoyed over this break, old friends caught up with and wonderful times had, and most of all, my Ruby. Who is coming into her own, and is blossoming, after almost a year of intensive training - and there's a bit more to come - into the most wonderful dog.
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Capture: Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime, in reply to Geoff Lealand,
Have invited all PASers on FB
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You don't see too many bikers up there funnily enough - even most of the really young, fit ones aren't quite up to it.
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I know exactly the spot you were standing in, Bruce. Big King was my 2nd home for 12 years. What with new influxes and a change of demographic, and some of Ruby's more raucous behaviour being frowned upon by people who don't know her, we've transferred our affections elsewhere for the moment, but it will always be a huge part of my life.
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And yesterday morning, Ruby and I went to Kakamatua with a friend and her dog (and we’re going again tomorrow, can’t get enough of the place). There was an utterly fantastic huge tide that created a teeny weeny tsunami as it rushed up the stream. I couldn't capture the flow effectively, although you can see Ruby running through it in the second shot, so have attached videos. This first one is when we were walking down to the beach. You can see the stream with the tide surging up it. Bearing in mind that this is a Manukau beach (it's very close to the Manukau Heads) so the tides don't ever go all the way up the beach.
And this is on the way back to the car. There was a huge inflow in just a matter of 30 or 40 minutes.
There was also a big old trunk of a tree on the beach – I’d seen it before, of course and thought nothing of it. My friend pointed out to me, though, that someone has very cleverly resined objects into it. Magnetic letters and leaves, mainly. -
On Friday morning, Ruby and I went to Waikowhai Reserve, and then down on to the beach. Because it’s on the Manukau foreshore, it’s a bit manky, to be honest, but I’d never taken here there before, so I thought it was worth an explore. I practiced a couple of macro shots, and then wandered onto the beach, which, at lowish tide, was quite interesting. Not good walking at all, on one part of it. Very muddy, and not terribly sandy, and lava flow formations which were very slippery. On the other end of the beach, though, there was some interesting finds. Bricks in the sand. I have no idea why they are there, but apparently these two little bays were very popular in the early 20th Century, up until the 30’s or so. And then the Council turned the reserve into a landfill so they were inaccessible (bloody people). I can’t, for the life of me, figure out how they were popular beaches. Really. They are utterly devoid of any charm, and would have made for shit swimming, I would have thought. Even given degradation over the years, they aren’t at all sandy. So that’s a mystery that I have yet to solve.
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One more because I couldn't stop staring skywards.
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So, the Treehouse. This is what my friends have been really working on up until now. It’s just one room, with a bed and a couple of chairs. The house has only one bedroom so they’re looking to put visitors up in this one. It’s built very beautifully onto the side of the very steep hill, with a hard wood deck, built around the trees. The view from it is just stunning, and the only thing missing really is a convenient loo.
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What wonderful photos. I can’t top them, and I wouldn’t want to try. I did, however, go on a road trip yesterday to a very special place. My best, and oldest, friend and her husband own a 6 acre bush block on the way to Warkworth, just before the Pohuehue viaduct. It doesn’t take long at all to get there from Auckland but it is several worlds away. The house that’s on the land is pretty basic, and has had the same tenant living in it for 16 yrs. I think they’ve had it for about 5 yrs or so, and have decided that they would take the time now to do it up a little – nothing major, tittification my Carol calls it – and decide what they want to do with it. Have it as a holiday/weekend house, or just re-rent it. Anyway, we’d never been, so off we went so we could see for ourselves. We knew they’d been doing a lot of work but we weren’t quite prepared for what we found.
The bush around this place seems to be, at youngest, 2nd generation native. Incredibly beautiful with some really old trees. A sight to behold.
1) The Hacienda (deck being built onto)
2)Nga rakau
3) and the Treehouse, which gets it’s own post.
