Wending Our Way North…

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

As I mentioned earlier, North Island scenery has a different feel to the South Island, this is a landscape dominated by hills, no towering Alps lie behind them so everything from the weather, to what grows here is just a little bit different.

The South Island has distinct weather patterns depending on which side of the Alps you live on: basically warm air travels eastwards over the Australian continent and then over some thousand kilometres of the Tasman Sea, picking up water as it heads towards New Zealand.

In the South Island, this water laden wind and cloud hits the west coast (a comparatively narrow strip of land) and then slams into the Southern Alps, which are a hurdle they can’t  get past unless they get a great deal lighter.

Getting lighter is achieved by dumping their payload of raindrops on the west coast, the clouds rise and thus it’s a hot dry wind races across the Canterbury Plains on the east coast on the other side.

That’s why the West Coast and Fiordland areas of the South Island boasts on of the highest rainfall totals per year (some 12 meters).

That’s why I grew up with cold dry winters, hot dry summers and rain that comes from the south, traditionally in spring and autumn.  In the North Island however there are no Alps to stop the rain laden westerlies,   the geography is mostly rows and rows of hills and so for me at least, the North Island is generally more humid and wet (but there are various micro climates within the geography so this is a little bit of a generalisation)

We make our way up Provincial State Highway 52, weaving northwards and then north-west, aiming for our destination of  Napier.

Our anti-car sickness bracelets are helping a lot, but we still need to take some stops for fresh air so it’s a chance to take a look around.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

Nice Try? … or Epic Fail?

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

When we passed by this sign I burst out laughing and just had  to ask Himself to do a U-turn so that I could get a photograph.

Usually  of course the written sign should match the pictorial one…

Now I’m left trying to work out if :

- the Council added the sketchy additions,

- or if some wag did after it was put up,

- or if somehow the sign had been doctored to fit the situation by adding some sort of overlay to a pre-existing image and someone else has peeled it off.

 

 

Even if it started out as a gallant effort,  it’s now truly an epic Fail…

 

… or  perhaps this is evidence that Miracles have been happening  here recently?

In the Quiet… I See Angels.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

I’m not sure if I saw this cemetery at  Porangahau or if it was further on somewhere between there and Waipukurau, but it was definitely on provincial state highway 52  before Waipukurau, where we turned back onto State Highway 2 heading towards Hastings (and our destination for today, Napier).

The cemetery was immaculately kept , with  beautifully neat lawns and colourful bouquets of flowers  (plastic) attached at intervals along a white painted fence.

What really caught my eye were a group of statues on the headstones … cherubs and angels.

Even before reading the text on the stones, it was apparent that these were not the gravestones of adults and the message of  lives lost too soon was poignant in the quiet stillness of the place.

I was unsure if  I should show the names on the headstones, on one hand it would be nice to think of them, on the other I wanted to respect their privacy and that of their families, so I decided to err on the side of caution and edited the photos to remove their personal details.

One thing is for sure… these short lives are not forgotten,  their memory is kept very much alive as their final resting places are obviously well and often tended on a regular basis.

Their headstones are beautiful and make this place special.

…Rest In Peace little angels.

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)

(photograph © Kiwidutch)