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CoffeeWaffle
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Monday, 31 July 2006
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Saturday, 29 July 2006
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It was a typical mid-winter Nelson day here; clear, clam, and crisp in the shade. The harbour was like a mirror. The perfect day for a kayak. Devon and I paddled out to Haul-ashore island which sits at Nelson harbour entrance to find a geo-cache hidden out there. Quite co-incidently today was the annual 'blessing of the fleet' so the harbour was filled with all manner of craft. An auspicious start to our kayaking season. We got back just as it was getting dark and I couldn't feel my fingers and toes for the cold. After changing into some warm dry clothes I enjoyed this sunset from under the palm tree at the end of Akersten St. 
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7:38:33 PM 
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Friday, 28 July 2006
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I stopped along the Nelson waterfront last night to snap a few shots of the failing light. Our local landmark, Fifeshire Rock is supporting more than just bird life these days. Somehow the tenacity of nature has allowed a tree to start growing on the top of the rock. A seed, probably delivered there by bird poop, has taken root and seems to be growing quite well. 
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8:05:39 AM
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Sunday, 23 July 2006
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Gusty southwest winds across the Wakapuaka sand flats this afternoon brought most of Nelson's kite buggying community out of the wood work... all 5 of us! I decided about midday to take my buggy and kites out to dodge the mud and puddles out there. I don't mind getting wet and muddy when it is that much fun. I'd been hooning around for a couple of hours when I spotted another kite take to the air down by the sand flats entrance. It was Marty's Venom. I haven't seen him since an afternoon on Rabbit Island beach back in late summer. A little while later Roy's blue and white c-quad appeared (haven't seen him in ages either), then Ted and Tim showed up about 3.30pm. For the rest of the afternoon we chased and raced each other all over the place until it started to get dark. I think we were all blowing out the winter cobwebs. Ended up cold, tired, wet.... and happy. I just had to stop at "the Glen" on the way home to sit on the boulder bank and watch the dramatic sunset. I am now fully ready to face another week. If only every weekend could come together like this... 
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9:58:57 PM
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Monday, 10 July 2006
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Sunday, 9 July 2006
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We've had a gusty SW wind for the last three days. The sand flats are just dry enough to make kite buggying possible, but just damp enough to make the powerslides on the slick muddy surface humongous fun. I was out there till dusk yesterday afternoon... 
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Todays weather was identical. I even used the same kites, starting with a stack of excaliburs, then onto the 3 meter blade as the gusts smoothed out around 3pm, then finally the 5.5m pepper as the sun went down. Having three other buggys to race around with this afternoon made it even better. It was the scheduled Nelson Kite Club get-together; four of us braved the cold. It was one of the best little buggy sessions of the year, so far... and I needed it to shake those winter blues.
Four kites, four kite buggy pilots, and a stiff sou-wester... 
(Dave doing some stunt riding... intentional, of course ;)
9:36:10 PM
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Saturday, 8 July 2006
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"We may go to the moon, but that's not very far. The greatest distance we have to cover still lies within us.", Charles de Gaulle
8:20:28 PM
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7:34:20 PM
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Sunday, 2 July 2006
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I've had a busy weekend geocaching. Got 7 all up, including one 'first to find'. Friday after work I shot out to the Riwaka Resurgence (some off you may remember my photographic excursions here before). Its an amazing peaceful place and also very icy at the moment. I was first to find a new cache that was just put there last week and scored a little pocket compass for my trouble ( and the glory of being FTF of course). On Saturday afternoon I caught a ride with a friend who needed to make a trip to the west coast. I scouted out 6 caches of which we found three on the way. One at the top of the spooners range (another favourite haunt of mine), on the other side of that hill near an old railway tunnel, and one in the dark at the spectacular Ariki falls (the only waterfalls on the whole Buller river). This afternoon Devon and I took the dogs (Kaycee and Sasha) to find three caches in the hills behind Marsden Valley. They were called "the Gutbusters"; a series of three caches each containing the co-ordinates of the next. The track certainly suited the name. I busted my guts. There were parts of the track where I was on all fours. The view made it all worth while though, and the path down was a bit easier than the goat track we climbed up (and we found all three caches).
8:19:43 PM
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© Copyright
2006
Murray Neill
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Last update:
11/10/2006; 9:54:59 p.m.
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