Monday, July 30, 2012

Bridal Veil Waterfall


Last week I was in Hamilton and was taken to see these lovely falls called the Bridal Veil Falls.  They were running at a tremendous volume as there had been some very heavy rain the previous day. A video would show them to better advantage.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Native Orchard and Another Bush Scene


 These Native tree orchards are highly perfumed and they perch high up in the trees.  Their perfume helps greatly when trying to find them in the bush.  These same orchards are also found in Japan and are highly prized.  The other photo is of Fujii Sensei and Watanabe-san looking for gold in one of the South Island streams.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Waterfall and Native Bush.



Arthur's Pass is very steep country and numerous waterfalls such as this one are always eroding the area.  New Zealand native bush is very thick and hard to penetrate.  I always wonder how the early surveyors ever managed to measure and map this country.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Alpine Flowers and Berries



Some more alpine flowers and some coprosma berries.  There are so many different plants in the alpine garden that it is hard to know what to show.  There are gentians, snow berries, and endless different coprosma berries all of which are very lovely.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Alpine Gardens


February is a wonderful time to stop at the top of Arthur's Pass to visit the extensive alpine gardens there.  I am not sure what the top flowers are but the lower picture is of a Celmisia.  These plants would both be native to New Zealand as the gardens are just a natural feature of the alpine environment.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Flowering Forest Trees


These pictures are of the Southern Rata which flower in summer and were photographed in Arthurs Pass in the South Island.  They are very large trees which some years are more conspicuous than others - this was a particularly good year.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Mount Cook and Glaciers


Two more pictures I took from a small plane flying over the Southern Alps.  The glaciers and their "U" shaped valleys were spectacular as was this close view of Mount Cook.  It was fun to actually land on the Tasman Glacier in the ski plane - I had no idea how big the glacier really was until we were up there.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The Southern Alps of New Zealand


I thought winter was a good time to show you these pictures of the Southern Alps.  There is a fault line running the full length of these alps and the scientists say that the next major earthquake is about due.  I hope I am not around when it ruptures.  These pictures are of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Some Bizarre Okinawan Pots


One has to admire the workmanship on the Dragon Pot but it is really not to my taste. Neither are the "Funerary Urns" under the tree.  I guess it is no different to the local undertaker's collection of coffins.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Finished Pots


These are not the same pots as shown in the image in my last blog but would have been fired in a similar place.  The boat was one of the pots in our Mitsukoshi exhibition in Japan so is now in the hands of a Japanese collector.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

More Kiln Pictures


In Japan they always put up these Gohei prayer flags to designate the sacred area at the front of the kiln and Fijii Sensei showed us how to make them.  We had some great firings so they must have helped to bring us good luck.  The lower picture is of the set of shelves in front of the first stack and a few of the pots on the floor right beside the fire grate.