Farewell to 2014

The last day of the year dawned with an extra-special treat of beautiful clouds which I think were mammatus. I grabbed the camera and spent the next few minutes snapping pics but it's hard to capture the soft apricot light, the 360° vista and I was a few minutes too late to catch the mammatus cloud before it started 'falling' - some of the pics on the Cloud Appreciation Society website are more stunning! 



Eastern sky 5.54am



Western sky - mammatus cloud 5.55am

Zoom on above pic - mammatus cloud 'dropping' through the atmosphere

If you have an interest in clouds then consider joining the Cloud Appreciation Society or 'follow' them on facebook and 'live life with your head in the clouds'.

It's been a particularly busy week in the shop with cruise ships visits on Monday (sunny and very hot), Tuesday (foggy start then cloudy and humid with a few light showers) and today (cloudy and humid with some rain). We've done a roaring trade in insect repellent, drinks, ice-creams and (surprisingly) hot pies; great to meet people from all over the world and to wish them a Happy New Year.

Monday 29 December - on my lunch break

Oban waterfront - shining like a jewel in the sun

View from where I work - Presbyterian Church to the left

The Oban Visitor Centre (or Red Shed) - hire cars, pushbikes, scooters,
guided tours and information centre

Not quite so sunny for our Tuesday cruise ship visitors but still warm

Cruise ships look quite strange anchored out in the Bay

Long queues for the checkout today 

There's less than 3 weeks until my 4th anniversary of moving down here; it's been an amazing experience and there's been a lot of 'firsts' in that time: using a chainsaw and scrub-bar, learning about the ngahere (native bush) and its inhabitants and becoming a blogger. It's a privilege to write about this special island and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you in 2015.

Best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy, peaceful and sustainable New Year.

Christmas clean up

I've been busy outside lately and have composed several blogs in my mind whilst I'm working; what a shame that I don't remember them when I come inside. What I really, really want for Christmas is a wireless receiver that picks up my thoughts and converts it to text - what a timesaver!

We've had good weather with warm temperatures and the grass has grown fast enough to need cutting again. My scrub-bar technique is improving on the flat but I struggle on the uneven ground. A long-term plan is to fill up the holes so that I could use a lawnmower; an easy job with Taranaki soil but almost impossible with the unrakeable clay here. Just thought of another Christmas gift idea - a magic wand that I can wave after trimming the grass that 'freezes' all growth so I don't have to do it again!!

Working outside in the late evening has a magic all of its own; the birds with their evensong, the frogs starting to croak and, if I'm very lucky, hearing a kiwi call. Yesterday a tornado-like cloud formation was worth going inside to grab the camera.


No tornados here - just a dark cloud being shaped by the wind

The sky further round to the left

My seed order from Kings Seeds arrived and I've had a good strike from the Oriental and Italian mescluns, Drunken Woman lettuce and red coral mizuna.

Italian and Oriental mesclun nearest the camera; EcoStore mesclun and
red coral mizuna in other mussel buoy

The other vegetables are growing well apart from the beetroot that grew well on top but not underneath the soil. When trimming the plants for Bokashi, I found a number of visitors on the leaves...

A honey bee with a damaged left wing

Hmm, not sure what this is so will put it up on NatureWatch

A leaf-roller caterpillar damaging the new growth on the rosemary

A highlight for this week was Stuff.co.nz's article on the release of 18-19th century images from the British Library. The pics are on Flickr and although I can't find any for Stewart Island there's still heaps to sift through and enjoy.

One of the British Library pics, published 1870

Moa and kiwi - and is that a takahe third from left??