Clone required

My blogging has taken a back seat lately and I've lost my grip on remembering which photos I've put up, what my theme was going to be and whether I can recall what I did a fortnight ago! There always seems to be more work than hours in the day - or am I just getting slower? I apologise if the blogs are a bit disjointed as get up-to-date but I'd better get cracking as our tourist season (and longer hours at work) are just around the corner.

The tyre wall is slowly progressing; no more layers but 8½ more tyres were filled over the weekend. The soil I was filling them with has been too wet but I then had the brilliant idea that the soil that needs digging out under the garage would be dry and perfect for the tyres. It's quite satisfying being able to do two jobs at once but it would be even more satisfying if I could find a few clones to do the work with me!

Starting to dig out under the garage on Saturday

Sunday afternoon

Each tyre takes a heaped wheelbarrow's worth of dirt rammed in

My hands and wrists get sore trying to stretch the tyre with one hand and ram the soil with the other. To give them a break I decided to empty the ice-cream freezer that used to have a flourishing rhubarb plant growing. With no foliage to keep the rain out the freezer had filled up with water and was growing rat-tailed maggots (drone fly babies) and starting to smell. Not sure who told the blowflies but it didn't take long before their buzz filled the air and gave me an entertaining time trying to get a good photo of their iridescent blue and purple bodies!

Wet and smelly soil heap - it had a couple of possums buried in it!

Emptied and tipped over to drain - will have to put in some better drainage
before filling it up again

I think this is the native blue blowfly, Calliphora quadrimaculata
- about 12mm in length

Lovely shades of blue/purple in the sunshine

My fun time had to end and it was back to the tyres. I'm getting better at filling them but no matter how tight they feel at the end of the day, there's always soft patches the following morning. I guess the water in the soil evaporates in the sunshine but at this rate I'll be ramming more dirt in for years to come.

I've had a few kiwi visitors lately - lovely to hear them calling during the night or seeing their footprints in the mud.

A kiwi footprint alongside my size 5 gumboot print

These are super-fresh prints



Kiwi on my boundary track

Spring walk to Horseshoe Bay

I woke to hail showers last Saturday so decided another walk would be more productive than filling tyres with muddy soil. This time I set off to walk the Back Road track; up past the quarry, through the muddy bush track and down on to Horseshoe Bay. The sun came out for lengthening periods so it was very pleasant slow-walking and looking closely at what was happening in the ngahere (bush).

Ten minutes after leaving home Back Road curls around to the left and heads up to a privately-owned quarry. The bank at the side of the road is full of interesting flora...

Something's been eating these leaves

this is what they are supposed to look like

A false morel fungus, Gyromitra tasmanica, not edible

Crustose lichen fruiting body?, Baeomyces spp

A deep puddle with algae growing in it

Not sure if it's the toxic blue green algae - it didn't look very nice

After the quarry, the metal road peters out to a bush track which can be quite muddy in places. The trees arch over the track which remind me of a cathedral - Mother Nature quietly builds such wonderful structures without power tools, mechanical devices or rubbish skips!

The start of the track - looking back toward the quarry

This orchid should be in flower in the next couple of months

The Horseshoe Bay end of the track is the muddiest

It's a short 150m from the track end down on to the sweeping bay with its white sand...

Looking west along Horseshoe Bay

Looking east from the same spot

The community nursery grows native plants for $2 each

Horseshoe Bay usually has a great selection of intact shells and is a favoured place to walk the dogs and play beach golf. The bay is about a kilometre long so plenty of space to experience the elements.

A beautiful volute shell - about 150mm long

A seagull meeting

The east end of the beach was full of these 'worm casts' (see below)

The orchids are stirring...

I've taken advantage of the wetter weather to explore the bush and road side banks and am thrilled to see some orchids pushing their way through the soil. There's always plenty of interesting things to see but I miss them usually when I walk too quickly so it's been great to get back into slow walking again. Of course, the tyre retaining wall doesn't get done so I'd better keep my work/play in balance by working extra hard this weekend!

Thelymitra (sun orchids) sprouting forth



These small spider orchids are popping out on a bank just down the road

A dark-coloured grub on Dibaeis baeomyces, a lichenised fungi

Dibaeis baeomyces on clay bank

A yellow-brown helmet variety

Green rosette of ???

The tyre wall is progressing slowly - just when I think I've filled a tyre to capacity I discover more air bubbles. The fill is pretty wet too so I guess holes will appear as it dries out too. I think I'll have sore hands and wrists for some time yet!

29 August: third row laid out

Looking good

Pretty straight - more by accident than design!

Overseas travel

I thought I'd be living it up in Invercargill tonight; my annual dental check should have taken place tomorrow and I lined up movies to watch, shopping to get and a visit to the barber for an overdue haircut. I've known about my dental appointment for a couple of months but didn't book my flight off-island at the same time. When I tried to book a couple of weeks ago I was surprised to find all morning flights fully booked so after kicking myself, I decided to go on the last flight today. The Weather Gods thought otherwise with low cloud over the island this morning. The fantastic people of Stewart Island Flights contacted me at lunchtime to say that they were hoping to get a flight over around 1pm but it might be the only flight of the day. I was supposed to be working until 4pm but Sam gave me leave of absence and I thought I'd be in Invercargill by 2pm. Ha ha - when I got to the Flight Centre, the weather over the island got brighter but the murk moved to Invercargill Airport which then closed! In the end I rescheduled my dental appointment, cancelled my bookings at Tuatara Backpackers and went back to work. I could have taken the 3.30pm ferry but it just seemed easier to go when conditions might be calmer and drier.

The weather has disrupted my outside work for the last couple of weekends so I downed tools and went for a walk instead.

Lovely native bush on both sides of the road

Old flax seed pods

Spring was sprung in August with leaf burst on the native fuchsia

Native Fuchsia excorticata flower buds

New buds on ???

Mill Creek at low tide

Views from Mill Creek through to Bathing Beach

First daffodil

A natural sculpture at Ann's place - last summer's fronds on Agapanthus plants

Spring bulbs - one that the deer didn't get!