A Drive to the Hills

This morning Hugh suggested we have a day out, and we  went inland from Hunterville. There are large farms there, lots of hills, some streams and  some small bridges for access to farms across the other side .In the paddock far below, the men  were moving a huge mob of sheep, this man had his other dog working the sheep off the hill to the left, he was only a speck in the distance, but we could hear his calls as he ordered or whistled his dog. The cropped photo shows the man with his  other 2 dogs, they are  having a well earned rest.


Here are the sheep,  moving across to the right.

We stopped for a boil up ,coffee and sandwiches , and across the road were more lambs, one pure black. And next to the wagon, one huge old pine tree. I wondered how many birds had made their nests there over  the years.

The yellow flowers of the Wattle tree are out in full, and the little mauve flower might be a weed, name unknown, Janet suggests it is Convolvulus, both taken with Canon 550D, macro lens.

We carried on, to Turakina Beach. 4WD, on the black sand, to a ford out to the surf. I have no great sense of adventure, so was thankful, relieved, trying very hard not to show how happy I was that the tide was in too far and we did not cross the stretch of water.The white marker shows the possible /probable  track to follow to the sand further out. There were many pieces of driftwood, with shapes that could stretch your imagination, I could almost see a small calf in this one, head curled under one back leg, ears hidden. This photo is courtesy of Hugh, with his Canon 40D and a Sigma lens.

Quotation of the day, from Ernest Lehman

“ After all, the wool of a black sheep is just as warm”

Cheers from Jean