This area has very little topsoil, none in places. Much of the landscape is composed of ancient schist, usually with clearly visible sedimentary layers. Some of the seams in this rock are made of quartz hence the white striation.
This rock is in the grounds of Henderson House where I live.
The word schist is from a Greek word meaning ‘to split’.
A few weeks ago I was in Christchurch and had the chance to see an exhibition celebrating the existence of the New Zealand School Journal. Being born in South Auckland in 1941, by the time I went to Primary School these journals were at the height of their power, luckily for me I believe as they used many of the best, from Baxter to E. Mervyn Taylor whose work is shown in the upper image.
Yesterday, when returning home from Danseys Pass to Alexandra across landscape like this, I was reminded of some photos that I had taken a couple of months ago. I had chartered a small plane with pilot and flew over this landscape for an hour. I was a bit hindered by the curved and rather aged windows but these two photos were the ones that I retained.
The top photo is the famous Poolburn Dam, and the lower, the equally famous Styx Valley.
Danseys Pass
This is an historic hotel on a remote road in Otago. I stayed there last night,
my room was the one on the extreme right.
Yesterday I was in Naseby, a very attractive little town about 40 mins away. It is unusual for New Zealand in that it has an all year round ice rink and now it is opening a luge, one of those long twisting slides of ice that you plummet down in a toboggan, feet first. In Naseby it is set amongst conifers, looking extremely reminiscent of Colorado, especially as it is very much a gold mining town from the later 1800’s.
When I visited the ice rink, curling was in progress.
I photographed this room with a different camera a couple of months ago.
I’m convinced that there could be a photo somewherehere. This particular image may be as far as I can go but I won’t know till I have a longer look at it. Sometimes just seeing it up as my screen saver helps me to make this decision.
The room itself already looks very interesting, just as it is. I wonder if I could improve the arrangement. It would not be as difficult as it looks. These shapes are made of wood. They are moulds used for casting gold digging machinery.
