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Every spring I look forward to getting in a few good snow climbs on Taranaki. This year the snow seems to be melting off much faster with a much lower snow base than past years. I've been wanting to make a climb for a few weeks but the weather or other events have always got in the way.  I was also a bit nervous about my fitness as I haven't been doing any tramping recently. On Saturday morning the mountian was clear though there was a bit of cloud around. I decided this was my opportu …

I haven't been able to get out and do much photography lately but with work easing off a bit I managed to take Friday off and decided to head to Lake Rotokare.  Lake Rotokare is a pest free sanctuary near Eltham in South Taranaki. Rotokare was a community led project and after much hard work by volunteers and the construction of a pest proof fence, it is now a thriving natural forest full of native birds that have otherwise vanished from Taranaki.A few years ago saddleback (tieke), stitchbi …

I am constantly drawn to the beauty of Taranaki. This mountain dominates the Taranaki landscape and has always been a major presence in my life. Not only did I grow up in its shadow but have also had the great privilege to have spent much of my life exploring its slopes. My father was a keen climber and took my brother and I on many climbs and tramps on all sides of the mountain from a young age. In many ways, this mountain, Taranaki, is my spiritual home. It is the place I go to feel close to m …

Sandy Bay is a small coastal reserve on the west Taranaki coast. It is an area of coastal dunes which has been protected and slowly restored by the Ngati Tara o Oanui Sandy Bay Conservation Society.  It is one of the few places on the Taranaki coastline where New Zealand Dotterel succesfully nest. There is a good variety of shore birds here and one of my favourite places to go for a bit of bird watching and photography.I headed off at dawn on Saturday morning and spent an absorbing couple o …

One of my favourite spots to watch and photograph kotare (The NZ sacred kingfisher) is the rock pools at west end beach in New Plymouth.  Over winter this is one of the favourite hunting spots for kotare and low tide there will normally be about 10 of them hunting amongst the rock pools.After several weekend of bad weather I finally got down there at dawn yesterday and spent a couple of hours watching and photographing this most stunning of our New Zealand native birds.Catch Of The DayGoing …