NZ field trips December 06

[t00lie]

Summer? Northern Southland NZ .Part One.

I managed to head inland today and away from the heavy cool weather fronts which have been pounding the coast here for the last week.

[t00lie]

Part Two.I should have mentioned i had a 4 legged sidekick with me --Charlie.

Cheers Dave.

[Joakim B]

Thaks for the pics.
They are really nice
I especially like the orchid. Very nice Congratulation to Ypour first time seeing it. 

Smart way of using the file names!!!!! An easier way of getting the text there it seems!! 
Take care
Joakim

[Maggi Young]

This is a treat for us, as usual, Dave. Good to see Charlie out enjoying the mountains, too. I bet he prefers the truck to the bike, eh? I have never even heard of that Calandenia lyallii, what a beauty that is.

Joakim is right, crafty way with the file names, very clever tip!

[David Nicholson]

Nice pictures Dave. How high were you and do you usually have snow that high at this time of the year?

[Paddy Tobin]

Dave,


Absolutely great to see images from so far away, an fabulous treat. Many thanks.

I was delighted to see the Acyphilla aurea in the wild. I have one growing for nearly 20 years. It seems to be about the same size as the one photographed. Unfortunately it hasn't flowered for me. It grows easily, though loses lower leaves to damp unless I am careful. Of course, it is an absolutely treacherous plant to work at, simply lethal spikes.

Your caption/file name is one to be copied.

Paddy

[t00lie]

Thanks all.
Hopefully there is no limit to the number of words you can use as text when renaming your image as i find it more appropriate to be reading the message when viewing the pic.

David --The height i reached yesterday was quite low at about 1200 metres.The highest point on the ridge being 1600 mtrs.While snow can fall in the hills at anytime of the year this is the first time i have struck it here in Late Dec.
Pity the low cloud prevented a shot of the higher mountains west across the valley.These at 2000 mtrs plus are heavily coated.
Previously on the old forum i've posted shots of trips taken in this area under more sunnier conditions.

Paddy --In the wild Aciphylla aurea's lower leaves rot off to form large humus patches below the plant.If you look closely at the pic you can see this is occuring .
While this is common in most of the species i tend to do as you, for the plants i cultivate in the garden here.Must be our sense of tidyness.
The plant in question was only what i'd say mid size--so they must live a long life.

Cheers Dave,
 

[Lesley Cox]

Some of the big plants of Aciphylla dobsonii at Ohau or Mt Dobson are estimated to be hundreds of years old.



Dave, how do you do those, with the file name under. If I do the attachthumb thing, there's no file name, just whatever text I've already written (as with this one.)

[Paddy Tobin]

Lesley,

BEAUTIFUL, JUST BEAUTIFUL.

Many thanks, Paddy

[Joakim B]

I am not Dave but might help by saving the picture on Your own computer with that name and then in "additional options" in Your posting "chose file" find it and then post it. For more pics just use "more attachments". It is a very easy way but no text can be added after the pics.
I do not chose thumbnail it is "automatic" when I post a pic. Maybe it is in a setting but I have not tuch anything.
Hope it helped.

Kind regards
Joakim

[David Lyttle]

Dave,
Glad to see you are out and about despite the weather. I am home alternately waitching the rain come down and trying to mow my lawn on the days between showers. I hate long damp grass!

Paddy,
I tracked down this slide for you. It shows mass flowering of Aciphylla aurea on the Carrick Range in Central Otago.  Aciphylla aurea is the most frequently encountered speargrass in this part of the world as many trampers have found to their cost. It tends to be fire resistant and is common throughout the tussock grassland in the drier parts of the Eastern South Island. In wetter situations it is replaced by Aciphylla scott-thomsonii which is a larger plant. In the west you get Aciphylla horrida - it has it own unique charm.
 If you want a garden(er)  friendly Aciphylla, Aciphylla dieffenbachii from the Chatham Islands is a nice plant as the foliage is quite soft. It should do well in Ireland.

[Anthony Darby]

I hadn't realised that hedghogs had been introduced to New Zealand? That's very sad, especially as the Kiwi has evolved to occupy the hedghog's niche there. They must decimate the ground nesting bird species as the hedgehogs introduced to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland have? They are now being justifiably culled. Almost as bad as mink!

[Paddy Tobin]

Dave,

Many, many thanks.

What a sight. No doubt you have seen this many times and have perhaps come to take it for granted but I must say I find it an absolutely fabulous and, obviously, one which I would never see but for your photographs.

I am very surprised by the flowers. They are quite big affairs, much more impressive than I had imagined, quite striking really.

Many thanks for the photograph, really delighted to see this sight, and many thanks.

By the way, I have been showing the photograph to my wife; she asked who had posted it and when I told her it was a 'David O Toole' from NZ, she laughed aloud as she couldn't believe that someone with such an Irish name could be in NZ. 

Many thanks, really enjoyed that photograph. Paddy

[t00lie]

Paddy how could you (big smile)..
The surname is Toole not O Toole although i've always wondered if one is a derivative of the other and maybe came about when the settlers first arrived in this country.

I am ashamed to admit i don't know my family lineage/genealogy but presume my forfathers came from Ireland.

Cheers for now from Southland where most of us in this province roll our rrrrrrrrrrrrs like the Scotchs --oops ,(hic/burp),i mean the Scots.

Dave.

[t00lie]

Lesley --When i go to add attachments i browse into where i have saved my pics --My Pictures --i use Canon Zoombrowser software.
All my individual shots there have a file number --eg img 66 or the like.

I right click over the pic i want to uplift to end up with a lot of options, one of them being rename.

I go to rename and click .

This brings the curser into the file name box under the pic and it's here where i fill out my text.

When text is completed i click open to attach pic.

Best of luck.

Cheers Dave.