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Winter!
Aug 12, 2011 6:40:11 GMT -5
Post by nikkortorokkor on Aug 12, 2011 6:40:11 GMT -5
While the North has been sweltering, we in New Zealand got a reminder that winter was really here late last month. Masterton rarely gets snow, but it got a good dusting that time. Within 24 hours of the storm's passing, the snow had all but gone from valley, but the hills still had a fair pasting. These are the Tararua ranges. Although not has tall as the mighty Southern Alps on the South Island, the Tararuas are a tough little range, and are the cradle of club tramping (hiking or bushwalking) in New Zealand, mainly due to their proximity to the capital, where the country's oldest tramping club - the Tararua Tramping Club - was founded in 1919. Though not high (the peaks - Holdsworth and Mitre - in the photo are about 1500 m ASL) these hills are tough and stormy, being obscured in cloud more often than not. A couple of years ago, the boss of our National museum was killed up there, along with his tramping companion. Ans almost 80 years ago, Land Search And Rescue formally organised in New Zealand after the Such Party got trapped in the hills for 15 days when out for a 'weekend trip'. Michael
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daveh
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Winter!
Aug 12, 2011 12:57:43 GMT -5
Post by daveh on Aug 12, 2011 12:57:43 GMT -5
Spring will be on the way for you soon. It meant to be summer here still, but I'm not sure autumn isn't already here (at least some days it has felt like it). We don't do mountains (height-wise anyway) in Britain. Even the tallest, Ben Nevis, is about 100metres less than those in you range - but as they say size isn't everything.
Anyway, I've learned a bit more about New Zealand.
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 5:46:29 GMT -5
Post by Th1nk3r on Aug 14, 2011 5:46:29 GMT -5
Michael,
beautiful scenery, I always love watch mountains but never like to climb it, especially the stormy one.
Did you use special filter to take this photograph?
didon.-
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Deleted
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 9:44:33 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2011 9:44:33 GMT -5
Beautiful shot!
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mickeyobe
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 10:31:28 GMT -5
Post by mickeyobe on Aug 14, 2011 10:31:28 GMT -5
Spectacular Scenery!
Mickey
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 12:09:02 GMT -5
Post by Randy on Aug 14, 2011 12:09:02 GMT -5
Fantastic shot!!!! It won't be long and Ohio will be getting the white flakes. My Farmer's Almanac says we are in for a severely cold winter.
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Deleted
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 17:40:06 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2011 17:40:06 GMT -5
Randy. Hope it stays in Ohio.
Wayne
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Winter!
Aug 14, 2011 21:59:17 GMT -5
Post by Randy on Aug 14, 2011 21:59:17 GMT -5
Randy. Hope it stays in Ohio. Wayne You know me Wayne, I believe in sharing with my friends. ;D
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Winter!
Aug 15, 2011 1:39:41 GMT -5
Post by nikkortorokkor on Aug 15, 2011 1:39:41 GMT -5
Here's what you are all in for. The news is calling today's dump 'a polar blast'. This much snow is a real rarity in Masterton, so I dutifully trudged around the garden taking photos. Thanks for the positive comments on the Tararua photo. Didon, No special filters. I think I bumped up the saturation in-camera, then toned it down again post production. One of the characteristics of New Zealand is the 'hard light', which is especially obvious on clear days and with front-lit subjects. When returning from Asia to New Zealand, one is always struck by the bright colours and long views. When the wind blows from the nor-west, you feel as if you can reach out and touch mountains which are 20 or 30 kilometres away. The downside is sunburn and regular checks for melanoma (skin cancer). BTW, Peter Jackson (director of Lord of the Rings, etc. lives in a large house somewhere in the middle distance of the 1st photo. I bet his house is a bit warmer today than our humble Californian bungalow.
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daveh
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Winter!
Aug 15, 2011 19:50:58 GMT -5
Post by daveh on Aug 15, 2011 19:50:58 GMT -5
Michael, I'm confused now as to where the above bungalow actually is! It seems, from what you say, that you get similar levels of snow to where I live. In our case we look over the river Dee to the Welsh hills to get that snow covered backdrop, though it's nothing like as impressive as your range. You can see Lord Of The Rings being made in Peter Jackson's back garden.
The light is amazingly clear. We occasionally get such days, but too often there is at least a haze to spoil the long view.
Dave.
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Winter!
Aug 16, 2011 3:06:57 GMT -5
Post by nikkortorokkor on Aug 16, 2011 3:06:57 GMT -5
Dave, the snow in our garden is officially unusual. This is now the biggest 'snow event' since the late 1950s. Yesterday, snow fell in downtown Auckland (our sub-tropical city) for the first time since 1939! I apologize for the miscreant 'n' on the back end of California bungalow, which refers to an architectural type rather than a geographic location. Poke an historian, and you'll risk being bored by a lengthy reply. I hunted out this little gem about the California bungalow in NZ (they were also very popular 'across the ditch' in the land of Aus). A secondary influence from California was to complete the change of appearance of the New Zealand house. This is a typical house of the California bungalow type. The origin of the design was not Europe but Asia, particularly Japan and China. The bungalow became popular with the speculative builder and was readily accepted by the public. This can be explained to a large degree by the similarity of climate, social and economic conditions and methods of building construction between California and New Zealand. The bungalow built of timber was characterised by an open plan, large windows and a Iow-pitched roof in contrast to the stone or brick cottage, tightly planned and with small windows and a high-pitched roof. During the first three decades of this century there was a sharp design conflict between the bungalow and the cottage. Most architects, and particularly those trained in Europe, were advocates of the cottage. This was unfortunate because the bungalow without skilled design direction degenerated into a type little better than the 1900 villa. Gordon F Wilson, 'A Pictorial Survey of Housing in New Zealand: Part Three', in Design Review: Volume 2, Issue 5 (February-March 1950). Ours was built in 1930, and is representative of the type. The worst feature? Painting all that wood. My wife and I painted the house ourselves last summer. Quite a job making all those arts and crafts features look just right! Next time I'm going to pay an expert and spend my spare time taking photos instead
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daveh
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Winter!
Aug 16, 2011 3:21:15 GMT -5
Post by daveh on Aug 16, 2011 3:21:15 GMT -5
Michael, information is never boring. The one thing you have left out is the origin of the word 'bungalow'. It is Indian, Hindi and comes from the word meaning 'in the Bengali' style. We now need to find out what was the Bengali style to see what a bungalow should look like. I suspect it would be somewhat more crude than modern day bungalows, at least those in NZ.
Dave.
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Winter!
Aug 16, 2011 6:06:44 GMT -5
Post by nikkortorokkor on Aug 16, 2011 6:06:44 GMT -5
Dave, you are quite right that bungalow comes from the root baṅgalo in Hindi. I also know that those original Bengali bungalows featured large verandahs (or verandas) another hindi architectural feature widely used here in the colonies. Ironically, although some NZ 'hybrid' California bungalows wear verandahs, the verandah is a much more elemental feature of the circa 1900 New Zealand Villa. Here's an early, Victorian, one in Rotorua: And a later, Edwardian, one in Rangiora, Sort of a bungaloid villa or a villarized bungalow (classic camera info, this was taken with a Minolta Hi-Matic 7): And, because I'm gratuitously posting architecture photos, My favourite 'madder than Mad jack McMad' piece of extrovert architecture, the old Government bath house in the thermal rsort of Rotorua, complete with bowling green out front: Sort of a digital sight of the season - I took this whilst on a winter holiday back in June.
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daveh
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Winter!
Aug 16, 2011 6:16:10 GMT -5
Post by daveh on Aug 16, 2011 6:16:10 GMT -5
Michael, we don't do too many timber buildings in Britain. The Rotorua government house is a Cheshire half-timbered meets eastern architect sort of place. Wonderful. In their own way the two rather more ordinary "bungalows" are too.
Dave.
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Doug T.
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Winter!
Aug 16, 2011 7:45:23 GMT -5
Post by Doug T. on Aug 16, 2011 7:45:23 GMT -5
Michael, Those are beautiful shots you've posted here, and I really enjoyed the "lesson" on building styles! We have many different styles here as well, from Dutch Colonial to Eastlake Style, Arts and Crafts to Art Deco. There's a wide variety here and you've motivated me to get out and record some of them.
Doug
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