Bridal Veil Waterfall

Last week I was in Hamilton and was taken to see these lovely falls called the Bridal Veil Falls.  They were running at a tremendous volume as there had been some very heavy rain the previous day. A video would show them to better advantage.

Native Orchard and Another Bush Scene

 These Native tree orchards are highly perfumed and they perch high up in the trees.  Their perfume helps greatly when trying to find them in the bush.  These same orchards are also found in Japan and are highly prized.  The other photo is of Fujii Sensei and Watanabe-san looking for gold in one of the South Island streams.

Waterfall and Native Bush.

Arthur's Pass is very steep country and numerous waterfalls such as this one are always eroding the area.  New Zealand native bush is very thick and hard to penetrate.  I always wonder how the early surveyors ever managed to measure and map this country.

Alpine Flowers and Berries

Some more alpine flowers and some coprosma berries.  There are so many different plants in the alpine garden that it is hard to know what to show.  There are gentians, snow berries, and endless different coprosma berries all of which are very lovely.

Alpine Gardens

February is a wonderful time to stop at the top of Arthur's Pass to visit the extensive alpine gardens there.  I am not sure what the top flowers are but the lower picture is of a Celmisia.  These plants would both be native to New Zealand as the gardens are just a natural feature of the alpine environment.

Flowering Forest Trees

These pictures are of the Southern Rata which flower in summer and were photographed in Arthurs Pass in the South Island.  They are very large trees which some years are more conspicuous than others - this was a particularly good year.

Mount Cook and Glaciers

Two more pictures I took from a small plane flying over the Southern Alps.  The glaciers and their "U" shaped valleys were spectacular as was this close view of Mount Cook.  It was fun to actually land on the Tasman Glacier in the ski plane - I had no idea how big the glacier really was until we were up there.

The Southern Alps of New Zealand

I thought winter was a good time to show you these pictures of the Southern Alps.  There is a fault line running the full length of these alps and the scientists say that the next major earthquake is about due.  I hope I am not around when it ruptures.  These pictures are of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman.

Some Bizarre Okinawan Pots

One has to admire the workmanship on the Dragon Pot but it is really not to my taste. Neither are the "Funerary Urns" under the tree.  I guess it is no different to the local undertaker's collection of coffins.

Finished Pots

These are not the same pots as shown in the image in my last blog but would have been fired in a similar place.  The boat was one of the pots in our Mitsukoshi exhibition in Japan so is now in the hands of a Japanese collector.

More Kiln Pictures

In Japan they always put up these Gohei prayer flags to designate the sacred area at the front of the kiln and Fijii Sensei showed us how to make them.  We had some great firings so they must have helped to bring us good luck.  The lower picture is of the set of shelves in front of the first stack and a few of the pots on the floor right beside the fire grate.