What-ography?!?

[slow west vultures]

okay.  i figured it was somewhere north island since you live there right, but it looked familiar enough to what i remember of kaikoura.  i went to new zealand in 2001 with a couple of people when i was studying in australia, and we rented an RV and drove a little loop from christchurch up to kaikoura, and over to greymouth.  in kaikoura me and another guy did this 'swim with the seals' expedition, but we didn't end up getting too close to the seals.  our friends who just did a walk around the beach got closer to them.  the combination of the pretty scenery and the seals was close enough to make me guess kaikoura, but i guess new zealand is two islands full of scenery like that. 

[Maaik]

[Andrew_TSKS]

hah, did you do it wrong on purpose? that says "bod".

[alexandra]

OR IT SAYS BOOB

[coldforge]

he's got a thumb deployed on the right. that's a boob, no question.

[nonotyet]

no dude that is a thumb

[Andrew_TSKS]

i see it now. thanks guys.

[theartlessmonster]

I've not bored you with my flower photography in a while so you are due...

[clare]

I went to the mummers parade on new years day. It was bizarre. I liked it, I think. There was something about the sheer amount of drunk men dancing around and shouting combined with all the babies that were staring at them in horror.

Holy Shit! Morris dancers! I used to do this all the time, up to and including mummers plays. It was so much fun! And yeah, if they're not drunk and shouting, they're not Morris dancers.

Nice flowers there Mary!

[clare]

The 7 year old and our friend Davey on a rock near Cooma.


A cicada shell. We have regular annual cicadas here, and around christmas they're singing their songs.


amazing caterpillar which Davey (who knows about these things) tells me will turn into an Emperor Gum Moth when it's bigger.


lichen

[morgan]

This page is full of awesome pictures! 

[G.C.R]

Man I would not swim with seals. Col and I got chased that day by a big bull seal,  we sat down to look at the sea and we musta sat on the wrong rock or summat, because this ooglyboogly lurches out of the sea, size of a frickin cattlebeast and starts heading right for us, and colin is like, ahhh, Grace... because I was moving slow (I mean, they got no legs, how fast can they possibly go?) And it kept coming, and man they move FAST. We went like, 50 feet up the beach and it kept coming. It wanted us well away.
Also Clare, that emperor gum caterpillar bought back a sad and kinda awful memory- We had some of those, or some like it, as classroom pets when I was six. It was about teaching the childrens about the insect life cycle etc, but then one day we all got sat down and told of the tragedy, our caterpillars were no more because some one in the class had TAPED THEM TO A PIECE OF PAPER. I still remember how they looked, it was very upsetting. Why would someone do that? What a bad citizen.

[clare]

Oh no! But 6 year olds have no brain for things like that. i can easily imagine my (now) 7 year old doing that in his earlier years.Not in a malicious way really, just creatively, or curiously, or knowing how people pin butterflies to cardboard to display them.

 I noticed when I wikipedia'd the moths that they were one of the many things that got introduced into NZ, but only on the north island. They look amazing though.

I too would not get too close to seals. They got big sharp teeth n shit. Lucky you got away from your bull seal, Grace.

[edison]

Two things that come to mind upon the mention of swimming with seals:
- our host's take on the subject in "Beach House"
- Buster's hand in Arrested Development

Both concur: swimming with seals is not a good idea.

[jebreject]

Loose seal! Loose seal!

[Thermofusion]

I'm a MONSTER

[slow west vultures]

Man I would not swim with seals. Col and I got chased that day by a big bull seal,  we sat down to look at the sea and we musta sat on the wrong rock or summat, because this ooglyboogly lurches out of the sea, size of a frickin cattlebeast and starts heading right for us, and colin is like, ahhh, Grace... because I was moving slow (I mean, they got no legs, how fast can they possibly go?) And it kept coming, and man they move FAST. We went like, 50 feet up the beach and it kept coming. It wanted us well away.
Also Clare, that emperor gum caterpillar bought back a sad and kinda awful memory- We had some of those, or some like it, as classroom pets when I was six. It was about teaching the childrens about the insect life cycle etc, but then one day we all got sat down and told of the tragedy, our caterpillars were no more because some one in the class had TAPED THEM TO A PIECE OF PAPER. I still remember how they looked, it was very upsetting. Why would someone do that? What a bad citizen.

it was with a big group, and we slowly swam out nearby the rocks they were sunning themselves on.  but it was kind of a cold day, so the seals weren't that much for swimming in the water.  one dove in really quickly and i was submerged enough to see its eye as it swam by.  that was about the highlight of the trip.  i have a picture of me in a wetsuit houlding a really weird looking starfish, but that was about it.  kaikoura was gorgeous though.

 our guide did impress on us that seals are not the kinda animal you want to fuck with.  apparently they have a really weird smell too owing to the oil that coats their fur or something.  but i also remembered our guide saying dogs are somewhat closely related to seals.  so there's that.  when i stare at my labrador retriever i can kind of imagine it.  so i can't hate on seals. 

[jebreject]

[RoyBiggins]

[silentsigh89]

WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT, MOTHER?

I'M HALF MACHINE!!!

[Babar]

[Doctor Bob]

[das kranke Tier]

Oh.My.God.

 

[kadiekatRN]

My nephew Keegan is the hospital with RSV.  Luckily, he is one of the coolest kids out there, and he's really doing pretty well overall.  He's actually going home, albeit with oxygen and a pulse oximeter.

Here's him with his mom and a lion.


Here's me (looking scary) and him.  I'm wearing a yellow isolation gown to keep his germs away.


Here's a close-up.


Also, they have not yet taken down the X-mas tree at my parents' house (where my sister and her son live).  My sister's cat has a habit of jumping in the tree.  Too bad, his eyes came out looking so laser-like.

[silentsigh89]

oh my. he's beautiful! I hope he continues to do well