'I'm always looking for the Hows and the Whys and the Whats,' said Muskrat, 'That is why I speak as I do. You've heard of Muskrat's Much-in-Little, of course?'
'No,' said the child. 'What is it?'
- The Mouse and his Child. Russell Hoban.

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Monday 17 January 2011

Ohope Beach


Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned.

I admit I have been guilty in the past of promoting New Zealand.

I've taken lovely photos in lovely places, and left undone subjects that might have given a more realistic view of my country.
But I was overcome with a wave of honesty last time I was in the car. I resolved to do something about this omission. Unlike A & C, I will not intentionally take the 'alternate' New Zealand, ie, only the grotty, grubby and messy bits, but I will try and take more images showing the real New Zealand, not just a pretty version.*

So, while I was on my fleeting visit to Ohope Beach the other day, I snapped a few images. Rather than carefully select and compose them, I just pointed almost randomly through the window of the car, and clicked.
Here are the first five.

It looked like this little puppy's first trip to the beach. The man tried him on the ground but he just stood there, nervously quaking. So he had to be picked up again and carried.










* Not least, so that YP and Shirley won't be horrified when their trip to NZ turns out to sometimes be grotty, grubby and messy.

9 comments:

  1. Grotty, Grubby and Messy? Weren't they the normally unnamed dwarves in the story of "Snow White and the Ten Dwarves"?....Even RanDom NZ looks fine to me.

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  2. Well YP, that comment made me go off on a tangent and look up the plural of 'dwarf'.

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  3. Been there, seen that and, I think, blogged about it. I'm not sure I agree with the Whakatane community's blurb but it's certainly beautiful.

    Roof roofs; dwarf dwarfs; wolf wolves. Once drilled in never forgotten.

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  4. Elizabeth18.1.11

    Did you put up the wrong pictures? It all looks lovely to me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sorry, Katherine! Even the grubby parts are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You failed at your mission. Nothing missing in these blue skies, calm waters and green grass so close to the beaches. And what about that nice rising tree-laden
    hill in the background of the dog picture. Then there is the small number of cars in the car park. Totally uncommericalized. .

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  7. Grotty, grubby, and messy? Looks like absolutely normal to me. Of course, I don't have your artist's eye.

    Dictionary.com says either dwarfs or dwarves. Also either wharfs or wharves. But only kerchiefs and handkerchiefs. Go figure.

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  8. Anonymous19.1.11

    OED says: dwarfs or dwarves... so YP hasn't let us Brits down.
    Lucy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Elizabeth, Pat, Judy, Robert, it IS beautiful. But I promise, not selected for...
    But! be warned, grotty may be just around the corner, in keeping with my new policy :o)

    My middle son thinks that J R R Tolkien invented 'dwarves' as opposed to 'dwarfs' and brought it into common usage.

    Exits singing: ' You say tomatoes, I say tomAtoes, you say hoofs, I say hooves, you say mouses, I say mice, you say blouses, I say blice....

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