30 January 2015

The Port Hills above Taylor's Mistake

On our return along the Scarborough track to Taylor's Mistake, the last of the evening sun grazed the Port Hills. On the other side of this lies Lyttelton Harbour.



All content © 2014 Pete McGregor
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5 comments:

Zhoen said...

Reminds me of some Japanese landscapes, seemingly so plain and simple, but it draws the eye deeper and further in.

31 January 2015 at 11:51
pohanginapete said...

Thank you, Zhoen.

31 January 2015 at 20:08
Lesley said...

I love the unusual light that occurs when the descending sun slips below cloud (especially a nor'west arch) and lights up the Port Hills against an overcast sky.

By the way, referring to your comment in the previous post about little sign of earthquake damage: on 13th June 2011 a geologist went up to the Scarborough track on Whitewash Head to check out damage from the first earthquake, when the second one struck. He was lucky to escape with his life as both cliff and track fell away.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5166526/Video-Quake-hit-Whitewash-Head

Maybe the cliffs nearer Taylor's Mistake were more stable and less affected. I presume the track from Scarborough has been re-routed to avoid Whitewash Head. It's scary to watch the video and remember times when I've walked along that very same part of the track. Friends had the last house along Whitewash Head and the track ran close to their boundary. (The house remained.)

31 January 2015 at 22:20
Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Looks like a place where one could walk off into Forever, or the Faraway Nearby. Love the names of just about everything there in NZ ... titipounamu, Aotorea, Taylor's Mistake. Thanks, Pete.

1 February 2015 at 13:39
pohanginapete said...

Lesley, the track from Nicholson Park to Whitewash Head is closed. From Taylor's Mistake the track climbs up towards the Head but is fenced off where it begins to level out; the walk along the top of the cliffs is now inaccessible. I don't imagine it'll reopen in the near future.

Barbara, something similar to the sense of strangeness in O'Keefe's painting seems to haunt the Port Hills and Banks Peninsula. Curious that you should mention The Faraway Nearby, because I've recently finished reading Rebecca Solnit's book of the same name.
Speaking of names, we do have some wonderful ones here, including the world's longest place name.

1 February 2015 at 14:53

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