Mike Riversdale

 Cracking advice from @jeffowski

Who doesn't love a Dragonfly, the universally admired flying beasts that dart about as we stand by watching with mouths open and eyes popping.

I shall be in the Strangers Room at 4pm, it is of national importance that you meet me there as I have a job that I wish you to undertake. Oh, and this time, please do not entertain any thoughts of talking to other members, I simply cannot cover your actions after the last incident, no matter how humourous you think you are.

As the title says, rain drops off a leaf in slow motion.

It was a breathtaking sun rise view flying over /around the hills and mountains at the the top of Te Waipounamu / the South Island, across the Marlborough Sounds and back to Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington.

I love a good time lapse and this, as filmed from my mates home in Nelson, overlooking the Haven as the tide comes in, is one of my faves, enjoy.

A lovely cloud ring hovering over the Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere as seen from Atawhai in Nelson.

It is me, on the beach, in 2022. That's it.

I often forget that Aotearoa New Zealand is a Pacific island, just as Fiji, Rarotonga, Samoa and many others are. Granted AoNZ is a lot lot bigger than the islands we think of when using the words 'Pacific islands', but still, it is.

What a woman,  Mercedes Gleitz , and a young woman at that! First person known to have swam the Gibraltar Strait, first woman to swim the English Channel, and, closer to home, the first woman to swim across Wellington Harbour. A pioneer of open water swimming and a kick ass wahine. [I can't quite recall why this is on or near the Nelson Boat Shed Cafe or Boatshed Society when it talks about Wellington]

Following on from WiFi Names 1

It's an amazing country is Aotearoa New Zealand with it's spectacular Southern Alps, volcanoes and beaches, and it's lakes and forests. All of the advertising that you see outside of NZ is true. Patuna Chasm is equally as spectacular whilst being a Wairarapa secret and off the beaten track. If you ever get the chance, make a booking , and go for a trek, it really truly is worth the walk in and back out again.

Featherston has a certain reputation, especially with those that live on this side of the hill. For most Wellingtonians it's the "end of the Remutaka Crossing, onto the flat and into the Wairarapa." It's also not a place to really stop coz, "what's there?", and "the locals are a bit rough". Well, if it's not  Featherston Booktown Festival  time may I suggest that the next time you pop over stop and have lunch at The Royal Hotel . It's quite the photogenic glory from a time long gone but immaculately presented. I had massive Agatha Christie feelings when I went there, truly sumptuous.

A local. A local pub is a British institution, everyone has their local. People walk past many other pubs to go to their local. It's where your parents had a beer it's where your mates would congregate. As you got older it's where you knew everyone, what you could get away with, what others were "complete dicks" for trying on, a place that was yours. It's a British thing. (although Boston is the home of the finest TV local ever sitcomed ) When I moved to Aotearoa New Zealand back in 1996 (oh yeah), I let the concept of "my local" fade away as many Wellington Kiwis seemed to not have that as a concept. Even now mates only frequent places because they have a familial or dollar investment. Back, in my late Welsh teens, we all had a mate who's father owned a pub. We rarely went, it wasn't our local. Golding's Free Dive was the first bar that I thought of as my local. I knew the staff, they knew me, I would work there, I would catch-up with e

Not everyone enjoys the slight weirdness of modern art , especially the truly out there paintings that aren't 'of' something. Paintings that use colour and shapes to evoke a feeling can be, to my mind, very hit and miss. This abstract expressionism is fascinating though as I find it a true meeting of minds and moods, when that happens I am usually stuck in front of splodges of paint and brush strokes for hours smiling or crying.

When I commuted into an office on a bus I spent a few wintery months looking at the WiFi names that popped up as we travelled from suburb to suburb, here's the first few that made me smile.

Tui, for those outside Aotearoa New Zealand, is one of those classic beers that everyone had to drink back in the day, like Speights, Steinlager, Lion Red, Canterbury Draft etc etc. All of which are still being made and you can find in most pubs. The Tui Brewery is famous for it's large and distinctive tower on the outskirts of Mangatinoka, featured I'm their adverts, and a stalwart of the brewing scene. It also has their brewery store, a wee museum, and grounds to wander around, so I did, and this is what I saw.

Summer 2021/22 I did a road trip up to Wellington Napier, and various site seeing places on the way back down before heading over to Nelson with $0 in my pocket and no trousers, a story for another time. Driving down SH2 with no particular place to be by any particular time I stopped of at the  Pekapeka regional park , coz why not. The sun was high in the sky and I wandered around this wet lands reserve with my mouth agog, it was so beautiful. I took a metric shit tonne of photos, they're all here for you . I liked this one coz tree, reflection, hill colour, blue sky. And between the base of the tree and the bushes just in front you can glimpse SH2, yup, it's right there and yet it was still so peaceful.

You must be a special special person to have your own welcome sign, Clive obviously is. And he's 60.

As Billy Connolly once said , "If there's a better way of saying Fuck Off then I'll use it. But it certainly isn't go away!" I can't for the life of me remember why I took this photo, who (if anyone) it was aimed at, and what they had done to warrant such action. I can think of a few people that will always deserve this from me.

For the past 17 years, on the 15th August, Karen and I have sent each other a text, "Happy citizenship day!" As mates it was bloody awesome to have someone else receive the citizenship certificate at the same ceremony, and we never forget how lucky we are to be here. Also, remember that we are the better sort of Kiwis as we CHOSE to be here and not some universe random thing of just being born here 😜🇳🇿 Past celebrations: Dear Mr Riversdale (2005) I am this close to becoming a Kiwi Citizenship - national costume The day (2005) 2 years (2007) 3 years (2008) 6 years (2011) 9 years (2014)

OMG, I have so many photos of my visit to Te Mata Peak (Hawkes Bay, NZ) and they are all stunning views - what a glorious place to be. I've chosen this one because it reminds me of my time there, more view-ey ones in the album .

An ocean storm advancing upon Cape Kidnappers.

Quirky, avant-garde, obviously art deco , but also just plain weird and silly. Napier has it all and is happy to show it off to you if you take the time to look up and be a tourist even in your town .

" May you live in interesting times. " is widely assumed to be a Chinese curse and, although it's not , it still expresses where we are right now in AoNZ - we are at the start of some very 'interesting' times. In other parts of the world the 'interesting times' have been crashing over society for a few years now, mostly enhanced by ballsacks of "leaders" such as Putin, Trump, Johnston, Modi, Netanyahu, and others. Here in New Zealand we are, according to James Shaw , about 5 years behind in the level of government distrust, society discordancy, belief in lies ("conspiracy theories"), and violence as a means to "win". James made the "5 years behind" call in the first episode of the RNZ Undercurrent podcast released a week or so ago. He was discussing with Susie Ferguson the time he got beaten up walking to work/Parliament and where he believes we are today. I suspect he's being a little optimistic, this year'

What you can't hear is the sound of millions of pebbles being rolled around as the waves wash in and retreat. Or maybe you can now.

On my way to Napier this tree on a hill really grabbed my attention as it stood there, all alone and battling the slope and the winds.

The midday summer ferry zips across the unbelievably calm and blue New Year's Day harbour with St. Gerard's in the foreground and the city in the background, glorious.

Walking through Wellingtontownland today I dropped my BNZ Flexi Debit Visa card out of my pocket somewhere between chore 2 and chore 3. Despite a full investigation back along the route, no sign of it. It's annoying when a bank card goes missing eh, cancelling the damn thing, not having access to money until a new one arrives. Well, that was my initial thought until I went into the BNZ app. Oh, I can stop the physical card being used and yet keep the PayWave on my phone + watch working until a replacement one appears in 2 days time. Bloody awesome work BNZ! Of course I will, once the new one arrives, have the delightful pleasure of amending all of the online services I use with the new card. However it also gives me a clean sheet and anything that holds the old card will no longer work and that'll help clear out the dross.

An open side gate that led into classic Wellington photo opportunities. See the full album for the finest views of and from this place: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fd4EgHdPSVRWVfYQ9

New Year's Day on a Mediterranean Greek island perhaps, or on the Spanish southern coast, possibly a small town of the French Riviera, maybe an Italian coastal fishing village, or even across the Adriatic Sea to Croatia.

My photos and videos of some of the Q&A with Dr. Siouxsie Wiles at the Embassy showing of Gwen Isaac's Ms. Information documentary. It's a great doco, "we did it once we can do it again!"

On Jackson Street in Petone there live two shops with naughty names, right next to each other. Handles, Knockers and Knobs  needs no explanation. It is also a great description of what they sell. Wanda Harland on the other hand doesn't jump out as a naughty shop name. The cool clothing and accessories business was started by Martha Craig back in 2007 and I believe it is her porn name, you know the "Take the first pet you had and add the street you grew up on" sort of thing. OH! HANG ON THOUGH ... In research as to when the Wanda Harland shop first opened I visit their website and the following is on their 'about us' page : Where does the name “Wanda Harland” come from? Martha had a tooth fairy called Wanda, and was going to be called Harland if she’d been a boy. The name Wanda Harland stuck when she was flatting in the biggest party flat the world has known, and faux names were bandied about freely. Seems I was talking bullshit, LOL

This is a Dahlia flower and despite my oh-so clever title it already has a name that reflects it's colours, say kia ora to the Blackberry Ripple Dahlia .

In the wilds of Stokes Valley is the  Bodhinyanarama Buddhist Monastery which anyone can go and visit and have a wander around. Very nice place indeed.

Back in 2014 Te Papa hosted an exhibition of dinosaur bones and amongst them was a neat visual surprise they've adapted for the Moa skeletons.

We all know you're not as interesting as me and that Internet funnies are a rare as hens teeth, but what about the creative you, the you that lives for the muse, those times that you need an outlet for the ideas jostling inside - I'm here for you. Pop over to my Feedly public board " Creative - Photography and creative articles worth sharing ", and you will be inspired on a daily basis by the very best of creativity from around the world (that I see, and like).

Is it a cloud (yes), is it a UFO (no), is it ... it's a cloud isn't it. Looks like a UFO hovering over the Wellington Harbour though.

Above the very visible and in your face bar The Rogue & Vagabond is the fantastically furnished Bedlam & Squalor . If it's a steam punk essence, or socialist revolutionaries, or even esoteric music that you're after, this is the place for you. (I couldn't decide on which photo, one is very arty, the other has a people and I know some of you love photos with people, so today we get both)

This will have you gnashing your fists, shaking your teeth, and loudly claiming to the world, "I will beat this, I WILL!"* https://neal.fun/password-game/ * you won't 😁

And so, the first visit to the Te Papa held Rita Angus exhibition comes to an end.