Category: New Zealand

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Antigua boat sheds Christchurch

Several colourful kayaks lined up on a dock adjacent to a building, creating a picturesque riverside view.

This photograph was taken from the Antigua Street Bridge. Rows of colourful kayaks out on the deck in front of the Antigua Boat Sheds make for some great contrast. Firstly the bright yellow, blue, green and red plastic kayaks contrast with the green and white stripes of the boat sheds. Secondly the Antigua boat sheds have been used since 1882 compared to the much more modern plastic kayaks. Traditionally flat-bottomed wooden boats were used. They still are to take tourist trips punting on the Avon River.

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Red Chinese footbridge

A vibrant red bridge crosses a clear stream in a serene park setting with greenery all around.

This red wooden footbridge crosses over Oamaru Creek in Oamaru Botanical Gardens in the South Island of New Zealand. It is just down the path from a very lovely Chinese Garden that is well worth visiting. This was New Zealand’s first Chinese garden opened in 1995. I previously shared a fantastic ceramic mural of a colourful red dragon. The curve of this bridge reminded me of the very famous Monet painting of the Water Lily Pond, even though Monet’s bridge isn’t red.

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Footbridge at Dunedin railway station

A train station at night with a prominent clock tower and a train waiting at the platform.


Stood next to my camera and tripod waiting for the light to drop is quite a common thing for me. I was set up in the ideal location for the iconic photo of the Dunedin Railway Station at night. As I often do I was on my phone looking for inspiration for alternative views of this building. I came across this Train parking at Dunedin railway station on Shutterstock. So after capturing the original photo I came for, I took my camera onto the footbridge to capture the above photo. Inspired by Jacktamrong’s photograph I used the red metal of the bridge to frame the station. Originally I didn’t want to include the left third of this frame but the bright lights shone into frame either way so I made the most of it. From this angle I like how you can clearly see this is a train station.

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Metagalactic Pipe Organ

A large pipe organ lit by a yellow light in an art gallery.

The first time walking into the Steampunk HQ in Oamaru I wasn’t sure what to expect. This was one of the first installations I came too. Built by John Baster and soundtrack by Jac Grenfell. The organ and pipes were donated by Ron Newton. It was really popular with other visitors as people had their photos taken playing the organ. The sign in the bottom right of the photo says:

“A device for capturing sounds and signals picked up by the HQ time travel officers when visiting alien worlds. The sounds were captured during space-time jumps to Earth. To an alien listener, they would sound very strange. Some say that special combinations of notes will open up time portals within the building to exotic alien holiday destinations.”