I have been in South Island, New Zealand for three and a half weeks. My other half is on his retirement 'trip of a lifetime'. to the Cook Islands.   I, not keen on hot, humid beaches, get to tag along and remain in South Island whilst OH goes tropical.  Better still, I persuaded son to join us for part of the journey, and to be my companion while OH fulfils his dream. 

I haven't been to New Zealand for 9 years, since my last attempt to work here as a GP locum ended prematurely due to personal challenges at the time. But now I am retired, and this was purely a holiday. A chance to revisit this country that I love so much. One more time......

So many things I had forgotten about. The space, the quiet roads and the colours of the ocean. The sunrises and sunsets, the sounds of the crickets drowning out the birds in the bush. The single lane bridges on many roads, the delightful cafes that serve tea in a teapot with bone china cups. I love it all. 

I had also forgotten how the nature conservancy department is battling continuously against imported predators that destroy the natural vegetation and birds. On every hike we passed many traps and monitoring devices for possums, stoats and rats that do so much harm to the indigenous wildlife and plants. But that's another story, and if you wish to know more, you can read what son has to say on the matter here. He says it so much better than I ever could.

 Three and a half weeks on the road with my other half. That is a long time to be in close company. Away from my studio space and all my art materials. I knew that I would have to work on something creative whilst away, so I am carrying a small box with pencils, crayons, some Japanese paper and a cyanotype kit. 

How do I do cyanotype when travelling and staying in clean modern Airnbs? Good question. 'With difficulty' is the answer. Cyanotype chemicals are seriously blue, and stain everything in sight without a moments hesitation. The biggest challenge was finding a place to be safely messy, and some glass frames. I bought second hand frames from a charity shop, and acquired a large cardboard box to be  messy in from the supermarket. I have attempted wet cyanotypes in several places, but the constraints of keeping everything clean, and the lack of a shady spot to set up was a challenge. I have made several exposures, but as yet none are washed, as I will need to do that in the safe space of my studio, where I can make make as much mess as I like while hanging them out to dry. 

Being on the road makes it difficult to have a meaningful project. I didn't really find a focus for my attention until our last place of stay, when OH had been safely packed off to his tropical island, and son and I settled for a few days in Kaikoura.  We were living right next to a spectacular beach of white limestone. Wonderful formations of folded rock, and some pebble and rocks that looked like porcelain. I was hooked. 

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I have never seen so much white rock. With so many interesting patterns and crevices carved out by history over millions of years. I found myself researching the geology of the area, and learned that the limestone is 50-60 million years old. It is the result of the laying down of sediment layers of tiny marine organisms called foraminifera (there's a word to love...) . When they float they are a component of plankton; something that the many whales in the area consume in vast quantities.

These barely visible creatures have a shell made of calcium carbonate (chalk) , and when they die this gets compressed on the ocean floor over millions of years. Never before have I been so enthralled with the geology of a location. Billions of tiny sea creatures squashed over time into pure white rock. Quite extraordinary in my view.

I searched for images of foraminifera and found some beautiful illustrations on the Picryl website, from the 1904  book of Ernst Haeckel.

Looking at the rocks and pebbles knowing that they were formed from these microscopic sea creatures filled me with a sense of wonder. I spent hours sitting on the beach photographing them, drawing them and observing the tunnels and patterns on their surface created by sea creatures that must have crawled through the sediment many years ago. 

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Nothing makes me happier than a 'project' to work on. It doesn't matter to me what comes out of it. What matters is how much pleasure I gained from exploring the beach and sitting with my chosen stones. My attempts to draw them were hopelessly unrealistic, so I resorted to a 'no pressure' technique of drawing them without looking at the paper. This created some pleasing, rather 'childlike' abstract patterns, that I hope to work with when I return to my studio in Rye. By manipulating them to black and white I am exploring the possibility of  printing the images as photo lithography prints. 

Now I am waiting for a plane to bring me home. OH is safely returned from paradise. Son has flown back to Canada. Normal life looms. 
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As I left the beach abode I felt tears rising. A sign that I found a special place, and also that I had enjoyed special days with my son. 

I thought this was going to be my last trip down under.

Now I am not so sure.......

Christmas 2025. 

A special treat; spending time with my children, their family and all of us living together in one house for two whole days. 

A Vancouver Christmas.
Via New York.

For what better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to walk the streets of that spectacular city, all decked out for Christmas. The last time we visited New York was at Christmas 30 years ago. So many changes; tall thin, unbelievably high sky scrapers dwarfing the Empire State Building. The museum at Ground Zero; a very moving tribute to the many who lost their lives in 9/11. The leafy highline walk giving vistas from a raised viewpoint. 

All of these we visited. After breakfast we set ourselves up for the day with a game of table tennis and table football in the lobby of our hotel . OH ( my other half) won every time. I didn't mind. I was just glad to play the games of my youth before stepping out into the bracing cold of the city. Full thermals required, 

I carried a tiny Olympus camera in my pocket. This was not a photography trip. But if I had stayed longer, and been alone, I would have focused on the justaposition of trees and high rise buildings. Nature in the city. 

Black and white or colour?

A difficult choice. 

I enjoy both.

Last time we visited with children in tow. This time we were free to wander and walk, eat bagels and visit art galleries. 

I really wanted to see the Guggenheim, having been blown away by the Guggenheim in Bilbao in 2023. 

Suffice to say that I didn't take any photos of the New York Guggenheim. It was so much smaller and less spectacular than its Spanish contemporary. The art on show was political and didn't resonate with my festive mood. 

It was completed in 1959, 38 years before the Spanish version, so it seems unfair to compare the two. But I have. I can only say that I was not uplifted in the way I anticipated.

I had no expectations for MOMA, the museum of Modern Art in New York, and it far exceeded my expectations. OH was also greatly impressed, a rare happening in an art gallery. So many famous artists and a spacious, attractive layout. We spent a whole afternoon there soaking in the wonders.

I enjoyed exploring how other photographers had captured the city. Going in close to create abstracts with windows, or using intentional camera movement to accentuate the lights at night.

I fell in love with Matthew Wong's oil painting 'Unknown pleasures" 2019. It reminds me of everything that I hold dear. Nature, mountains and flowing water, or is it an undulating road? 

I was highly amused to find an exhibit of the very same brown paper bags that I used to make cyanotypes on during my residency at Vashon Island. My cyanotypes were rejected for the Vashon alumni exhibition this year, and not surprising, as they were rough and ready, made as an experiment.

If only I had left them unaldulterated as simple functional bags I might have made it into MOMA!

And yes, there were works by Monet, VanGogh and Rothko. Ansel Adams and Irving Penn. But I was also really taken with an image of olive trees in African heat by JoAnn Verburg. It has the feel of pages in a book, with the trees framed and hung as a quadriptych, set in soft African light. Expansive and calming. 

And having seen some art we returned to Central Park, to enjoy the festive atmosphere. An endless stream of horse and carriages and bicycle rickshaws decked for the holiday streamed past us. Santa hats and cheesy music blaring out. 

I rode on the carousel with parents and children. I will never be too old to enjoy a carousel ride. 

I was happy as Larry.

And then we flew to Vancouver for the real purpose of our journey. To see our children and to play games. To walk in the forest and shout at the pantomime villain. 

Family traditions are made of moments like these. 
I felt very lucky.