Westland Weather

I am reading Eleanor Catton's prize winning novel "The Luminaries", and enjoying the graphic descriptions that she uses to describe the life in the gold rush days of South Westland, an area which is well known to me. This passage, (which I include without her approval) provides an imaginative description of the dismal weather that so often greets the tourists as frequently these days as it did for the pioneers 150 years ago:-

"As Balfour turned into Revell Street, he was met with such a lash of wind and rain that he was obliged to clamp his hat to his head with his hand. According to Saxby’s Weather Warnings, that dubious oracle published daily in the West Coast Times, the deluge would let up within a day or three – for Saxby was expansive in his predictions, and allowed himself a generous margin of error on either side of his guess. In general, the specifics of his column changed but rarely: downpour was as much a part of the Hokitika constitution, as frost and sunburn had been in Otago……."

All Boys Throw Stones

Yes - Throwing stones is always a favorite pastime for young boys, but this is a bit ridiculous.
This was a typical scene on our rather challenging climb up to Castle Rock in the Girraween National Park, but the effort that it demanded was well rewarded by the 360 degree views that we enjoyed in rare perfectly calm conditions on the top.