Skylark Productions » Varia

Thank you & Happy New Year!

Markus Baumann — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 04:33:17 +0000

A big thankyou to you, my readers and followers of my blog. Thank you for your support, comments, suggestions and feedback over the last year!

I have a new series of articles in planning and will publish them along with new photos here soon.

In the meantime I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and happy tramping, hiking, walking, running, cycling, mountain biking, climbing, mountaineering, skiing, ski touring, abseiling, canyoning, kayaking, boating, swimming, sunbathing, botanising, birdwatching, hunting, fishing, river crossing, camping, tenting, hammocking, hut bagging, relaxing, photo shooting, and whatever else you may or like to get up to in the wilderness…

Buttercup–Ranunculus (Hundred Acre Plateau)

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Thank you & Happy New Year!

Solstice—goodbye autumn, hello winter!

Markus Baumann — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:21:24 +0000

Today at 5:45 pm NZST the sun is at the most northern point in the ecliptic—it’s solstice. In astronomical terms this event marks the beginning of winter (in the southern hemisphere). It’s also the time when we get the least daylight.

In Nelson we’ve already had a few mornings with subzero temperatures this year. Winter seems to have arrived a little earlier than usual. While snow doesn’t fall to sea level in Nelson, snow-capped hills and mountains are a common sight. In the twelve years that I have lived here, I’ve seen snow as low as 300 metres. I’ve been told that one winter in the 1950s it was actually snowing in Nelson City.

In the nearby mountains of Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes National Park snowfalls can occur at any time of the year. I remember tramping up the Cobb in knee-deep snow at Christmas time, or wading through waist-deep snow at Lake Angelus in February. In summer, snow doesn’t last long at those altitudes. In winter, on the other hand, snow and ice can make tramping difficult. Some areas can become impassable, while others are prone to avalanches. Since I prefer not to spend too much time in the snow, I’m quite happy to leave conditions like that to others and mountaineers.

Nevertheless, I do enjoy looking at and taking photos of snowy landscapes. Say “hello winter” as you take a look at the following photos:

Mt Ranolf (southeast face, 1660 m) on Peel Range

Peel Range (point 1483)

Bush along Cobb Ridge Route

Morning sun on Peel Range—Mt Peel (far right, 1654 m)

Tahunanui Beach, Nelson—Arthur Range

To view my other snowy photos please browse my snow photo album.

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Solstice—goodbye autumn, hello winter!

Daylight Saving ends—how many hours of daylight have you saved?

Markus Baumann — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 05:31:02 +0000

Last night, daylight saving finished and the clocks were put back one hour to New Zealand Standard Time. I’ve always considered it an usual term, “daylight saving”. Imagine for a moment the possibility of being able to save daylight for later use. Wouldn’t that be great? Well, yes and no. Undoubtedly it would result in some sort of conflict. Daylight saving rules would have to be put in place, on who gets to save how much, when it can be used, how much “daylight interest” can be earned, and so forth. Then there would be the scenario of getting into daylight debt—oh, I see, here comes the Daylight Credit Card—good as gold!

The British refer to daylight saving as summer time, equivalent to Sommerzeit in German, and heure d’été in French. Whatever the terminology, over the years I’ve listened to some heated debates on the pros and cons of daylight saving. How could tweaking a time zone cause such intense deliberation?

Perhaps it shows how much our lives revolve around a set timetable. The alarm clock rings at a set time, work hours are fixed, traffic jams occur with peculiar regularity, meal breaks are scheduled, as are TV programmes, sports events and club meetings, and the list goes on…

If it wasn’t for our timetabled and scheduled lives, daylight saving would be irrelevant. After all, our planet keeps on orbiting the sun, the seasons come and go, no matter how we arrange our time zones. I often become aware of that when I go tramping in New Zealand’s wilderness, away from schedules and any electricity. I get up at dawn and hit the sack at nightfall; I make most of the daylight in between—whether it’s saved or unsaved!

Sunrise at Anapai Bay, Abel Tasman National Park

For more photos please refer to my sunrise or sunset gallery.

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Daylight Saving ends—how many hours of daylight have you saved?