Out & about in the Bus "Dorset Blue"

Weve just had a few days at Peel Forest Camp with some friends of ours Maggi & Gerald Dale.

when we left home it was raining & so it did all night, thank goodness we were not in a tent!!After breakfast we went for a bush walk.

In the afternoon we drove in their truck up the gorge, the Rangitata was very full & milky in colour.

In the evening friends, the Thatchers came round for a BBQ we had a lovely evening.

The next day Maggi & Gerald had to go home so we decided to go to Lake Camp for the night the weather was much brighter up there we would have stayed longer it was so nice but had to get back ourselves.

Catlins Field Trip with Focus Aorangi

19 from Focus Camera club went to the Catlins for a long weekend. Oct 30th - Nov 2nd.
We stayed at Pounawea.

The weather wasn't the best, but it sure made the sea spectacular with big rollers coming in.

Had an early morning rise to catch a Nugget Point sunrise, but not much colour unfortunatly

Had a go with my new Lensbaby while in the bush

Native PigeonPlayed around with slow shutter speed as wellWe saw a few Seals at Cannibal BaySeagulls bathing in a stream at Papatowai beach

Purakaunui Falls


Rob & the two Jacks came too, we had a lovely 4 days

Visiting Stuart & Karen

We arrived at our hotel just outside Digby just in time for me to have a quick shower before the” Yellow Bug” arrived to pick me up, it was Stu & Karen, great to see them, they whisked me off to have a Chinese meal & then back to their place where I stayed the night.

Cody, Stu’s dog woke me up in the morning

Heather was there to great me. Had a fab day there

Lorraine, Aaron & Byron rang from Calgary

Michael, Ila & Ty came for a meal that night, the day was too short alas but was great to have the chance to catch up with my family. I went back to the hotel that night, we were catching the ferry to New Brunswick in the morning, the weather forecast was not good & we did'nt know if the ferry would run.

The morning ferry was still running & the crossing was calm, everybody was relieved.

Here we are waiting to get on.

We crossed a road ferry into St John.

Adair’s Lodge here we come.

BUT FIRST! we are all invited to Freeman's for a Delicious fresh Salmon lunch & to meet some of his friends.

In true NZ fashion Sally waves our flag! as Freeman approaches us in his car, every body's very excited to meet Freeman again & visit his paradise.

The greeting

My first glimpse of Freeman's home through the car window as we drove up his long driveway.

Then there was the delight of seeing the Barn made so familiar by Freeman's photos of it all through the seasons, now affectionately known as "Barney"

We had a lovely time meeting everybody

The Light House Route to Digby

On the road again, we head towards Digby.
It appeared on the map to be quite along way so we drove part of the way on the main road & part exploring the coast.

We crossed a bridge, the river looked pretty so we had to stop for a quick pic.
We had lunch at Shelbourne a beautifully kept small town, on an inlet.
I love the way the old wooden houses are painted picking out detail in white or bright colours, many with a Pickett fence & lots of pot plants.

Many have flags hanging like this Hotel.

The old window is part of a work shop producing wood carvings & barrels.

I took the photo of the sign post because I was map reading at the time & the main road we were following came to an abrupt end, & so it did!

Cape Cod Chairs, one of the memories of Nova Scotia, this row was just waiting to be photographed, did all the locals gather there & sit & look out to sea? I wonder.

Halloweens big in Nova Scotia every house has pumpkins galore on steps in gardens everywhere; these were on display at a shop by the road side.

On one of are side trips we came across a light house, & beside it was a row of orange chairs, as all photographers we couldn’t let up the chance of a group photo! As it turned out a wedding was just about to happen there, & a team turned up with flowers & beautiful white covers for the chairs!

Sue, Sean, Judy, Priscilla & Alice

Nova Scotia has an abundence of light houses, mostley wooden & small, painted white with red roofs, most are still working or used in some way.

Nova Scotia here we come!

We were met by the rest of the group at Halifax airport. Picked up the 3 vehicles & headed towards Liverpool, our first stop in Nova Scotia.
Liverpool was lovely, Pam, I & cameras explored this little town.

It was sad to see fishing ships rusting at the docks only to be used by pigeons now, the fishing industry of Nova Scotia destroyed over the years.
The houses are very colourful,

& many buildings have murals painted on them,

the fire hydrants were fun too.

Lots of maritime weather veins

We stopped & talked to this bunch of youngsters, the boy with the "baby" (not real) was looking after it for a month, this was all part of their education, all the students had a turn of being in charge of it. He sped off on his bike,baby in one arm, not ideal! to feed it & put it to bed.