Having read Inge's admonition on burnout, I thought I'd make a contribution ... it's totally off topic of course ... or is it ... wandering starry-eyed through the galaxy can't really be off topic on an astronomy forum, can it ...
well, gentle folks, it's like this ... while our poor Aussie cousins across the Tasman Sea have been struggling with heat waves and monstrous bush fires, here in New Zealand it's been a wet cool summer ... well not really summer ... but it's not cold either ... today we had a daytime high of 19°C and an overnight low of 13°C - typical of our summer that's still to arrive ... a maritime climate we like to call it ... but the cloud ... oh man ... the cloud ... the Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa which means "Land of the long white cloud" ... and this summer Aotearoa is living up to its name ...
So this evening just as dusk was falling, no point in hauling out the telescope ... instead I put on my tramping boots (hiking boots) and wandered down my long driveway and onto Akatea Road ... then along to Singers Road and within 5 minutes I was heading down the tar seal zig-zag walkway that leads steeply down the 700 foot hill to the Petone Railway Station ... a very beautiful walk through virgin native bush (bush is what we call the forest here) ... a path well lit by the glow of incandescent sodium ...
by the time I reached the bottom of the hill it was quite dark, but instead of returning up the hill via the main roadway, I got out the LED headlamp and ducked into the bush of Galbraith Gulley. By day this is a delightful wee stream that gurgles gently through the native bush ... trees, ferns, ancient tree ferns and mossy banks ... but remember it's 9.30 pm now and pitch dark in the bush ...
the track, if one can call it a track, crosses the stream about 30 times as one heads upstream towards the head-waters of the gulley ... and every few metres I stopped and turned off the LED headlamp ... and there I was ... enveloped by the galaxy ... the Galbraith Gulley Glow-worm Galaxy ... literally thousands of glow worms performing their glow worm mating thing on the banks of the stream ... it was like fairy-land ... and for half an hour I wandered slipping and sliding over the wet rocks in the dark as I headed up the stream ... now by the light of the red LED and now with the light turned off ... and all the while the glow worms glowed and the stream gurgled gently ...
but all too soon I broke out of the bush at the head of the gulley ... just 50 metres from my letter-box ... why did it have to end ... I can't help feeling so very lucky ... yes, this is Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud ... but the clouds bring the rain and the rain feeds our ancient forests and our gentle streams ... it's the stuff that Paradise is made of ...
and so, gentle folks, it's off to bed, perchance to dream ... of drifting through the galaxy ... of countless stars without a name ... accompanied only by the sound of ones own heart beat and the gentle gurgle of the stream ...
another night the sky will be clear ... but tonight there was a different kind of magic ...
Anthony
Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand at 41°S 175°E
well, gentle folks, it's like this ... while our poor Aussie cousins across the Tasman Sea have been struggling with heat waves and monstrous bush fires, here in New Zealand it's been a wet cool summer ... well not really summer ... but it's not cold either ... today we had a daytime high of 19°C and an overnight low of 13°C - typical of our summer that's still to arrive ... a maritime climate we like to call it ... but the cloud ... oh man ... the cloud ... the Maori name for New Zealand is Aotearoa which means "Land of the long white cloud" ... and this summer Aotearoa is living up to its name ...
So this evening just as dusk was falling, no point in hauling out the telescope ... instead I put on my tramping boots (hiking boots) and wandered down my long driveway and onto Akatea Road ... then along to Singers Road and within 5 minutes I was heading down the tar seal zig-zag walkway that leads steeply down the 700 foot hill to the Petone Railway Station ... a very beautiful walk through virgin native bush (bush is what we call the forest here) ... a path well lit by the glow of incandescent sodium ...
by the time I reached the bottom of the hill it was quite dark, but instead of returning up the hill via the main roadway, I got out the LED headlamp and ducked into the bush of Galbraith Gulley. By day this is a delightful wee stream that gurgles gently through the native bush ... trees, ferns, ancient tree ferns and mossy banks ... but remember it's 9.30 pm now and pitch dark in the bush ...
the track, if one can call it a track, crosses the stream about 30 times as one heads upstream towards the head-waters of the gulley ... and every few metres I stopped and turned off the LED headlamp ... and there I was ... enveloped by the galaxy ... the Galbraith Gulley Glow-worm Galaxy ... literally thousands of glow worms performing their glow worm mating thing on the banks of the stream ... it was like fairy-land ... and for half an hour I wandered slipping and sliding over the wet rocks in the dark as I headed up the stream ... now by the light of the red LED and now with the light turned off ... and all the while the glow worms glowed and the stream gurgled gently ...
but all too soon I broke out of the bush at the head of the gulley ... just 50 metres from my letter-box ... why did it have to end ... I can't help feeling so very lucky ... yes, this is Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud ... but the clouds bring the rain and the rain feeds our ancient forests and our gentle streams ... it's the stuff that Paradise is made of ...
and so, gentle folks, it's off to bed, perchance to dream ... of drifting through the galaxy ... of countless stars without a name ... accompanied only by the sound of ones own heart beat and the gentle gurgle of the stream ...
another night the sky will be clear ... but tonight there was a different kind of magic ...
Anthony
Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand at 41°S 175°E
Nice walk, thanks for sharing.
