Jeffery and I took one walk near home, bush-whacking up above our Dunedin world and then along the railroad tracks to the Sacred Waterfall. We don't know the history of its "sacredness" but we've always called it that, and when there was a need to quarry rock from that place after the '97 Flood, local protests kept the waterfall safe from depredation.
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| Literally, this is a Rat's Nest - a wood rat or pack rat - it's base is 8 feet wide! eeeuuwww! |
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| brilliant foliage in the dark forest |
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| SMILE! |
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| graffiti carved into the moss on the rock-face |
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| Uncle Jeffery immortalizes Hannah Fewell's 15th birthday |
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| When they quarried here, the railroad had a spur line for loading the material |
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| The Sacred Waterfall, in shadow. Very dry!!!! |
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| Jeffery carves this event's walking stick |
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| self-portrait in a water drop |
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| moss-drops - this is all the water that comes down the falls - a dry year indeed |
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| Jeffery climbed up the Sacred Waterfall, which is not something one can do normally - see him? And see how close the quarriers came when they chopped up the cliff face? The waterfall used to be in more of a grotto |
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| train coming! |
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| walkin' man |
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| cool railroad devices at the rail line split |
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| The wee beastie is so cute |
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| we think this lifts the railroad ties off of and onto the trailer |
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| We think this machine pulls out and puts in the railroad ties |
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| caution sign on the equipment |
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| De-railer device |
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| Jeffery wants Lucy to know that he loves the railroad! |
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| The White Cliffs of Tobin - Shay-pup is buried at the top of this alluvial fan |
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| the "sand" on the White Cliffs is really fine granite gravel - my walking stick gives perspective |
I am still learning how to add photos into this blog, so I'm putting Jeffery's photos of the same hike in now, with a bit of back-tracking, since I can't put this in where they belong in the time-stream.
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| Jeffery took the photo of me at the bottom of the Sacred Waterfall when he climbed it - see me? (EEK!! I used the wrong photo. I am not at the bottom of the cliff, or at least, not that I can see) |
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| The Sacred Waterfall with obvious quarrying work done close by. |
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| Train! |
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| Two rail-cars curve on the main line, with the siding and spur to the quarry in view (I like this photo) |
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self-explanatory sign along the railroad tracks
The next day, Jeffery, Brenda and I hiked up the Jackass Creek Waterfall across from Tobin |
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| The foliage was so much brighter than this; like the hillside was alight with multi-colored fire! |
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| Looking down the waterfall - you have to know that Jeffery took this! |
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| Brenda and I give an idea of how steep the hill is |
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| view hallooo! |
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| colors |
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| blurry, but so lovely, eh? |
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| poison oak berries! |
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| blurry, but sort of ethereal and comforting |
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| headed home - Jeffery and Brenda |
