A really cool feature of our landscape in New Zealand is some of the stuff that sits in it or on it. Few fans of ‘architecture’ would spend too much time marvelling at many of our buildings in this country. Certainly none of them are particularly old, or characterful. I disagree on the characterful, it depends what you call character. I love our barns and sheds. So many have a rustic ‘New Zealandness’ all of their own. They are part of the fabric of our pastoral landscape. New Zealand as a modern nation was ‘founded on the sheep’s back’. This simply meant much of our income was derived originally from sheep farming. We subsequently have a lot of old Wool sheds. We also have a lot of barns. Here is a random selection of a few I drove past on my adventures. All of these were photographed from the side of the road.
Old barn, farm paddocks and the Ruahine Ranges. Stark light, morning tea time.That barn isn’t there anymore, shame, it was a nice barnThe photo is straight, the barn is wonkyTechnically, this is a schoolWool shed, in what my father used to call ‘tiger country’ because it’s the middle of nowhere. Odd phrase as we have no Tigers in New Zealand of course.Always site your small barn on the very edge of a precipice over a river, always.Rangitikei Wool Shed, needs painting really.I call this photo cow-barn. I know, but naming photos when you have a lot of them gets challenging sometimes.This is near a place called Rangiwahia, which is more of a vibe than a place.Because I also like a hill with it’s head in the cloudsThat barn is also gone now. Must have been in the ‘great storm’This is an example of superb photo editing. There was another sheep in this photo, but it was standing in an unattractive manner. It had to go, it was delicious.When all you really need is a roofThose bales are an example of stock feed being past it’s use by date.How Green is my valley?Do-er upper. This is on the way home, or out, depends on where I am goingThis is also high in the Rangitikei Hill Country, an old woolshed looking cool ij the snowy morning sunWho doesn’t love a derelict barn with a tree growing out of the window on a remote country road. Just a hint of the Ruahine Ranges in the background.Barn, needs work.This old wool shed is beside the Vinegar Hill Road, I don’t know why it’s called the Vinegar Hill Road. The Road is also called State Highway 54The Te Apiti Windmill Farm on the hills near the Manawatu Gorge. Many people hate windmills because they are an ugly blight on the landscape. If you’ve ever seen this windmill farm, you might change your mind. I think the word you might choose over ugly, is awesome. Even though awesome blight on the landscape still doesn’t sound like a good thing. They are an amazing sight and apparently also generate an awful lot of electricity. Which is a good thing.
Some of these photos have featured in this blog before, so I’m cheating a bit by putting them up again. The thing is though that it’s my blog and I make the rules, so that’s allowed.
Sandy's Views - Photography 