May was reasonable, though still well short of last November and December. Pictures processed is definitely anticorrelated with a combination of workload at the day job and trips; indeed, May was also a reasonable month for workload, and didn’t have much travel.

I pushed through last night and reduced the backlog to under two years now; excluding historic (pre-2020) sets, the next set of pictures is from June 27, 2024. So I have a bit of runway. There are a lot of pictures from the second half of 2024, though: five major trips with more than 20 big days. In some sense, the days that are most of a drag are the hiking days, because it’s hard for me to decide which are the best pictures from those days.

There are about 7 new sets from May versus 22 processed, so the backlog is definitely shorter overall. I’d like to get the start of the backlog through the end of July 2024 and did a random selection of historic and more recent pictures this month. I think 2024 has more pictures than 2025, as I was on sabbatical in 2024.

Highlights include the last Cascade Saddle set; Travers Sabine 2024; and one more Tour du Mont Blanc day.

Picture logs available, and, as always, pictures are clickable to go to the full gallery.

Sets of pictures processed: May=22, March/April=10
Total pictures selected: May=846, March/April=330
Total pictures in selection pool: May=2330, March/April=1263
Accept rate: 36% (min 18%, max 71%)
Pictures posted on this page: 216 (25% of selected)

I noted last month that most of my highlights were from the Cascade Saddle. This is not the case this month, though the Cascade Saddle pictures are still overrepresented.

Travers River; Blue Lake; mossy tree; Mana and Kāpiti Islands near Wellington; Christchurch tram driver; golden hour trees in Christchurch; me in Miraflores (where life is better?); a glowing Kāpiti Island; MP and me; cat and ebike on the TMB; golden hour in Dunedin; Mount Māori (from the Cascade Saddle); MP and the Dart Glacier; Cascade Saddle w/unknown guy; Dart Glacier.

Lots of birds, animals, and plants/fungi. Let’s start with the birds.

Kākāpō at Te Papa (there are no captive kākāpō); leaping kiwi at Te Papa; ducks in a row; silvereye/tauhou; NZ pipit/pīhoihoi; S Island Robin/kakaruai; rifleman/titipounamu butt, all on the Travers-Sabine; Mr Goose on Blue Lake (why you here?); fantail/pīwakawaka; blackbirds; welcome swallows at Brook Waimarama sanctuary; kererū; Orbell the takahē at Zealandia; pigeons on a pillar (Dunedin); kākā (Zealandia again).

Wait, more (sea)birds!

Pied shag (Zealandia); three pictures of a yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho).

Some non-bird animals:

Creekbed orange underwing; grasshopper (Sigaus collinaus) (both from Travers-Sabine); indoors cicada; sheep (Wellington); fur seal (Dunedin); cat (Miraflores); (garden?) snail shell (Escarpment Track); beetle (tribe geotrupini) (TMB); cranberry blue (TMB); cow (TMB); dog (TMB).

Plants and fungi:

Giant vegetable sheep; NZ harebell; dwarf alpine senecio (brachyglottis bellidioides); brittlegills; ragwort; Richards toetoe; russula purpureotincta (above and below); simocybe phlebophora; strawberry bracket; brittlegills; yarrow; nerium oleander; bristly oxtongue; purple gentian; S Island edelweiss.

Cascade Saddle (February 2026)

Here is the last set of photos from the Cascade Saddle trip.

Keeping the best, or at least the biggest, for last. Over the Cascade Saddle, which took longer than one might expect from the distance and elevation.

Ridges; Matukituki Valley from above; the Instagram spot on the Cascade Saddle ascent; Dart Glacier (extreme care!); crossing the shale; toilet; tarn with tufts; Dart River and silt; incredibly silty stream; the other side of Cascade Saddle.

Highlighting the summits:

Mt Aspiring; just some mountains; Cascade tributary and Mt Aspiring; Mount Avalanche?.

Tour du Mont Blanc (July 2025)

A bit of progress on this huge set of pictures, having finished the day 2 pictures. I’ve posted 595 pictures from this trip so far, across 9 sets; 10 sets remain. Oof. Here are all of the pictures I’ve posted so far:

Shiny snowy peaks; shed with flowerpots; MP; lively at Miage; village through the trees; pinion rail; Notre Dame de la Gorge; Refuge de Nant Borrant; representations of cows; MP at dinner table; dessert; ridge.

Travers-Sabine (February 2024)

Powered through this set. Blue Lake is noteworthy, but on the whole, Cascade Saddle is way more dramatic. Had done one day earlier (WLG-BHE) but did everything else this month. There is no trip report.