Tangi-te-Keo is the resting place of the manuwairua, Te Keo, of the unfortunate taniwha, Whātaitai (see A Taste of Middle-earth).
The photos were loaded as a photostream in Flickr, made into a slideshow, and the resulting embed html pasted into this post
Update 29 Aug 2008 (Thanks to Virginia Yonkers!)
Participants in groups of twos or threes view the slideshow, then share with each other something about a geographical feature of where they come from (island, hill, mountain, river, sea, lake etc.) If they are from Wellington they share something of what they know of Wellington.
Posts
6 comments:
Good idea of the icebreaker. Just thought I would mention that embeds are often stripped out in RSS feeds. So when I read your post in Google Reader I don't see the Slideshow. What I do is include a link to the original location of the object and I also try and draw attention to it by saying below.
I also subscribe to my own feeds in Google Reader and Bloglines so I'm aware what is/isn't being removed. Not sure how I will tackle this week's task.
Kia ora Sue!
You are forever helpful! Every blogger should have one of you! :-)
To my dismay, I discovered exactly what you described when I checked the RSS this morning. I brought up the post to find your comment already there.
Thanks for the tip. It is worth-while checking these things at the time of posting. Thing is, I didn't think to check my RSS. Fixed now, thanks to your vigilance!
Ka kite
I think for this to be a true "icebreaker" you would need to include some questions to start the conversation or guidelines in creating their own slideshow. In addition to the slide show, for example, you might have members explain how they get to the place they are showing (so you get an idea of what their lifestyle is), how often they go there, etc... You could also have them put in commentary by having an accompanying podcast (which are very easy to do).
I do have a question looking at this Ken. Did you take these pictures recently (within the last couple of weeks)? If so, it is interesting because it looks the same as here, in upstate New York. In fact, looking at the scene reminds me of Thatcher park in the Helderberg Mountains or Mount Greylock in the Berkshires (we can see both from where we live). The colors are just beginning to change here for fall (it is very early yet) as our nights become cold. However, I think you are entering Spring. It seems very green for spring (we don't have spring, we have a mud season).
Virginia!
I'd completely forgotten about this! You are right - for it to be an icebreaker there needs to be something else. I had actually thought of all this, but I got so caught up in the technology to produce the slideshow and get all the links etc that I completely forgot about this aspect.
I had intended to give it a name that would prompt the question(s) that you talk about. "Island, lake, river or sea, hill or mountain, plain or farm", was one idea I had.
This would be the prompt for participants using the icebreaker to share with each other (in twos or threes) something about a geographical feature of where they come from (Island, lake etc, etc.)
In this particular series of photographs there are all of those categories. Views for Tangi-te-Keo were taken in summer, January I think. You are correct about spring about to begin here. FNO, Wellington has some spectacular seasons, as most South Pacific cities have. I always dream about summer in winter, though even in winter, Wellington can be beautiful:
An hour before noon
Shafts of white sunshine through cool dewy mist,
Crystal-bright droplets the sunbeams had kissed,
Fantails' quiet chatter to greet every ray,
A tui's soft clatter to beckon the day;
Not one frond in motion, no twig disturbed
Till an hour before noon found the stillness perturbed,
Like a wicked enchantment hastily cast,
A blustery buffeting billowy blast
Tore groundsel and hebe and taupata hedge
Empowering the eddies to twine leaf and sedge;
Neither flutter of bird nor quiver of bees
Caused the mischievous rustling in bushes and trees,
Nor a taniwha's breath nor taipo's wheeze,
Just the hustle and bustle of Wellington's breeze.
Ka kite
Interestingly enough, when I first looked at the picture I saw the similarities with my region (cities built into the hills/mountains--since I lived in Denver, Switzerland, and San Jose, Costa Rica, I realize the definition of mountain is relative). But I completely missed the ocean. As we have many lakes and rivers (I cross the Hudson to work everyday) I was just assuming it was the same in NZ. Then I remembered that it is basically an island (or two, albeit large islands) in the Pacific and that this was probably a view of the ocean. How wonderful to have mountains and ocean!
Ka pai Virginia!
You have recognised the beauty of Wellington's natural harbour. The islands, and the peninsula that shelters the harbour, are features that make its scenery even more impressive.
Yes, the term 'mountain' is relative. Though we do have some beautiful mountains in New Zealand, the Mts in Wellington are simply hills - Mt Victoria, Mt Albert, Mt Kaukau, are actually less hilly than their neighbouring Brooklyn Hill, which is appropriately named! All of these flattened bumps can be seen in the panorama in the slide-show on this post.
South Island, NZ, has spectacular mountain ranges, some of which border the ocean. On a fine day with no haze in Wellington (it was quite hazy when the pictures in the slide-show were taken) these snow-capped mountains can be seen clearly from Tang-te-Keo. Now that's scenery!
Ka kite
Post a Comment