What's catching Chris' eye

As we've been cycling our way down the North Island, Chris has been taking lots of photos. Most of the photos in my posts are taken by him - some on one of the two cameras he is carrying, but many just on his phone.

Many of you (and the other cyclists on our tour) have been enjoying his photos. So, for this post, I thought I'd include some of the images that have caught his eye along the way.

We saw several stingray washed up along Ninety Mile Beach, along with some small sharks. They were probably caught by fishers and discarded.

Crabs have always been one of Chris' favourite subjects. He found this black-fingered crab at Pukenui.

Chris loves checking out the local critters on land and sea, and spotted this praying mantis near our cabin at the Rāwene holiday park.

As we cycled into Opononi, the mist started to clear and the sun almost created a rainbow.

We had mist again the following day when we left Dargaville. This photo was taken looking out over the Waipoua River.

Chris thought this might be an avian version of social distancing - one tern per post at Thames.

This wee reminder was nailed on to the edge of the road by a drain in Thames. We saw similar signs (with different fish) in Whanganui.

Murals are increasingly appearing on utility boxes around the country. This one was in Cambridge.

Part of the cycleway around Lake Karapiro includes a boardwalk section right along the edge of the lake. It was a beautiful clear morning when we came through.

I cycled right past this tiny blue mushroom in Pureora Forest, but Chris spotted it immediately. (This is just one of the many mushroom and fungi photos in his collection.)

These paper wasps were also in Pureora Forest.

This somewhat alarming sign appeared several times along the Timber Trail. Fortunately no falling rocks eventuated.

Whanganui is known for being an arty place and we found many great murals along the walls of old buildings.

Every day we see many dead possums, hedgehogs, cats and birds along the side of the road. Usually they are well and truly squashed. We were amused by this possum on the way to Kimbolton, which appeared at first glance to be merely resting.

On a slightly happier note, Chris rescued this golden bell frog from the road during the same ride (but not before taking a photo).