Autumn has to be the most colourful time of the year, at least in some areas. Tawa doesn't have a lot of deciduous trees which turn yellow, red or brown - "trees from the northern hemisphere" as a local paper editorialised in a rather disparaging manner recently. It's a pity we don't have a few more.

I admit that I enjoy the native evergreen vegetation on Tawa's western hills, and am a regular user of the walking tracks through the bush. But I also enjoy the colours of autumn which one doesn't see in abundance in these parts. There are a few autumn-coloured trees here and there, but not in large groupings crying out to be photographed (so to speak). For that reason this page is entitled "Autumn in Tawa and beyond". The emphasis is on "the beyond" because there are just three Tawa photos shown below. The first one is very nice. It's set in Sunrise Boulevard which does have a rather pleasant display of autumn colours. The next is another local street well into autumn, early May 2005. The third is even later in the season at the carpark at one of the local railway stations.

I remember driving up towards Taupo and on to the Waikato in April 2004. What struck me from about Hunterville onwards were the autumn colours. Not in vast quantities necessarily, but somewhat more than are seen in the Wellington region. Like many scenes, they look so much better with the sun on them than on a dull day. Most, but not all, of the shots below were taken on sunny days. They include Taihape, the Waikato countryside and Turangi.

Of course when it comes to spectacular autumn scenery, it's hard to beat Central Otago with its vibrant yellow (or golden) colouration. The shots below are not mine. They were taken by Alan Wickens who has kindly allowed them to be included on this page. I think they're superb!

Possibly the most spectacular display of autumn colours - and the biggest display - is that to be found in New England, in the northeastern USA. Or so they say. I haven't been there in the "fall" so can't verify that. However the pictorial evidence does seem to justify that claim. A search of the internet yielded the photos shown below. At this point I guess I need to include the disclaimer that if copyright has been breached in any way, please contact me with "proof of ownership" and the offending photo(s) will be removed.

Last but certainly not least are three autumn scenes in England. The first two shots are set in the English countryside which is very pleasant at different times of the year, especially in the autumn. The first one dates back almost 25 years, but is a very colourful setting and a favourite of mine. The last scene is suburban London.