A beautiful image showing close up detail of a penny farthing bicycle, Oamaru New Zealand.

The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler and ordinary, is a type of bicycle with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel. It was popular after the boneshaker until the development of the safety bicycle in the 1880s. It was the first machine to be called a "bicycle".

Although the name "penny-farthing" is now the most common, it was probably not used until the machines were nearly outdated; the first recorded print reference is from 1891 in Bicycling News. It comes from the British penny and farthing coins, one much larger than the other, so that the side view resembles a penny leading a farthing. For most of their reign, they were simply known as "bicycles". In the late 1890s, the name "ordinary" began to be used, to distinguish them from the emerging safety bicycles; this term and "hi-wheel" (and variants) are preferred by many modern enthusiasts.

In 1869, Eugène Meyer, a Frenchman, invented the High-Bicycle design and fashioned the wire-spoke tension wheel. Around 1870, English inventor James Starley, described as the father of the bicycle industry, and others, began producing bicycles based on the French boneshaker but with front wheels of increasing size, because larger front wheels, up to 1.5 m (60 in) in diameter, enabled higher speeds on bicycles limited to direct drive. In 1878, Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle outside of Boston, starting their two-decade heyday in America.

Although the trend was short-lived, the penny-farthing became a symbol of the late Victorian era. Its popularity also coincided with the birth of cycling as a sport. (source Wikipedia)

March is the month for rainbows in Oamaru.

Here we see a beautiful example rising above Oamaru Harbour, reflected light from the clouds lighting the green waters below.

Below Benmore Dam, Waitaki, willow trees grow. A digital painting by Derek Golding.

Benmore Dam is the largest dam within the Waitaki power scheme, located in the New Zealand's South Island. There are eight other power stations in the Waitaki Power Scheme.

The dam is the largest earth-filled water-retaining structure in New Zealand. Its core is low permeability clay material, supported by two massive shoulders of river gravel. Lake Benmore has a volume of 1.25 billion cubic metres, about 1.5 times as much water as Wellington Harbour. The dam's spillway can cope with 3,400 cubic metres of water per second, about 10 times the mean river flow.

Moraki boulders lie on the beach close to the small village of Moraki, on the Waitaki coast.

These strange objects were once thought to be the eggs of giant creatures lost in time. This belief was quickly denounced by the scientific community......but we know better!

The little town of Oamaru, the town that could! A digital painting by Derek Golding

Oamaru a beautiful little town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Home to GoldingArts and the location of many of Derek's phtotographs and artworks.

Oamaru is well worth a visit by any photographer or artist for the stunning views.

Boaties skip across the Avon Heathcote estuary, Christchurch, with a winter storm looming on the background. Light breaks through the dark clouds in the distance.

A Beautiful Lenticuilar cloud formation at sunset, above Oamaru, North Otago.

Behind Jacksons Pub in Otira a dark path winds up into the native forest.

after a half hours walk you come to a glade filled with the sound of water. A beautiful waterfall cascades down from the mountain side into a dark pool. A rock appears to block the entrance to a cave behind the pool keeping us out.... or keeping something in?

A break in heavy fog lights up a wave from a distant sunrise at the Oamru Breakwater, Oamaru Harbour.

Captured at 1/1600th of a second the water appears to shatter like glass against the stone.

Lupins abound in the Mackenzie country. This is a digital painting of the beautiful flowers scattered across the district.

Check out this article in New Zealand Geographic about the love/hate relationship with them here.

Steampunk HQ in Oamaru is a major draw card to thousands of visitors a year, yet at night, it is the domain of the penguin!

Well worth a visit at night, as is all the Harbour Precinct area

An old shearer's hut stands facing the elements in North Otago.

Digitally painte,d this image brings out hidden colours within the scene.

A Tor is an outcrop of rock in the landscape. Otago has many Tor's scattered across the district thanks to the Geology and weather we experience here.

This is a digital painting showing the natural bonsai like tree, treated harshly by the prevailing winds into this unusual shape.

A tilt Shift effect is used to create a toy town! 

Oamaru as seen from Forrester Heights, the hill overlooking Oamaru on Cape Wanbrow.