The day with two dawns
As Phileas Fogg found to his great relief (in the form of a gain rather than a loss of £20,000), and I merely as a curiosity, travelers crossing the International Date Line from west to east gain a calendar day. For me the most recent eastward crossing of the Line took place on February 27th, which I remember as the day with two dawns. You’ve already seen pictures taken during the first one, which I lived through at Little Manly Beach on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula north of Auckland. The second dawn, shown through the safety of an airplane window and the convenience of an iPhone camera, came to me over the Pacific Ocean as we approached the California coast.
Here then, after five installments, you’ve finally reached the last of the photographs you’ll see from the great and fondly remembered New Zealand venture of 2015. Any of you who’d like to take a stroll (or more properly scroll) back through all 70 (!) of the posts about New Zealand may click here.
© 2015 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
That is a rare thing you saw.
Jim in IA
July 24, 2015 at 6:23 AM
It was considerate of North America to welcome me back that way.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 6:35 AM
Thanks for a wonderful series, Steve.
Gallivanta
July 24, 2015 at 6:25 AM
You’re welcome. I hope some of those images let you see your country in new ways.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 6:36 AM
Indeed they did.
Gallivanta
July 24, 2015 at 6:37 PM
Une telle beauté est très rare Steve, cela a dû être un moment fabuleux.
Bonne fin de semaine à toi.
chatou11
July 24, 2015 at 7:01 AM
Et à toi aussi, Chantal.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 7:24 AM
Thank you, Steve. I thoroughly enjoyed the natural wonders of New Zealand through your lens!
Sammy D.
July 24, 2015 at 7:01 AM
You’re welcome, Sammy. You can tell that I had a great time with New Zealand’s natural wonders.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 8:17 AM
It was a wonderful “trip” Steve~ thanks for taking us along!
melissabluefineart
July 24, 2015 at 8:37 AM
You’re welcome. I wish you could have come along for real, but let’s hope it won’t take you as long to get there as it took me.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 8:42 AM
Armchair travel suits me well these days. Although my son says he definitely wants to move to Austin when he’s done with college… 🙂
melissabluefineart
July 24, 2015 at 8:44 AM
Then you’ll have a reason to rise up from your armchair and come visit central Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 8:47 AM
YES!
melissabluefineart
July 24, 2015 at 8:50 AM
Wonderful blog posts about New Zealand!
photoleaper
July 24, 2015 at 1:30 PM
With such a scenic place, it wasn’t hard to rack up lots of photographs for lots of posts. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 1:45 PM
I have really enjoyed seeing your view of my country. This is a great shot.
Raewyn's Photos
July 24, 2015 at 3:10 PM
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed this visual interpretation of New Zealand through the eyes of a foreigner. Tomorrow it’ll be back to Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 4:39 PM
Spectacular photo. Thanks for sharing this experience.
Birder's Journey
July 24, 2015 at 3:33 PM
You’re welcome. How could I not share all these treasures?
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 4:41 PM
I’m a little surprised by how sorry I am to see the New Zealand series end. I certainly have enjoyed it — no more considering Australia-and-New-Zealand as one big, undifferentiated lump!
And thanks for that link to the whole series. it will be fun to look at the photos again in light of all I’ve learned through your postings. I still think a gallery show would be fabulous.
shoreacres
July 24, 2015 at 8:07 PM
You’re right: although Australia and New Zealand are relatively close to each other in distance, the two places are quite different (and of course Australia is the size of the 48 United States, so it has huge internal differences within it).
I’m sorry to see the series end too. I could have shown more, but I think 70 posts was plenty for a blog named Portraits of Wildflowers that focuses on nature in Texas.
Your idea for a gallery show makes me wonder if the New Zealand embassy or any of its consulates in the United States might be interested in sponsoring such a show.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 9:01 PM
Bingo! I even found there was a consulate in Houston, but didn’t want to be pushy. 🙂
shoreacres
July 24, 2015 at 9:02 PM
I’d already been planning to alert the New Zealand embassy and consulates once I’d completed my posts about their country. I didn’t know (and still don’t know) what that might lead to. I hadn’t thought about a physical exhibition, but it’s a good idea.
Steve Schwartzman
July 24, 2015 at 9:20 PM
I’ve enjoyed it. The natural beauty of NZ is amazing, and it’s been nice to have the benefit of a gifted eye for it. Thanks for sharing.
I recall the first time I crossed the date line. I was traveling on business. I left home the day before my anniversary and arrived in Australia on the day after it. It was like my anniversary never happened that year.
Bill
July 25, 2015 at 3:55 AM
You’re welcome for the photographs, which naturally I enjoyed taking. Nature in new Zealand makes it easy to get good pictures.
Someday you and your wife will have to fly in the other direction on the same date so that you can have two anniversaries that year and make up for the one you lost
Steve Schwartzman
July 25, 2015 at 6:53 AM
How many people travel half way around the world to photograph the dawn twice?
Steve Gingold
July 26, 2015 at 4:19 PM
I don’t know the answer to your question, but I can tell you that that wasn’t my intention when I headed for New Zealand.
Steve Schwartzman
July 26, 2015 at 5:11 PM