Northland - west coast

From Coromandel, I drove right through Auckland as far as Dargaville to begin my west coast exploration of Northland. I made a brief stop at Matakohe en route, where there is a beautiful kauri museum I have seen previously. The cemetery next to the church was interesting: I guess I was expecting to see a lot of Dalmatian names, but instead I saw lots of Smith family headstones!

I stayed the night in a simple but comfortable motel that took me back to the 70s in many ways- and the owner was a very personable man, who had got up very early one morning in Kaitaia to reach Cape Reinga before sunrise. The motel wasn't far from the large river which runs through the town.

Next morning as I drove north, the rainfall of previous days was obvious in paddocks. Hard to believe that Northland/Auckland was in serious drought before my arrival!

My next stop was at the Kai Iwi freshwater dune lakes. I had learned about dune lakes as part of my NZ Flora course where we looked at the plants colonising the dunes along the Himatangi coast, but I was very surprised by the size of these ones.

I had seen Tane Mahuta before, but of course had to stop off to see this grand kauri tree again. There were some other kauri walks in the vicinity, but only one of the three was open, and it was 50mins return. I just didn't feel like risking the rain again, sook that I am, and didn't walk it. 

It wasn't long before I reached the twin Hokianga towns of Omapere and Opononi. The beautiful view when I first saw Hokianga Harbour took my breath away again.

I had lunch here but decided to move on almost to my own bemusement. I had previously passed through here midsummer when it was too busy to even think of trying to park and stop for a while- but somehow it all felt too "Auckland" for me today.
So it was on to Rawene, where a winter timetable for the ferry sailing meant I had just missed one, and had to wait nearly an hour for the next one. (My punishment for skipping a night in Opononi I guess!)

It was already getting dark when I arrived in Kaitaia, and I had no idea where I would stay. Fortunately I saw a motel vacancy sign, a petrol station and a sign pointing north for Cape Reinga all within 50 metres or so- so I found a place to hunker down for the night.

Turitea Walkway

Well, it surely does help to keep one sane if we keep having lovely winter days like this in the weekends. Another Sunday, another lovely walk - this time along the Turitea Walkway, which starts on the edge of Massey University grounds.

 The walk starts off along a track that passes through bush, near the Turitea Stream.

Later it emerges out onto farmland, and you get some great views across to the northern end of the ranges in behind the city.

 I saw quite a few people out walking their dogs. This lady is wearing a t-shirt, same as me- always makes it feel less like winter when you can do that!

I walked as far as this picnic table, just short of Old West Rd. The reflections in the pond were so beautiful in the sunshine. This is a pool where I look for some ducks with ducklings in the springtime. But today I used the view here as a place to practise my landscape-sequence ready for some 'stitching' efforts- as part of my night class 'homework'. Here are two of the landscapes I 'stitched' once I got home, and I am quite pleased I got them to 'match' up pretty well.

It was time to head back along the walkway for the car, and I decided to put the camera away and speed up the pace. But then along came this fungus beside the path, just begging to be photographed.

As I drove home, I noticed one of the magnolia trees in the Esplanade was in full flower. Ahhh well, if we have another fine day next weekend, I shall have to go and explore there...

183: landscape stitching

At the photography night course I am doing, the tutor taught us about taking photos so it was possible to stitch them together, so this morning I have been out experimenting. Lo and behold, when I checked the CD that came with the camera, I even had the PhotoStitch software on hand!

173: a special corner

A special corner on my lounge wall- includes my Compostela and some Camino photos from France and Spain. This time three years ago was the day I arrived in Astorga, with the mountains ahead heralding that I was coming to the end of a very long walk...

Random Collection

 First three photos are from last weekend's short walk down by the river, near the Ruahine St entrance to the walkway. You can see there were lots of active striders out and about- but I was just a dawdler.

 I had to take this photo as I saw it in the process of whizzing past me. It reminded me of the 'shadow' pics we used to take on the Camino.

 And here is one of the many 'dog walkers' down by the riverside.

Back home, I was pleased to see the sunshine still out, so took a photo of my shell/stone collection on the deck.

Last week I was teaching a class that were experimenting with cameras- and I was more than happy to share that experience with them. Here is a random shot I took in the classroom when talking to them about 'interesting angles'.

 Yesterday I was in the Square, and saw this duck waddling in the autumn leaves.

Today I thought it was going to be raining, and that I would be indoors. But when I finished a morning swim, the sun was shining gloriously, and it seemed like it was t-shirt weather. I decided to head out for a cycle ride across town, and wanted to use this shared cycle/footpath along Pioneer Highway. Lovely to be separate from the cars.

 Eventually I found my way down to the river, and after passing by Panieri Park I ended up stumbling down to this lovely isolated section of the river. Obviously dog owners know it well, but it was the first time I had been there. I am sure I will be back: it felt like I was a million miles away from the city.  And you can see I was not the only one who thought it was t-shirt/cycling weather.

And I will leave you with this view down over the stopbank to the river at Dittmer Drive. Another good place for a picnic, and not far from the Lido at all. And as it turned out, it was 21C today, a June record around here. No wonder I wanted to wear a t-shirt!

Night Lights

The moon just looked amazing in the sky tonight when it rose, and I headed out to the back deck with my camera. I have never had much luck with moon shots from there before, but tonight the moon was in just the right position for me to rest my arms on a wooden support. So I discovered the zoom on the camera could focus on some remarkable detail, that I certainly couldn't see with my naked eye.

Recently I have been inspired by my nephew, who took some wonderful night shots when the lights were on show in Pukekura Park this summer. (The linked photo is someone else's- but my nephew's shots were amazing too.) It was time for Aunty to get to grips with how to set the long shutter speed on her own camera for some night shots. And actually it was easy.... I was just playing around outside my house with the next three shots- trying for a movement effect, not a still one.

 There is one of those tall bright orange lights outside my house, as it is on a curvy intersection where there have been lots of crashes in the past, and that lights up the tree.

And this last shot is my favourite experiment. Two cars were coming up the hill around the corner one behind the other, and I moved the camera back and forth. Such fun! I can see I will have to go downtown soon and catch some lights in the Square at night...

'Random Rejects'

Since the beginning of the year, when I decided to do a 365/365 photo blog for 2011, I have often  taken my camera out with me, hoping/planning to find a quiet few minutes somewhere to take some photos. Some days I end up with having to make a choice between photos I like for the 365 blog. So here are just four 'random rejects' that never quite made the cut!

 some beautiful roses in the Square

 the fence at Ma's place in Foxton Beach

 the reflections of All Saints and the Clocktower seen in other buildings around the Square

What makes you come alive?

 Foxton Estuary

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs.
Ask yourself what makes you come alive,
and then go do that.
Because what the world needs
is people who have come alive."

~Howard Thurman

Colour in the city.

I finished work early today, a glorious autumn day, so I decided to head out on a wee bike ride with my camera.
First I stopped in the Square, where they often have banners hanging from the heavy-duty industrial light fixtures. Sometimes these banners advertise an event, and sometimes they just seem to add colour, as these ones did.Not far away a new kinetic wind sculpture has been installed near the Convention Centre. The sun shone and it moved gently in the breeze today. I spoke with a man passing by, who works in the city council offices overlooking this sculpture: he said that last week in the strong winds it really opened up. I will have to go back one day when the wind is really blustery and watch it again.

Next I visited Rangitikei St. There are some interesting old buildings still dotted around the city, that have escaped being destroyed and replaced by bland modern buildings. Recently while on a bus I noticed the higher levels of the facades on these two buildings, that I have always missed seeing from the lower vantage point of bicycle or car wheels. So here we have a white tui, and a fascinating bit of history with a Jersey cow.
And for fun, just a bit of modern colour:
Lastly I called into St Pat's on the way home, and saw purple covered statues and crosses for Holy Week. But it was the purple and green of grapes in this stained glass window that took my eye.

In the Square on a summer's day

As soon as I saw the sun shining early this morning I knew it was going to be the day I headed out to practise using my dslr. No point having an expensive camera I am not sure how to really use properly! I needed to try out different things with the aperture priority and shutter priority settings, so I could grow to be in charge of the camera, rather than the other way around....The Square in the middle of town was where I decided to go: there is an abundance of different inspiration for the camera here.

There is an old fountain that has been restored, and now the lions really do squirt out water again.

This sculpture is almost 'outside' my brief, as it is just beyond the pedestrian's 'square'. There is a group in Palmie that is placing more sculpture in the city. And there are some pieces I love- one day I will have to do a post on some of them- but this one is not amongst them- seems awfully 'puerile' to use a polite word.

In the heart of the Square is an area of 'peace'. I loved the cloud behind this Maori sculpture today- the colours all spoke of summer.

This is one of a group of sculptures carved by a visiting group of international sculptors. (I think it is in andesite, but would have to check that...)

I always love finding 'reflections' and taking photos of them... this one is on the Council building.

Again, colours of summer, in the view looking across from the Marae of peace to All Saints church.

When 'they' re-did the Square at horrendous expense a few years back, there were some things that were done that I think are simply ugly. Fortunately they had more sense than to remove the fountains in the corner where the ducks and the families hang out... It was a great place to experiment with varied aperture and shutter settings, and then to see the results back at home...

And Palmerston North has always been famous for its roses... here is just one example...

So, did I learn what I wanted about the camera? Yes, I grew in confidence. I realised there were times I made the aperture too large in landscape shots. And often I was nervous of making the shutter as fast as it could be on this sunny day... It was instructive when I got home to compare the settings the camera had used as 'normal' when I used the automatic settings. I will have to use this as a 'control' for every shot next time and see what I learn....