Category Archives: Photography

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

44. Whitianga: Cathedral Cove

Thursday, March 26: Some fine spells in the course of the day but mainly cloudy, and rain in the evening

Tramping: Cathedral Cove, 3.3 km

On the Beach

Cathedral Cove Archway
Archway at Cathedral Cove at high tide. Median pixel of ca. 540 shots

The two Chinese girls were very well organised and after their instant noodles for breakfast and some chocolate they had packed up what little they had and were downstairs on the dot of 10:00 to wait for their bus, which as far as I could see was some time in coming. In the meantime I had gone for a walk in the direction of the outer settlements and had not seen very much, except for one heron who allowed me to get very close.

Tourist trap extraordinaire
Tourist trap extraordinaire. [download id="1966"]
I decided on driving out to Hahei to see what the story with kayaking was, although the waves today looked no smaller that yesterday’s – because the brochure said, “Daily.” Had a quick lunch of some toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches and then took off down the road (~30 km) with most of the equipment I thought was needed. Found the place in Hahei, but no one at home; only a handwritten sign that the morning had been called off but that the afternoon was running. Found some phones at the tiny shopping centre and called but the afternoon tour had also been called off; was advised to call back tomorrow morning. Read more…

Kayaking, New Zealand, Photography, Travel Planning

42. Tauranga – Whitianga

Tuesday, March 24: Changeable, with some dark clouds and rain around the middle of the day; starting and finishing sunny

On the Beach Backpackers, 46 Buffalo Beach Rd, Whitianga 3542, tel.: +64 7 866 5380, double/twin as single in a unit shared with just one other party; kitchen, living room, TV, fridge, large balcony with BBQ equipment shared (BBH, $38 + $3)

Liz gave me the whole rundown of her neighbourhood dispute this morning before I left; in any case I was in no particular hurry to get going. The plastic shop did in fact carry a salt-and-pepper shaker set but didn’t have any in stock; the cutlery set looked just as useful as the stuff I already had; but for $4 I got two cosmetic containers which were just larger than my filters and a snap top bottle obviously designed for some sort of liquid that could also be used for salt (the pepper part was not so important). Filled the tank & then I was on my way. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

41. Tauranga: Mt Maunganui

Monday, March 23: Cloudy with rain all the morning, becoming very much finer & warmer by the late afternoon

Tramping: Mt Maunganui, 6.3 km

Liz & Phil’s

The dogs (Airedale terriers) hadn’t woken me @ 5:00, but from about 7:45 onwards I was awake. Breakfast (and Liz insisted that there would have to be one, otherwise her business wouldn’t be a B&B) was cornflakes, coffee from a very expensive looking machine and at least tasted like something, toast, cantaloupe and some spreads which I didn’t have.

Perfect day for a technical day, and I started off by trying to synchronise the internal and external hard drives in terms of pictures. For D: to have the absolute essentials that would be the main folder with the processed images (all DNG & IMG – debarrelled and dechromaticised) and one subfolder with thumbnails. It has occurred to me during the day that PPP could work primarily with G: as the source and copy some files to the internal hard drive at the end of the day. If that were the case, then it would also be worth considering extending the postprocessing procedure beyond just ATM (advanced tone mapping). Read more…

New Zealand, Photography

40. Taupo – Rotorua – Tauranga

Sunday, March 22: Sunny at first, very cloudy in the early afternoon, then sunny again

Liz & Phil’s (airbnb, $48)

Breakfast was possible at the trucker’s place, as I had everything with me, and the free truckers’ coffee could be diluted with milk, the cereal finished off, and the bowl washed. Then it was off very early to Taupo to try to get accommodation for tonight but the i-site was not providing more than its usual service – no wifi hotspot, but, “You can try a café.” Yeah, right, which one. Taupo i-site seems to have won the prize for the worst service – any question you ask, you realise that the answer is the one you had already come up with anyway. No added value asking there at all. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

39. Waipawa – Cape Kidnappers – Taupo

Saturday, March 21: Sunny the whole day with very few clouds, warm

Tramping: Clifton to Cape Kidnappers along the beach and back, 19.1 km

Stag Park Diner, 151 Napier Taupo Highway, State Highway 5, Taupo 3379, tel.: +64 7 378 6403, twin as single, shared facilities ($55)

Layers leaching
Leaching lime is most commonly seen, but also iron oxide, forming strange patterns

It was nice to have slept in a real bed again, above all, with a real pillow. The room was spotless and the fridge with freezer rebooted the chilly bag; a short trip to the supermarket procured everything that was needed for breakfast and lunch, and I was away back on the road to Hastings by 9:30.

In Hastings the library opened as I arrived and they were charging for the wifi @ $2.5 per half hour. Tried the BBH places in Taupo, but all booked out, then for the 0800 number for the Taupo i-site to call when I came back from the walk in the afternoon. Read more…

New Zealand, Photography, Travel Planning

35. Gisborne – Wairoa: Te Reinga Falls

Tuesday, March 17: Cloudy the whole day with occasional showers and a little cooler

Jude’s (airbnb, $48)

The storm had passed by last night without too much to notice it by, except the rain, and certainly the winds were much weaker than had been predicted. I had my breakfast and then Ethel had to go to the doctor’s about the fall that she had had last week, and visit a friend as well, so Mischief, the dog, the attention-seeking cat, and myself were left to our own devices.

I started off by getting a couple of pictures into the blog posts, mainly of the Tongariro Crossing. All the posts had been scheduled for publication right up to departure date, and three more had been transcribed onto the computer, so all I need to do when I have another technical day is to find some photos for them and schedule them as well. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

32. Whakatane: Nga Tapuwae o Toi

Saturday, March 14: Sunny and very warm, clouds appearing in the evening, and some rain

Tramping: Nga Tapuwae o Toi, 16.9 km

Windsor Lodge

The weather was very tempting for a paddle so I was up and organised early, and Kenny the kayak man offered a freedom hire, the only problem was that it was from his place. I indicated that I would take it, and set off with a Google Map in mind to drive the 30 or so km down to his place. Was ready to leave here just after 9:00. Read more…

Kayaking, New Zealand, Photography

31. Rotorua – Whakatane

Friday, March 13: A little cloudy to begin with, but very sunny & warm in Whakatane

Windsor Lodge, 10 Merritt St., Whakatane 3120, tel.: +64 7 308 8040, double as single, shared facilities (BBH, $45 + $3)

There was just a little bit of business to be cleared up after the excitement of yesterday. A trip to the closer and smaller i-site just revealed that I had to go to the main office and speak with Tyra-Lee which I promptly did, and told my story of how the boatie jumped in and took me back. Got my money back, and a promise that there would be consequences. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

30. Rotorua: Lake Tarawera

Thursday, March 12: Rain at first, then somewhat drier, rain again in the evening

Tramping: Tarawera Trail, 13.4 km

Astray (BBH, $37 + $3)

The day wasn’t turning out so well for a tramp, but I decided on going ahead with it anyway. By about 9:30 the car was packed and ready to go, and I was a the car park for the trail by about 10:00. The forecast had been for showers but it was coming down in a constant stream.

I had my full-length trousers and the raincoat on right from the beginning. The path is rather narrow and the wet plants on either side were hanging over the track and transferring water first to the pants and then to the sox and boots. I made brief stops every now and then and at the second picnic place it had virtually stopped raining so I stopped for my two rounds of sandwiches and mandarine for lunch. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

29. Rotorua: Waimangu

Wednesday, March 11: Sunny becoming cloudier in the afternoon, warm

Tramping: 5.4 km

Astray

This place is fairly quiet at night after 10:00, but it was the buses and general traffic that woke me before 9:00. Today’s plan was to do the Waimangu ($36) walk with plenty of time lapses and polarised brackets, and to have it fill up the day.

I was at the car park at around 10:30, and had everything ready except for the hat that I had left in the car. Since Waimangu – as opposed to most of the other thermal/volcanic walks – is very shaded that won’t have made too much difference since sunscreen had already been applied. Read more…