Category Archives: Photography

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

28. Rotorua: Waiotapu

Tuesday, March 10: Sunny with a couple of clouds in the distance, and warm

Tramping: 3.3 km

Astray

Two French girls who are working here have a shared room on our “corridor” and were up very early, which of course had to be followed by everyone else. My first self-provided breakfast was sultana bran, coffee with fresh milk, and toast. Internet was briefly checked for today’s distance, and the clothes that I eventually washed yesterday were still not dry, so I left them on the clothes horse outside reception.

Then it was off to Waiotapu ($32.5) for the photography session. Managed to forget to load the cameras with their usual cards, but had all the spare cards with me and the first one worked for Mel. After buying a ticket I returned to my car where a hitchhiker asked me whether I could ferry him to the geyser, which I did (Tilman from near Stuttgart). We were quite early so I was able to try out various different locations before choosing the very back and getting a couple of sequences of the dormant geyser in the process. Read more…

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

27. Hamilton – Rotorua

Monday, March 9: A few drizzle patches in the morning & a little cloudy throughout the day

Tramping: 7.5 km

Astray Motel & Backpackers, 1202 Pukuatua St, Rotorua 3010, tel.: +64 7 348 1200, single room scarcely larger than the bed (BBH, $32 + $3 + $5)

Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning
Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning

Sleep was so interrupted during the night that I was one of the first at the free breakfast: Cornflakes & milk, coffee, toast, I was ready to leave by just after 8:30. Looking at the maps last night it occurred to me that I might do a river walk to avoid arriving in Rotorua too early, and drove around the corner to the end of the street, parked the car and proceeded to walk towards the town centre and then do a loop of the river involving two bridges before heading back to the car. One bracket of a park with a river landing, quite a pleasant surprise in the middle of Hamilton.

Down by the river
Down by the river, [download id="1793"]
Then it was to a supermarket to buy some strepsils, as I had a rather sore throat after my hattrick of skeptics in pubs, before pushing off down the road to Rotorua with only one further stop to clear the windscreen. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Swimming, Topo Map, Tramping, Youtube Videos

22. Whanganui – Waitarere Beach

Wednesday, March 4: Very cloudy the whole day and very warm with some rain drops in the late afternoon, clearing again by sunset

Tramping: 8.1 km

Waitarere Beach Motor Camp, Park Avenue, Waitarere Beach 5510, tel.:+64 6 368 8732, tent site ($17)

The start to the morning was much better organised, and having all the necessary stuff distributed logically over just a shopping bag, a chilly bin, and the pack meant that I could try out my experiment tonight and camp out in the tent.

I was ready to go by about 9:00 even after having switched on the computer, gotten the reservation OK for Hamilton, and installed an update. Today’s drive was not going to be long, so there was plenty of time. Read more…

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

21. New Plymouth – Whanganui: Dawson Falls

Tuesday, March 3: Very cloudy at first, becoming fine in the course of the afternoon

Tramping: 1.4 km

Hikurangi StayPlace, 1 Mount View Rd., Whanganui 4500, tel.: +64 6 343 3333. Single room with shared (1x) bathroom & toilet (BBH, $40 + $3)

Under the volcano
Under the volcano. Topo set: [download id="1677"]

Couldn’t sleep the last hour or so, so I was up at 8:00 and had a very frugal breakfast of muesli bars, crackers and coffee. The car had to be properly organised for the rest of the trip and that took up the next 2 hours. The case was reserved for the rest of the books and fresh clothes, the pack takes on the computer and diaries in the main compartment, and the vanity bag in the bottom one, the chilly bin is packed full of spoilable food and other stuff that needs to be kept cold, and there is a shopping bag with non-spoilable food and the large shampoo etc. bottles. The camera bag is now loaded with batteries and cards; one A470 is ready to go in the glove box, and the SX120 is in its pocket in the pack. A notebook with pen is with the glasses & ipod in one of the open compartments on the passenger side. Almost 100% ready to go. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Swimming, Topo Map, Tramping

19. Raglan: Bridal Veil Falls and Ngarunui Beach

Sunday, March 1: Warm and sunny with barely a cloud

Tramping: 1.7 km

Robert’s

I had gotten a fairly good night’s sleep and was up and about just before Robert, and we had breakfast together: Cornflakes, a couple of poached eggs on toast, and coffee. After getting the stuff together that I needed for photography, I set off for the Bridal Veil Falls for the walk and photo session #1.

Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Falls
The turnoff is a couple of kilometres down the road, and then a farther turnoff into the Kawhia Road led to a car park. Unfortunately the road is a dead end, otherwise I would have considered taking it to Kawhia, just to see the town again after 2009. Will have to see what alternatives there are.

Bridal Veil
Short stroll, map detail. GPS: [download id="1739"], map: [download id="1691"]
At the car park there were plenty of cars and not many signs of break-ins, so I took off in crocs as it was an easy walk. The waterfall is quite high (55 m) and the track starts at the top where the water disappears over the edge. There are a total of four lookouts, two at the top, one in the middle and one at the bottom. I started taking photos at the bottom with a time lapse of about half of the falls (first without, then with the filter) and repeated at the middle lookout (where the shooting had to be portrait orientation to capture the whole image) and at the top I got a time lapse of the water disappearing and a single shot of the “No abseiling” sign, although it is strangely out of focus. Read more…

New Zealand, Photography, Swimming, Travel Planning

15. Ohakune

Wednesday, February 25: Changeably cloudy throughout most of the day, and still warm

Danni’s

Slept almost completely through until 8:30 when Simon knocked on the door with a fresh loaf of his bread. Breakfast had to be improvised from what else was to be found apart from the eggs & butter I have over from last week. Some wheatbix were found, some milk and sugar, so the day could start.

The butter, it must be remarked here, was rock solid out of the fridge and still maintains its buttery appearance and taste despite living for 10 days in my sealable plastic container and melting at least twice during the kayak trip. This must be the test of tests for all concerned, both butter and container. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping

14. Oturere – Tongariro Crossing – Mangatepopo – Whakapapa: Tongariro Northern Circuit 3/4

Tuesday, February 24: Rain overnight clearing to foggy and then sunny with patchy clouds

Tramping: 20.9 km

Danni’s ($200 for 3 nights)

Nick had taken one bed of the triple that I had occupied and, unfortunately, he snored – mainly when on his back, so waking him & telling him to turn over produced a significant improvement. Towards morning the snoring also started in the side position, and not much else could be done, but poke him every now and then.

Tongariro Valley
Looking back over the Tongariro Valley at sunrise
Just before 6:00 people started getting up. Two dormitories were separate from the kitchen but not by much and the third was in the bedsitter, so to speak. I boiled some water for coffee and had some salami, cracker and muesli bars for breakfast before packing my stuff outside. It looked like I would be starting the tramp today with Nick & Slater, all the others except Khalil were going in the other direction.

We pushed off around 7:30 and looking back from the first hill was a photo opportunity for another time: Sunrise over the Tongariro Valley, with fog covering the river and the sun from behind. What a pity that we had to push forward. After a longer plain we reached a lava tongue and from here onwards it was pretty steep uphill until the Crossing was reached. I left the other two behind at this point as I was coming into stride. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping, Youtube Videos

13. Waihohonu – Oturere: Tongariro Northern Circuit 2

Monday, February 23: Rain overnight, overcast at first, clearing to fine with a few clouds and warm. Later very changeable

Tramping, 7.7 km

Oturere Hut (DOC, $32)

Ngauruhoe promised to give a bit of a sunrise so I set up the A470 with infinite focus and it seemed to work OK. We were later for breakfast than the others who were headed directly to Whakapapa because their bus was to pick them up at 2:00.

Lava Tongue
Track across a pretty barren lava tongue between Waihohonu and Oturere
Had some of the bread and salami for breakfast, with 2 double coffees with condensed milk for breakfast, then packed my stuff together and spent some time discussing this & that with Khalil, Nick & Slater, who were all headed in the same direction. Eventually we decided to move off.

The path today traverses a number of lava flows, albeit with different vegetations. The first couple were mountain beech and very full of epiphytes. I took a number of pictures of small berries in red and purple. We stopped briefly at a river, and then moved into the more recent volcanic/alpine communities. At this point I decided that I had reached my warm-up point and set off at my preferred pace, which was considerably faster than that of my companions. I made a point of photographing the landscapes, and still I was almost an hour ahead of the others. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Tramping, Youtube Videos

12. Whakapapa – Waihohonu: Tongariro Northern Circuit 1

Sunday, February 22: A bit cloudy to begin with, less cloud during the day and quite warm

Tramping, 21.8 km

Waihohonu Hut (DOC, $32)

Managed to beat the compass/alarm this morning and even managed a shower. After all the work of tidying up Danni’s place opposite I wasn’t really expecting Simon to be up and he wasn’t. After the shower I made my own breakfast of muesli, 2 fried eggs and coffee. Packed the loaf of bread in with the rest of the food for the hike.

Got most of the stuff into the suitcase and dragged it down the hall, and was in good time for the bus. Two German women were coming along for the ride, one just to do the crossing, the other, Ina from Kiel was doing the circuit, albeit in clockwise direction. The bus trip was provided by Dempsey’s Buses via the Station Lodge, for $30 in cash, which I presumed to be a return ticket. Further passengers were collected along the way. After the turnoff there was a very dusty old dirt track, and at the stop everyone except me and Ina got off. Read more…

GPS Tracks, Kayaking, New Zealand, Photography

9. John Coull – Tieke Kainga: Whanganui River Journey 4

Thursday, February 19: Fog in the morning, still warm, sunny after the fog had lifted, with increasing cloud cover during the day

Kayaking: 32.5 km

Tieke Kainga Marae (DOC, $32)

GPS Tour

Most of the partying crowd were up very early and gone correspondingly quickly. We waved goodbye to them from the hut, as it overlooks the river. We were among the last to leave just after 9:30. I made sure the camera was pointed in the right direction before loading the front dry bag onto the boat, and set it going. Roger & Jackie turned up and made a stop at the hut, and they gave us a push off.

We made pretty good progress throughout the morning, missing one stop that we just wanted to have a short break at (Mangawaiiti Campsite, damned river maps, damned signs) and continued on to the landing where the track to the Bridge to Nowhere starts from (Mangapurua). Lots of boats tied up at a very slippery limestone outcrop, which normally would have required some kayaking practice to get off and on at. Landing in the sheltered covelet, Pea tried to get out, couldn’t hold the boat with her left leg, and promptly the whole caboodle capsized. Managed to get Pea to hang onto the boat while others pulled us ashore. Got out myself, had the boat tied up by a helpful gent, then started on the process of baling the boat out. Read more…