Waiheke Island

I took a trip to Waiheke a few weekends ago - bit of a girls weekend. Stunning weather on the ferry ride over:

Look at that gorgeous blue sky. Auckland isn't such a bad place in Autumn.


The place we stayed had some interesting old buildings, including this shed:


On the Saturday afternoon/evening, we went on a photowalk (actually more of a photo drive). First stop was Rocky Bay. There is an amazing sculpture at the bay entrance:

The bay itself was pretty quiet and empty:

Lots of shells in the sand:

It did look beautiful as the sun set though:

Next stop was just round the corner from Oneroa. It was getting darker now - harder to take photos (especially with no tripod)

The bay looked stunning in the sunset:

Made me wish I could be out on the water:

We tried to chase the light a little longer and ended up by a vineyard. It was very dark now but the vines looked stunning in their autumn colours:

The moon looked much lovelier than this photo makes it appear. Really fighting the light on this one:

n z . f l i c k r . m e e t u p s Photo walk - Auckland City

I went on a photowalk in the city with a bunch of people from the nz.flickr.meetups group on Flickr. I felt much more comfortable walking around town with a bunch of other people with cameras than I would have by myself. Especially once it got darker.

Leaf, Freyburg Square


Petals on High Street


Fay Richwhite Building


Maritime Museum


Ferry Building



Sky Tower


Cnr Customs and Hobson Street


The Harbour


At the wharf

Murrays Bay 30 April 2008

I used to live close by here, so I wandered down to take some pics. Not the best weather but the rain held off long enough for a few shots.
Tide was in so I got my feet wet!


I remember standing on this wharf freezing in my wedding dress - we had a lot of our photos taken here:


The beach was looking a bit messy - but that never bothers me. Nature should look messy IMHO:


I saw signs of the local teenage hoons in the underpass. I hate litter but it made for a nice photo I thought:

Shakespear Regional Park

The family went on a picnic to Shakespear Regional Park so naturally I took the camera along. It has been so long since I went photo taking.

It was a stunning day. We went for a walk along the rocks first. There were plenty of fishermen about - and plenty of evidence that they had been catching a few:


We had lunch just below the old gun turret:


Then we went for a walk through the bush. I heard lots of birds (wood pigeons swooping overhead, fantails squeaking) but only got one very bad photo of a tui:


Always great to hear the cicadas too - but they are another thing that is hard to photograph:


It was beautiful though:






We emerged from the bush on the farm area - it was quite spectacular with the blue sky and the cool clouds:




There were stunning views of the harbour from the lookout.

We could clearly hear the army doing their shooting practice though - a reminder of why it is called Army Bay:

Parnell Rose Gardens

It was such a gorgeous morning I felt I had to go out and do something, so the rose gardens it was.The Parnell Rose Gardens are in Dove-Meyer Robinson park. Honestly, I had no idea there was a Dove-Meyer Robinson park although I remember "Robbie" the mayor from all those years ago. Here is the proof though:


As you can see, it was bright sunshine but also very windy - probably not ideal conditions for photography:




The roses' perfume was divine! So good to stop and smell the roses. Needless to say, I took a few flower shots while I was there:
















As well as some random other shots:







This was the one I liked the best (of the ones I have done so far anyway):

Devonport

Took advantage of the great weather to go photowalking in Devonport yesterday with Trina and Donna (and Daniel and Shelby). The weather was gorgeous - sunshine with a nice cool breeze. Trina is now officially designated photowalking day picker if she can keeping getting days like that! Anyway, I wasn't overly excited by my photos, but the company was good and I have fallen in love with Shelby (Border Collies are my favourite type of dog).

First we wandered down towards the naval base, but it felt a little uncomfortable to be taking photos there. I am not quite sure what their policy is, so we thought discretion was the better part of valour. I note that our navy was in port though:


The view over to Auckland is one that a photo can never do justice to (well one I take anyway). I had another play with the Panorama feature on Photoshop Elements 6:


We wandered back past the wharf and the Esplanade:



There was a rather large log there:



Lots of yachts and boat related stuff:








I think this was the toilets:


This was my favourite shot of the day:



Of course the advantage of photowalking in somewhere like Devonport is that there are plenty of cafes to have coffee in later. Sadly, forgot to take photos of that! The disadvantage is that most of the parking is 2 hour limited.

Rangitoto

It is school holidays so the family went for a walk up Rangitoto. It was a beautiful Spring day and a good time of year to visit. In the summer that scoria gets hot!


I let the big kid use my old point and shoot and he had a ball with it:



It never ceases to amaze me that an island composed almost totally of rock with only a token amount of soil can support so much plant life. Rocks like these:





Note how black this rock is. And then imagine it in summer with the sun beating down on you from above and the heat being reflected back from the rock below. It is hot (I still remember it from a school trip many moons ago!).
The path to the summit is far from smooth and not small children friendly (hence the reason we didn't get to the top):



This was as high as me and the boys got:



The plant life is pretty interesting though:







I especially loved the kidney ferns:







Kind of freaky to think this was molten lava not that long ago (in geological terms):



Some of the old baches on the island:



A historic archway - that used the be a toilet entrance. Is it only NZ that has historical toilets? This is the second one I have seen this year!



Some random driftwood and seaweed:



Time to go: