The Planes

In Omarama there's this cafe, Kahu Cafe to be precise. It is a cool bohemian type place, mismatched furniture etc, and reminded me of the cafes in Dahab - places you can happily spend the day, eating and drinking occasionally, and generally hanging out. Rather than having the Red Sea to look over, however, Kahu has the world famous airfield.

And what it's world famous for is gliding. Lots of gliding.

Back in the day I got to fly a plane over the Hauraki Gulf. It was fun ... until the pilot intentionally stalled the plane, causing me to think we were going to die in a horrible wet splash. We didn't. He knew what he was doing it seems. But the idea of gliding had never really grabbed me ... until I got to Omarama and saw everyone doing it.

And what a stunning location for it. Not that you can tell from these pics, but take my word for it.

I'm so glad the Holga was made with sports photographers in mind. There are gliders in all these shots, take my word for it.

The Pukaki

The Angel

Day two in the Ahuriri, being a public holiday, Nic decided we were going to go for a walk. Up a mountain. Actually it was to the Dingle Burn Saddle, then along the ridge a bit. Tiring but stunning views.

Being early January, there was snow about.

And when there's snow, there's snow angels.

And when there's snow angels, there's people with wet and freezing backs, legs, and bums.

For future reference, thin layers of really icy snow don't make for great snow angels. (Photo of me by Nic.)

And another angle.

And there's some other idiot giving it a go. (Photo of Nic by me - acting the part of prima donna photographer on a commercial shoot.)

The Carlaw

It's back in the news today, so being the incredibly topical blogger I am, here are a couple of shots I took last time I was in Auckland.


And here are a couple David took up there too. You may notice some minor differences in approach and style.

The Beach

There I was cruising up to Dunedin from Taieri Mouth, and it wasn't the most beautiful of days - I'd had rain and drizzle off and on for much of it - but for some reason cruising along the coast coming into Brighton I got this urge to jump out and go for a swim. It is a very rare urge, very rare indeed.

So I did. Fortunately - as it gave me something to do other than pretend to swim and/or drown - I happened to have a camera with me which I could use in the water.

So I did. Here are the results - only slightly editted, cos I like them and can't be bothered selecting a few cos it's 1am and I should be in bed.

It was a great way to spend twenty minutes on a grey afternoon. And the water wasn't too bad either.

The Dog

Some of you may have seen this dog before. Some of you may even have been lucky enough to meet her in person. That's her proud owner, doing the cheesy proud owner photography thing.

That's me doing a cheesy photography thing too. Only really really badly. And naturally (being the great photographer I am) I'll blame my tools.

And in the back of the car somewhere east of Carterton - you can tell it's east of Carterton from the view out the window.

The Noble

In her post of the Huangarua River Sharyn said she wasn't too happy with the way her digital camera recorded the quality of the water.

Maybe she, too, should have just taken a cheap, shitty, 1960s Konica half-frame, and some cheap shitty, dated, no longer produced, Agfa 35mm trannie.



I like.

The Bees

Last week I was taken to the Wairarapa. I was kinda acting as a guide on a location reccie, kinda just a long for the ride cos I hadn't been over all year. Naturally I took my new camera, and a roll of trannie, along for the ride.

After a brief stop in Carterton, we headed to Martinborough. Along the way way saw this great field. Stop. Grab cameras. Get out the car. Let the dog out. Wander into the field. Go 'crikey, there's a few bees around eh?'.

Take photos of the pretty flowers.

And more photos. Get too close to the hives. Annoy the bees. Get mobbed by bees. Walk away. Still mobbed. Try to get rid of them. Get stung - 3 times on the shoulder, and a couple on the scalp. Walk further away.


Get in the car and speed off, hoping that no bees have joined you in the car. Be grateful that you no longer seem to be horribly allergic to bee stings. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Now, those of you with little else to do will probably already have picked up on the similarity with a posting by Sharyn last week. Purely coincidental, let me assure you. As is this later posting by her - a rather nice shot actually.