04.12.08
Dover – Saint Margaret’s
Accompanied by my friend Katie, took a drive around the Kent countryside on a fine day. Arriving at a favourite spot – Saint Margaret’s at Cliffe – just North of Dover.
Richborough Coal Mine – stopped in 1996
04.06.08
Snowy Spring in London
The heaviest snow of the season fell today, blanketing everything in white. Started falling around 7am in Danson Park, and within a couple of hours was already 3-4 inches thick.
03.09.08
London Spring
The daffodils flowering in London are a dead giveaway, that spring has arrived. Spent the afternoon walking around London with my friend, Katie – taking in the various sights of St James’s Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and South Bank.
Bumblee bee finding the largest of flowers
Katie, framing a shot
Sun lighting up the row of Daffodils in St James’s Park
Westminster Abbey
Crossing Westminster Bridge, to South Bank
02.24.08
Flying Dubai to Europe
After a long 14 hour night flight from Sydney to Dubai the final leg, Dubai to London was a lot more interesting. Conditions in the morning departure were pretty bad with low visibility as winds stir up the desert sands, and haze lingered around. Flying Emirates, Boeing 777-300ER, A6-EBJ.
Desert civilisation below
Motorway viewed from above
Aerial view of Istanbul, Turkey with Ataturk airport in foreground
Entering the Alps over Austria
02.23.08
Sydney with Emirates
Leaving Auckland back for London, the first stop was in Sydney, with a peaceful early evening flight. The view into Sydney is very similar to Auckland, surrounded by clear blue water. Flying Emirates, Boeing 777-300ER – A6-EBI
Wedding Cake Island in the foreground by Coogee Bay, leading up to Bondi beach in top bay
02.20.08
Lilly at Bethells
During my very short stay in NZ, decided to catch up with my old workmate Kayla and her partner Carl. Just over two years ago, Lilly was born, very premature due to complications, weighing in at just 3lb 4oz (1510 grams) – half the normal weight.
The gallery of the newborn photos in the ICU of Auckland Hospital can be viewed here
Bethells at sunset was chosen for some casual mostly candid family photos against the beautiful rugged coastal backdrops.
02.19.08
Karekare GKPE Photographers Meet Up
Managed to arrange a short notice meet up with some photographer friends (from www.gkpe.org.nz / photography-on-the.net) where we discussed travel/camera gear/beers and had a good laugh.
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter also made an appearance, now operating from a different rego/helicopter – ZK-HLN instead of the old outdated ZK-HHV. In late 2006, I saw the progress of the rebuild, adding a more powerful motor and extra features such as night vision goggles and collision avoidance system. Click to see the build photos
Limited by a short 105mm lens again, as 300mm back in UK
Liz – photographers in action
David lining up a shot looking South towards Whatipu
Fantastic full moon rise over the hills at Karekare
02.18.08
Stormy Muriwai
Took another drive out to the rugged West coast beach of Muriwai in stormy conditions
Managed to get wet in the process of taking this shot, with large waves crashing over!
02.17.08
Muriwai Gannet Colony Sunset
After shooting the wedding in Napier, drove back to Auckland and decided to unwind at Muriwai, above the rugged coastline below from the gannet colony lookout. Being limited to just a 105mm lens, made bird photography rather difficult, but still managed to get a few snaps when they were closer. Further tested the new Sigma 12-24 ultra wide angle, which gave some good results.
Three seperate exposures/shutter speeds to create this view looking North
Stormy skies
02.12.08
Homeward Journey
After almost eight months away from home, the final destination was approaching. After missing the connecting flight, had to wait for the next available flight several hours later. The flight from Sydney to Auckland was a brisk 2 hours 20min flying over Piha, Oratia & Henderson (my home towns over the past 20 years) before seeing a spectacular view of Auckland city and the Hauraki Gulf.
The view towards Bondi beach
Clear waters of the Tasman Sea, and Sydney City views
Auckland’s Harbour Bridge, Sky Tower, Princes Wharf (with a large cruise liner) and North shore
Motuihe Island, in the Hauraki Gulf, where I’ve spent days planting trees
The next twelves days in New Zealand will be a rush, catching up with friends and family, shooting a wedding, before heading back to London.
Into Sydney, Australia
The leg from Bangkok to Sydney on the British Airways 747-400 was very tiring. Was initially told the plane is twenty minutes late, and would miss my connecting flight from Sydney to Auckland. Subsequently, the flight left Bangkok two hours late. To make matters worse, the in flight entertainment systems weren’t working either!
Descending through Northern Sydney
Shadow of the BA 747-400
After landing in Sydney was lucky to see the large A380 taking off from Sydney to Singapore.
02.10.08
Thailand Sunset from Birds Eye View
Flying high above the Thai peninsula, in a Thai Air Asia A320 (HS-ABB), stood witness to a fantastic sunset. With all my recent and upcoming flights, planned them by requesting particular window seats dependant on the flight direction and time of the day. In this case, sitting on the left hand seat behind the wing heading from Phuket to Bangkok (Northwards), had a perfect view of the sunset and cloud formations. Shortly afterwards, was priveledged to get some cockpit photos – a rarity in these days with high security worldwide.
02.09.08
Loh Dalam Bay Sunset
Low tide meant a tricky 200metre walk out to knee deep water, to get some photos of the long tail boats. This is the Northern bay where the tsunami of over 6 metres devastated the low lying area, Boxing Day 2004.
Phi Phi Don Viewpoint
Took a morning gut wrenching walk up to the main lookout over Phi Phi Don, which was made worse by the searing heat.
The main habited part of Phi Phi is surrounded by two bays, Loh Dalam Bay in the North, and Ton Sai Bay from the South.
Phi Phi Leh on the far left, and Loh Dalam Bay on far right
Loh Dalam Bay, where the force of the 2004 tsunami struck from
Testing the new Sigma 12-24mm wide angle lens
02.08.08
Maya Bay, Phi Phi Le
The sunset tour boat gave two options to visit Maya Bay –
Swim and climb through the cave from the other side, or take the boat in and kayak or longtail boat onto the shore. I chose to kayak through the shallow low tide waters. The scenery is still stunning, however there’s no life left within the water. Overcrowded, too many old dirty longtail boats leaking oil/fuel into the once pristine water.
Approaching Maya Bay from the South
Entering Maya Bay, as a Thailand flag flutters on bow of the boat
Looking into Maya Bay
The haze distorting the setting sun
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