Through the eyes of a travelling photographer
On the morning of a scheduled evening shoot, I decided to walk down to the beautiful falls of Mokoroa. The recently upgraded track offers a brilliant sight into some rarely touched Waitakere Ranges beauty. Being mid summer, the water flow was a little low, but will increase as winter approaches, and no doubt capture some more shots.
View from down below
Houheria Stream and waterfall
View from lookout
Contrasting light
Rush hour on the busy Queen St/Customs St intersection
Waiting his turn
Making use of colour
In the jungle on Queen St
Sam Steel in action
Stealing a Vespa for a prop
Trapped
180° panoramic from roof of Quest Apartments, Auckland
Well as any good kiwi would, I headed off to Maori Bay, loaded with some snapper and chips, to devour along with a great strawberry milkshake from the takeaway in Kumeu. After the great meal on the rocky shore, it was time to take a few snaps of the setting sun, before finally doing a 15 minute exposure after dark.
HDR of Maori Bay
15 minute exposure after dark
Driving back from Kaikohe to Auckland, we decided to detour slightly to the Whangarei Falls for lunch, followed by an afternoon swim at Uretiti.
Self portrait, within a wave at Uretiti Beach
Standing an impressive 51 metres tall, Tane Mahuta is New Zealand’s largest known Kauri. The trunk girth is even more impressive at 13.77m, with its estimated age being somewhere between 1,200 to 2,500 years old. Tane Mahuta is just one of the many large Kauri’s around the Waipoua forest, north of Dargaville. We made a little road trip with my youngest sister Candace, cousin Nicole, and her new daughter, Kayleigh.
Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest)
Roof structure, amongst the dense NZ vegetation
Kayleigh
Fern frond
Driving back to Kaikohe, I shot a few photos of the family dog and Kayleigh with Nicole
Settling back into New Zealand life, I decided to venture out to the west coast beach of Piha. The strong westerly breeze brought in some quickly changing conditions, resulting in some dramatic sun beams as the sun was setting over the Piha swell.
High tide over a gloomy Piha
After spending much of the past two and a half years based in London, I was finally making way to live back in New Zealand. I made an overnight stopover in Melbourne, visiting the house my mum has recently bought, and made great use of the swimming pool! As I was flying Emirates airline, the first ten hours was literally spent flying in a circle. Mumbai to Dubai, and then Dubai to Singapore, and onwards to Melbourne, with the flight path taking us directly over Mumbai some hours later. Alas, more airmiles.
Mountains in United Arab Emirates
Flying over Fujairah, U.A.E
After almost 20 hours travelling, we were flying over South Australia as the sunrise over the red desert lit up brilliantly.
Arriving into Melbourne around 8am, I had a day to chill with my mum, one of my sisters Tara, and their partners, around the pool and BBQ dinner. This is the summer I had been missing from UK!
Marlee, the cat my mum has recently adopted after its previous owners had abused her
Beautiful!
Sunset over the back yard pool after enjoying a day with 32ºC
View from the Emirates Lounge, after being upgraded to business class (yet another early rise)
Views from in front of the wing, from seat 8A (front left of business class) – The food and drink available was far superior to what’s normally offered in cattle class.
The final day of an amazing trip through Mumbai and Goa had arrived, so after a little research, decided to take Angus to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in northern Mumbai. It is the largest urban park in the world, encompassing 104 km2. It is said to be the lungs of Mumbai, as it purifies much of the air polluition. Within the park you can catch a bus to see lions and leopards, whilst also venturing 6km along the park to the amazing Kanheri Caves. These 109 caves were built over 2,100 years ago, by Buddhist monks, into the solid hard basalt rock.
I’ve included more photos than usual in this last post from my Indian travels of 2009 & 2010. An amazing trip, that I couldn’t have done without the hospitality of my great friend Angus and his family. Thank you! 🙂
Lioness in the park
Baby Rhesus Macaque Monkey
Large caves of Kanheri
Angus standing against the 7m tall Buddhist statue
Large Chaitya with great Stupa
Low light filtering behind the Stupa
Textured Basalt floor
Walkway to more caves on the hill
More caves near the top, almost like the set of a movie
View in opposite direction showing the elevation (hard work in the Mumbai heat!)
First attempt at writing with a torch
Angus taking a break in one of the cool caves
Our friendly SIS security”guide”
Warren atop the caves and stairs of Kanheri
Angus walking back down the hill from the 109 caves
Spot the monkey?
Goat with incredible balance, walking on a branch!
Overflowing water tank
Last shot from India
I really thought nothing could beat the bus ride from Mumbai to Goa. Well I was wrong, with the return trip even more unbearable! I could have almost covered the length of New Zealand in the same duration of this trip. Alas, I was happy to finally make it, knowing only had another couple of days in Mumbai before being reunited with friends and family in Melbourne and Auckland.
Carpark around the back of our hotel in Malad West (not sure I’d park there?!)
Common non-AC taxi
Our last day in Goa was spent in Morjim after the recommendation from Darryl Baptista, which is home to many thousands of birds. It was also the least visited by other people, which was great news for us! I have noticed more recently, several news articles about the darker side of Morjim. Fortunately we never encountered any trouble during our three weeks in Goa, and would recommend anyone to FLY in and enjoy the cheap food, drinks and sun.
Local boy walking along the sandy banks
Morjim Fishing Boat
Thousands of birds in Morjim
Morjim boats lined up
Hawk on the lookout for smaller seabirds
Hermit Crab escaping
Really great water, much better than Calangute area
Angus in the crisp water
Thousands of birds flying north across the setting sun
With a slow start to the day, spent at the apartment pool, and playing some table tennis, Angus invited his old friend Martina over for dinner at Baga Beach. After watching the sunset, and fishermen emptying their catch, we ran back to Brittos restaurant – However a powercut and lack of communication put an end to that. We ended up catching a rickshaw back to Calangute and eating some good food at Kamats.
Martina
A lonely fish
The entire family helping out with the catch
Northern end of beach away from the crowds
Looking back to the beach huts and restaurants including Brittos