Cashed up and ready to go

The cases are almost ready to close but there is still room to squeeze in a few more things! Today was taken up with banking, arriving in Christchurch Airport only a few minutes shy of midnight it is too late to pick up the hire-car so money is needed to pay for the shuttle bus that will take us to our hotel. With $100 Aussie dollars I purchased $125 Kiwi dollars. That will be a good start. The exchange rate also means that mental conversion will be really easy - in fact I doubt if it will be done at all!

The small rigid case will be filled with camera gear and with a few kitchen essentials - we will be self catering. Picnic cups, a thermos flask, plates and cutlery take up some of the space - but it is the batteries, tapes and chargers that take up most!

It doesn't look as if we are taking many clothes, does it? I think we shall be living in our fleeces and coats and jeans which is why the T's and undies don't fill the one and only case! We shall be wearing a fleece and have a coat over an arm as we board the plane. It will be chilly when we arrive.

So, we leave home at 4.30 tomorrow afternoon, the plane leaves at 6.30.

There will be no blog entry tomorrow but I am hoping that I will find somewhere with wireless Internet so that I can communicate on Wednesday.

While in the bank I was reminded to ring VISA and inform them that I was going overseas. Its just as well I was reminded because I had forgotten. I got onto the phone as soon as I arrived home and you would not believe it, once the technical stuff was out of the way I started chatting with the girl on the other end. She asked where in NZ I was going and remarked that it would be cold but better weather than she was having - it turned out she was in Wellington NZ (North Island)! You never know where the call is going when you ring a 13 number!

Ah well, your next communication from me in this blog will be from Christchurch NZ (South Island). After the heat and humidity of the past few days the chill of NZ will probably make me wish I was back at home! It will be a big contrast.

AJ

Packing the cases

Once again the house is in turmoil as Colin and I pack up our cases for yet another trip away from home. This time we are off to New Zealand.
The family has just called in to say goodbye and the last minute tasks are underway - weeds are being sprayed on the driveway so that we do not return to a jungle! I am gathering bits and pieces that will make self catering a little easier - the picnic cups and plates, salt and pepper and things that can safely be taken overseas.
For three days we shall explore around Christchurch in the South Island and then we shall be based at Wanaka which is about 30km from Queenstown in the centre of the South Island, for seven days. We intend to work our little hire car to the limit to explore as much as we can - however the main purpose of our trip is for Photography.
It is Autumn in NZ and I am hoping to be able to find plenty of colour in the trees and perhaps a little snow on the mountain tops. I think that both Colin and I are past wanting to play in the snow so we will not be trying to examine the snow up close!
This week I have spent my time catching up on regular things - as well as making a little video from the footage I took with Steven's hard drive camera. Since I am most unimpressed at the picture quality of that camera I will take the small Panasonic 3 chip video camera instead. Yes, tapes, extra battery and charger have to be included so more room taken up in the suitcase! But the picture quality - although 4:3 - is much better than the Sony. It also does not mis-behave when I move the camera (pan). With the footage shot in mpg the picture gives little jumps when the camera or when anything such as a leaf, moves. Its a pity because the camera is so small it is easy to whip out and use.
So the blog may be quiet this week - but just wait until Wednesday - then there will be a daily update. Everything depends on Internet connection of course - I may have to buy a prepaid USB connections if there are problems.
So ..... Watch this space!
AJ

Marking time

Now I am home from taking a holiday I seem to be caught up in all sorts of "catch up" activities! No time to take photos or write in my blog! Sigh!
So I have dug out a picture I took in September last year using my son's 6 megapixel Nikon D70 DSLR camera with 18x200 lens

f 10 1/200 ISO 200 @focal length of 200mm

When I took this photograph I wanted to separate the seed head from the background of grass, this can be done either by using the aperture and selecting a wide aperture of 2.5 or similar - the grass is very close to the head of the dandelion. The 18 x 200 lens I was using only allows a wide aperture of f4.5 and that would not be enough to give the depth of field I wanted. The other way is by using maximum zoom (on a Point and Shoot with 10x or more) or by using maximum telephoto on a multi-focal lens like the one I was using.

Since I was using the "speed" priority - I set the shutter speed and the camera selected the exposure to suit the speed - I was unaware of the aperture setting until I looked at the EXIF information on my computer. It was necessary to set the speed so high because there was enough breeze to move the dandelion head and I was not using a tripod.

When using the telephoto (zoomed in) setting on a camera the shutter speed has to be your main concern, too slow and camera shake will ruin the shot.

AJ

Holiday pics

Taday I took not one photograph and yet the day has been filled with the joy of photography. After our last holiday in the Blue Mountains and our visit to Canberra to see the amazing floral display at the "Floriade" I put my photos together into a photo-book. Today I collected that book from BigW - I had created the book on-line and chose the cheaper option of collecting the book in person rather than have it posted to me. This is the first time I had created a 12" x 12" book and as well as a personalised hard cover it has 48 pages of memories! There is a standard price for 20 pages and after that you can add more and more pages to suit the number of pictures you have. I created each page myself, arranging the photos and inserting text so I loaded one photo per page. Additional pages are added two at a time (face and reverse side) so deciding on the correct number of pages was easy for me.
Both Colin and I have been through that book several times already and have even taken it around to a friend's home to show it off! I can see my bookshelves being filled with our own creations (yes, Colin's photos are mixed in with mine) and the old books put into the recycle bin to make room for them! Anyone want 30+ year old Encyclopaedia Britanica collection? The gold embossed set looks smart and has had lots of use but it doesn't generate any interest these days - but is a great dust collector!
Easter Sunday is tomorrow and with one son now in Alice Springs - and taking a group of 45 cyclists and their cycles in a double decker bus to some place south of Darwin - our family will not be all together this year. Easter Sunday is a day for children and we grand-parents will be joining our littlies and giving them chocolate eggs. We have been invited to a midday barbecue.
I wish everyone who visits my blog a Happy Easter - and maybe you have had to buy yourself some chocolate, as I have - I think everyone else is watching my figure! Have a great day.
AJ

Coastal beauty

Once more the sun was shining as we pulled back the curtains this morning but today was not to be a day of exploring, today we had to pack the car and return home because our week in the Timeshare resort was at an end.

Looking back over the week I have mental images of the beautiful coastline and the amazing forests and countryside. I will close my tales of our holiday with three pictures of the beaches we visited.

The first beach photograph was taken while on our walk over Mutton Bird Island right in Coffs Harbour itself. We are looking south along the coast and over the waters of Jetty Beach there is a neck of land and then the bay that reaches from Boambee Creek and south.

The second photo was taken from the headland that overlooks Boambee Creek and shows the creek as it enters the sea.

And finally. a photograph of the beach we visited only yesterday- we went to Woolgoolga and stopped at Arrawarra a little north of Woolgoolga, this beach is on the south side of the headland.

I now have a large collection of Photographs that need to be given names other than the numbers automatically given by the camera so that I will be able to look at them in years to come and know "what and where"!

AJ

From forest to sea

What a variety of activities we have had today. I set out this morning with one aim in mind - that of taking a closer look at the Sikh temple at Woolgoolga, but we did so much more.

I spotted a sign that said simply "Flora Reserve", hand written on a wooden sign. So the car was pointed in that direction and off we went - I am fortunate to have a husband who has no objections to any detour I want to take! Since I am the driver there are never any arguments! The road became narrower and narrower and the bush thicker and thicker but on we drove. It was too beautiful to turn back now! At a fork in the road the bitumen stopped but a small sign pointed to a picnic area to the left.

We took the left fork and only a hundred metres in the forest opened out and we found ourselves in a glorious grassy picnic spot with tables that had shelters over them so with no further ado the flask of hot water and the picnic box was removed from the car and we had our morning "cuppa" in wonderful isolation with the most amazing bird sounds you have ever heard. I did turn on the HD camera but since I haven't loaded it to this laptop yet you will have to wait to hear what we heard!

We walked into the forest with the camera and tossed stones into a small creek to get across but when we came across a wide deep stream we had to turn back. I was not willing to take of my shoes and socks - it was too muddy on the other side to sit down to put them on again.

On the way back to the car I had to flick off a leech from my leg, just above my sock. The another that was on my hand. Once back at the car I told Colin that I was going to take off my shoes to make sure there were no leeches inside. I found two very large ones attached to my socks - they had not bitten me, they were gorging on the wetness that had seeped through my sneakers and into my socks! Colin discovered he had two leeches too! Gosh, every part of you starts to itch after such a discovery! However neither of us lost any blood to the horrible creatures!

From the forest - it is called Sherwood Reserve and is a remnant of lowland rainforest that has never been logged, so is very special - we drove to the coast and found some delightful bays and small hamlets and spoke to one of the residents who told us that the place was idyllic until Easter weekend and the Christmas school holidays, then it was filled with families, fishermen and surfies! Easter starts tomorrow so we have seen it at its quiet time! The place? Arrawarra Headland. Never heard of it? Nor have most people! But is it lovely.

Finally I was able to stop in Woolgoolga and walk over to the Sikh temple and take a couple of shots. Woolgoolga has the largest Indian population of any country town and there are two temples but this one is the most impressive and the newest looking of the two. It has an excellent position in the town too - it is on a hill and can be seen easily from the main Pacific Highway.

Our holiday in Coffs Harbour has come to an end. After cooking our evening meal I shall be packing the cases for a morning departure. We have had a good time exploring all around the district, all our holiday has cost us has been petrol! But I have so many photos that I can now go home and create yet another photo-book of memories!

AJ

Walking in the rain

Our good weather just had to change – we have had perfect weather for our holiday so far but today the clouds rolled over and this time they dropped their load. First thing the rain was too heavy to venture out but hoping that this was just a short shower we busied ourselves with home duties until it dried up.
Grabbing the cameras (most important) and packing a picnic we headed out to explore somewhere that was not too far from base. So off we went South to Sawtell and without even trying, found ourselves at an unmarked nature reserve. The sign simply indicated “lookout” in almost obscure lettering.
Two other cars were parked in the small carpark. We locked the car and walked along the newly trimmed footpath and took our time – for this appeared to be a seldom walked track. The birds were almost tame; they flew very close to me but far too quickly for me to even attempt to capture them on camera. The leaves and plants were glistening with the rain that had only just stopped and on the fine needles of the she-oak the raindrops looked like pearls.
The light was really poor and for every shot I kept today I actually took two or more beforehand to get the settings right on the camera! If I shot a detail of one of the many trees I would find that the first shot would be really underexposed and when I took a view shot of the ocean and the curve of the bay I would find that I under-estimated how bright it was! So photographically today was a real challenge! The view from the headland was “ok” but for me the perfect condition of the selection of plants that bordered the walk provided me with plenty of camera fodder.
I could hear a whip bird very close at one point and although I stood still and waited I could not see it at all nor even work out where in the undergrowth it was. I have never managed to take a photo of a whip bird.
Even when the weather is grim there is still beauty to be found. You just have to look for it.
AJ