The Staveley Lime Kiln is an easy 10-15 minute walk from the car park at the top of Boyds road in Staveley. 40 Km from Ashburton and on the same road you would take to the Sharplin Falls track.
If you keep driving up Boyds road past the Sharplin Falls turn-off the road becomes gravel but it is only a short drive further to get to the car park. There are signs that include “No hunting” including a reminder that “I used to be allowed to hunt here” is not an excuse if you are caught - obviously it was added because of past experiences with people who think the rules don’t apply to them.
Then there is the bit that mentions following the markers to the lime kiln with “foot access only”. The first marker you see is a short green pole with a yellow top, in the middle of a fenced off triangle which has you wondering is this is actually “the” marker because nobody could walk in that area. It is the right marker and the beginning of the strangely laid out, partially hidden, makers to follow. Ignore the sign slightly higher up that says “Not start of walkway” because it must be referring to the other reference that says “Not Sharplin falls”. Once you round the bend to the left there‘s one of them on the right hand side of a “road”/track going downhill while you are actually meant to go through a [falling apart] gate to the left where you can hear the bee hives buzzing away to the side as you go down the hill to the kiln. Here the markers suddenly change into orange tipped metal poles for some reason.
It’s a very interesting area to explore but a little dangerous due to the height so be careful. We visited in July and there was still frost in the shade at 2pm. It almost looked like a forest where you would expect to see wolves lower down when you stand at the top of the kiln. Well worth a visit!
Akaroa is an interesting beach town to visit but includes some winding roads if you suffer from motion sickness. Driving from Ashburton the scenery starts to change about 80km into the drive and there are more than enough stops to buy food or top up with fuel. Birdlings Flat is an interesting stop along the way, a ‘village’ from a Dr Who episode that is possible controlled by aliens.
After that the landscape gets a bit more hilly which means the roads get narrow and more windy. The map shows the possibility of doing a loop track to return but with an extra 10 km or so of winding roads. Since I was at about 10% car-sick [I get car sick while driving!] I didn’t want to add any more distance to the trip and we settled for driving to Akaroa and back.
Today we drove the 140km from Ashburton to Lake Tekapo.
These are the images from the Panasonic GH4 and a Tokina 12-24mm f4 on a Viltrox 0.7x reducer.
These images were taken with the Panasonic GH5 and a 14-140mm zoom. They make a good combination for most settings but somehow the wide angle photos shone for the day - most likely due to the fact that the scenery demanded a wide perspective.
I had imagined The last day of our tour would be a boring drive across the flats to Christchurch.
Instead I found the place I want to build my million dollar house one day.
First of all I woke up early to see that the morning was clear so I donned all my cold weather gear and went for a walk in the valley with the 12-24mm lens for a change. I would like to know what numbskull decided to put huge powerlines through such nice scenery???
This is about 3 minutes walk from our lodge.
Then the clouds rolled in again but that made for a better sunrise.
There were several stops along the way including an area of interest for cave explorers.
Back onto the road to Castle Hill
There isn't a castle there but maybe they anticipated the house I will build there one day?
This will be the view out of the lounge window.
Perhaps the barbeque between those rocks>
Those people coming up the driveway may as well enjoy the scenery before I build here.
My wife snapped a few photos out of the car window while driving through Christchurch to the airport. I have no interest in busy places full of people. Christchurch is still being rebuilt after the 2011 earthquake.
A 1 1/4 hour flight back to Auckland brought us back to reality and the stench of cigarette smoke as several people couldn't wait to get to the smoking areas to suck their anxiety out of a cigarette and resorted to ducking around the corner on the way there, while the wardens wandered over to tell them to put their cigarettes out. All I thought of when I saw the drifting smoke was the sunrise that morning from the motel at Arthur's pass.
Since my visit 10 years ago things have changed. Such as more competition in flights to the South Island, meaning that it now costs 1/4 what it did 10 years ago to visit, and when you take inflation into account is is more like 1/6th what it used to cost. Taking into account the fact that my wife was already planning our next trip after the first day in Queenstown the chances are we will be exploring the area a bit more in future :)
Close to Hokitika we saw a sign to the Treetop walk , we didn't know it was there but had read about it before.
Let's just say it was 'interesting' but not worth $36 a person to walk amongst the treetops, depending what your interests are.
I used the fisheye lens for all the photos on that walk.
Perhaps the biggest issue I had was that there wasn't really much else to see from up there when, perhaps if it had been built near some of the stunning scenery we had driven past, it may have made more sense.
Would I do it again? If I was in the area with someone visiting for the first time and it cost $10 then yes. Beyond that price I suppose it depends how much money the people have and how much they want to be high up amongst the trees - each to their own.
From there we headed for Arthur's pass - when I have a few billion to spare I will build my house there. Driving up the pass you head for alpine territory which is once again where the Kea live.
When you see a sign like this keep and eye on your car! You don't want the wipers pulled off or the window rubber removed by their sharp beaks. Someone also mentioned to me that the ladies would do well not to wear anything shiny in their hair.
This is someone else's video
You come up this road to reach the lookout.
The Kea are very intelligent creatures and know what distance to keep, though they like to have a close look at something like a shiny camera lens - I pulled away as his head came forward to grab the lens.
And we think they are funny creatures!
Once again the weather was a little overcast to enjoy the scenery but it did open up now and then.
Our lodgings were in the best place this time - the scenery was right outside our window. Internet was via satellite so we were given a 'generous' 50 meg each to check emails for the night.
Tomorrow the weather would open up a bit for our last day driving to Christchurch.
After a good rest at Haast we headed off for Franz Josef Glacier . The weather had closed in a bit and it wasn't such a scenic drive perhaps because we couldn't really tell whether we were next to majestic mountains or not. Just busy going through the photos, I took random images of things I wanted to remember, like this shower head at our motel last night, with high pressure water it gave a really nice back massage :)
What we remember most from that day's drive is the colourful rocks with quartz and orange fungus.
Our stay for the night was going to be at the Franz Josef Montrose which is part backpackers, part motel. The "backpackers" in New Zealand are generally cheap overnight stays where you share a bunk in a room full of other people with a communal kitchen, lounge and toilets for about $20 a night. Not what we would like to do so we paid a very reasonable $55 for our own room with a small toilet/shower of our own, which was probably the bargain of the trip. Granted the walls were a little thin and sound travelled through them quite easily, and at one stage a herd of buffalo [or someone vacuuming upstairs?] went over our ceiling. Otherwise from about 9:00pm everything was quiet, the staff were really professional and passionate about their business and informed us that there was free soup for breakfast, which we declined. $55 for your own room, shower toilet [very clean] and free breakfast - you won't easily beat that.
About 15 minutes before Franz Josef is Fox Glacier . We decided to drive up that valley but there wasn't much happening there.
According to the signs in the valley the glaciers have retreated from where the car park is back in 1935 and now involve a 1 hour walk to reach them. Being a cloudy day we couldn't enjoy much of the scenery from a distance either. We headed back to the lodge and caught up with emails and rest while watching the clouds slowly breaking up for some sunlight to come through. Then we decided it was time to drive up the Franz Josef valley and walk to the glacier lookout point and the clouds closed in and the rain returned.
There's a good reason why they don't want people feeding the wildlife. The kea are known to rip the windscreen rubber out of cars and like things that are shiny - so it always pays to keep an eye out for them and not encourage them to hang around too much.
The walk to the lookout of the glacier was interesting but it would have been really nice on a clear day - though bad weather also often means interesting images.
At the bottom of the valley we saw the clouds starting to open up but they closed up again as we got closer.
Pay close attention to the warnings in these valleys. The info centre had a picture showing a shallow river compared to rushing 'floodwaters' and it was exactly the same location 6 hours apart. Just because you can cross the river on your way up doesn't mean you will make it across on your way down.
Also to keep in mind, there is a sign banning drones from the valley - perhaps because of the helicopter tours to the glacier.
After spending two nights in Queenstown we were ready to start heading for our next stop in Haast.
After enjoying a complimentary breakfast at our motel because of having to change rooms due to a blocked drain[/smell] we headed for our next stop. I had seen Wanaka on my previous visit but I hadn't noticed "That Wanaka tree"! Since then having joined several photography forums and the New Zealand Photography group on facebook I came to realise that this was the Kim Kardashian of trees. It just keeps showing up everywhere and while pleasing to look at you eventually get sick of seeing it appear every time you check out the latest photos.
But I had a plan - my machete was packed in my main luggage and got through airport security. More on that later.
Our first stop was Arrowtown, we stopped to have a walk around the Chinese town where gold miners lived 'way back then'.
They were interesting little dwellings and I suppose would have even been considered 'luxury' compared to the way some people lived in those days, and sadly even some today.
Some even had a fireplace.
Interesting story from when I visited 10 years ago: I was chatting with someone in a nearby shop who said that a few years previously the roading company dumped a pile of sand outside his shop to pave the road with. He scooped a bucket full of it up and kept it aside to demonstrate gold panning to customers. The roading company came in and paved the road a few days later. A week after that he took his bucket of sand and showed a customer how to pan for gold. He pulled out a reasonable sized gold nugget. So the streets of Arrowtown are paved with gold!
We met a busload of tourists there, they were on a 21 day tour of Australia and New Zealand with the bus stopping at all the 'good spots'. Their journey sounded pretty intense and perhaps a little tiring for my liking - but still better than not doing it.
After Arrowtown we took the scenic route through the mountains towards Wanaka.
There is still a reasonable amount of snow around there considering summer starts in a month.
I had done my research and set my gps for the exact location of "That Wanaka tree" as we headed for our next stop. We hoped there weren't too many people there, my wife was nervous I might have another encounter with the armed-offenders squad [long story, they took an air rifle away from me when I was new in the country].
There it is! And already it messed with my brain, because of the way the tree leans I was subconsciously trying to counteract that lean, evident in the tilted horizon in every shot I took!
So I was thinking "What will south island photographers take pictures of when it is gone? They will have to start using their imaginations!"
Now, in preparation for the backlash I may get - I did not cut the tree down! This is a joke!
There were several people who understood the joke, many of them had stated "I'm going to take a chainsaw to that tree!" and I had offered to provide the petrol to complete the job. Once this picture was up it was shared several times with titles like "It has been done finally!".
Of course while I was there I had to take a few photos just in case someone does finally get rid of "Kim Wanaka Kardashian Tree".
How do you get a different perspective of the world's most photographed tree? [Tilted horizons have been corrected in the next two images]
Some ducks arrived to add some spice to the image.
And then as the photographers started arriving in their droves it was time to leave before the urge to practice my swimming and machete swinging kicked in.
This is a "must do" stop if you're in the area, plenty of photo opportunities.
I get motion sickness very easily, it took about 3 seconds for me to start feeling a little unwell after stepping into the tilted room.
Put the pool ball at one end of the table and it rolls into the pocket. The "level" surfaces in this room are all actually tilted 2 degrees downward as well but because there are no windows you have no reference point for your brain which makes you start feeling off balance pretty quickly.
Then there is the room of faces that follow you as you walk by. This is best seen in the video.
The room of perspective distortion takes a video of you and plays it back after two minutes so you can watch yourself changing size as you walk across from one side to the other. Apparently this technique is used in movies where Hobbits are involved.
It's a really cool place with something interesting around every corner.
At first I didn't believe this guy was made of silicone. I watched him out of the corner of my eye for a while waiting for him to move. Maybe I should have taken the machete in and run at him with it? Someone suggested doing the 'nose pinch test' to make sure whether he was real or not. Eventually after peeking around the corner a few times I realised it wasn't alive.
I want a place like this closer to home.
Those lines are all straight, unlike the Wanaka tree.
At the reception we were originally pointed in the direction of the main entrance to the attractions. Then she pointed to the toilets and said "The toilets are quite special". They were.
If you stand right in the middle with your back to the wall the perspective of the room fits the painting in the background. Of course the real toilets are doors to the left and right of this room.
From there it was the drive the rest of the way to Haast. Several stops along the way break up the journey.
It's not only sheep on the South island, there are cows as well.
And deer in the distance.
Ideally the trip could take 5X longer there are so many places to stop and go for walks.
We stayed at Aspiring court motel at Haast. $110 a night, parking right outside the door and 1 hour free [slow] internet each.
We had been advised to see Jackson Bay but it was 5:00pm by the time we got to Haast so after 'setting up camp' we took a half hour drive towards the bay and got a few late afternoon snaps.
Haast wasn't exactly a highlight of our journey, more of a halfway stop between places.
On Monday morning we set out for a drive to Glenorchy, and "paradise". It is a really nice drive with a constant view of the mountain range across the lake.
The great thing about New Zealand is that because tourism earns a lot of income for the country they make an effort to cater to tourists, many signs warn of upcoming scenic lookouts and parking spots specially for appreciating the scenery, along with walking tracks that add to the experience.
Once again I made use of the fisheye lens on various occasions, keeping in mind that not all the roads on this trip were as "advanced as this one" :)
[Kinloch road intersection]
Once again the 18-140mm lens was a very capable choice for the trip, I very seldom felt the need for more reach. This is the road to Glenorchy from Queenstown.
No, that's not Glenorchy itself but the town consists of only a few roads anyway.
There are many places to stop and take photos along the way, just be careful of dust on a fine day when the rain hasn't settled the dirt roads that you will encounter.
At some stage you go through forest scenery as well.
After going through Glenorchy and turning up the road to "Paradise" you see warnings of the road narrowing, signs depicting sheep and then you came to the point where you would have to cross the river Jordan - those with bible knowledge will understand better.
There was a sign a little further back that warned that there would be river crossings that might not be safe for smaller cars. Had it been my own vehicle I would have gone through but since it was a rental we decided to respect their property and not attempt it. It looks like we will have to wait a bit longer before entering paradise.
From there we turned back to Glenorchy and then headed for Kinloch.
There is a nice area to stop and got for a short walk across a swing bridge to end up in forest area.
The sign warns of a 5 person limit - as you're walking the bridge starts to sway and it's up to you to place your next step to cancel the movement rather than adding to it, known as ''constructive interference".
In the distance we saw what looked like mist in the river valley. Eventually when we crossed the river we realised it was actually dust.
If you were to live in this area where would you go on holiday? It would be difficult to find somewhere 'impressive' in comparison.
After getting back to the place we were staying and having a bit of a rest, we decided to drive past our residence and look for Coronet peak, It turns out that it was less than a kilometer around the corner. On my first visit to the area I went up this road to Skippers Canyon, because back then there was a list of companies that did not allow their vehicles on that road and the old clunker I had rented from someone who also rented out bicycles in town was not mentioned on the list. The scenery is well worth the drive but there are times when the road is only wide enough for one vehicle and then a bus towing a trailer comes around the corner - and one of you has to back up to find a ledge to "hang out" on while the other edges past.
Coronet peak is a nice winding uphill drive with a good view of the area.
On the first day we had full sunlight which is ok when it is behind you but otherwise is a bit harsh for photos. Monday was really nice weather with patchy high cloud meaning the light was more diffused with the occasional burst of sunlight meaning a 3D look to some of the images.
When I'm taking photos of a commonly photographed scene I always try to throw in something a little different, like a cluster of grass on the edge for example.
More 3D lighting...
And a few from the fisheye lens. When there are no straight lines on the edges the images don't need correction of any sort.
And then we went to the "World famous in Queenstown" Fergburger where you will often see lines of people waiting outside for a meal. This was "Big Al" which includes two large patties, two fried eggs and the beetroot that my Canadian wife finds so disgusting to have on a burger. She doesn't know what she's missing!
In her defence I will say that one of her photos is my favourite. Obviously she has some good taste, after all she married me!
If you're really bored flip through the video footage of the drive to Glenorchy and the sursounding area keeping in mind the fact that it was filmed on a $28 dashcam :)
On Sunday 25 /10/2015 my wife and I flew down to Queenstown, New Zealand to do a 6 day tour of the area. There is a lot to see and do in the area and plenty of beautiful scenery.
I had my new Nikon D7200 [as opposed to my new D70 10 years ago] with the 18-140mm kit lens which proved to be a very good lens for the task at hand. For the wide angle photos I debated whether I should use the 12-24mm lens or simply use the 10.5mm fisheye lens and crop/correct the images later. It turned out that for much of the really wide photos the 10.5mm lens was just fine without correction unless you have a tree next to you that will distort quite badly. Of course if you do a "selfie reflection" at the top of the gondola you will see a lot of distortion as well :)
Initially we had thought of doing one of the deals where you drive a camper-van from Queenstown to Auckland - because a lot of people do it the other way around so they offer cheaper prices to return a vehicle to Auckland. We went with Discovery campervans ...... unfortunately. They had a deal for $45 a day, "no hidden costs, no one-way fee". We paid for it and then received a message to book our ticket across the ferry. [No hidden costs, no one way fee?]. When we tried to book the ticket it was going to cost $500 extra! We contacted them and they refused to refund the full amount which cost us $200 "cancellation fee" just two days after booking it before we even started our trip - lesson learned.
Anyway prices for flights to Queenstown were 1/4 the price of what they were 10 years ago due to competition in the industry - finally. Booking.com was very useful, we found a place called "Swiss Belresort" for the first two nights which had very helpful staff but a bad smell from the drainage by the second morning so they moved us to another room and gave us a free breakfast for our troubles. I would still stay there again if they guaranteed one of the less smelly rooms because apparently it is an ongoing problem but for $70 a night it was well worth the stay, that included free wi-fi. We rented a little Suzuki Swift from Jucy rentals which was a great little car, only just big enough to take us and our luggage mind you, and very economical to drive giving us about 17km/l.
We drove up "The Remarkables" towards the ski field to get a better view of the town.
Sunlight has its advantages but if it's not behind you it makes for rather harsh landscape images. This was taken with the fisheye lens - there were times when I actually wished it was a little wider.
There was a reasonable amount of snow around though our first day was sunny, the second day had high cloud and we were told a few days after we left Queenstown that it was snowing back there. This photo was also taken from the top of the gondola ride in the later afternoon.
As mentioned there is a lot to do here, it's a really 'touristy' place and everyone's interests are well catered for.
The TSS Earnslaw boat takes people across the lake to an old homestead restaurant.
The town of Queenstown itself is very scenic and has pleasant walkways. Most shops have youngsters on "working visas" so don't expect to speak to many New Zealanders in town.
The Gondola will take you up to the lookout and restaurant, there are also steps that lead back up from the collection point of a bungy jump that sticks out of the side.
Commercial bungy jumping originated in New Zealand by the way.
On the top of "Deer heights" there is an old movie set from 30 years ago left behind after a Disney movie was filmed there, something about some kids and a rescue from a North Korean prison. 10 years ago when I visited, Deer heights was open to public - you could drive up there after buying a $1 bag of food to give to give to the goats and other animals on the hill. It provides a really nice 360 degree view of the area but unfortunately is no longer an option :( .
Of course in New Zealand there is always the chance of seeing something in the form of a Kiwi - something you will rarely see in the wild otherwise.
That ended a tiring day - waking up at 3:00am in Hamilton to get ready and be at Auckland by 6:00am to leave at 8:00am for the 1 hour 50 minute flight. 10:30am we picked up the rental car and started driving and obviously while setting up the GPS I wandered over the centre line [in a quiet area mind you] and that resulted in a phone call a few hours later from the rental company stating that the police had reported a call from a concerned member of the public about the vehicle we were in crossing the centre line and "circumstances would be more severe" if it happened again. Well I suppose the locals in Queenstown must get rather tired of all the tourists from other countries not knowing which side of the road to drive on :) .
The motel had an interesting way of ensuring you never locked your keys in the room - you had to insert the key to allow the lights to work :)
5 years ago I climbed Ngaruhoe with my gopro. Since getting married 3 years ago I haven't been doing much adventure stuff and felt like I was getting a bit out of shape - was the A.G.E virus setting in? I started exercising a bit more and on 1/1/2015 we headed back to Tongariro, I wanted to see if I could still get up that mountain in an hour and 20 minutes.
This time our friends came along. Meet Kola and Bola :)
From the car park it is about an hour's walk to the base of the first climb which is a well made path climbing up to the base of Mount Ngauruhoe. Then it's another half an hour of constant uphill.
The hardest part about climbing this mountain is choosing the right path, There are valleys of slippery pumice which is light rock that you can sink knee deep into as you take two steps forward and slide one step backward. There is a ridge of fairly solid rock towards the left that you can head for if you follow the poles in the ground.
After an hour and ten minutes I was at the top - maybe it's not a matter of being fitter as much as being wiser and knowing which path to take.
It's a great view from the top.
There's Blue lake in the distance.
Going down is another story - a better one than going up actually. Now you head for the soft stuff because the hard stuff is dangerous if you fall while going down. In twenty minutes you can be at the bottom again, it's just a matter of digging your heels in side to side as the rocky conveyor belt carries you back down.
Our friends were ready for a group shot.
As with many aspects of photography it turned out that people liked the picture of the slime in the river at the bottom more than all the others :)
And here is the video which inlcludes the rocky conveyor belt.
