South Pacific
Well, I started out well with this blog...7 posts! But then summer came and I was busy and some photographic opportunities that I thought were going to be incredible turned out to be disappointments. But I also did manage to get some good photos, so I won't complain. I will take what I can get and be persistent, both in looking for prime photographic occasions and in blogging about my experiences when I can.
I was soooo looking forward to getting amazing photographs in New Zealand and Australia! How could I not? I mean, have you SEEN photos from those countries? Especially New Zealand. And people who have been there have raved about how beautiful it is. They're not wrong. What I saw was gorgeous. And a lot of what I saw was from a bus window, which is not great for trying to photograph the landscape. Or sometimes I saw things while we were on the movie--a drawback to traveling with a group. Oh, and it was winter, of course, which meant a lot of gray skies. And rain. There was so much rain.
I absolutely loved the town where we spent the majority of our time--Rotorua. It is an area with a lot of geothermal activity and Whakarewarewa, a Maori geothermal village, was awesome. We also visited the Tamaki Maori village and got to see demonstrations of various cultural activities, but it was nighttime and it was raining and my photographic skills in low light are not the best, unfortunately.
The best pictures I got were in Hobbiton, the movie set for The Hobbit movies. I'm not even a huge fan of that movie franchise, but who can resist those adorable little round doors? Not me. I loved them. And it is set up like a real village in a beautiful valley. The cutest village ever. Of course, it was raining. At first it was just kind of a steady drizzle and we could handle that. About halfway through the tour, it started pouring. And there was nothing that could be done about that. Not good for photography or morale. Thank goodness for The Green Dragon Inn at the end of the tour, where we had a drink and got warmed up...a little...before braving the rain again.
The Hobbit Houses do make great coasters, too.
In Australia, I had less luck. Sydney is a city and the main recognizable feature, of course, is the Opera House. I'm sure if I had gone around the city more and explored different areas, I would have found a ton of interesting things to photograph. But again, I saw a lot from the bus and didn't get a ton of good pictures. In Cairns, we went to the Great Barrier Reef. What an experience! But no great photos. I was really looking forward to going to the village of Kuranda, in a rainforest. It is on a mountain and we were supposed to ride a cable car to get to it, spend some time there and then take a "scenic railway" train back down. Luck was not with us, unfortunately, and there were technical difficulties with the cable cars and an accident on the road that would have been our alternate route to get there. I think that the views would not have been spectacular anyway, due to the rain and fog....at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Hawaii is a place that I've never particularly had a strong desire to visit, but I was pleasantly surprised that I like it as much as I did. We were only on Oahu, which I know is not the most beautiful island, but it was lovely. It gave me the desire to go back one day to visit the other islands. And of course, Pearl Harbor was a very moving experience.
I was soooo looking forward to getting amazing photographs in New Zealand and Australia! How could I not? I mean, have you SEEN photos from those countries? Especially New Zealand. And people who have been there have raved about how beautiful it is. They're not wrong. What I saw was gorgeous. And a lot of what I saw was from a bus window, which is not great for trying to photograph the landscape. Or sometimes I saw things while we were on the movie--a drawback to traveling with a group. Oh, and it was winter, of course, which meant a lot of gray skies. And rain. There was so much rain.
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| Whakarewarewa |
The best pictures I got were in Hobbiton, the movie set for The Hobbit movies. I'm not even a huge fan of that movie franchise, but who can resist those adorable little round doors? Not me. I loved them. And it is set up like a real village in a beautiful valley. The cutest village ever. Of course, it was raining. At first it was just kind of a steady drizzle and we could handle that. About halfway through the tour, it started pouring. And there was nothing that could be done about that. Not good for photography or morale. Thank goodness for The Green Dragon Inn at the end of the tour, where we had a drink and got warmed up...a little...before braving the rain again.
The Hobbit Houses do make great coasters, too.
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| Opera House and Harbour Bridge |
In Australia, I had less luck. Sydney is a city and the main recognizable feature, of course, is the Opera House. I'm sure if I had gone around the city more and explored different areas, I would have found a ton of interesting things to photograph. But again, I saw a lot from the bus and didn't get a ton of good pictures. In Cairns, we went to the Great Barrier Reef. What an experience! But no great photos. I was really looking forward to going to the village of Kuranda, in a rainforest. It is on a mountain and we were supposed to ride a cable car to get to it, spend some time there and then take a "scenic railway" train back down. Luck was not with us, unfortunately, and there were technical difficulties with the cable cars and an accident on the road that would have been our alternate route to get there. I think that the views would not have been spectacular anyway, due to the rain and fog....at least that's what I'm telling myself.
Hawaii is a place that I've never particularly had a strong desire to visit, but I was pleasantly surprised that I like it as much as I did. We were only on Oahu, which I know is not the most beautiful island, but it was lovely. It gave me the desire to go back one day to visit the other islands. And of course, Pearl Harbor was a very moving experience.
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