Missing Home

Morning, yeah as you can guess from the title of this blog, I am missing home, the funny thing is the place drives me crazy, its so small you can walk the main street in under 5 mins. But its one of those things that I miss. Its a little country town on the east coast of the north island in New Zealand.

My home town is a little under 7 hours drive away, and considering I work full time having to travel home almost makes it impossible unless you have a really long weekend, as you spend two days driving there and back.

Anyway its been over 2 yrs since I was last home and I was looking at some photos last night and I got the MISS HOME feeling, so I figured I would put some of pictures that I took two years ago up.

The series I have here for you is by no means the best or the worst, it is just a small selection, I still believe that Opotiki has some of the best beaches in New Zealand. It is also the home of some amazing hunting and fishing.

Opotiki has alot of diversity, ranging from beautiful coastal vistas, stunning beaches, secluded valleys and crystal clear mountain streams. Oh and dont forget the people, they are the best.

Wet Weekend

Well this weekend was not the best for getting out and about to take photos, but I braved the Wellington WIND and RAIN to watch my partner play soccer hoping I could get some great wet and muddy pics. It was that windy I could not hold the camera and umbrella straight… So pretty much got nothing.

Feeling a little robbed, myself and some friends went out to Maidestone Park in Upper Hutt to find some fungi and find we did. Only metres into the track we stumbled onto some great fungi. They where so tiny, but with the help of a macro lens I was able to get right close and personal. I prefer to take the underside of this little fella as it is a lot more appealing.



There were so many fungi around, we really where spoilt for choice.


A little further up the track it got a bit muddy and I decided I did not want to get wet shoes so looked around at what was on offer and found this cute little Koru. I had been looking for one for a while now and this one fit the bill perfectly. Nice curves and easy access from the track.

Any way after spending a couple of hours in the bush, we decided it was time for lunch but of course the park (outside of the bush) had many photo opportunities also. I saw this lovely grove of trees and thought mmmm in black and white it would look great, and for the final shot this wonderful autumn grove…

Documentary Style

Anyway ain't been here for a couple of days, I have been wondering what I can post about, as its pretty shit weather outside, and I did'nt want to take my new camera out in the wet quite yet. So I started on an entry into a competition, and I am now at a stand still.

The competition is a Documentary Essay to invoke emotion and tell a story about a specific subject, I figured that this would be easy, but when you can only have a maximum of six images... it gets really hard to try and pick the right six.

I have decided to so with Tribute 08, which is an event that was a long time coming, for most New Zealand citizens I would say most have a tie to the Vietnam war... well I did in my Dad. When the soldiers came home they where never welcome back to NZ, in fact the got sweet F all.

Many years later in 2008 the NZ GOVT welcomed all them home (well most, some have died since and some never made it home) and I thought what better way to go and represent my Dad (who died of cancer a few years back) than to join the celebrations and walk from the civic square to Parliament in Wellington with his unit 1NZATTV.

It truly was a heart felt event, I cried so much, as Dad was not there to have his welcome home, and yet the army was his life and family second. The first group to walk in the parade where those that had fallen.


It was moving for all those there, and even more so for the family members and friends that where carrying the images of the men that did not make it home.


The walk was both old and new, you had the Vietnam Vets and the new forces along side, and they where just not Army, there where Navy and Airforce as well, I am sure the young ones where proud to have taken this walk with the family and friends of those who fought.


It was such a great event, people meet up with folks they have not seen in years, and the atmosphere was amazing. When I joined in with my Dads group to take up my dads place, I was welcome with open arms, they asked who I was and they stopped to give me a hug and they realised that my dad had passed, he was a friend to them all during those days.


The people of Wellington are awesome, they sure know how to welcome people.



It took quite some time to walk to parliament, but it was worth it, there where lots of speeches going on from ministers and the like. It truly was an amazing experience.


But I hope I never have to attend another again. If anything were to happen again, I would hope the people get the welcome they deserve when they get home, not many years later.................................

I Love this Image

Again from Karori, this is the lake, just stunning right, I had seen this picture before and wanted one, hence the visit to Karori Wildlife Sanctuary. This is straight out of the camera to folks no processing here.

Art really

Well it's my 2nd day and ooohhhh I have another pic to put up. On the weekend I went for a walk around the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (Zealandia) and boy there are some amazing subjects to photograph, from the lake to fungi including birds and tuatara's... its truely worth while visiting if you are camera holic.. like me. Anyway I got a new camera for my birthday Canon 7D, and I love it, but I am having to learn how to use it, you see it is quite different from my old Canon 400D... Just a Tad. Anyway my pic today is a tree that I saw, and just love.

Bugger me... first pic

I got this for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and thought i would like to photograph... its amazing right... well I think it is. Anyway I took two images one with the black background and the other with a white, I really like this one.