Fun in NZ

[Simmo W]

Ha, how did we miss each other in such a 'small' country?! :-)

Wow that south island IS darned amazing. North is great, must see, but south is off the scale gorgeous. Yesterday went on a boat tour of queen charlotte sound, a boat that could take over 100 tourists had...just us 3, talk about personal service!

Back at Auckland for the last 2 nights, fluked this rather nice corner view, plenty of high res building textures to be obtained! This is just the north side, we have an unobstructed view of the east/harbor side too.

[Gjalp]

You fullas' is having too much fun!!!!!! So far e have 30 deg heat, heavy rain and strong winds with 10 deg heat and today back upto 20ish degrees! Not to mention an earthquake.....and all this in 3 days!!! Chris must be apply he chose NZCH as his new home!

Ah well, just another day in Godzown!

Slainte,

Andy

NZCH

[Simmo W]

That sounds crazy Andy. We had 20c at Picton yesterday, but it struggled, more like 18, then rained just at home time, very lucky! Geeze, out on the boat, at 12 kt or so, it was freezing, your ice was chilling our trip!

I swear I'll make it to churchville next time! I can see us doing a few trips to NZ, very impressed. I brought my Fuji 3d camera, got some amazing stereo images so will post links on return.

Hired a pretty new corolla hatch there. Quite a nice direct steering feel, very surprised. So I left the family and drove halfway to Havelock, caned that thing around those never ending windy coastal roads, my god it was memorable. I returned with a stupid grin on my face, hadnt driven that intensely for 2yrs, Lost my wallet, the cornering was so violent it had wedged itself under another seat somewhere. A lovely peaceful jaunt :-)

[Simmo W]

Ok, slowly culling the hundreds of pics we took! It's a very photogenic place.

NZ's main train service:

Actually, a great little personal railway nearish Rotorua

I almost wet my pants when I saw this at Auckland! It certainly stood out from the crowd, Russian IL96

Pete might like this one, it's a beaver on the left. Taken at Lake Taupo

[chris k]

V nice!

[Gjalp]

Awesome! Dont be knocking our rail service.....it might not be there when you get back!!!! State owned asseste being sold off and all

You better come down here!

Slainte,

Andy

NZCH

[Charlie]

Any idea why the IL-96 was in auckland?

[karingka]

Yeah that's weird. According to wiki, there have only been 29 built.... Simon, you are very lucky!

Edited February 4, 2012 by karingka

[Simmo W]

Hmm, just searched their flights and couldn't find any to Auckland, so yes, no wonder I was excited - and those 4 engines certainly looked unusual!

Ok, for the anoraks, here's the other pics I took. Auckland is certainly a great place for planespotting, being a nice 'small' size compared to Melbourne.

Ah, and a traditional plane, I liked the angle but the thick viewing glass spoilt it

[chris k]

Some Random NZCH area pics (and a couple from YSSY):

A340, 747-400, and an A380 all hanging out together at YSSY:

Our Piddilly little A320:

Banks Peninsula - Outside Christchurch New Zealand

Downtown (CBD) of Crumblechurch (Note: It doesn't all look like this, just some blocks w/the Earthquake Damage):

The first Mountain Pass enroute to Arthurs Pass on the West Coast Highway:

- CK.

Edited February 18, 2012 by chris k

[chris k]

NZCH: (and yes, the Grass *IS* brown)..

i.e. for all those who said "What's up with the Airport? It looks like the orthos for the Xplane Airport you made were taken during a prolonged drought..." cough cough.. Um, No - It actually looks like this for many months of the year, naturally:

- CK.

[Simmo W]

Nice Chris. That's weird though, the North island was spectacularly green, I mean 'is that grass fake?' type green!

God I have so many pics to post, just too lazy to do em all. This one is one of my faves, mt Ruapehu. Taken with my W3, a very lucky shot. Why? Well, taking pics from the outer viewing deck of a train @ 60mph, bumpy, plus with a camera that takes about 1 sec to respond to a button press, such an angle should be considered a fluke! It gives a feel of Armageddon to me.