Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland

The Champagne Pool - f/3.5 | 1/400 sec | ISO 100

 We followed a trail around the Waiotapu thermal area with great views of many interesting features. The Champagne Pool is the largest spring in the district - 62m deep in places and a surface temperature of 74 degrees C! It was formed 700 years ago by a hydrothermal eruption.

Pied Stilt - f/6.3 | 1/400 sec | ISO 125

 I saw many Pied Stilts on the flats within the park where they feed on insects. Surprisingly they seemed quite unconcerned about the acidic water they are wading in! It is generally believed they have been in New Zealand since the early 19th century, with the main growth in population between 1870-1940 and there was an estimated 30,000 individuals in the country in the early 1990s.

Pied Stilt II - f/5.6 | 1/500 sec | ISO 150

Although they are generally shy birds, this one seemed to love the attention and walked very close to where I was sitting on the boardwalk! 

Waiotapu Bubbling Mud

After our second night in Rotorua we moved on towards Wanganui. On the way there we stopped off at some hot springs where we went swimming - it was so warm like a bath temperature! Afterwards we went to Waiotapu to see the bubbling mud, I managed to get some interesting shots using a fast shutter speed. The trees surrounding the area looked like skeletons stained white, it was a very unusual landscape!

Explosion - f/6.3 |  1/500 | ISO 100

Bubbling Mud - f/9 | 1/500 sec | ISO 100

Bubbling Mud II - f/9 | 1/500 sec | ISO 100

Tree Skeletons - f/4.5 | 1/250 sec | ISO 125

Skyline Rotorua

On our second evening in Rotorua we went up a skyline cable car where there was an all you can eat restaurant buffet! I enjoyed the food with a view but I was so jet-lagged I fell asleep on the table much to everyones amusement. After we'd finished dinner we returned to Paradise Springs to see the kiwis in their outdoor enclosure where they are active at night. 

                                                           

Skyline View - f/4 | 1/320 | ISO 125

City Lights - f/3.5 | 1/6 sec | ISO 3200

Rotorua Lake and Paradise Springs

After visiting the thermal areas in Rotorua, we drove to the Lake there to see the colonies of water birds nesting on small islands just offshore. 

Gull - f/5 | 1/160 sec | ISO 125

Island Colony - f/6.3 | 1/250 sec | ISO 100

We then drove to Paradise Springs a wildlife park focusing on animals native to New Zealand. It's work strongly focuses on kiwi conservation and we went for a tour of their conservation work with a guide, which allowed us to see some baby kiwis that were just hours old, and had hatched on a previous tour that day! It was really interesting to learn about their work and we made a ten dollar donation to help them try to save the endangered kiwi!

Mute Swan - f/5 | 1/160 sec | ISO 800

Off to New Zealand

So it's finally happening my gap year tour of New Zealand! I left England at the end of October and after about 23 hours on a plane (not including much hanging around at airports in London, Dubai and Sydney!) arrived in New Zealand. On the whole it was a good flight despite a detour to Hamilton before landing in Auckland due to a previous accident on the run-way.

On on our first day we visited a park in Rotorua where there is a lot of thermal activity, bubbling mud, hot springs and steaming lakes! Great subjects for photography!

Thermal Wonderland - f/9 | 1/160 sec | ISO 100

Rotorua Thermal Park - f/8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

Light Reflections - f/5 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

Surface - f/5.6 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

Patterns - f/8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

Thermal Lake - f/8 | 1/125 sec | ISO 100

French Countryside

Sun Rays - f/9 | 1/250 sec | ISO 640

Fog Blanket - f/5 | 1/320 sec | ISO 400

Misty Morning - f/4.5 | 1/320 sec | ISO 250

Fishing Lake - f/2.8 | 1/320 sec | ISO 200

This is a selection of photographs from around the countryside surrounding our holiday house in France. The farmland there is abundant in wildlife with so many trees and hedgerows, and there are great farm tracks one can explore! 

Tree Frog

Tree Frog - f/2.8 | 1/125 | ISO 3200

These cute little tree frogs are regular visitors to my relatives garden in France! It took me a long time to find this little guy on the huge lawn, being green is clearly excellent camouflage! This picture was shot at night using the light of a torch!