Kiriwhakapapa
I have returned to the mainland! Yes, it has already been three months since I left... time flies when you're having fun! To finish my mini-summaries that I've been doing at the top of my archived posts, from Queenstown, Juli and I headed out to one of my other favourite places in New Zealand, Aoraki (Mount Cook). After doing a couple hikes, we headed to Christchurch to sell our car. Then we flew to Auckland on February 6th and Tahiti on the 7th. We had a two day stopover there before heading back to North America. we landed in Los Angeles, spent two nights there, and then drove to Phoenix yesterday, where Juli's parents have a winter home. Juli is heading home in the morning, but I am staying with my friend Maura for a week while I wait for a photography conference to start in Las Vegas. I have three days there, then am home to Canada on the 23rd!
Phew, that was a lot of name dropping! :p Back to catching up on posts...
Yet another entrance to the Tararua Forest Park is at the end of Kiriwhakapapa Road (say that three times fast!). It's only about 20km north of Masterton and there is a trail that goes from the end of the K-Road to the end of another road -- it takes three hours, so some smart people with two cars drop one at one end and hike from the other. I didn't have this option and I wasn't keen on hiking for six hours, so I took a one hour loop trail which met up with the trail between the roads, then went an hour up that way and turned back. I was out for about four hours and my total distance was about 7km, I think (that doesn't seem very far, but I swear it was uphill both ways!). This walk had everything -- unbelievably lush foliage, a trail that followed a bubbling creek with several crossings, and even a strand of massive redwood trees. If I lived in the area, it's a place I could easily return to every week!
The drive out passed through some beautiful countryside.
The trail was gorgeous right from the first few steps.
Redwoods!
The only real way to appreciate these giants is point the camera up on a wide angle and stand next to one for some perspective!
Yay, successful self timer portrait. :)
This shot is the exact same as the previous except in landscape and without the big trees framing it... it's interesting how composition can make the same shot look so different, hey?
I'm really happy with this detail shot of a tree fern. :)
Phew, that was a lot of name dropping! :p Back to catching up on posts...
Yet another entrance to the Tararua Forest Park is at the end of Kiriwhakapapa Road (say that three times fast!). It's only about 20km north of Masterton and there is a trail that goes from the end of the K-Road to the end of another road -- it takes three hours, so some smart people with two cars drop one at one end and hike from the other. I didn't have this option and I wasn't keen on hiking for six hours, so I took a one hour loop trail which met up with the trail between the roads, then went an hour up that way and turned back. I was out for about four hours and my total distance was about 7km, I think (that doesn't seem very far, but I swear it was uphill both ways!). This walk had everything -- unbelievably lush foliage, a trail that followed a bubbling creek with several crossings, and even a strand of massive redwood trees. If I lived in the area, it's a place I could easily return to every week!
The drive out passed through some beautiful countryside.
The trail was gorgeous right from the first few steps.
Redwoods!
The only real way to appreciate these giants is point the camera up on a wide angle and stand next to one for some perspective!
Yay, successful self timer portrait. :)
This shot is the exact same as the previous except in landscape and without the big trees framing it... it's interesting how composition can make the same shot look so different, hey?
I'm really happy with this detail shot of a tree fern. :)