The World of Nemo

The Ocean, our planets biggest door! With such an abundance of life through that big door it would be easy to put all the 180 shots I have on here, well apart from taking forever and a day to upload them all. I chosen some of the better ones, though my skills with a film camera need a bit of work. The highlight of the weeks diving was by far the whale shark, seriously if anyone needed any inspiration to dive in these waters this is it.

Thailand again Koh Lanta

Not so humid and 5 days diving in water a smidgeon under 30 C and quite clear, these pics were taken on the way out to one of the dives sites and moored up over lunch in front of a cool little beach, the pic of the boat in the evening with the lightning in the background took about 30 shots to catch, but worth the effort me thinks. Every now and again I come across something that makes you stop and go WTF! take the honeymoon life house in this case, and yes it's exactly what it looks like the ideal abode to start ones life together.

And last but not least a pic looking north along the aptly named Long Beach at 4km long it's not hard to find a quiet spot

Malaysia

Hot & humid, is the order of the day here, and pretty much every day from what I can find out lots of rain, well they don't call it the rainy season for nothing. Malaysia became completely independent from the UK on 31st August 1963, and if I'd written this when I was there I'd be able to put more fact into this. The general gist of it goes the Portuguese colonized Malaysia in 1511, followed by the Dutch in 1641 then by the British in 1786 and finally by the Japanese during the second world war, so you could say that haven't had the best deal, when it comes control within their own borders. you can read more at http://www.kinabaluweb.com/malaysia_day.html if your interested.

The pics here are among the few that I have remaining after some thieving robbing scrotum buggered off with my camera, they could have done the decent thing and left the bloody memory card behind. Anyway the cyclo pic was taken in Melaka, nothing too unusual about the bike apart from the flowers and fairy lights, it was the hard core drum & base music blaring out at a volume that would put most XR3i drivers to shame that got me. The photo of the black looking clouds was taken about 15mins before the sky fell down. A most impressive volume of water.

The others are the Petronas towers at night and one in the day where you can see one of the towers has sprouted ears, the last pic is the public park right behind them.

Sydney

Only a brief 5 days in Sydney, but nice to get back into the warm, mind you I have to get back to blighty after the heat of Asia again so I'm going to be girly cold when I get back. Anyway anyone that goes to Sydney has to come back with pics of the opera house and bridge so here they are. I took a tour of the Opera house, which is facinating. An international competition won by a Danish architect, so radically different from any other entry. Estmated time and budget was 4 years and 7 million dollars, It took 14 years & 104 million dollars and has apparently 4 times as much steel as the main arch in the harbour bridge.

I also had the opportunity to do a bit of diving while I was there, blody cold though at 18C.

Wellington

The Crossing from Piction (South Island) to Wellington (North Island) was entertaining with a rough sea, Strong winds and lots of rain. Standing out on deck getting battered by the elements is kinda fun, with the ferry pitching and yawing like a child playing with a plastic duck in a bath. The only thing that concerned me about this crossing, was avoiding the line of distinctly green looking people on the inside of the door,waiting in eager readiness to add just a little more volume to the Cook straight. The Video clip is going from Christchurch to Picton following the Pacific Ocean coast in places literally only meters away. The bad weather continued for a few days while I was in the capital, so I hired a car for a day to trot around in. I'm guessing the staff thought I was a little forgetful so they decided to put my name on the side of the car just to make sure I brought the right one back. I spent almost 7 hours in the Te Papa museum, 5 floors containing art and history about New Zealand and it's Original Maori descendants. Very interesting and free to get in.

Lake Tekaop

In the heart of the South Island there is a plateau called the MacKensy basin, almost in the centre of this is Lake Tekapo, with practically no light polution and the surrounding mountains keeping the clouds at bay. This area gets the most consistently clear nights in New Zealand. These conditions make this place the ideal location for an observatory, partly sponsered by the Japanise the 7million dollar telescope is the most advanced astronomic resaerch facillity the kiwi's have, so a little better than bog roll 2 lenses and some sticky back plastic. Along with several other smaller telescopes, all this set up on Mount John only 4km away from the very small town of Tekapo. I went to the observatory on a night tour and during the day, to get the pic's I have posted here. The views as incredible, this basin was also used in the filming of 'Lord of the rings'. If you look closley at the video clip, tilt your head to one side and squint you may be lucky enough to see Gandalf charging around on Shadofax weilding a beer.

Queenstown

The good weather finally stopped just as I arrived in Queenstown, which hosted a huge number of people from the UK. As is the norm in NZ the views coming into Queenstown are incredible. Its cold here at around 18C and strong winds. The morning I left its was snowing as the pic shows.

Ironically as I left on the Monday morning, the snow was settling. The ski season and slopes all closed on the Sunday afternoon, just before the big dump of snow.

On the way out the bus driver mentioned several of the tour coaches making there way to Milford sound were returning because the mountain pass was impassable due to bad weather. Shame as it's one of the most rugged and beautiful areas of New Zealand.

Franz Joseph

Called a township, in the UK it would be a village. The countryside around New Zealand never ceases to amaize, and this place certainly does not. I chose to go to Franz Joseph Glacier over Fox Glacier (which is only another 25km down the road) because the name sounded cooler. Most things in NZ are not cheap, and this was no exception at 150NZ dollars for a guided walk for the day. However how often do you get the chance to walk through cravases, tunnels and into caves. All with a lush blue tint and on another fantastic day being able to look down the vally across the path where the glacier met the sea, now long retreated. Moving at approximatly 50mm per month, this outstreched finger of ice with its cargo of moraine is a veritable sprinter.... well in gegraphical terms anyway. Hope you like these as for me this is one of the most unique experiences that has made my trip to New Zealand.

Nelson

A moderate size town on the North coast of the South Island, and a great base to get into Able Tasman National park, where most of these pictures were taken. The trip was 1 days kayaking, a night in a hut (purpose built by the local council for walkers) then a 5 hour hike back to the water taxi pick up point.

We were all in 2 person sea kayaks, staying close to the coast line having a laugh with our guide, when he points out if were interested that there is a blue penguin about 10m off our starboard bow (front right hand side) watching us in between diving for fish.

The views from the sea and the coastal path are stunning and we were very lucky with the weather. As the weather in New Zealand can be very changeable. The street scene is Nelson, I also managed to get a pic of a seal leaping from a rock. The rest are on the way back to the pick up point.

Rotarua - the volcanic lands

Not the official strap line but as you'll see quite enchanting, as there is a lot of geothermal activity going on around town, you can see steam coming up from the drainage vents in the streets, at pools in peoples gardens and in public parks, just to the right of the lake front, is the sulfur pool or flats well take a looks at the pics and see for yourself. they are especially hypnotic with a setting sun in the background.

For those of you who don't have geology degree or similarly minded the whole area smells like rotten eggs, there are also pools of boiling mud. All this energy has been harnessed to heat water and cook, with the local homeless contingency dropping cans of food into the boiling pools to get a hot meat (so I have been told).

Cape Reinga

The most northerly point in New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet in big a swurly motion. The tree that can bee see clinging to the edge of the rock is sacred to the Maori's; it is believed that when a Maori dies his/ her spirit travels the length of the country to this tree and enter the underworld. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Reinga check out the wiki link if your intrested. There is also a sign pointing to various places around the world with distances as there is at Lands end and John O Groats. Then comes 90 mile beach which we spent an hour or so driving along, see clip attached, and is designated as a highway!!!