First pictures

I’ve developed my first 167 pictures only about 750 to go. I have to go through each one and size it down. The 4x6 setting on my camera yields a picture that’s about 25% larger than that.

I spent the weekend going through my mail and doing some odds and ends around the house. I’m still a little confused as to what day of the week it is. I’m hoping that will pass by this weekend.

I’m glad the election is next week. I’m even more glad I was gone for 3 weeks in October so I could miss all the wonderful political ads on TV. The Republicans are really desperate and it shows in the ads they run.

More on that later.

Back home

This is me heading home. Once again thank you Art and Nigel for a wonderful time.

I'm trying to adjust to being back. Sam is certainly happy that I'm home. He's been waking me up several times a night. I guess he's checking to make sure I'm still here.

I need to start going through my pictures to see which ones I want to get printed.

And then there's the election. And all the great commercials on TV. I got home just in time!!!

A sunny day

It is a bright and beautiful day. Art and I will go down and wonder around Auckland. I want to walk along the water front. We'll have lunch with Nigel and then head for the airport.

To say it has been an awesome trip it an understatement. I can't wait to come back.

I think it is appropriate that when I arrived the sun was just rising. When I leave tonight it will be starting to set.

Thanks to my wonderful hosts: Art and Nigel for a fantastic time. Thanks to Nigel's family too for making feel so welcome.

I can't wait to come back!!!

A few more pictures

This is my last full day before heading home. Here are a few pictures.

Waitomo Caves and Hamilton

The Waitomo Caves (which means water entering a hole in the ground).We saw the glow worm caves. Very unusual and very cool. They glow to attract food. The ceiling of one of the caves was full of them. It was amazing. We also went to the Waikato Museum in Hamilton. It had a nice collection but one of its main exhibitions had just closed. Also went to the Art Post which exhibited work from the local art school and Hamilton Gardens which was very impressive. See the pictures.

Gray day

It's a gray day here. Showers on and off and some heavy down pours. So not much going on today. It is the Labour Day weekend here so most people had today off. I'm posting some pictures from my journey across New Zealand. Click on the pictures for a larger view.

Huka Falls and Wellington

Across the desert road

Pictures from Wai-o-Tapu

This chart gives a comparison of the various volcanic eruptions and how huge the two erruptions in Taupo were.

Pictures

This is the grounds of the museum in Rotorua.

Pictures from Jet Boat

Here are some pictures from the jet boat I took last Sunday.

Getting my jacket and life vest on.

Climbing on the boat.


Getting ready to go.



The 360 degree turns were fantastic.





Waving to the crowd.

Sail New Zealand

I went on the America's Cup boat yesterday (Saturday). Wow was it fun. If you wanted to you could help out with the sailing of the boat. So several times I grinded which is help to raise and lower the sails. It was a good day some clouds and sun and just the right amount of wind to make it an incredible experience.

Some of the pictures did not come out as well as I'd hoped. I'd accidently bumped the setting on the camera. Click on the picture to see it larger.

This is the boat we went in.

Starting to prepare the boat.


Our captain taking us out of the harbor


The fist grind. You could grind forward or backwards. There was an arrow showing which way was forward. You turn as fast as you can and with two people doing it the handles realy flew.















Grinding















More grinding. As you can see these guys are going full out. It's hard on your back too.















Auckland harbor.















It looks like we just clear underneath the bride. Actually it's about 4 meters or around15 feet.
















Grinding up the sail. You can see it coming out of hold.
















The sail comes up.




















And up a little further. There were a total of 4 grinding positions which would use 8 people total. For this sail only two stations were used.




















The sail is still coming out. There was actually a problem with the sail. Something was on the wrong side so they had to haul it down correct the problem and grind it back up.















Everyone who wanted to could take a turn at the wheel. The captain is to the right in this picture. When I took the wheel he asked if I sailed and I said no and he said well neither did he. The boat was pretty easy to steer. You made just very minor corrections. I even got to steer when we came about.















The last grind.




Our captain bringing us back into the harbor. It was a wonderful couple of hours. And what surprises me is my arms don't hurt today.