Day 5 – Napier to Okahune

Yesterday the holiday park was inundated with a bunch of wannabe bikers ( or MAMILs if you prefer – Middle Aged Men In Leather) on  their way to a Harley Davidson rally in Palmerston North.  I’ve come across a couple of different groups over the last couple of days and have had a chat with…

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Day 4 – Taupo to Napier

I had a sleep in this morning because a cloudy day was expected so there was little point waking up for the sunrise.  I still managed to get up and away by 0800 though and headed for Napier. I am a little ahead of my proposed itinerary so rather than a straight runthrough to Napier,…

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Day 3 Hotwater Beach to Taupo

Another pre-sunrise start and a quick drive back to the Cathedral Cove carpark for the sunrise (I didn’t trek down to the cove itself this time though)…. Again not the worlds best sunrise (due to cloud cover), but a spectacular spot… and nice to have the place to myself without tourists. From Hahei beach I…

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Coromandel Peninsula- Thames to Hot Water Beach

I had an early start and left Thames in the dark at 05:45 because I wanted to get to the top of the Choromandel Peninsula for sunrise…  In doing so I missed the best of a spectatular drive along the western coastline, with the road squeezed between the mountains and the sea… but I did…

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Night 1 – Thames, Coromandel Peninsula

Picked up the car with little incident and arrived in Thames, late afternoon- with the sun still blaring (it doesn’t set until 8:30ish), I had plenty of time to check in and give the town a once over.  It ois not all that big. I also managed to get some basic food in form the…

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Cathedral Cove, Hahei Beach

Cathedral Cove is one of the most photographed places of New Zealand’s North Island – so deserves a post all of it’s own :). Accessible only by foot, boat or kayak, this is one of the “must visit” sites on The Coromandel. I had initially planned to do this as a sunrise shoot, but because…

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Flying Business Class to Auckland

I was offered the opportunity to upgrade my Brisbane to Auckland flight from economy to Business Class so I jumped at it. Only a 3 hr flight to Auckland so I couldn’t make the most of the fold down seat/bed (it goes compleltely flat), but all the othe benefits made it awesome. Emirates have only…

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What I’ve Learned about Travel Photography

This Cambodian trip was my first “serious” go at travel photography… obviously I have traveled before … with a  camera… but this was the first time where the photography was really intended as the core of the travel experience. With a half decent camera and a bit of luck, pretty much anyone is capable of…

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Phnom Penh – S-21 and Killing Fields

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum  is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime (1975 to 1979). S-21 was  one of at least 150 execution centers in Cambodia at the time, and it is believed that as many as 20,000 prisoners were killed there. …

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The Latest Trend in Cambodian Fashion…

Well maybe not the “latest” because as far as I can tell it has actually been worn for quiet some time… however, one of the more popular outfits to be seen on the streets of Cambodia (it doesn’t seem to matter whether it is in a city, village or rural), is a snappy little, matching…

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