Next up will be more of Fez and our continuing journey east to the Sahara desert.

Having been out to Sinclair Head to see the fur seals I took the first suitable opportunity to go out there again, this time with Keryn along for the walk. The seals were again plentiful and also just as unexcited to see us as they had been on my previous visit.

It was a good walk, about an hour each way. The track of rocks and sand wasn’t so good for Keryn’s back but she survived mostly in one piece. It was quite warm as well (for winter anyway) and it has been generally warmer the last few days, maybe spring is on the way?

It was quite warm for a winters night and there was a breeze coming onshore. The tide was also coming in leaving not a huge amount of room for the sculptures and presumably to aid safety there was a perimeter set up to stop people getting too close to the flames. No one was behind the perimeter, largely I think because the incoming water meant you either got wet feet or stood inside. As the flames took hold the wind took the smoke and pushed it towards the road and the roadside stalls.

The last sculpture was a stylised tree and the leaves looked to be large pieces of foil coloured paper attached to the wooden structure. As the leaves caught fire they detached from the tree and were carried towards the road. There were also a lot of sparks and the on-site firemen were busy hosing down the adjacent food stalls so they didn’t catch alight. As the number of flaming wind borne leaves increased the fireman were quickly onto the beach and dousing down the sculpture, bringing a quick end to the spectacle. The increased smoke did make for some good photos, hopefully next year there is less wind (or it’s offshore) and the tide isn’t quite so far up the beach.

There was still an hour to go before the fireworks so we walked back to Petone and got some burgers for dinner. The plan was to then head down the beach and away from the crowds to get fireworks photos but we left it too late and didn’t find anywhere to park in time, so missed most of the fireworks. We’ll have to be more organised next time.

We had a look around the new exhibits, interesting to see pieces from old Peter Jackson classics like Brain Dead and Meet the Feebles. We picked up the rather large box containing our statue and briefly struggled to get it into the car, also purchasing Tymon’s Flight so we could get it signed. Then we waited for the signing to start.

Mary was introduced, read a piece from the book and then took a few questions (film rights are available, Peter Jackson hasn’t taken the option yet). Mary used to work for Weta before heading down the full time writing job path and while working in Weta Digital worked in the office above the Cave. We got the book signed by Mary and her husband Frank. Mr Victoria did the cover art for the book, generously finding the time when not working for Weta Workshop. With only a couple of little questions we were soon on our way, leaving the author and artist to the line of people behind us.

I then went and played football at the University with some of Keryn’s work colleagues, had lunch with Keryn and then visited the zoo ($5 Wednesdays in August are good). In the evening I headed down to Plimmerton for some sunset shots and then waited for some darkness to try some star trails. Keryn joined me and bought along some fish and chips which we ate while this shot was processing.

I need to find a better south facing spot with less passing traffic (the yellow flare at the bottom of the shot is from car headlights coming around the corner).

The travel/social media site Gecko Go has a photo competition in association with Intrepid Travel & Brandt Guides with three trips as prizes, all to places we haven’t been yet. I’ve uploaded some photos which are shown below, just click to see them on the competition website. You can rate my photos, and all the others of course, but you do need to sign up for the site to do so. There are three categories: Landscape, Candid & Portrait.

Okere Falls	Parati, Brazil	Lake 69, Peru
Wiñay Wayna, Peru	Dead Womans Pass, Peru	Colca Canyon, Peru
Opau Bay	Between Chivay and Cusco, Peru

The photos mostly only have two votes so far, from myself and Keryn. One only has one vote, the one of me and the Wiñay Wayna ruins. Keryn won’t vote for that one and when I asked why she said “Cause you’re in it”. What does this mean? Why? All very confusing. You can vote for the image if you like, even though I’m in it (I’m in the Dead Woman’s Pass photo as well…I guess the other people mitigate my presence).

I was thinking it would take a few hours to get to Red Rocks but this turned out to be a big overestimation, even stopping to take photos of the water crashing over resolute crags of rock I still arrived in less than an hour. The rocks were indeed red but for some reason I didn’t feel inclined to take any photos at that point, instead taking photos of normal coloured rocks and washed up seaweed and kelp further along the path.

Further on at Sinclair Head was a more interesting group of subjects. In the winter months male New Zealand fur seals spend their time relaxing on the rocks, and I arrived to find dozens of fat and sleepy seals resting on the foreshore. I spent a few hours taking photos of the mostly stationary animals, occasionally one would lift a lazy head to see that the noise was about and a couple made half hearted attempts to get animated at my presence but lost interest when I didn’t get any closer.

Heading back I got more shots of the never ending waves. It must be quite a sight on a windy day, though probably the wind and spray wouldn’t be conductive to photography. I’ll have to try it some time and see ;).

Unfortunately any whales in the vicinity proved elusive so it was just as well that we saw plenty of dolphins. The trick with whale watching is to pay close attention to the food chain, don;t look for whales but rather look for birds which are much easier to spot. Avians such as the Australasian gannet feed on the same fish as the dolphins and some whales, other whales eating the same plankton as the that eaten by the fish. So follow the birds and you’ll increase the chances of seeing the ocean mammals.

We did find a solitary seal and stopped by the appropriately named gannet rock but no whales today. we sailed through a few pods of common dolphins, picking up passengers who enjoyed racing along with the bow wave. There were a few moments of acrobatics but usually these events were in the distance.

There were plenty of others out on the harbour taking in the nice weather. Auckland’s CBD gleamed in the afternoon sun and I think everyone had a good time.