Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Wellington's All Black Victory Parade

It's here, the team is here in Wellington! Although i'm not really a fan of rugby before, it does feels good welcoming the All Blacks team together with all the peoples in Wellington. They are here to parade on their victory in the finals of World Rugby Cup 2011, where they won 8-7 against a tough and great competitor, France!!

Wellington All Blacks Parade

Wellington All Blacks Parade

The whole streets are literally filled with crowds dressing in All Blacks shirts, carrying NZ and All Blacks flags, drawing on the face and stuff. People of all ages come to welcome and support the All Blacks team here in Wellington, starting from the Civic Square at noon today.. Honestly, i dont even know they are coming until the receptionist in my backpackers told me! HA! So i hurried to the Civic Centre two hours earlier to get a nice spot and well, it's filled with peoples already! Cant get a nice spot but it was ok, since i can still reach them with 24-105 F/4 lenses borrowed from Mr. Chan! (THANK YOU!!)

Volunteers
Wellington All Blacks Parade

I think those kids are avid supporters of All Blacks!
Wellington All Blacks Parade

Wellington All Blacks Parade

Look at the crowds! And it was raining!
Wellington All Blacks Parade

Skipper Richie McCaw with the winning cup!
Skipper Richie McCaw with their prized victory

Piri Weepu and his lovely baby joining the parade
Piri Weepu and his little baby

The All Blacks squad
All Blacks team

All Blacks team

Welcoming speech
All Black Skipper Richie McCaw

Getting on the parade car
Wellington All Blacks Parade

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Richie McCaw and Piri Weepu doing interviews on the parade car, honestly, i only remember 2 of them, one because he is a captain, and one because he always miss the penalty shots! Lol.. just kidding..
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Uuhh.. cant believe i won the world cup.. :'(
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Errrr... your ball too small ler...
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Hey YOU!
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Yes YOU! Peace! We won the World Cup!
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The Parades starts, from Civic Centre to the Parliament
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everyone running, chasing the parade..
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Decided not to join them as the weather is getting worst and i need to get back to the backpackers to had my lunch and head to the Railway Station for my next bus, the final and the longest one ever in New Zealand! It's gonna take me 11 hours from Wellington to Auckland, via Intercity @ 25NZD only! Hehe.. good deal right? :P







Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Wellington Waterfront

Didnt get a good sunset shots for the whole week i'm here, and i'm leaving tomorrow. So i've decided to have a walk along the waterfront again, expecting some sunset. However, the weather is not good for the whole day already, been cloudy and extremely windy! Cant barely walk against the wind sometimes.

So, while chilling around the jetty.. i saw these dark clouds coming! Decided to shoot another HDR, which is my favourite type of shoots. This one were made by 9 shots as usual.

Wellington waterfront

By the way, the photo is taken on Clyde Quay Wharf, just 5-10min walk from Te Papa Museum

Wellington, part 3

It's time to visit somewhere again, take some photos and enjoy the nature.. As of what i've planned, Zealandia! After looking at the weather forecast, i've decided to visit Zealandia on Sunday morning.. However, i've no luck with the weather this round.. it was suppose to be sunny, not cloudy and rainy!! Ergghhh... Dont care, im going no matter what! So i've decided to walk to the i-Site located on Wakefield St earlier, just in case it does rain heavily later.. and yes, it did! Thank god! The free shuttle to Zealandia arrive alil late at i-Site, but it's ok.. it's free, nothing to complain about. We pick few peoples up before heading to Zealandia, roughly 15 min journey.

The entrance fee to the Sanctuary is NZD18.50 and if you decided to go to the exhibition too, it's another NZD10. So total, NZD28.50 combo! Nahh, i went straight into the sanctuary even though it looks cloudy and rains a little.. the place is beautiful! Very pristine condition with many tracks and trails to explore.

At the entrance, there were the elusive, rare, exotic, EXPENSIVE, green gecko from the genus Nautilus greeting us from two little enclosure. I think it's about 5-10 of them in each enclosure. What a magnificent creature that i really wish i could see them in the wild!
 WM Nautilus gecko

WM Nautilus gecko1

After a short walk along the lake side, two beautiful Takahe greet us happily.. they are not afraid of human, being one of the larger flightless bird in NZ, the size of a... young adult Turkey i presume. The female are a little skittish though.
WM Takahe 1

Kinda reminds of of Dodo!
WM Takahe.

WM Takehe

And there were these duck with many ducklings around the lake.. it is so cute! The little one taking shelter and warm on a cold morning.
WM Pateke

I forgot the name of this bird.. some sort like a Stork..
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Here's one of the most common bird in Zealandia, the Tui! Noisy and highly active.. it's like a crow, but more colorful and interesting. This one is still not fully awake yet after a cold rainy morning..haha
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One visitor kindly direct me to a trail where i could see a very large pigeon called Kereru. It's a fruit eating pigeon, almost triple the size of the usual pigeon we can find almost everywhere!
WM Kereru

And then this little black bird, another common one in NZ
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Cute little North Island Robin
WM North Island Robin

And finally, i saw it! The living fossil of NZ! The three eye Tuatara! What a sight! They are not afraid of human, just laying there basking sun.. I've waited for a little while to listen to a talk by Ann, the volunteer there. According to her, they breed once every 2 years with eggs incubation of up to 16 months! What's interesting was that the incubation can stop during cold season and resume when it's warm up! Sounds crazy! hahaa.. and of cos, as with some reptiles, different soil temperature will result in a diff ratio of male:female. Here's a female:
WM Tuatara

As i were talking to Ann, she mention she found an orchid in one of the trail and decided to show me! Cool! Here's the orchid:
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And ferns of course,
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One beautiful flowering shrubs,
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Next, it was the old goldmine and Cave Weta. Didnt manage to see any in the wild as they were nocturnal, just like the Kiwi :( But i do see some in the cave,
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and some glowworm too in the cave! Interesting creature..
WM Glowworm

i've found some outside too
WM Glowworm..

Last but not least, the unique Kaka, an alpine parrots commonly found in NZ! A noisy one too!
WM Kaka

So there you go, my full day visit to Zealandia which took me about 6 hours there! It's a great alternative to the wild where it's harder to see all these birds and reptiles due to the predators like Possum and Weasel. Here in Zealandia, it's protected by 2m fence that no predator can enter! Every birds and reptiles live happily ever after here XD

*all the shots were taken by D200 and Nikkor 24-105 F/4. Although it's not tele enough for birding, you guys should roughly know the range to be use here. Mine were shot at mostly 105mm.


Monday, October 24, 2011

Wellinton, part 2

I think i've spent 2 days doing nothing in New Zealand... just plain walking around the shoreline looking at people's antic and common culture of westerners.. It was pretty fascinating sometimes, but sitting there doing nothing is kinda boring isnt it... Been to most of the places already, and was supposingly going to visit Zealandia. However, the weather is pretty unpredictable with heavy clouds and high wind :(

Wellington city

Wellington port

Never really see anyone washing windows and wall this way, but it's interesting job
Hanging on

This was taken on Hokitia, an old crane on a ship. Almost 90% of the workers here are old people. I wonder why? Is it because they are very skillful and experienced? Im sure they are.. but i also think, it's because the younger generations wouldnt want to work in this field anymore..
Still strong and skillful!

They are a numbers of poetry along the walkway.. meaningful stuff!
Poetry

Poetry

I think i saw this Red Bull car before in Auckland.. so here it is, in Wellington as well
Red Bull

In conjunction with the Rugby World Cup 2011, there's some good photos and information about the history in NZ rugby
Rugby History

and there's pretty much old rusty chains still hanging on the jetty
Hanging on

i think this type of bicycle is pretty fun for family outing, with dog as well.. good way to exercise them! Haha
Dogcycle

and i saw this sculpture somewhere around Lambton Quay.. dont know what it means but, well.. good display
Bronzy

and the finale, something wrong with this boy here...
Box boy

So there goes day doing nothing in Wellington city apart of shooting with my favourite lens, the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8D :)