Another day in the Sounds!

First of all, thousand apologies for such a long delay in posting.. Being busy, might be just an excuses, kinda neglect the blog for a little while. Laziness to be blamed :S

Euan's house, with a little patriotic touch of Malaysian flag! Thanks Euan!


After the flight with Sounds Aero, i visited another customer of mine, Euan Macdonald and his wife in Picton. They are such a wonderful and friendly couple. Our plan of the day was to have lunch at their place and then head to the Marlborough Sounds with his boat/yacht called Taranui.



So here they are, from left, Euan & Gillian MacDonald, and their neighbour.




As we leaving Waikawa Bay, we pass by a huge yacht belongs to a Russian guy who tour around the world. Rumours said, he was a Russian mafia. Hahaha..


We visited several bays around the Sounds, and this particular bay is famous for the fishes here. The fishes here are accustomed to be fed by humans, and they know when boats arrived.


After feeding the fishes, we head to Lochmara Lodge. One of the best place to hang out and have coffee or tea.


You can canoe here, swimming, all sorts of water activities here. Great for family outing!


As you walk in, there's a big green gecko greets you :P


The cafe and bar of Lochmara Lodge


The deco here is pretty creative, and i kinda like the way they recycle computer parts and turn into this!


Besides the 'gecko', there's also Indian Ringneck Parakeet who meet and greet everyone there. Cheeky little bird.





and kinda naughty too!


Besides having coffee, there's a short walks around the lodge. It cost about $8 per entry, worth it as the money goes into conservation, especially for these highly endangered Nautilus geckos.


It was a really great day out with them.. had fun, relax on the wonderful cruise around the Sounds. This is how i want to spend my day off! :)




Thank you for reading, will update soon, with photos from Havelock Mussel Festival 2013!

Sounds Aero Maintenance

I was given the chance to fly with Sounds Aero last week, flying high above Marlborough Sounds and outbacks. Thanks to Craig Anderson, the managing director of Sounds Aero Maintanance, a company which managed a large fleet of planes and helicopters in the Marlborough region.

It was my day off and i managed to arrange a time to fly with Craig to get some aerial photography shots of Marlborough. Dont know much about plane but this was a 2 seater, small size plane capable of landing on almost anywhere. According to Craig, we can lift off in 25 meters, which is really amazing! We land on fields and riverbed, flying across narrow gaps, it was simply breathtaking. Im even allowed to shoot with the door open while we are flying. Cant believe i dare to do that, and not to mention, risked the camera and equipments of falling down.

Anyway, I'm still in process of editing the photos and videos shot from both Nikon D700 and Olympus OM-D E-M5 (loaned by James Luhrs of Olympus New Zealand). So here's some preview..



CRop Circle of NZ? :P






Flying and taking photos while the door is open? Exciting!


The men behind Sounds Aero Maintenance


What a beautiful morning!


It was really cool to be here, especially when u only took 4 min from main road on the plane, compared to 4 hours tramping. Nice peaceful environment, crystal clear water, wildlife around, it was just perfect for a weekend getaway!


We need a little landing and taking off from the river.. and here's one of the shot






Never thought i could experience this, but i did, all thanks to Craig! It was simply AMAZING!