I've been back from a 3 week trip to NZ over the xmas break with my girlfriend, touring both islands in a hire car, and I've finally got around to sorting out some of my 2000+ photos I took while over there and thought I'd share a few (well more like 50), I've got a few panoramas too but I thought I'd see if people liked these ones first...

And if you can make it through these I've been writing up a diary of our trip on www.potatoz.net , I've only done up to day 4 at the moment though.

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_01.JPG
A cow on the crater over Mt Eden overlooking Auckland City

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_02.JPG
Auckland City from the Skytower

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_03.JPG
Sunset from the Skytower

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/nz-04-sheep-large.jpg
A kiwi with his women

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_04.JPG
Aranui Caves, Waitomo

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_05.JPG
An Angora Rabbit, Waitomo

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_06.JPG
Waterfalls at The Buried Village, Rotorua

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_07.JPG
Lady Knox Geyser, Rotorua

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_08.JPG
Thermal Mud pools, Rotorua

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/nz-04-maoris-large.jpg
Some Maori dudes

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_09.JPG
Mt Ruapehu Volcano - Where some scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed, Tongariro National Park

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_10.JPG
Huka Falls

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_11.JPG
Wellington Cable Car

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_12.JPG
Shipwreck on the beach at Moteuka (South Island Shots from here on)

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_13.JPG
A rocky outcrop overlooking Harwood's Hole (largest cave in the southern hemisphere or something)

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_14.JPG
Me at the top of the outcrop, not wanting to go any further

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_15.JPG
Abel Tasman National Park

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_16.JPG
Sunset at Tauranga Bay (near the seal colony)

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_17.JPG
Punakaiki AKA Pancake Rocks

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_18.JPG
View from the chopper over Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_19.JPG
Chopper landing on a tiny flat patch of Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_20.JPG
Looking up out of a cave, Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_21.JPG
Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_22.JPG
Fiona jumping across some water, Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_23.JPG
Me getting helped out of a cave, Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_24.JPG
Me

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_25.JPG
The face of Fox Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_26.JPG
Mt Cook behind Lake Matheson

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_27.JPG
A river I forgot the name of where some LOTR was shot near Queenstown

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_28.JPG
Another LOTR location, Arrowtown

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_29.JPG
Queenstown Docks

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_31.JPG
Sunset on New Years Eve 2005

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_33.JPG
New Years Fireworks over Queenstown

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_34.JPG
Fiona on the LOTR location where Aragon falls off the cliff into the water (there's actually just a ledge below, not a river like in the movie)

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_35.JPG
Another LOTR location (When the Rohan refugees flee to Helm's Deep)

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_36.JPG
Mildford Road

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_32.JPG
Milford Sound

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_37.JPG
Milford Sound

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_38.JPG
The Four Sisters Waterfalls, Milford Sound

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_39.JPG
Sheep

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_40.JPG
3 week old llama

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_41.JPG
Me at Speights Brewery, Dunedin

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_42.JPG
Seal, Nugget Point

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_43.JPG
Nugget Point

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_44.JPG
Lanarch Castle, Dunedin

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_45.JPG
Fiona at Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_46.JPG
Maraki Boulders

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_47.JPG
Fiona being "punted" along the Avon River, Christchurch

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_48.JPG
Catherdal Square, Christchurch

That's some hella sweet photography

Agree, nice work on the photography bud.

hell yes. awesome photos
love the hot mud one

nice photos. south island new zealand rocks. id love to go on a big driving holiday in a ferrari or something there. awesome scenic roads.

Most impressive Wet, I like the "Waterfalls at The Buried Village, Rotorua" pic, can you go swimming there?

f*** that place really has some nice scenery. GG on the LOTR shots, look awesome in real life, especially that river.

Props all round.

cainor photos, what is your camera again?

green with envy. looks like a sweet trip.

love that mud pic as well..


but steepest street in the world? didnt look that steep

It doesn't look that steep from the photo but it is, had to stop at least twice to get to the top

Nah you can't go swimming at the buried village, the water there was barely half a metre deep, clear has hell though, you can see the rainbow trout swimming in the water as clear as day, you could reach down and grab one if you really wanted to. Plus it was fairly cold, even in the middle of summer.

my camera is fuji finepix S5500, it doesn't cope as well in low light though, I lot of my fireworks shots were blurry, and 95% of the cave ones I took were blurry too :(

awesome pics

nice work, i just left christchurch on the 15th and stayed at 'The Base' packpackers which is right on the other side of that church in the last pic :)

f*** man, those pics are sweet

nugget point, does anyone surf there? looks like its got alot of potential

Very nice piccies.. screw that street for a joke though, that's ridiculous.

man you're a bastard - I am reliving my NZ trip just a few months back, went to alot of the same places you guys did

however my pics are nowhere near as good, I am a newb at photography (as well as everything else I am a newb at).

but yeh, good pics and its brining back memories of my trip !

Looking through those pics its amazing how many of those places I have actually been to as well. I really enjoy NZ, been there twice, south island one time and north island one time. South island s***S on the north :)

Milford sound is awesome. The road from the town most people stay (forget its name) all the way down to the tourist wharf area that you get onto the sound from is amazing. Big snow capped mountains then a tunnel through rock into rainforest covered mountains. One of the most impressive places Ive ever been.

yea its not bad qmass, something i threw together while i was young..

Nice pictures, that steepest street in the world picture, was that in Littleton? I remember the streets there being incredibly steep. btw can I ask how much it cost to hire the car? what about insurance side of things? reason i ask is that my girlfriend and myself were planning on doing a similar thing in NZ when we have the money.

I think we paid about $35 a day for our car, for 23 days, I can't remember exactly how much the insurance was on the top though, I'll take a stab in the air and guess about $110, fuel is expensive though it averaged about $1.40 a litre over there

and no, that street is in Dunedin

last edited by WetWired at 10:04:49 18/Jan/06

i heartily endorse all the above props... very cool pics wetwired! :D

Here's a few of the Panoramas I put together with Autostitch

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_Pano_01_small.jpg
View from Lanarch Castle, Dunedin

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_Pano_02_small.jpg
Franz Josef Glacier

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_Pano_03_small.jpg
Queenstown

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_Pano_04_small.jpg
Queenstown

http://www.potatoz.net/images/nz/pics/NZ_Pano_05_small.jpg
Mildford Sound

nugget point, does anyone surf there? looks like its got alot of potential

I hear amity point is good this time of year. You should head over for a surf existence`

Top photos man, how much was the trip?

Nice work!! How many photos did you stitch together for those panoramas? I always take too few so I lose heaps of information when I cut the black out.

it's varies, some are only 3 photos, some are like 6, only horizontal though, not vertical

as for the cost of the trip, who knows, I must have spent nearly 4k over the 3 weeks on accomodation, car rental, fuel, flights, food, entry fees, activities, souviniers and s***

I can try and figure it out though?

zomg those are some hi quality photos

TAKE THAT MOOBY

I went to NZ recently just for a couple days, looks like an awesome country for a visit. Would love to spend some more time there. I just went to Rotorua first (for like 12 hours) then bussed up to Auckland via the Waitomo caves, which were really awesome.

Auckland is a rad city, lots to do there. The Skytower is awesome, I'd really like to try the jump off the top thing. I also went to Waiheke (sp?) Island in Auckland bay which was really cool, just a short ferry trip away. Much fun. I didn't take many photos though, will try and upload some of the better ones later.

Impressive photography skills wet.

TAKE THAT MOOBY

theres a bit of talent there... i think the glacier would look better as a black and white (but i like high contrast b&w's). it nearly is already, something like http://www.lucascullen.com/nz.jpg


last edited by mooby at 22:53:54 18/Jan/06