March 22, 2009

Downunder Hospitality (Rotorua, NZ)



Backpacking can be tough. You meet a ton of great people, but you say goodbye to just as many. Sometime you’ll chat for an hour, sometimes you’ll spend two or three days with someone (or a group of travellers) but inevitably, you’ll part ways.

To get a feel for the lifestyle of the places you visit, you have to meet more than just fellow travellers.

A few days ago, Ray and Sue (that I met through Carrie, that I know through Sheena) where really nice to host me for a night. We drove around their nice town, we even ran into twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell at the supermarket, Olympic champions in rowing. At night, they almost apologized for “not doing much after dinner”, which was I thought was perfect considering I keep running around all the time. So we sat and watched some Kiwi/Aussie TV; a good way to get a grasp at the local lifestyle.

Then, Lloyd and Margaret welcomed me, just as I stopped by their farm to take pictures. Really kind people, the nicest kids; I got another glimpse at the Kiwi lifestyle by staying a day at the Roxborough Farm. Not to mention that the photos at sunset and sunrise the next morning are a lot better than the original set of pictures I got in mid-day.

Sure, do the touristy stuff, but don’t forget to get off the beaten paths.

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Now to get a bid technical about the photo of the kiwi. They say it’s a nocturnal bird which makes things a bit complicated. That frame was shot at 1/10 second (handheld), aperture f/2.8, and ISO 64000. Now it was too dark for the autofocus to see anything, and that little bird kept on running around, so considering all of that, it’s not a bad frame.

2 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you were taken care of :) Those Kiwi's are great people! Hope your having a great time :) Beautiful pictures :)
    -Sheena

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