Family Pride

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Lions. Those giant cats of nature. Fearsome fighting machines, yet beautiful animals whom are generally fairly social and family, or pride orientated.

The Auckland Zoo is home to a small pride of lions, sitting on top of their little half island (the un-glassed/walled part open to the public is separated by a strip of water). With the poor weather during our visit, it looked as though they were enjoying some of the sun for what was left later in the day. Often this small pride is given interesting toys to play with – things they dont see in the wild. This keeps them inquisitive and playful.

Lions are the second biggest of the cat family (Tigers taking that award). Interestingly, in captivity, Lions can live a little longer than in the wild (10-14 years wild vs 20+ years captive).

With a top speed, for a limited time, of 80kph (50mph), one would not want to be on the receiving end of one of these cats. Luckily they generally dont hunt humans…although thats not to say there are not a number of lion attacks and deaths around the world. Some interesting reading for able googlers could be the Tsavo Man-Eaters.

Lions can be bread with tigers to make Ligers and Tigons, with Leopards to make Leopons…not that any of you will be doing such…

Shot on the Olympus e-500 and cropped in Gimp.

 

Jungle Den

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABattling on/off rainy weather, we ventured out to the Auckland Zoo today.  Some animals looked to enjoy the rain, others indifferent, and then the rest – the primates all sheltered out of vision, keeping dry.

Armed with the Olympus e-500 I got a number of shots today. Some good, some average. With the larger zoom, it had troubles with focusing today in the average light. Even though todays image is in B&W, I still enjoy the colour from this older four thirds DSLR.

Todays shot, the Chimpanzee enclosure, was captured just after one chimp swung out to check the weather, and then back under the building out of sight and in shelter. Using Gimp I converted to B&W after first tweaking the separate colour channels.

 

Orko and childhood toys

OrkoThis little character brought me back to my childhood. Orko. One of the characters from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Although not this particular copy, I recall having Orko alongside He-Man, Skeletor, Moss-man…I sure I had some more of the vast array of characters in the collection.

Orko was a Trollan, and one of the few who knew He-Mans identity. Although a little bit of a easily scared character, he always did the right thing and could be counted on when it counted. (in ones typical lesson learning childhood cartoons). Some countries knew him as Gorpo in the earlier series.

I think most of all (as far as ‘action figures’ go) I was into Transformers. I dont know where they all went – likely part of my take apart to see how it works stage, but I had a ton of them. Who else… GI Joe of course – their rubber band waist’s were hard to get back on when taken apart, I do remember that!

Reflecting on these toys of the 80’s, there were a ton of them. Many have since been re-released, with originals being worth a few dollars for the collectors. Like many, mine were handed down, given away, or boxed up and taken to charity.

Then there are the long standing toys – Lego!, Matchbox cars – unless you are a hot wheels or Corgi fan – I recall the hot wheels being faster, but suffering more axle bends. The Corgi’s were well made, but slow. Matchbox was the leader in my day. Meccano. I had some hand me down Meccano. It never seemed to be that big when I was a child, but I loved building with real metal and nuts and bolts etc etc.

Memory lane. TV shows are another. I’ll need to find an appropriate image to shoot for that post though!

Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV in very low light – hence the ‘grain’.

 

Remembrance Walkway

Graveyard WanderA quick stroll after work around one of the local graveyards. The weather has been pretty bad around the whole country these last few days, so it was nice to be out in the clear blue (and fairly chilly) sky.

Graveyards are interesting places to walk through – something I have featured in the past. Its an interesting walk through history, looking back a hundred years at lives once been. For me, in New Zealand, none of my close family have been buried- cremation being the final step in the bodily life. I know back in UK I have more buried family, from many generations ago.

Its also interesting to look at different funeral practices from culture to culture and religion to religion. For some its a bright and colourful celebration of ones life, for others a mourning and dark passing. Some cultures openly talk about it, and for others its one of those unspoken taboos that we avoid, perhaps in fear of the unknown?

Walking through the graveyard shows a mix of maintained and kept tombstones, as well as overgrown, forgotten and illegible ones. Have the family moved  out of the area, are there any family left? Who knows?

Todays shot was taken on the Ricoh GRD IV and post processed in Gimp. In this I gave the image a mild squish profile wise, converted to B&W and adjusted the contrast.

 

Nga Toki Mate Whenua

painting 2Between bad weather an coming down with another bug, just a quick post today from a recent visit to the Auckland Art Gallery.

Nga Toki Mate Whenua – Axes Felling Trees, Kill the Land
1983
Tony Fomison (1939-1990)

“I became attracted to Maori culture because here was this culture produced in the country – an oral culture based on the love of the land, and love of the old and the young ones. In other words, a past, present and future.”

The Flintstones Mobile

The Flintstones

 

Spotted in a playground, this wagon will either be very familiar, or not familiar at all to some of you out there. A creative remake of Fred Flintstones car, brought back childhood memories for me. To be fair, I was not around for the original 1960’s screenings of this pre Simpsons family, but TV here in NZ re-ran everything for many, many years. I expect it is still on one channel somewhere here.

Shot on the Samsung Galaxy S2 using the Vignette App. Post B&W conversion in Gimp.

Escape from the City

Through the bushes

Rolling around at the speed of sound
Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow
Can’t stick around, have to keep moving on
Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out
Must keep on moving ahead
No time for guessing, follow my plan instead
Trusting in what you can’t see
Take my lead I’ll set you free

Follow me, set me free
Trust me and we will escape from the city
I’ll make it through, follow me
Follow me, set me free
Trust me and we will escape from the city
I’ll make it through prove it to you

Follow me!
Oh yeah!

Danger is lurking around every turn
Trust your feelings, got to live and learn
I know with some luck that I’ll make it through
Got no other options, only one thing to do
I don’t care what lies ahead
No time for guessing, follow my plan instead
Find the next stage, no matter what that may be
Take my lead, I’ll set you free

Follow me, set me free
Trust me and we will escape from the city
I’ll make it through, follow me
Follow me, set me free
Trust me and we will escape from the city
I’ll make it through, prove it to you
Follow me!

Follow me!
I’ll make it through, oh yeah!

As featured in Sonic Adventures 2

Shot on the Ricoh GRD, Aspect edited in Gimp.

City – Devonport – Rangitoto – Beyond

Rangitoto

A beautiful clear day it was, todays image sees us looking out over the lower part of the city, across to Devonport on the North Shore, and beyond that Rangitoto Island (also a different part of the country way past that).
Rangitoto, a volcanic island, stands out in the Auckland landscape as the island that looks almost the same from any angle of Auckland. Its name, Maori, translates to Bloody Sky. Estimated to have largely formed 550-600 years ago (although possibly also over 1000 years intermittently). This recent forming (in the grand scheme of things), lives in the memory of local Maori, and evidence of human footprints between Rangitoto and its adjoining island Motutapu have been found.
Move forward a few hundred years from its creation, and into European settlement time, Rangitoto was purchased for the grand sum of 15pounds by the crown in 1854, and by the late 1800’s had become a popular day trip location (and a growing batch/alternative community). Further building was banned in the late 1830’s, and today only a small number of houses remain in this park area.
A great place to visit while one stays in Auckland – if you do go, remember to take a water bottle with you. Naturally sparse in water supply, walking up the volcanic path to the summit (unless you get the tractor) the climate is often hot and dry.

That concludes my wider views from the Sky Tower for now. Really a must do for visitors to Auckland – simply to soak in the views of the countries largest city.

Over to the North Shore

North

Looking to the North of Auckland, we can see the Auckland Harbour Bridge to the left of the image. Crossing that, we reach Aucklands North Shore. Prior to the bridge being completed in 1959, the North Shore, although in clear line of sight, was actually a fairly large land journey to reach the Auckland City area. A number of ferries ran services (and passenger ones still do), but the area was of relatively low population prior to the bridge – being used both for the rural community, and a weekend holiday area for its stunning beaches.
Upon the opening of the bridge, the population steadily boomed. Within the first decade of the opening, the bridge use was three times that of the original forecast, and by the end of the decade, the ‘Nippon Clip-ons'(named from their Japanese construction) were made, adding two extra lanes each side. Originally given a 50 year lifespan, ongoing maintenance ensures they are stretching that life estimate to its limit! – large/heavy trucks and machinery are no longer permitted on the clip-ons.
All the while this was happening, the North Shore was growing in population. With a size of ~130 square KM, the population is somewhere in the region of 230,000 (although census results should be available later this year).

Down there is Queen Street

Queen Street Above

Perhaps unsurprisingly, New Zealand being a country of the Commonwealth, Aucklands main road in the CBD is Queen Street. During the week, a hustling and bustling street, lined with various retail, food and entertainment shops. Its also the main street for any wider Auckland parades, graduation walks, and protest walks. An early development in Aucklands young town years (1840), a stream ran down it. This was soon directed via a small canal, and then buried underground by the 1870’s. The lower half of Queen Street was also reclaimed from the sea (reclaimed being an always off term to me as it always make me feel like we are taking back something lost rather than never had).

Looking down upon it from up in the Sky Tower, one gets a sense of how small things are from above, We saw a number of gulls flying up near us at 300m, catching the wind currents. You can also see how cold Queen Street can get with the surrounding shadows of the buildings.

Tomorrow, keeping ‘up high’ we will venture our view out a little more, past the goings on of the CBD.

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