One more from New Zealand

Whilst driving through the North Island, at Waiotapu, near Rotarua, we came upon a boiling mud pool. At a quick glance, the pool looks like a large pond, albeit steaming a little. Take a closer look and it is very muddy - and the mud erupts and explodes from the surface!

It is very easy to spend a long time there, listening to the gurgling noises and watching a mud patch suddenly explode, sending balls of mud airborne, sometimes as a thin jet vertically, sometimes as an exploding ball! I took lots of photos there and have all sorts of explosions, but I decided just to put one image on the site - in 'landscapes'.

To the anonymous person who said I should put links to the photos - New photos are always at the beginning of a gallery, so I see no need to add links, when a couple of clicks gets you there...

More from New Zealand

I've just added another few images....

From the South Island, a view of the Fox Glacier and a couple of shots of the Moeraki Boulders. These boulders have washed out of the sandy cliff face over time, vary in size from over six feet in diameter down to the ones in the images which are around three feet. An oddity, but an interesting and photogenic one!

Also are a couple of shots from the Craters of the Moon, a volcanic area at Taupo on the North Island. Photos in 'landscapes'....

I have also added a 'portrait' of one of the giraffes at Auckland Zoo. We spent the day of Christmas Eve at the zoo and had a great day. Photo in 'nature'.

Hong Kong

Our holiday started with a couple of nights in Hong Kong, so we had one full day there and two part days. We were lucky enough to have a friend who offered to take us on a sightseeing tour on our full day there.

I had decided that I wanted to see the Giant Buddha at Ngong Ping and the harbour at night, so that's what we did. Unfortunately, our free day there was a Sunday and it seems the whole of Hong Kong goes out for the day, so we had huge queues everywhere.... To get to Ngong Ping from Kowloon where we were staying involved a ride on the MTR (underground), followed by a ride in a (glass bottomed) cable car to Ngong Ping. The system consists of three long cables with automatic switching from cable to cable, the journey taking around 25 minutes.

The Buddha is impressive, standing 34m - 112 feet - high. Photo in 'landscapes'.

The light was starting to fade as we were getting ready to leave and I spotted a view I liked, so the next photo in 'landscapes' shows this.

We then went to The Peak on Hong Kong Island to photograph the harbour at night and although I took many images, I couldn't do the scene justice, it is awesome! There is a photo in 'night time'.

More to follow....

No more photos until I'm home....

We've been all over the place over the last few days and I have taken some photos, although not as many as I normally take. I worked on a few to upload, got up to do something and when I sat back down, the images looked wrong.

It seems that a slight change of angle of the screen changes the contrast of an image considerably, so I've decided not to upload any images until I can see them on my computer at home and get them right!

Images should start to appear here on the site towards the end of the first week of January - check on the blog....

Holiday 2010

So far we have spent two days in Hong Kong and this is our fourth day in New Zealand.... Hong Kong was interesting, but jet lag spoilt my plans to photograph the harbour on the first night. The second night, we went to see the giant Budda at Ngong Ping and although I took some images, I'm not happy with the results as the sun was behind the Budda. When we left there we went to the Peak on Hong Kong Island, but arrived too late to see the light show over the harbour. The viewing platform is at the top of a building and we had to go up 8 (I think) long escalators to get to there. The view from the top is a breath taking view over the whole harbour, all lit up. I took a number of images, but they do not do the spectacle justice, so I won't put them up on my site. If you ever go to Hong Kong, make sure you go to the Peak - and be there before 8pm when the light show starts!

New Zealand is beautiful, although the weather is a little unsettled at the moment. The first couple of days it was dull, overcast and raining some of the time. Yesterday, we drove down to the glaciers and stopped at the Fox Glacier. The sun came out for a while and I managed to take some pictures. There is one in 'landscapes'....

Today it has been dull and overcast again, so no new photos. Hopefully tomorrow will be brighter....

Broadstairs Harbour at night

Following on from taking night time shots at Ramsgate Harbour, we went to Broadstairs Harbour this time. Unfortunately it was overcast and very dark, with no natural light at all, but nevertheless we took some photos, three of which can be found in my 'night-time' gallery....

Night Time fotos

A few nights ago, a friend and I took our cameras over to Ramsgate Harbour to take some night shots. This was the first time I've used my camera in a long time and it was a very pleasant evening out. We spent almost three hours wandering round the harbour and photographing various aspects of it.... In the near future we intend to go to both Margate and Broadstairs Harbours to repeat the process.... Photos in 'night-time'....

The Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway

As the weather was so beautiful, we decided we should go out for the day today, but had no idea where to go. I searched the web for 'What's on in Kent' and up popped 'The Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway', open on the first Sunday of the month during the summer. We decided to go.

When we arrived the first thing that we noticed was that they had old tractors, and traction engines of various types in the same large field where the cars parked, with easy access to them. Needless to say the parked cars and exhibits were separated!

After looking at the traction engines - the tractors don't interest me much - we wandered over to the engine shed and museum, where there were some seven or eight narrow gauge (two foot) locomotives, all were accessible to have a good look at... Also in the main part of the building is a steam powered Beam Engine, which was running. This engine originally was used to pump water from a well into a reservoir.

Just round the corner is the museum, which houses a number of Bean cars and a Bean bus, built in the 1920's. Also there is a 1928 Rolls Royce, a number of small steam locomotives and a huge 'O' gauge model railway.

There is a railway track outside the back of the museum / engine shed that isn't that long, but the entry fee allows one to ride the trains all day if so desired. Several locomotives were in use pulling three trains back and forward along the track, swapping locomotives at each end. A very efficient way of running the trains - and a great way to see several different locomotives at work!

A great day out, I'd recommend it to anyone. Take a picnic and enjoy a day there - they also have a great shop selling rolls and home made cakes! More info at http://www.bwlr.co.uk/

Photos in 'Events'....

Carters Steam Fair and the Ace Cafe Run...

Late this morning we decided to go for a walk down to Dreamland to see Carters Steam Fair. It was great seeing old, steam powered rides, together with other old rides and amusements. All very nostalgic.... There are a few photos in 'Events'.

I took my little point and shoot as we were walking, but forgot to check if the battery was charged - it wasn't, so I couldn't take too many photos....

When we left there we discovered that the seafront had been closed as it was the annual Ace Cafe run down here. There were all sorts of bikes, hundreds of them, but by then the battery on my camera was almost flat, so I only took a very few shots. There are three images in 'Events'. I looked up the Quadster on the web - it costs £41,600!!! Interesting looking machine though...

Sellindge Steam Rally 2010

Although the weather was overcast and looking like it might rain at any time, we went to the Sellindge Steam Rally today.

The even has been going on for something like 40 years and used to be fantastic with lots of traction engines there, but this year there weren't that many. It seems that each year there are less each time we go, which is disappointing.

There was a good number of military vehicles there, but a disappointingly few stationary engines. All the same it was a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours.

Photos in 'Events'.