Life of Andrew » Places

Hunua Falls

Andrew — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:14:28 +0000

For some reason I have always imagined Hunua as being a great distance from Auckland, so it was with some surprise that I glanced at a map last week and learned that it is just down the motorway. A voyage of discovery ensured.

The Hunua Falls themselves are very nice, and only 100m away from the car park, but the park itself is quite large and the tracks are well maintained.

We ended up doing a 3 hour loop (Massey/Cossey) that climbed up through native bush to one of the four reservoirs in the Hunua Ranges that supply most of Auckland’s water. The track itself is nothing too special, with only one or two good lookouts, but it is pleasant enough. Being a water supply dam, Cossey’s Reservoir is only viewable from a distance which is probably just as well. I don’t want to know what I am drinking.

Ambury Regional Park

Andrew — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:19:15 +0000

In my quest to reach new parts of Auckland, I traveled the short distance to the jewel in the glittering crown of Mangere Bridge – Ambury Regional Park.

Parts of this park are a farm which is not very interesting for adults, but there is an excellent foreshore walk that takes in some nice bird sanctuary areas with a lot of wading birds.

Being flat and next to mudflats, Ambury Park is not the most scenic of places (and part of the park consists of the old sewerage settling ponds, now covered in suspiciously lush grass) but it does make for a relaxing walk in the sun passed paddocks of sheep and through small stands of native bush. I am glad I went.
(click to enlarge)

Public Access 5 – Art at the Silo 6 Park

Andrew — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 07:55:55 +0000

The silos in the Wynyard Quarter have been an enigma to me ever since the park was opened to the public. They stand tall but inaccessible, guarding their secrets…

…until now, because some artists have used the space for a funky collaborative project – Public Access 5. Like all collaborative projects, much of it is rubbish but there are some great things to see. The best works involved video projectors wrapping the strange shapes of the silo internals with writhing images.

It is not a big exhibition so you can easily take it in on your lunch break. If nothing else it is a chance to finally see the interior of the mysterious silos. Now I just wish you could climb to the top.

Public Access 5 runs until Friday the 13th of April, 1012.

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White Cloud Worlds at Lopdell House Gallery

Andrew — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:30:36 +0000

The Lopdell House Gallery in Titirangi is (somewhat bizarrely) showing works by New Zealand fantasy artists, most of whom seem to work for Weta digital.

It is strange experience to walk around a gallery viewing images that would normally be wrapped around a cheap paperback, or printed on a piece of cardboard as part of a game. In fact, at least one of the artists has done work for Magic The Gathering. I know this because they framed a collection of his cards.

All the work is of a high standard but it has that same interchangeable fantasy style that is common in a genre where most of the work is (I assume) commercial commissions. Despite all the art being from this country there is not much recognisably New Zealand in this art. A few images depict Maori legends, but in a very generically stylized fashion. It is not that the images are bad, just uninspired although thankfully, the exhibition is light on scantily clad warrior-babe cliché. Still, it is a bit of a thrill to see full sized images of fantasy scenes in a proper gallery setting.

White Cloud Worlds is at the Lopdell House Gallery until the 15th of April, 2012.

Wenderholm Panorama

Andrew — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 10:26:12 +0000

I took this photo at Wenderholm Park, just north of Auckland. It wasn’t the best of days, but the sun appeared occasionally.
Click to enlarge…

Foo Fighters

Andrew — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:45:03 +0000

I unexpectedly went to the Foo Fighters concert yesterday.

Click to enlarge

Unexpectedly because I wasn’t planning on going, but a friend had to pull out and I bought her ticket. That was also unexpected, because I don’t really dig the Foo Fighters.

I mean, I think they are OK. Acceptable. Competent. But lacking in that spark that I look for in a rock band.

The weather was not good, it had rained all afternoon and Western Springs Raceway was already soggy when we turned up so we staked a spot on the terraces and watched the support acts. We missed local heroes, Cairo Knife Fight, a band I know nothing about except that bFM name checks them constantly but never actually plays their tracks.

The second support act was Fucked Up – a canadian punk/death metal outfit who should have been terrible but come over very well. The lead singer left the stage and spent most of the set wandering around the crowd hugging people and occasionally drinking their beer between verses.

Next came the highlight of the evening for me – Tenacious D. For a joke band they did a tight set and Jack Black is genuinely funny on stage.

Finally, the Foo Fighters. Although they are not my favorite band, you have to respect a group that are prepared to play for almost 3 hours, even if 20 minutes of that was Dave Grohl nattering to the crowd. They played all their hits (after 17 years they have had quite a few) and seemed pleased to be here. The crowd loved it and even the rain let off to let them play. I can understand why Grohl is so popular, he comes across as a sincere and decent person. In my book that is a strike against him as a rocker, but I seem to be outnumbered.

Despite the rain I had a great time at the Foo Fighters. Not enough to buy their music, but I certainly got my money’s worth.

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Another Panorama

Andrew — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 08:31:35 +0000

Click for the big view

Here is another panorama made from shots from my cell phone, this time from outside of the brand new Viaduct Event Center. It is surprising to me that Hugin managed to stitch together the constantly moving waves in a fairly convincing manner.

Panoramic View From The Office

Panoramic View From The Office

Andrew — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:41:23 +0000

Recently I have been playing around with making panoramas with Hugin. Here is one I stitched together from a series of shots from the balcony outside one of the offices at work (not mine, unfortunately) using my cell phone camera.

What I Did on my Holidays – Labour Weekend 2011

Andrew — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:17:07 +0000

I have lived in Auckland for 14 years and never been further north than Waitangi. A trip north was long overdue.

This is the view from Opononi, looking across the mouth of the Hokianga Harbour towards the giant dunes. For $25 you can catch a water taxi to the other side where you can get dropped off with a board perfect for sliding down the steep banks. It sounds painful, but the sand is very soft and you can easily control your speed if not direction.

On a whim, we went to a slightly out-of-the-way shop called Labyrinth Woodworks & Maze (that isn’t a link, it’s a time corridor back to 1996) which turned out to be quite a find. It is a small building filled with the most amazing collection of puzzles and brainteasers I have ever seen, curated by a very passionate puzzle-lover who was only too keen to demonstrate his wares.

I have wanted a Japanese Puzzle Box ever since I saw one in a book when I was a child. Now I have one – it takes 10 cunningly concealed steps to open. If I ever go back to Labyrinth Woodworks I will buy the deluxe 21 step box.

Down the road a little way is Waipoua Kauri Forest, home to some very large trees including Tãne Mahuta, which is very, very large indeed.

This is a terrible photo-montage I stitched together using Hugin, it in no way conveys just how big this tree is. I kept expecting a bunch of blue-skinned Navi to show up to defend it.

Sunday night was spent in Doubtless Bay, which was also very nice but not quite as wild and interesting as the west coast. We did take the time to visit Cable Bay, a beautiful beach with pink sand. It is supposed to be packed in Summer, we found it almost deserted (which suited us just fine.)

New Zealand Public Holidays

Gibbons Track, Whatipu

Andrew — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:33:14 +0000

The days of summer are coming to a belated end, but that is no reason to hang up the walking shoes just yet. This week’s excursion was the Gibbons Track from Whatipu, right at the entrance to Manukua Harbour on the Northern side.
Gibbons track is not as well formed as some in the Waitakeres and is quite muddy in places – I would hate to have to clamber up the slippery slopes in the rain. Luckily the day we picked was fine and we got some great views out over the Tasman sea.

Gibbons track eventually turns into Muir track, which descends quickly (including a very steep bit were you have to climb down a small rock face above a steep drop!) down into the Pararaha Valley from the other side as the Zion Hill Track.

From the Pararaha camping site it is possible to rock-hop off track up the stream. We only went a short distance, but there are some nice rock pools and water falls upstream.

The round-trip back to Whatipu takes you down the valley and through the wetlands to the beach. The wetlands turned out to be a trackless maze, and it is almost impossible to reach the sand without getting your feet muddy. However you will soon dry out on the long walk back around the desolate dunes.

Whatipu is also the start of a short walk to some interesting caves, some quite large. They make a nice change of pace from the burning sun on the black sand.