We
visited New Zealand in March and April 2014, touring around the South Island
and subsequently the North Island. The weather was mostly mild – in NZ’s
autumn – and the general impression was one of space, quietness (NZ is
around 6.5 times larger than NL, at about ¼ of the population),
impressive landscapes and a very special fauna. Starting from Christchurch,
where the 2011 earthquake is still very visible, we travelled south along
the east coast to Stewart Island and from there along the west coast up to
Picton, with many stops in between. From there, we took the ferry to
Wellington on the North Island, to finish 3 weeks later in Auckland. Our
stays were mostly B&Bs, but in more remote areas full catering was the only
practical solution, whereas in other places it was completely self-catering,
everything well arranged by our
travel agency. In contrast to most of the
trips mentioned in these pages, this was more a traditional vacation than a
nature photography trip, but we did take cameras with us with lenses for
landscape and not-too-distant wildlife.
The
pictures reflect the diversity of the impressive NZ landscape, the
interesting and sometimes elusive species we saw and – we hope – the general
relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. We did take some special tours for the
best photo opportunities – evening trips to see kiwi on Kapiti Island and
on a small island off Stewart, albatross and dolphin/whale trips off
Kaikoura and Stewart – and some of our hosts have been very supportive in
locating the best photo opportunities (e.g. the fernbird at Bruce Bay). All
by ourselves we have been fortunate to locate a “morepork” owl – named after
the sound of his nocturnal call - which our various hosts assured us could
often be heard but never be seen. Other species made a photographer’s life
easier by keeping a shorter flight distance than we have been used to. The
historical absence of predators may have something to do with that (although
the later introduction of ferrets, stoats, cats etc has been a disaster to
the unprepared flightless local species). Some islands – Kapiti is a good
example – have again been made predator free with great effort and ongoing
surveillance. As a result, we had no difficulty taking very close-up pics of
the rare takahe and the - much less rare - weka. For one NZ species – the
sand fly – we could have hoped for a somewhat larger flight distance, but we
have no pics of the sand fly.
Special mention must be made of NZ’s night sky, which is significantly
clearer than anything we have seen over the northern hemisphere. The
observatory at lake Tekapo already offered good views, as did our cottages
at Golden Bay and Hawke’s Bay (see also the 360 panoramas), but the private observatory “Stargazers” at
Coromandel provided absolutely stunning gazing opportunities. That also
allowed a 360 panorama to be made at night. It is - inevitably - a bit noisy, and
with exposure times around 1 minute for each shot (4 in the round, with a
Canon 8-15mm @8mm) the stars are a bit blurry.
Having brought Canon’s 300 mm F2.8 as our longest lens for this trip, there
was ample opportunity to test its sharpness, handheld with a 2* converter.
The combination has not always worked for us with previous generations of
lenses and converters, but this combo produced some very satisfying pics (see
e.g. the reef heron with fish, in "Waders").
A
kind cicada, which sat almost perfectly still for a longer period of time,
provided the opportunity to practice a bit of focus stacking – 12 pictures
taken with a 100mm Macro and a focusing rail, stacked into 1 with Helicon
Focus (see under "Insects").
All
in all we had a great trip, enjoying the spectacular views, the pleasant
climate, the great food and local wines, the very special landscape and NZ’s
friendly and relaxed people. Warmly recommended.
