Saturday, December 31, 2011

Birdie


I was taking a walk at the Auckland Domain the other day and out of no where a few of these birds plunged from the sky and gathered on the grass started looking for food.  Their colours were so bright and eye catching.  I did a quick lens swap, pulled out my 70-300mm and started following them. I can tell you 70-300mm may sound like a very long lens, but it was still too short for catching Parakeets like these.  Even with my crop factor of 1.5.  They were shy. I had to get low onto the ground and moved inch by inch commando style to get closer.   This was the closest i got to one of them.

Pukekos are easier to get close to.  They tend to be less shy.  There is a wetland across the road from where i stay.  I see Pukekos feeding there everyday.


Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Auckland Christmas 2011




It is that time of the year again. It is Christmas. We don't get white christmas in this part of the world. We get a warm summer instead, well....if the rain clouds stay away anyway.  The weather on Christmas day has been good this year. Not overly warm but enough sun to keep everyone happy.

I was "lucky" enough to be on call for my department over the christmas weekend. Bummer!  I could not leave town.  I had to stay close to the hospital at all time, in case my on call phone goes off.

There was really not much happening in Auckland. Half the Auckland population left town to join their family elsewhere.  The shops were close. The only restaurants that were open were Asian restaurants.  The streets were exceptionally quiet.  I had a fairly quiet Christmas this year.  As for my on call duty, I only got called once over the weekend for something really trivial, easily sorted.  Lucky.

On Christmas eve, I took a walk down Auckland's famous Franklin road in the trendy suburb of Ponsonby.  Every year the houses and shops on that road will put up all sorts of fancy christmas lights to transform Franklin road into Ponsonby's very own Disneyland.  The few nights leading up to Christmas, Franklin road will be packed with cars trying to get a glimpse at the magical lights.  Me and my friend  Luke decided to go on foot rather than getting stuck in traffic.  Besides, holding a DSLR in one hand while driving won't go down too well anyway. I liked what they have done with the street. The lights were not overdone. They were simple but nice.






Apart from the lack of snow on the street and the absence of Mr Snowman at our doors on Christmas day, there is a sight that is unique to New Zealand....our very own NZ Xmas tree. We call it Pohutukawa tree.  Pohutukawas are hardy coastal plant, shrub-like when young but can grow up to 15 meters tall with time.  Every December when the weather warms up, the tree blooms with crimson red crown shaped flowers. It is quite a magnificent sight.