Seaward Bush - Southland, New Zealand

This post is mostly just a collection of photographs from my recent walk through the Seaward Bush Reserve which is only about a 10 minute drive from my parents house! Bonus nearby nature!

There are actually loads of these places in New Zealand, so if you just want to feel like you are in Middle Earth just stroll into one of these and go for a wander.

Partly I went for this walk to take photos, and get some practice, and I can heavily recommend forest type situations as a good method for learning to cope with shifting light values.  Every few metres I was adjusting for ambient light.

I also used manual focus, and all manual mode just for a change of pace, a huge amount of my photos before were shot using Aperture Priority mode.

New Zealand really is a beautiful country though, and a nice 45 minute walk helped remind me of that.

It also kinda makes me want to take on a more serious adventure, like the Milford Track.

Things growing on other things are cool.

And almost out!

So there we go people, a very quick trip through a neat little New Zealand nature reserve... I have no idea what my next blog post will be about, but there definitely will be one I promise.

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The Aurora Australis

The Aurora is a phenomenon mostly linked with places like Norway, Sweden, Alaska and other icy nasty freezing places and is generally referred to as "The Northern Lights".  What most people don't realize is that there are also "The Southern Lights" which are visible in Antarctica (okay another icy nasty freezing place) but also from New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia.

So some factoids, since we love factoids here... Aurora is a Latin word for "dawn" and the Roman Goddess of Dawn.

Aurorae are basically caused by solar activity, interacting with our atmosphere, various charged particles and magnetism cause these very awesome displays (this is a VERY rough description if you want some hardcore science visit the Wikipedia article at the bottom)

The Vikings believed that the aurora was caused by Valkyries flying through the sky and the light was flashing from their armour.  I like that as a theory, it is cooler than the science.

So how can you see the aurora? I have linked at the bottom a resource which alerts when solar conditions are likely to generate one (at least in New Zealand), and then you simply need to find a location with a clear view to the south.  MOST aurorae are not visible to the naked eye, except very strong ones.... so how the hell do we get these pictures?

Take your DSLR camera (since naturally you all have one), preferably mounted on a tripod.
You want to set a shutter speed of around 30 seconds, set your ISO to 1600 at least for your first shot, focus on something and lock that focus, and then aim at the aurora area.  Take a shot, this one will likely be a throw away, it will let you know if you need to change your ISO or Aperture to allow more light in if the shot is too dark.  Or too light which is a little unlikely.  Keep playing until you get it right.

Below is a collection of links of interest to anyone who would like more information about aurorae, and the awesome community of people who hunt them... in New Zealand we even have a nice community group called Dark Skies also linked below.

NEXT UP! Some nature shots from a bush walk I took one sunny winter afternoon.

Useful Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora
http://www.aurora-service.net/aurora-forecast/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NZaurora/
http://www.darkskies.nz/


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Home

So after something in the region of 13 years I finally decided it was time to head back to New Zealand.  This was a fairly difficult decision, I had been unwell for quite some time in Germany by the time I decided I should give in and go home.  But it was also a decision based on being so far from my family and my father who has been sick, and also because I missed being able to engage in random conversations with strangers.  (Yes this was technically becoming possible through my German classes, but not quickly enough)

It has been a little strange to be here, this is the first time that I have been unemployed in almost 15 years, and living on the government assistance that I receive is just awful.  I have no idea how anybody does it.  I am just lucky that I can live with my parents for awhile as well.

I have mostly been enjoying the time to relax, feel better (yes my health has been great since coming home), and to just enjoy my home country for a change.

Right now I am actively looking for jobs, there are some prospects but nothing certain for now... will I end up staying in New Zealand? I am not certain yet... but everything is being handled one day at a time for now.

And what about this blog? Since I have walked back home.... I am actually going to keep it up, there will be a post about the Aurora Australis, and one about Seaward Bush a neat little bush walk near my house.

I don't aim for my travels to be over either, I want to visit some friends in America within the next two years, and I still have things to see in Europe and some cherished people there who will be overdue for a hug by the time I can get back there.

Love,
Abigail

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Super lazy unmotivated creature of Sloth

I haven't really traveled in awhile, and even when I did, I really just didn't feel like picking up my camera at any point.

And its not that there would have been nothing to take a picture of, it's just a general feeling of apathy recently.  Like I am just auto piloting along with no real highs or lows, just a general consistent flow of things.

I am trying to snap out of that... but it's not easy when your social contact is so heavily limited to Facebook or a handful of people.

I visited London for a Star Trek convention which was really fun and had my picture taken with the Next Generation crew (well most of them).
Somewhere back in time a very young Abigail would be astounded by that.

And yet jaded slightly empty feeling Abigail just floated through that moment as well.

In Sydney I would have considered myself an extrovert easily, I loved to be the center of attention and was constantly talking to new people.  And now I rarely talk to anyone unless there is some special need for it.
I don't honestly know which method is better, but I have a feeling I was happier when I was an extrovert and that being away from the source of so much amusement has not done anything good for my head.

All of the amazing moments, beautiful places, and once in a lifetime things I have done these past 2.5 years are great.  They are.  But they're not as great as regular hugs and conversations with people that actually MEAN something.

Anyway... this is my one emo post about this.  Just to vent.  And to apologize for those that expect more posts and I have not provided for.

Peace out kids.

Kyoto, Japan

In June I visited Japan for a work trip, and thankfully managed to have one day in Kyoto for some sightseeing.  Normally on work trips I might see the inside of a mall or video arcade for a few hours so it was really a treat to be taken around a series of temples by some of my Japanese colleagues.

So here we go... lets see how much of this I can remember, and how much Wikipedia can help pad out my storytelling.

Our first stop in Kyoto was a really nice tofu restaurant called Nanzenji Junsei, which is nearby Nanzenji Temple.  I will freely admit that I am not a massive fan of tofu normally speaking but this place made some truly amazing stuff.  I highly recommend their baked tofu.  And just because its such a fancy place they even had their own Koi pond.  Pretty right?

It feels odd to me to be starting a blog entry with pictures from a restaurant, but the place was just so pretty and traditional that I took a lot of pictures there haha.

So after a tasty lunch we first visited Nanzenji Temple, built in 1264 by Emperor Kameyama, and its site was selected because it was the Emperor's favorite place for natural beauty.
After some time the Emperor became a monk following the faith of chief priest Daiminkokushi, and so he donated his villa as a Zen temple in 1291.  (forgive the laziness I am literally copying this from the tourist pamphlet I found in my suitcase... that's what passes as research today, checking a suitcase)

In Kyoto there is a system for five great temples (Kyoto Gozan), this temple is not one of those five, instead it presides over them.  And it has since its establishment. In 1386 a new system was declared with Nanzenji at the top in its own category as "First Temple of The Land"

 These photos are at the Hattō, which is basically one of the gates.

And this very dark room was inside the Hōjō, I think

After that we went to visit a little more cheerful shrine, which also acts as a very busy marketplace and social hot spot.... this is the Fushimi Inari Shrine, which is the head shrine of Inari the kami (spirit) of foxes. Inari specifically encourages agriculture, industry, general prosperity and success.  And was the patron for sword-smiths and merchants.

This place was really vast and basically covers most of a mountain, so I thought I should include a map for your perusal.

Here you can see a Torii, these are a type of gate designed to signify that you are crossing into a sacred space.

So then why here are there lots of these gates? This is common to Inari shrines because people who have been successful in their life like to donate a Torii to thank Inari.  The name of the donator is normally inscribed on the Torii.

Once you walk through several hundred of these gates you arrive at the Inner Shrine, here you can receive various blessings, try to win wishes and there are some merchants around.

We did not explore the whole shrine since it is basically an entire mountain and we were running out of time, so then we drove to the Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion), which has the official name Rokuon-ji (Deer Garden Temple)... but I think people are just excited about the Golden Pavilion so they call it that ;)

And so they should be look how pretty that thing is!

Interesting thing about the pavilion is that it actually mixes three different architectural styles for each level: shinden, samurai and zen.

Around the pavilion are of course beautiful gardens, and a really nice walk around the pond.

And of course many opportunities to try to have a wish fulfilled (if you can aim a Japanese coin at a bowl, this may be a new career path for beer pong players)

By this stage in the day I was just taking pictures of anything pretty or hilarious... as evidenced below.

I honestly have no idea what my next post will be.... maybe I will see how many photos of a Star Trek convention I can get ;)
Update: the answer to that was about three..... and a serious hangover.


Further reading:
Nanzenji Junsei (great tofu)
Nanzenji Temple
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Torii
Inari Ōkami
Kinkaku-ji



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Buen Retiro Park - Madrid, Spain

In June I visited Madrid just for a few days as part of a work trip, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of time to see the sights.  So the one evening I had free I checked TripAdvisor (as I usually do when I only have a few hours for tourism) and settled on Retiro Park.

Sadly I only had my phone for pictures....sorry guys.

This place is breathtaking, its super energetic even approaching dusk, there is tonnes to do and see and it stretches 1.4 square kilometers.  Though the park had existed for some time already in 1561 it was redesigned to have its distinctive avenues of trees and given a more structured layout.

Beautiful gardens and ponds are basically just scattered all over the place.

The above was some type of public forum type space, this lady was performing something for a crowd that came and went as they felt like it.

I should have actually gotten a closer photo of this small lake, it was SO beautiful.

Random museums and things just scattered around the park of course, as they should be.

Oh my god The Crystal Palace, this is one of the weirdest things I have come across.
Built in 1887 by Ricardo Velázquez Bosco, it was originally designed to house a collection of plants from the Philippines as part of the General Exposition of the Philippine Islands held that year.

Now it is primarily used for various exhibitions... so imagine this if you can a wide eyed tourist Abigail wandering around a park, sees a sign for a crystal palace... and finds this weird looking building.

With ducks... And then decides to take a closer look because she can't really decide what this thing is for.

By random chance, an exhibition is currently happening so she goes inside.... what is the exhibition?
Its just a bunch of chairs.... and books.....
Congratulations you have just entered the Splendide Hotel exhibition, which is taken from a Rimbaud poem "And the Splendide Hotel was built in the chaos of ice and night of the Pole"

So what does it do? (from the pamphlet which I HAD to take just to decipher this mystery)

"several rocking chairs surrounded by books, inviting visitors to sit down and transport themselves to the worlds hidden inside the literary selection that the French artist has made for this occasion.  Authors like the Philippine Jose Rizal, Dostoyevsky, Ruben Dario, H.G Wells and Vila-Matas become companions on the voyage in time that Gonzales-Foerster encourages us to share"

It was very artistic I am sure, but also quite unnerving.

Cute pathways randomly appear throughout the park leading to yet more secret treasures, it really felt like everywhere I went was a complete theme change or another amazing curiosity.

Even the trees don't care what is expected of them.

I know this blog entry is not much, but I am actually heading back to Madrid next month so I will try to get some better pictures and maybe some more locations since I will likely be there for a week or so.

I will also post my Kyoto entry during this week I think....

Much love! Abigail

Further reading:
Retiro Park
Crystal Palace


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Barcelona, Spain

This is another relatively extreme tourism type entry, basically I was in Barcelona one week for a work conference.
While I could have made it out of the hotel more than I did, I really only spent one afternoon taking photos and being a tourist.

SO! 3.....2.....1.... lets do it... first up I went for a leisurely stroll through Barri Gòtic (the Gothic Quarter), this was basically a recommended area for anyone with an interest in old buildings, and trendy alternative type individuals sipping lattes.

As pictured here... some old buildings! And a statue of a man on a horse!

One thing I really liked in the Gothic Quarter were these cool little side streets that were super narrow... when us dirty foreigners think of Europe, this is exactly the kind of James Bond shit we are imagining!

Here is a pretty old church, the Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia, or more simply the Barcelona Cathedral... if you are a savage mouth breathing foreigner.

Then we wandered a little further to Plaça del Rei, the "Kings Square" which is a 14th century medieval public square. Inside of which is the Museu d'Història de la Ciutat, which sadly we did not have the funds or time to visit.

This was a beautiful big statue thing... the funniest part was the creepy owl on the other side of it...

That owl wants to eat your soul.....

Here we finally made it to Sagrada Família which is a famous church designed by Anton Gaudi, to be honest one of the most hideous churches I have seen in Europe, it looks like somebody consumed a lot of psiloybin mushrooms a handful of LSD and then created a church.

And next up some photos of the venue for the conferences party, at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

And a bonus pug I spotted while out and about!

Barcelona - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona
Gothic Quarter - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_G%C3%B2tic
Barcelona Cathedral - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Santa_Eul%C3%A0lia
Placa del Rei - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pla%C3%A7a_del_Rei
Sagrada Família - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
Anton Gaudi - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaudi
Museu Nacional Art de Catalunya - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museu_Nacional_d%27Art_de_Catalunya

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