Auckland discovered

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One Tree Hill and Waiheke Island

Ok. I've put together a few photos here from around Auckland and my day at Waiheke Island. The next blog will talk more about that as I'm plugging for a "homepage" slot on www.travelblog.org, so I'll keep that fairly civilised. Here, I'm gonna let the photos do the talking. They're talking pretty loud, and I think you here them... Enjoy. No charge.

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Photos

View from Ken's deck
Apparently where the Great Whites come to "hook up" & "make out," kinda like a bike shed for sharks, although to date there is no empirical evidence in support of them smoking cigarettes here.

lovely shiny building
Fact: Within the walls (and one-way windows) of this building scientists are cloning chickens with 6 legs... because everyone prefer's the legs... I'm just thankful nobody really likes the breast...

The harbour front building
Rumour has it, this is where Elvis was in hiding from 1998 to 2002.

One Tree Hill
This is the view overlooking a volcanic bowl, of great Maori worship. Remarkably, this is not where the idea for the great American TV soap opera was spawned.

Looking down to Eden Hill
Little known fact. Eden Hill is where the Lord of the Rings director, Peter Jackson lost his virginity.

Volcanic hill at One Tree Hill
Fact. This is where Russell Crowe proposed to his now wife Danielle Spencer by writing "Marry Me" in the stones.

Fat bloke on a boat
Kirbs/Calv: Here's the picture I promised of me surfing. Ok, so my board is a bit smaller than your longboard Calv, but I'm kicking up a helluva wake behind me! I think you'll agree, this is conclusive proof that I can surf.

The Queen in Auckland
Unbeknownst to everyone the queen snuck on board for a cruise to Waiheke Island.... ssshhh...

One of the many islands in the harbour
One of the many islands in the harbour, but this one is where the normandy landings took place all those years ago ... yeah, when the guy first told me I didn't believe it either... weird eh...

Palm Beach - Waiheke
This is the only beach photo I have of the Island, despite numerous gorgeous beaches. Unfortunately, none really looked that great on camera, and frankly I\'m not willing to compromise my artistic integrity. Didn\'t Madonna say that when she wanted to \"make out\" with herself on stage? I think you the parallel is clear...

House on Waiheke
This property is valued the same as a rabbit hutch in manhattan. I think we all know where I'd rather live... those bunnies are just too cute...

Cool Biker on Waiheke
Marlon Brando looked pretty cool I guess, but we all know who set the standard... (Did Brando ever take a photo of himself on self-timer? I think not. That thing only lasts 10 seconds but look how far away I am. Brroom brrroooom. (This may also explain how I managed to break the spring on my kick stand, and had to hold it in place with some electical cable I happened to have in my bag - it was a phono to mini-jack for those AV monkeys amongst you and it worked a treat - Trig you know what that is right?

You all wish you were me
Sorry - what am I talking about, Brando? Steve McQueen, eyeing up his next fence...

Biker overlooking Bay
Here's one for those photo nerds amongst you (Masc/Steve). This was taken at f2.8 with 350th of a second shutter, but with some cheeky 'fill-in' flash to highlight my backlit face in the foreground. The camera is obscured from the reflection by subtle slight of hand. The key is, to be able to look directly at the camera in the mirror, while not falling off the bike, staying conscious of the backdrop framing, and ignoring the passers by quesioning "what's that pr**k doing?" Don't try this at home folks, but if you do, clean your mirror first!

Fake tree
Fact: These trees (which are all over the place here) despite looking like plastic Christmas trees are in fact real. Weird though eh.

Piemelon bay
I think this is Piemelon bay, though I managed to get lost despite the island being only about 10km from end to end. Hey, when you've got a 850cc V8 between your legs it's tough to harness!

Wooooaaaaahhhh
Photo nerds, I don't need to explain this to you, but for those of you less informed and frankly a little bit stupid: A simple case of a very dimly lit scene that demands a 15 second shutter speed, about 7 seconds spent sitting and 7 sent standing produces this nerdy effect that a dork might think is really cool. Pretty Nang eh!!

I know you're impressed
I tried the YMCA, but this came out a little better.

More photo experiments
I'm doing this for your entertainment, not mine. Not quite sure what I was trying here, but I know you love it. You do.

A test of my staying power
This was a test of how still I could remain for 15 seconds. Taken on self-timer of course I think I managed to capture the moment admirably... this is definitely beginning to sound like something you might read in 'Amateur Photographer' - you should buy a copy, they sometimes have naughty pictures in there too.

Ghostly
This one's a little cheeky. Remaining in frame for just about 6 or 7 seconds gives a fairly transparent view of me. The blurry feel that I created here was made by me knocking the camera as I pressed the shutter. A complete accident that I probably should have kept to myself.