Facebook has certaintly helped increase my knowledge of all things astrophotography, largely through membership of different groups and seeing the photos others share and their stories about how the images were captured. One of the stars of the New Zealand (and world) astrophotography scene is Mark Gee and as luck would have it he’s a […]
And now 2
Alayna is now 2 years old which meant a party and lots of celebrating. Alayna recieved lots of cool presents including loads of clothes, many great books and games (the fishing game from Aunty Bridget and the clan Burdett is fantastic). There were a number of gifts that were made rather than bought such as […]
Re:Lux
We’ve now visited the Lux festival three times this week. On Wednesday evening there was some rain about so I headed into the city to try and get some photos of lights and reflections. Unfortunately (for me anyway) the rain was light and didn’t hang around so there wasn’t much in the way of pools […]
Lux is back
A beautiful and calm winters evening last Friday saw the return of the Wellington Lux festival for 2015. I’d read about a free workshop for creating fairies in a jar so while Keryn went and signed us up Alayna and I took a quick trip to Moore Wilsons to buy a suitable jar. The workshop […]
The sky moves at night
Last weekend the signs were looking promising for a show of the Aurora Australis so I was able to get out for a spot of stargazing. Arriving at the Red Rocks Reserve I was quickly out onto the beach and then as usual I walked up the hill to get an elevated viewpoint. It was […]
Swimming and Ballet
Weekends at the moment are organised around activities for Alayna. On Saturday we attend swimming classes in Whitby, we’ve tried a few different swimming classes now and while they’ve all been good the Ally Todd swim school is probably our favourite. Alayna still loves the water and her favourite parts are jumping into and being […]
Zoo portraits
Keryn and I are now zoo crew members with Alayna getting to visit for free until she gets to her 3rd birthday. On a cool and showery Sunday we visited the zoo and checked out (and were checked out by) the occupants. With every visit Alayna is getting more and more engaged and this time […]
Alayna visits Wellington Zoo
Last week Alayna had a couple of days at home as she wasn’t really well enough for daycare. We both looked after her for a day and on my sick day we went to the zoo. This wasn’t perhaps the most obvious choice as it was a cold and wet winter’s day but I had […]
Something learned regarding Jupiter
There is currently a near conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter visible in the evening sky. I found out today via the Aotearoa Astrophotography facebook group that the four largest moons of Jupiter are visible via photography with a telephoto lens. So naturally I had to try take a photo when I got home. […]
The Strait Feronia
Recently the Wellington ferry company Bluebridge announced that they had purchased a new ferry and it was sailing its way from Sweden to arrive on the 1st June. There was an associated photo competition to capture the best photo of the Strait Feronia’s Wellington arrival so I figured we’d get out and see if we […]
The summer had to end sometime
It has been a glorious summer of warm weather, lots of sunshine and little wind. It would appear that this has ended today with the advent of heavy rain and high winds, normal service resuming. That all said some rain will be welcome in the garden. Over the last month we’ve been out visiting a […]
The St Patricks Day Aural Storm
On the evening of 17th March 2015 there was a largely unexpected solar storm. The Aurora Australis facebook group was full of hopeful chatter that their might be a show as night fell so I took a chance and drove to Wellington to see what I might find. I found an aurora display that was […]