New Zealand Wanderings Day 1 – Arthur’s Pass

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Today was really day 1 of our New Zealand Wanderings and we attempted to do some photography through Arthur’s Pass. We have ended the day at Hokitika and are feeling okay, maybe a little disappointed, but not much you can do sometimes.

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New Zealand Wanderings Day 1 – Arthur’s Pass

As you can see from the image above, the day started really well. I wish I could say it ended that way, but alas, we ended seeing far more rain than we would have liked. That is one of the biggest problems with travelling, you really have no control over the weather, unfortunately.

This is what we ended up seeing.

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Christchurch to Hokitika

When you drive this way you go through Arthur’s Pass. It is a stunning piece of scenery and we were hoping to take lots of photos of it, but with so much rain, it really wasn’t feasible. I don’t mind getting out and taking photos if it is raining a bit. Even going out in between showers, this was impossible. All that happens is you get water on your lens and it ruins all your photos.

Authur’s Pass

It really was a day to sit in the car and just enjoy the scenery. We did exactly that. My friend Chris told me it was beautiful and she was right.

It would have been nice to have been able to stop at a few of the places along with it, but by the time we got into the heart of it, the rain was so bad. There was just too much rain. I’m so glad I packed my raincoat.

It would be easy to get really annoyed, but what is the point. I still had a lot of fun and I saw some amazing things. Photos, well not so much, but what can you do. I could crack it, I could be upset, but what would the point in that be. If it rained for days and days, well that might be different, but for now, it is okay.

Hokitika Gorge

Really you should google this place. The photos look amazing. Ours, not so much. They must have had a lot of rain around here. The gorge looked like wet cement. It was a horrible grey colour. You can see a photo in the gallery.

Helicopter and boat cruises tomorrow

That is the plan, but the forecast is for rain, oh yeah, more rain, and yet even more. We are not sure if we will get the helicopter flight. Trying to be hopeful is hard, but we will ring after the boat cruise to find out.

We are meant to see the glaciers, land on one and then check out Mt Cook. So I hope it goes ahead.

We have a boat cruise planned in the morning on a lake, so the weather will determine how many photos we will take. Really, I am hoping there will be a break and some great photo opportunities.

Gear

The Peak Design bag is working really well. I have to be careful because I can fit so much stuff in it and it becomes heavy. It was great on the plane. I can’t say I have used it a lot, but so far I’m enjoying it.

The Fujifilm X-T3 is going really well and I am enjoying using it. Though, one problem I’ve had is that I can’t get it to recognise the second memory card so I can have it as a backup. If you know, I would love to hear from you.

My friends X-T20 is great as well. I like having the two cameras so I have different lenses on each. The XF 18-135mm was great for getting the close-ups fo the mountains. The XF 10-24mm was just a tad too wide. It is great to have options.

I’m using the Wacom MobileStudio Pro now and have processed all the photos with it. It is always good to use. Though, my Bluetooth keyboard is driving me nuts. lol

Anyway

There you go, the weather is what it is, and everything else is what it is. I only have a few photos for you, but really if you want to follow me check out my Instagram feed. Actually, it is more my stories. I’m trying to post heaps there as we go along.

So, anyway, here a few photos that were taken with the Fujifilm cameras today.

Just as an aside, I don’t know what has happened with the gallery. Running your own blog can be so annoying at times. I had to reinstall Jetpack and now I have this for a gallery.

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16 Comments

  1. I am surprised you are a little disappointed but then you’ve set the bar high.

    1. I think most people would be disappointed when they travel to another country and it just rains so you can’t take photos. The bar wasn’t set that high, just hoped to get some photos, not necessarily good ones. But when you can’t get out of the car because the rain is torrential. well.

  2. Shame about the rain, but the scenery looks stunning! The XT3 is a fantastic camera. Is your second memory card formatted correctly? If so, the camera should recognise it and you can then go to the spanner icon in the main menu, the ‘save data setting’, then change ‘card slot setting (still image)’ from sequential to backup. Slot 1 will then be greyed out (select slot – sequential) and the camera should backup the images automatically to slot 2…

    1. It is a shame, but not much we could do, it has stopped now, we hope. It is a fantastic camera. I’m loving it. I did format them properly. I think I did set it up right, it just wasn’t how i thought it would be. All good now. Thank you Stuart.

  3. I remember when I landed in Queenstown about 3 years ago (mid May 2016) it was raining and continued to rain Monsoon style for the first 48 hours I was in NZ. I literally couldn’t get out of the van and walk a step without being soaked!

    1. We have experienced quite a bit of that as well. Torrential rain, thankfully it has eased up now and hopefully that is the end of it. Thank you Craig,

    1. Yeah, saw that link and was doing what it said, I think it did work, but not the way I thought it would. Thanks Chris.

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