The Pump House chimney at Lake Pupuke

Waitemata Harbour - Northcote Point Ferry Terminal

Auckland Harbour Bridge

Harbour Bridge with a hint of fog remaining

Cornwallis Wharf

The wharf at Cornwallis on the Manukau Harbour,  much loved by fishermen 

First fog of the Autumn - Northcote Point

Another of Brents spectacular guitars

Another guitar built by Brent Piggott, Engineer by day and Luthier by night. You can find more project details here  Brents Blog

Autumn leaves from the back yard.

Nature is amazing 

Muriwai in summer

The platform (centre top) is a very popular fishing spot - below.

Inside the Sky tower

Photo from inside the Sky Towers observation platform - children's entertainment just in case the views from far above the city are not  stimulating enough. The towers windows slope back and create odd refections of the inner walls as in this case.

Navy Dry dock

The Navy had an open day recently so we took the opportunity to see what's below an enormous crane which appears from time to time and easily seen from home, well pretty much from everywhere!!

Cuba Street Wellington

When I lived in Wellington (late 1960's - late 1970's) Cuba street was always the centre of the quirky off beat / student crowd.

While many of the other smaller streets have, over the passing decades, been swallowed up in a frenzy of street "improvements" Cuba Street has retained it character.

On my frequent work trips to Wellington between 1996 and 2016 I used to often wander from my hotel to Upper Cuba street and be transported back to my student days and time spent living in the inner city.

Recently they celebrated the Cuba Street Festival News piece

Photos below kindly supplied by Colin McLeod Morrison  (Sony RX1R - straight from the camera) 

"I like the couple photographing their burgers while opposite the woman is absorbed in her phone while her partner enjoys some street food and is watching me take the shot. " 

"A Dry-cleaners now a bar, very Cuba St.

Corner of Cuba and Able Smith Streets, opposite where real Groovy Records was until recently ... time and place move but the vibe remains ..." 

Auckland's Spaghetti junction at night

Auckland's famous "spaghetti" junction taken at night, this is only about half of this multi layered interchange.

The purple section is the new cycleway which utilises an old former right hand (from the fast lane) exit off State Highway One.

Auckland City at night

Auckland City from Stanley Bay 

Auckland downtown from the Sky tower. Stanley Bay top centre across the water.

Chinese Lantern Festival Auckland - Final night fireworks

Fireworks celebrating the final night of this years Chinese Lantern festival held once again in the Auckland Domain.

These fireworks viewed from across the Waitemata Harbour several km away.

(5-10 second exposures ) 

Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery - ever one of my favourite places for so many reasons

This is pretty interesting (below) 

Amazing detail 

Auckland Harbour Bridge

There has been a project running to light up the Auckland Harbour Bridge (Vector) in a more sustainable way than similar projects overseas.  This is via solar energy, batteries etc - although since the majority of our power is generated sustainably (- hydro, wind and geothermal) this feels more a PR exercise than something innovative and meaningful to the majority of Kiwis.

There is a (very) short "show" at 9pm each night which can be seen from vantage points around the city. The show includes a number of "chasing light" (moving) sequences which I wasn't able to photograph meaningfully.

The photos below were taken "hand held" from the Sky Tower and although the tower is an excellent view point it is less than ideal for photographs as it is "through glass". There are ways to mitigate this obstacle but from what I saw in the Tower there will be a lot of people getting home very disappointed with their pictures due to the internal reflections.

At twilight - a purple glow (above)

At the end of the "show" the bridge lighting rests in this red (below) - maybe not very day but at present it's the Chinese New Years so that may account for the colour.

 

Chinese New Year

It's all over bar the shouting and spending the contents of your "Red Envelope", and what better place than the Sky Tower Casino ......

Three faces of the Auckland CBD

Lovely public space near the Auckland Art Gallery - Lorne Street

 Vulcan Lane running between Queen Street and O'Connell Street - lots of interesting pubs and eating places 

........and this Fort Street in the prime tourist area a land value of $5mil and annual property taxes of $21,500

Obliterated - Exhibiting - Auckland Art Gallery

There is currently an exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery by Yaoi Kusama titled "The Obliteration room" Auckland Gallery - well worth a look but don't stay in too long you might get very disoriented!

Lots to see in the rest of the gallery and there is a cafe overlooking Kitchener Street if you need time to reconnect with reality.