Airplane light
Two windows are better than one. #symmetry
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Saturday, December 30, 2017
MTJ-YVR
I have yet to get tired of the photographic opportunities afforded on flights.
Airplane light
Two windows are better than one. #symmetry
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Airplane light
Two windows are better than one. #symmetry
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Sunday, December 17, 2017
Soiree at Dunton
Recently*, our dear friends Ed and Beth got married in Colorado, and circumstances made it just possible enough for us to make the trek from NZ to be there, so we closed our eyes, booked everything, and made the most of it.
* means two and a half years ago, and in the intervening era, they've moved, we've moved five times, they've visited us in New Zealand, so on and so forth, but still, "recently."
I'll admit that they did a pretty good job of incenting us by getting married at a remote resort featuring hot springs in southwestern Colorado, which might be just a tick above ye olde average strip mall hitchin'.
The remote resort in question is Dunton Hot Springs, and it's a couple hours away from either Durango or Montrose (your choice). Dunton is a real mining town from 1885 that was then a ghost town and then a working ranch, and then it underwent a 7-year renovation starting in 1994 to achieve its current form of five-star all-inclusive remote resort.
To kick things off, here are two images that kind of sum up Dunton Hot Springs for me:
Stunning grotto-esque pool house
Night sky triumphs
Right. More photos and words.
More pool house
Aggressively rustic
Mess hall
While the resort is masterfully restored to feel like it hasn't been touched in a century, except with all the modern stuff hiding beneath the surface, we are met at every turn by truly five-star service. It's a bit of a trip, but something a guy could get used to. The service is unprecedented (at least through my lens of inexperience with high-end travel).
Old things abound
More old things
Case in point, and our first impression: I'll admit that it feels funny to, after driving on dirt roads for a while, arrive at something that looks like a decrepit ghost town but to be met before the car turns off by a trotting and very concerned umbrella-wielding host lest we find ourselves on the business end of a rogue raindrop.
Pool house view
What wonders lie upstairs?
Actually, this little interaction would set the stage and our expectations for the entire duration of our stay (we revelers are the only guests at the resort for the few days leading up to and including the wedding). Everything is available all the time; it's mildly nuts and pretty cool to experience. They stop short of giving us little silver bells to ring, but that would have been a mere formality.
One of the larger guest cabins
Smaller guest cabin
This'll do (our cabin's outdoor shower)
San Juans stand guard
Best altar ever
The resort consists of a couple of main buildings and then a healthy collection of guest cabins and other outbuildings (like the yoga studio, obviously), all of them very different in character. For instance, Murphy and I have been assigned a wee little cabin that only has an outdoor shower (actually, this was a selling point for me), but of course has wi-fi, because we all need to keep in touch with our stockbrokers while we're here or something.
Library
More library
Wedding crasher
For our time here, we treat it fully as a guilt-free zone: all manner of food, drink, activity, inactivity, and assorted shenanigans are regarded with equal aplomb, and it's pretty cool to be in that environment with a like-minded collection of new and old friends, especially since we've got the whole place to ourselves.
Meadow found on a run at 10100'
Returning to Dunton from said run
I fill my days running in the mountains (oh, Dunton is at 8600'/2600m, and everything goes up from there...), and gleefully return each time to top-notch food and delicious cocktails. Win.
Nightly party grounds
Party rages inside
Beth's brother gets nailed in the nuts with a sparkler (really)
Zombies
No need to revisit every moment of every day, but suffice it to say that the merriment runs deep and we all leave with fond memories of Dunton. All fifty of us or whatever find our own ways to fill our days and nights and we all cherish the time away from the rest of civilization.
Morning formal wear
Healing waters
Far better record of all the debauchery at Dunton is thanks to Team Theilen...Matt and Tara made the trip from Reno and served as embedded war-zone photojournalists (aka wedding photographers extraordinaire, plus some) for the duration. Please check out their work here!
Matt waxes poetic
Mean little bastards
Bonus guest
So I guess that's a good rundown of Dunton. Long story short, should you ever find yourself with an opportunity to go there, take it! Many thanks to Ed and Beth for including us and throwing the party of the century.
From Dunton, we've decided to go a slightly longer way back to NZ and leave Colorado in the direction of Vancouver, where we've got a few days to do city things and outdoors things with Chase and Lauren. So maybe that'll be next.
-
* means two and a half years ago, and in the intervening era, they've moved, we've moved five times, they've visited us in New Zealand, so on and so forth, but still, "recently."
I'll admit that they did a pretty good job of incenting us by getting married at a remote resort featuring hot springs in southwestern Colorado, which might be just a tick above ye olde average strip mall hitchin'.
The remote resort in question is Dunton Hot Springs, and it's a couple hours away from either Durango or Montrose (your choice). Dunton is a real mining town from 1885 that was then a ghost town and then a working ranch, and then it underwent a 7-year renovation starting in 1994 to achieve its current form of five-star all-inclusive remote resort.
To kick things off, here are two images that kind of sum up Dunton Hot Springs for me:
Stunning grotto-esque pool house
Night sky triumphs
Right. More photos and words.
More pool house
Aggressively rustic
Mess hall
While the resort is masterfully restored to feel like it hasn't been touched in a century, except with all the modern stuff hiding beneath the surface, we are met at every turn by truly five-star service. It's a bit of a trip, but something a guy could get used to. The service is unprecedented (at least through my lens of inexperience with high-end travel).
Old things abound
More old things
Case in point, and our first impression: I'll admit that it feels funny to, after driving on dirt roads for a while, arrive at something that looks like a decrepit ghost town but to be met before the car turns off by a trotting and very concerned umbrella-wielding host lest we find ourselves on the business end of a rogue raindrop.
Pool house view
What wonders lie upstairs?
Actually, this little interaction would set the stage and our expectations for the entire duration of our stay (we revelers are the only guests at the resort for the few days leading up to and including the wedding). Everything is available all the time; it's mildly nuts and pretty cool to experience. They stop short of giving us little silver bells to ring, but that would have been a mere formality.
One of the larger guest cabins
Smaller guest cabin
This'll do (our cabin's outdoor shower)
San Juans stand guard
Best altar ever
The resort consists of a couple of main buildings and then a healthy collection of guest cabins and other outbuildings (like the yoga studio, obviously), all of them very different in character. For instance, Murphy and I have been assigned a wee little cabin that only has an outdoor shower (actually, this was a selling point for me), but of course has wi-fi, because we all need to keep in touch with our stockbrokers while we're here or something.
Library
More library
Wedding crasher
For our time here, we treat it fully as a guilt-free zone: all manner of food, drink, activity, inactivity, and assorted shenanigans are regarded with equal aplomb, and it's pretty cool to be in that environment with a like-minded collection of new and old friends, especially since we've got the whole place to ourselves.
Meadow found on a run at 10100'
Returning to Dunton from said run
I fill my days running in the mountains (oh, Dunton is at 8600'/2600m, and everything goes up from there...), and gleefully return each time to top-notch food and delicious cocktails. Win.
Nightly party grounds
Party rages inside
Beth's brother gets nailed in the nuts with a sparkler (really)
Zombies
No need to revisit every moment of every day, but suffice it to say that the merriment runs deep and we all leave with fond memories of Dunton. All fifty of us or whatever find our own ways to fill our days and nights and we all cherish the time away from the rest of civilization.
Morning formal wear
Healing waters
Far better record of all the debauchery at Dunton is thanks to Team Theilen...Matt and Tara made the trip from Reno and served as embedded war-zone photojournalists (aka wedding photographers extraordinaire, plus some) for the duration. Please check out their work here!
Matt waxes poetic
Mean little bastards
Bonus guest
So I guess that's a good rundown of Dunton. Long story short, should you ever find yourself with an opportunity to go there, take it! Many thanks to Ed and Beth for including us and throwing the party of the century.
From Dunton, we've decided to go a slightly longer way back to NZ and leave Colorado in the direction of Vancouver, where we've got a few days to do city things and outdoors things with Chase and Lauren. So maybe that'll be next.
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Monday, April 24, 2017
NASA SPB Launch
Hey, good news! This isn't from the time machine! Even though it's about to sound like it is.
About this time last year, I was sitting on an Air New Zealand flight from ZQN to AKL when the pilot crackled on and said "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We're quite proud to be cruising along at an altitude of 37,000 feet right now, but I'm afraid we've been outdone. If you're sitting on the left side of the aircraft, have a look waaaaaay above the wing, and you'll see a little white speck. That's the balloon that NASA launched from Wanaka today, and it's currently at 110,000 feet. The only reason we can see it is that it's the size of a stadium."
I was sitting on the left side, and my iPhone photo does indeed display the balloon at a whopping 1 pixel in width...not too impressive.
Anyhow, they use these balloons, made from polyethylene film (think sandwich bag) for upper atmosphere science experiments. This year's experiment is for high energy cosmic ray particle astrophysics, which you should say 5 times fast.
Last year's balloon stayed aloft for 46 days, and its flight track can be seen here:
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon9/Google669NT.htm
Fast forward to today; NASA's been hanging out in Wanaka for the past couple months prepping for another launch and waiting for a weather window. After scrapping 7 launches, they finally had their opportunity today. When I saw that they were greenlighted, I sprinted out the door with my longest lens and tore towards the airport, arriving with about 5 minutes to spare.
It's (relatively) small at launch, but it expands to the size of a football stadium once it's up in the much thinner upper atmosphere, at which point it will be smooth and round instead of droopy and loose.
Canopy just after launch
Payload dangles
The whole thing
Tracking is already available here:
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon5/Google679NT.htm
Way to go NASA! Now go drink some beer.
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About this time last year, I was sitting on an Air New Zealand flight from ZQN to AKL when the pilot crackled on and said "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. We're quite proud to be cruising along at an altitude of 37,000 feet right now, but I'm afraid we've been outdone. If you're sitting on the left side of the aircraft, have a look waaaaaay above the wing, and you'll see a little white speck. That's the balloon that NASA launched from Wanaka today, and it's currently at 110,000 feet. The only reason we can see it is that it's the size of a stadium."
I was sitting on the left side, and my iPhone photo does indeed display the balloon at a whopping 1 pixel in width...not too impressive.
Anyhow, they use these balloons, made from polyethylene film (think sandwich bag) for upper atmosphere science experiments. This year's experiment is for high energy cosmic ray particle astrophysics, which you should say 5 times fast.
Last year's balloon stayed aloft for 46 days, and its flight track can be seen here:
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon9/Google669NT.htm
Fast forward to today; NASA's been hanging out in Wanaka for the past couple months prepping for another launch and waiting for a weather window. After scrapping 7 launches, they finally had their opportunity today. When I saw that they were greenlighted, I sprinted out the door with my longest lens and tore towards the airport, arriving with about 5 minutes to spare.
It's (relatively) small at launch, but it expands to the size of a football stadium once it's up in the much thinner upper atmosphere, at which point it will be smooth and round instead of droopy and loose.
Canopy just after launch
Payload dangles
The whole thing
Tracking is already available here:
https://www.csbf.nasa.gov/map/balloon5/Google679NT.htm
Way to go NASA! Now go drink some beer.
-
Monday, February 6, 2017
Southland Romp
This past autumn, Murphy and I leave the house one day without a specific destination in mind. We pile some stuff into the van and just, well, start driving. Fortunately, New Zealand isn't that big, so we'd eventually have had to stop, but we also aren't intending to go on a huge mission.
Before too terribly long, we find ourselves down in Southland, which is the state to the south of Otago, and it's also the state that encompasses most of the southern coast of the island as well as all of the massive fjords.
Optimism
We end up in the little town of Colac Bay, which is normally pretty quiet, but this weekend happens to be hosting a surfing competition, so it's super busy, which of course is a relative term. There's a perfectly adequate campground, and since "super busy" is, remember, relative, there's plenty of space left for us to park the van and pitch the tent.
Accommodation sorted and with the rest of the more-meager-by-the-day daylight hours to burn, we venture out from the campground for an exploratory run and get a pretty fair tour of the place. The battered trees and bush we find suggest that the weather deteriorates quite frequently, so we consider ourselves lucky that it's only blustery and showery.
Flax-set
Tour complete and bellies rumbling, we walk a few minutes over to The Pavilion, where we are served a fantastic feast. I think it's since changed ownership, so hopefully it's still as good... Our waitress tells us she was surfing with the little local dolphins earlier in the day; I believe this is called the good life.
After a worthy meal and a bottle of wine, we walk it off and burn some time with the camera, and we're rather ready to retire. What we haven't counted on is that the surf comp after party is being held at the tavern attached to the campground, and this is the biggest party of the year. Were it not for the belly full of food and red wine, I like to think we'd have wandered over for a pint, but we instead play the Old Card and opt for earplugs.
Colac Bay dusk
However, before turning in, Ethel takes a few minutes to commandeer the mini-horse that's in a pen in the campground and looking awfully neglected. He's thrilled to be out and about and makes short work of every patch of grass he can find. Good deed done, we turn in.
Murphy's new friend
Breakfast options in Colac Bay are approximately zero, so we head down the road and find a cafe in Orepuki that has just opened and features a super friendly owner. Fixed by coffee and pastries, we continue on, making a lap through Tuatapere and Nightcaps (where we visit our landlords) before Ethel realizes that she's left her purse at the restaurant in Colac Bay the night before. Oops.
Orepuki breakfast
Being less interested in the Big Backtrack than Murphy is, I let her chuck me out of the car in my running clothes to bash out 16k towards an intersection by which she'll pass after she's reunited with her purse. The only downside to this is that we're currently in a "less-inspiring" section of Southland than many others, where "less-inspiring" is a euphemism for "boring as shit." As unexciting as that sounds, I'm able to pretend that it's an episode of Top Gear wherein they're racing each other across some godforsaken landscape using different forms of transportation, and that makes the kilometers go by with more enthusiasm.
Finally, with people and payment methods reunited, we cruise back to Queenstown and call it a successful mission.
-
Before too terribly long, we find ourselves down in Southland, which is the state to the south of Otago, and it's also the state that encompasses most of the southern coast of the island as well as all of the massive fjords.
Optimism
We end up in the little town of Colac Bay, which is normally pretty quiet, but this weekend happens to be hosting a surfing competition, so it's super busy, which of course is a relative term. There's a perfectly adequate campground, and since "super busy" is, remember, relative, there's plenty of space left for us to park the van and pitch the tent.
Accommodation sorted and with the rest of the more-meager-by-the-day daylight hours to burn, we venture out from the campground for an exploratory run and get a pretty fair tour of the place. The battered trees and bush we find suggest that the weather deteriorates quite frequently, so we consider ourselves lucky that it's only blustery and showery.
Flax-set
Tour complete and bellies rumbling, we walk a few minutes over to The Pavilion, where we are served a fantastic feast. I think it's since changed ownership, so hopefully it's still as good... Our waitress tells us she was surfing with the little local dolphins earlier in the day; I believe this is called the good life.
After a worthy meal and a bottle of wine, we walk it off and burn some time with the camera, and we're rather ready to retire. What we haven't counted on is that the surf comp after party is being held at the tavern attached to the campground, and this is the biggest party of the year. Were it not for the belly full of food and red wine, I like to think we'd have wandered over for a pint, but we instead play the Old Card and opt for earplugs.
Colac Bay dusk
However, before turning in, Ethel takes a few minutes to commandeer the mini-horse that's in a pen in the campground and looking awfully neglected. He's thrilled to be out and about and makes short work of every patch of grass he can find. Good deed done, we turn in.
Murphy's new friend
Breakfast options in Colac Bay are approximately zero, so we head down the road and find a cafe in Orepuki that has just opened and features a super friendly owner. Fixed by coffee and pastries, we continue on, making a lap through Tuatapere and Nightcaps (where we visit our landlords) before Ethel realizes that she's left her purse at the restaurant in Colac Bay the night before. Oops.
Orepuki breakfast
Being less interested in the Big Backtrack than Murphy is, I let her chuck me out of the car in my running clothes to bash out 16k towards an intersection by which she'll pass after she's reunited with her purse. The only downside to this is that we're currently in a "less-inspiring" section of Southland than many others, where "less-inspiring" is a euphemism for "boring as shit." As unexciting as that sounds, I'm able to pretend that it's an episode of Top Gear wherein they're racing each other across some godforsaken landscape using different forms of transportation, and that makes the kilometers go by with more enthusiasm.
Finally, with people and payment methods reunited, we cruise back to Queenstown and call it a successful mission.
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Saturday, February 4, 2017
Crepuscular Rays
...aka god rays...
Back in now-ancient history when we lived in Queenstown, we got treated to this display one evening.
Thanks, low-angle sun plus stratocumulus clouds plus atmospheric particulate plus Rayleigh scattering!
Also, crepuscular is a cool word.
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Back in now-ancient history when we lived in Queenstown, we got treated to this display one evening.
Thanks, low-angle sun plus stratocumulus clouds plus atmospheric particulate plus Rayleigh scattering!
Also, crepuscular is a cool word.
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Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Crown Range Road
I've got an interesting relationship with the carpark at the summit of the Crown Range Road. It's a popular tourist stop, which is just fine, but it's interesting to me because it falls into a special category of roadside attractions.
These are attractions it so happens I've visited far more frequently on a bike than in a car. There are only a handful of these points of interest scattered across the meager portions of the globe I've traversed, and this one is extra special.
You see, of this particular class of places I've seen more of via bike, the Crown Range lookout gets extra points because the road itself, when ridden, has brought nothing to my life but unmitigated agony and regret.
I cannot think of a time that I've arrived at the summit, climbed off my bike, and thought "golly, that was nice." My typical visit involves staring blankly at my feet, spittle half-dried on my chin, and contemplating all the ways in which I'd relinquish my soul in exchange for never having to climb that fucking road again.
That negotiation is usually followed by wondering if I've done permanent damage to my heart this time, shaking violently while unwrapping some awful sporty snack, and then pointing my 8kg steed of plastic, rubber, and aluminum downhill towards corners that lie in wait with a thousand and one ways to die, among other secrets.
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In other news, I'd highly recommend coming to visit New Zealand on a cycling holiday!
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I've written the above because these two photos were taken from the aforementioned carpark on one of the rare occasions that I've stopped there in a car. I wasn't quite sure how to contextualize them, and then I just started typing, and I'm pretty happy with what came out, so we'll roll with it.
South (incl. Magellanic Clouds)
North
Anyhow, these photos are worth sharing because it's not at all guaranteed to be good stargazing up there, and these were from a night that featured a neat mix of clear air, light pollution, moonlight, clouds, and even a bit of airglow.
I suppose I could have just written that, but I think the bike bit makes for better reading.
-
These are attractions it so happens I've visited far more frequently on a bike than in a car. There are only a handful of these points of interest scattered across the meager portions of the globe I've traversed, and this one is extra special.
You see, of this particular class of places I've seen more of via bike, the Crown Range lookout gets extra points because the road itself, when ridden, has brought nothing to my life but unmitigated agony and regret.
I cannot think of a time that I've arrived at the summit, climbed off my bike, and thought "golly, that was nice." My typical visit involves staring blankly at my feet, spittle half-dried on my chin, and contemplating all the ways in which I'd relinquish my soul in exchange for never having to climb that fucking road again.
That negotiation is usually followed by wondering if I've done permanent damage to my heart this time, shaking violently while unwrapping some awful sporty snack, and then pointing my 8kg steed of plastic, rubber, and aluminum downhill towards corners that lie in wait with a thousand and one ways to die, among other secrets.
---------
In other news, I'd highly recommend coming to visit New Zealand on a cycling holiday!
---------
I've written the above because these two photos were taken from the aforementioned carpark on one of the rare occasions that I've stopped there in a car. I wasn't quite sure how to contextualize them, and then I just started typing, and I'm pretty happy with what came out, so we'll roll with it.
South (incl. Magellanic Clouds)
North
Anyhow, these photos are worth sharing because it's not at all guaranteed to be good stargazing up there, and these were from a night that featured a neat mix of clear air, light pollution, moonlight, clouds, and even a bit of airglow.
I suppose I could have just written that, but I think the bike bit makes for better reading.
-
Monday, January 16, 2017
Bali Finale
Right, so I've dragged this out as long as possible, but it's finally time to button up this Bali trip and get on to other stuff.
Sunrise
Thirsty
What I've got for you today is a collection of photos that, for better or worse, make up my lasting impression of Bali. Some of these show the nice things, and others show the not-so-nice things, but it's all real.
Over the wall
Dusk on Batur
Most places I've visited are ones that I've felt eager to return to, but Bali...not so much. Dunno; just think it's not quite my flavor. I will concede that with a little experience under my belt, I would approach a return visit to Bali or somewhere like it far differently than I approached the maiden visit. I'd certainly have a better idea of what to expect.
Shading the departed
The fleet sleeps
I guess a thread that runs through my thoughts about the place is that the Balinese have an indomitable spirit. There are a lot of people with few resources packed into a relatively small area, and they continue to thrive, which is awesome. On the flip side, I feel like an awful lot of tourists there kinda run rampant and take advantage of the country, and that's not really something I want to participate in.
Stormy reflecto
Roadside supermarket
Sadly, I never snagged a photo that adequately represents burning plastic, so that's missing from this collection. Can't say my lungs are missing it, though.
More sunrise
Awaiting departure
And if I had to do it with a single image...
Scooter is life
Onwards!
-
Sunrise
Thirsty
What I've got for you today is a collection of photos that, for better or worse, make up my lasting impression of Bali. Some of these show the nice things, and others show the not-so-nice things, but it's all real.
Over the wall
Dusk on Batur
Most places I've visited are ones that I've felt eager to return to, but Bali...not so much. Dunno; just think it's not quite my flavor. I will concede that with a little experience under my belt, I would approach a return visit to Bali or somewhere like it far differently than I approached the maiden visit. I'd certainly have a better idea of what to expect.
Shading the departed
The fleet sleeps
I guess a thread that runs through my thoughts about the place is that the Balinese have an indomitable spirit. There are a lot of people with few resources packed into a relatively small area, and they continue to thrive, which is awesome. On the flip side, I feel like an awful lot of tourists there kinda run rampant and take advantage of the country, and that's not really something I want to participate in.
Stormy reflecto
Roadside supermarket
Sadly, I never snagged a photo that adequately represents burning plastic, so that's missing from this collection. Can't say my lungs are missing it, though.
More sunrise
Awaiting departure
And if I had to do it with a single image...
Scooter is life
Onwards!
-
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