Come Fly With Me - To New Zealand

[celksy]

Gorgeous shots and I love the surreal quality of the balloon over the houses. That # 3 flower shot is a beauty.

[Lungelarry]

Evening on the Lake...super shot

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks Celsky and Larry

One last one of the first evening at the lake ...


Our first morning in the Turangi/Taupo region and we put on our boots and went for an early walk around the Tongariro River. This is a famous river for the Trout fishing. We saw many trout ourselves.

One of several walk bridges across the river ...


I liked the lichen colours on the timber ...



View from the bridge ...


Starling



Finch

[Runmonty]

Great set MA - Love the colours in the first few. Those pine cones are pretty cool.

Lake Taupo is beautiful and you have captured in nicely. I was there a few years ago for work, and enjoyed walking around it (part of the way at least).

The shots of the balloon are fun, but I cant help but feel the location of the basket is unfortunate, hanging where it does under the tail As for that flag, I wont even start to think about smart comments about a kangaroo with a Brazilian.

Looking forward to seeing more of your trip

[Mad Aussie]

The shots of the balloon are fun, but I cant help but feel the location of the basket is unfortunate, hanging where it does under the tail As for that flag, I wont even start to think about smart comments about a kangaroo with a Brazilian.

Hilarious! You know Iggy found the photo on Flickr and made a comment about the basket but he wasn't nearly as eloquent as you were
'Brazilian' ... I missed that thought at the time ... very clever

[Runmonty]

Hilarious! You know Iggy found the photo on Flickr and made a comment about the basket but he wasn't nearly as eloquent as you were
'Brazilian' ... I missed that thought at the time ... very clever

Just read it - Very funny

[Mad Aussie]

I found this web hanging off the bridge as we crossed.
New Zealand has 2500 species of spider, only 3 are considered dangerous to humans. 1 is the White Tailed Spider but recent Australian research has shown these spiders to not be responsible for the necrosis it was being blamed for. The native spider of concern is the Katapo which is very closely related to the American Black Widow. The last one is the Australian Redback which is found only in two small areas in NZ. The Redback is also closely related to the Black Widow but a bit more robust.
NZ also has a few larger spiders in remote areas that can cause a lot of pain if bitten.



A cool tree by the river


My wife Leanne walking through a section of trail guarded by 'Toi Toi' .... a plant with sharp grass that can easily cut you open. As a kid we used to through the Toi Toi stalks around as spears, rockets or whatever our imaginations came up with. We'd even jam them on the back of our bikes so the small bits of Toi Toi would float away as we rode along.


We saw loads of trout in the river and there was no shortage of men chasing them with their fly rods.

[kat]

Wonderful wonderful set!

[Barefoot]

Some amazing stuff in there. You found a wonderful web.

[Mad Aussie]

Wonderful wonderful set!

Thanks Kat ... I'm just getting started

Some amazing stuff in there. You found a wonderful web.

Cheers Barefoot