A Return to Port Jackson- Coromandel

Catch-up

After 2 weeks at Simpsons Beach in Whitianga it was time to head north to our next destination and another one of our favourite camps in the Coromandel. Port Jackson is right at the top of the peninsula; a beautiful crescent shaped bay with a sandy beach overlooking the Colville Channel. Channel Island sits off Cape Colville at the eatern end of the bay and Little Barrier and Great Barrier Islands are on the horizon. The Port Jackson DOC camp stretches along the length of the bay with camping sites just a few steps up from the beach. 

Rather than travel all the way to Port Jackson in one day and have to drive the difficult last section of the road late in the afternoon we stopped at White Star Station for the night. The farm station is just a few kilometres south of Colville and it's where we stayed for a few days on our last visit. Back then we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the farm tracks and gold mines that are located up on the range above the farm. 

We were a little concerned that White Star weren't taking campers any more as their listing was missing from the NZMCA Directory (there are very few camping options at the top of the peninsula) but no, they are still happily in business. A son & his family now live in the farmhouse and are usually out on the farm for most of the day but people are welcome to drive in and park up in the paddock (if its not too wet) or along the back hedge and catch up with them later in the day. We backed into the feijoa hedge where there are a couple of power points available for a small charge. It was a good chance for us to recharge the batteries after being off the grid for a couple of weeks. 

The view from the feijoa hedge

We headed off the next morning, a little apprehensive and keenly aware that we were about to travel THAT road.  

It wasn't long before we came up behind a sleeper van dawdling along the road enjoying the scenery. As they pulled over to let us pass I spotted a flat tyre. I leaned out the window and asked if they knew they had a flattie. 'A flattie' they said 'what's that?' 'A flat tyre!' I said. 'Flat tyre? Oh no! I didn't know' she said from the drivers seat. 'I don't even know if we have a spare, we only bought the car 2 days ago' he said. 

Half an hour later we had them sorted (and they did have a spare though that was half flat too). That's David being David in photo #3, using the air hose as a mike... 'Now for the camera could you tell us how you're enjoying NZ so far and what do you think of the Coromandel?'

The road from Colville to Port Jackson is only 26kms long and while the first 15 or so kms are your standard narrow, gravel, slightly winding road, it's the last 10kms that are to be treated with caution. When Mr TomTom tells you it'll take 2.5 hours to travel 26kms you know you need to heed his words of advice. In fact this time it only took us around 90 minutes with the 5th-wheeler on the back (last time about 2hrs) and just 40 minutes when we travelled the road by ute one day.

I think I've already mentioned that we spent 6 weeks in the Coromandel on a previous trip, not long after we started with this lifestyle. In fact it was more of a shake-down trip when we threw ourselves into the deep end, travelling to and staying at sites that were often not recommended because of our size.

Huge Pohutukawa trees tower over road from both sides

It has actually stood us in good stead because we quickly learnt what our limitations were and have consequently travelled far and wide to many places others fear to travel. Even now, when we mention Port Jackson we often get horrified looks or mutterings of  'no way', 'not on that road'. And just in case you have missed them, all links I have included in the paragraphs above are of blogs on the road & Port Jackson from our previous visit.

Hmm...is that puddle a precursor of things to come?

The road is narrow, it has numerous blind corners, a number of shallow fords and once you start to climb, steep drop offs down to the rocky shoreline below; the key is to take your time and approach every corner cautiously, watching in the distance (if you can see) for approaching vehicles- little swirls of dust in the summer or light beams at night are good indicators.

Other than that it's a stunning road to drive with fabulous views out over the Hauraki Gulf. Unfortunately the sun was right in my face so I only have shiny shots to show you; here you can just see the road cutting through the cliff sides about a third of the way up.

This is the magnificent view out my window as we leave the rocky coastline behind and take the long slow haul up and over the tip of the range...

...stopping at the top for a quick 'must have' photo looking down over Port Jackson below. It's been a long time between visits but we feel like we're coming home.

We stop to check in at the DOC office and say a surprise hello to Ursula one of the camp managers who along with her partner Frederick have managed the camp for a few years now. They actually weren't in residence on our last visit to Port Jackson but we met them at Lake Rotoiti (Nelson Lakes) last year when they came to say hello. They've followed my blog and belong to a number of the same motor-homing Facebook pages that I do. Frederick arrived at our door later on to say hello and welcome us with some fresh snapper fillets! 

There are only a handful of campers in camp and we have the pick of the sites; we had a look at our last site which was in the middle of the camp but decided to head right to the end where we would be closer to the boat ramp and where we were sited right on the beach with fabulous views right around the bay. Sadly the sun disappeared and a big dark wave of cloud settled above us for the remainder of the day. 

By sunset the 'wave' was heading over the Hauraki Gulf towards Auckland.

The following day David got the Takacat ready for fishing....

...and there it sat for the next 2 weeks. The weather closed in for a number of days and then when the sun came out the wind blew and blew, on an ocean that was not very nice for a tiny boat to be bobbing about on.

We weren't too worried about the down time, we caught up on lots of computer work and enjoyed the rest and relaxation. And David became slightly obsessed with the mice he was catching in a couple of traps he had set up near our site- we lost count after 3 days, 15 mice in total! Others were caught and disappeared; we think stoats may have been carting them away in the night.

The last time we were at Port Jackson we also caught a few mice, a couple even drowned after they slid down the van tyre and into a bucket of water- I had felt sorry for them as they must have been swimming around and around all night. I hadn't known that they'd actually been inside the van, it was only after I found a half eaten marshmallow Easter egg a few weeks later, which I'd hidden at the back of the pantry, that I realised they'd been inside having a feast! They'd even eaten half the coloured foil!

From the dinning table, as I worked away at the computer, I watched the many boats and ships passing through the Colville Channel, including the the tall ship; the Spirit of Adventure on a particularly blustery day with it's sails reefed.

A couple of days later I spotted it again, heading in the opposite direction, this time with most of it's sails up.

Every night the sunsets were magnificent and perfectly positioned right in the middle of the bay...

...and these rocks, exposed at low tide, made for some great foreground interest.

One evening a fishing boat photobombed (in a good way) my shot as it motored through the channel.

 And on another evening a yacht came into the bay to anchor, making a great silhouette for my sunset shots.

As the sun moved towards the horizon, I captured it sitting atop the mast like a big golden ball of energy...

...before it slid down the pole...

...and out of sight.

It never fails to amaze me how slow the sun moves when you're all set up and waiting on the beach (in the cold air) for it to set and yet other times you just happen to glance out the window and see it racing for the horizon, only just managing to catch it before it disappears! 

A couple of times while I was dancing around on one foot trying to keep warm- having shot out of the van without my jacket and not going back for it in case I missed the million dollar photo (I wish)- I heard a little peep-peep near me as the resident pair of NZ Dotterels raced past. 

Finally the day arrived when the water was calm enough for David to go fishing (which was just as well as a severe case of cabin fever was brewing).

And we enjoyed the fruits of his labour for the next few days. 

Peace had returned to our little world.

New Moon

Super Blue Blood Moon

Real-time

Early last evening, and after weeks of clear skies over Napier, wispy thin cloud cover looked to be about to put a dampener on my chance to see the latest rare event in the night sky- a Super Blue Blood Moon, last seen 152 years ago in 1866, and not to be seen again until 2037. So a pretty special event you'd say.

I'm sure I don't have to explain, but just in case you've been hiding under a rock during the media hype here's a quick description;

Super- when a full moon is at or near its closest approach to Earth in a given orbit.
Blue- when there are two full moons in the same month. This is fairly rare (happening approx once every 2.7 years), hence the term 'once in a blue moon'.
Blood- when the earth's moon is in full eclipse and the usually whiteish moon becomes red or ruddy-brown. A lunar eclipse lasts for quite awhile as the moon slowly orbits through Earth's shadow- last night the moon emerged 77 minutes after the start of the total eclipse.

Ever the optimist and hoping the cloud would clear in time,  I set my alarm for 12:40am, just 8 minutes before the eclipse was due to start. It felt like I'd only just closed my eyes when the alarm was buzzing me in the ear (not helped by the fact that I didn't go to bed until 11:30pm). Luckily I'd spent the last half hour setting up my camera and tripod ready for shooting the night sky because just about as soon as I'd clicked off a couple of test shots...

f/11, 1/400, ISO1250- 12.45am

...the eclipse started!

f/16, 1/30, ISO400- 12.49am

I'm no expert astro-photographer but I love shooting the night sky. I also love to trial as many settings as possible. Which isn't always a good idea because when it comes to processing the shots, I don't have a consistent look through a series of photos. So excuse the variation you may see between shots- click the first photo if you'd like to see the photos as a slide show.

f/11, 1/125, ISO500- 1.06am

I've put the camera settings and time underneath each photo- they may help you, then again they may not. Remember, while there are recommended settings for shooting the night sky, a lot of it depends on how you process the photo after the shot. I don't spend too much time post processing, when I like what I see I'm done.

A slight pink tinge appears as the shadow nears the beginning of the full eclipse...

f/8, 1/160, ISO1000- 1.18am

Photographers new to astro-shooting need to keep in mind that while the sky may be pitch-black the moon, and possibly the subject of your photo, is extremely bright, afterall it's being lit directly by the sun. Apply the 'Looney 11 rule' (just like the daytime 'Sunny 16 rule') as a starting point and go from there, the Looney rule is a method for estimating correct exposures. The 'Looney 11 rule' settings are f/11, 1/125, ISO100. As you can see from my photo selection I totally ignored this piece of advice!

A tripod is also a must when shooting the night sky, it's also good if you shoot remotely or put the camera's self-timer on (3 secs), this helps keep everything still, you've moved away from the camera after depressing the shutter so there's less chance of blurred photos. There are several other things you can do too but rather than bore the pants of the non-photographers amongst us, Mr Google will help you further.

A full eclipse approaches and the rudy red colour deepens...

f/5.6, 1/40, ISO2000- 1.39am

It very hard to manually focus on a darkened moon, select a single focus point and focus on the moon's edge. This provides the contrast for the focus point to pick up. Even then it's not always possible and again there are other 'Mr Google' ways of doing it.

f/5.6, 1/40, ISO2000- 1.41am

You may have noticed my ISO is extremely high-the higher the ISO the more light is let into the camera.This is not ideal as it creates 'noise' in the photo. Noise is that grainy texture you can see in some photos. I've managed to smooth some of that out in post-processing but really, I should have worked the settings a little better to achieve a low ISO. It's a frustratingly fine line sometimes, trying to balance the workings of the exposure triangle (ISO, shutter speed and aperture) at night.

f/5.6, 1/15, ISO2000- 1.43am

Here are some final shots of the fully eclipsed blue blood moon.

f/5.6, 1 sec, ISO400- 2.08am

The cloud stayed away long enough for me to capture some great shots, although I thought I was doomed just before the start of the total eclipse, a large group of wispy slow moving clouds were heading directly towards the moon. Luckily enough they skimmed by underneath and out of shot. 

f/5.6, 1/2, ISO800- 2.11am

Two hours after the start of the eclipse, the Blood Moon begins to lose its colour as it emerges from the Earth's shadow. It was time for me to head to bed.

f/7.1, 1/25, ISO1000- 2.38am

This special Super Blue Blood Moon was a awesome sight to the naked eye too, I had to share the excitement and wake David up to come and see it when I saw the red emerging. 

Here's one last photo- it's been a little over-processed (I call it artistic license), but I love it all the same.

Moon over Marlborough

Hot off the press- for those that didn't wait up; shots of the lunar eclipse & blood moon over Elaine Bay last night. The sky was clear for the most part, a thin veil of cloud passed over a few times which was frustrating. And I lost the focus once the total eclipse happened and had to manually second-guess focus as my eyes aren't that wonderful at night & especially when it's pitch black!. Even trying to focus on Live View was an impossibility. 

I had a whole heap of fun out there (ha- pun not intended!), I had the whole reserve to myself (if you don't count whatever was scurrying about in the bushes and down near the water). I didn't get to bed until 2am! I ended up doing some night sky shots and 'light-painting' the van (I'll post those in another blog). It was quite spooky watching the moon lit bay disappear into darkness and then re-emerge an hour or so later. Enjoy!