My Lens My Journey: Tekapo

Showing posts with label Tekapo. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

NZ Photo Tour : Timelapse Compilation

Assalamualaikum wbt.

My timelapse compilation that I managed to shoot during the NZ Tour :

At this time I was still new into Timelapse Photography. I made the classic mistake I think most novices do - shooting in Av (Aperture Priority) Mode, resulting in flickering in some of the clips. Indeed I had learnt a lot from this tour and I dare say I've come a long way in Timelapse Photography.

That's why I am inviting you to join my Timelapse Workshop this April at Sabah. I will share with you all the tips and tricks that I know about timelapse, not only what to do but more importantly what NOT to do so you could avoid all mistakes that I made :)

Join our Facebook Group for more information about the workshop.

In the meantime, do also enjoy this video of another my timelapse collection, compiled courtesy of Bro Ramdan Nain :)

Till my next post,

Wassalam.

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HDR/DRI/Timelapse personal / group workshop is available upon request. PM me for details :)

- contact me at enquire.ariefrasa@gmail.com for information on licensing of my images and timelapse clips -

Monday, 17 March 2014

NZ Photo Tour : Day 01 - Christchurch To Tekapo

Assalamualaikum wbt

August 31st - Sept 1st, 2013

From Sydney, we boarded Air New Zealand flight VA8108 to Christchurch. We took off at 06.25pm (Sydney time) and landed at 11.25pm (Christchurch time). The flight time was approximately 3 hours and after the refreshment was served I took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep.

After the cool Sydney's weather, Christchurch's cold night hit us like a slap. Even in the terminal we could feel the cold. And coming from Malaysia, it was a real shocker. Fortunately I was already dressed for the weather so all I need to do was put on my heavy outer jacket.

Christchurch here we come :)


One for my album :)

Our plan was just to sleep at the airport until the next morning pickup. Unknown to us, Christchurch airport's policy did not allow overnight sleeper, unless they had an early morning flight ticket to prove. Apparently as one of the security officers told us, there were people who literally camped at the airport for weeks. We showed him our campervan's pickup appointment for the next morning and were allowed to stay until 8.am. By the way, the security guy we spoke to was from Batu Pahat, Johor. However, fellow Malaysian or not, he treated us just the same. Full scrutiny of our documents then gave us wrist bands to wear. And we still need to get out of the airport by 8.am.

We had a choice of just sitting at the arrival terminal's chairs, or for NZD5.00 per pax, we can rest at a heated lounge (next to shower room) furnished with bean bag seat. For either option, sleeping on the floor or lying on our back on the chair was not allowed. The lounge was quite full so we opted just to wait for the morning at the terminal's chair near the entrance. It was comfy enough, bundled in 3 layers of warm clothing as I was. What we did not foresee was the cold air rushing in every time the doors slid open! Quite a "teeth chattering" experience :D

Control Tower - Christchurch Aiport. Vertorama 2 images

In the morning, the rental company sent a bus to pick us up from the Airport. A short distance later we arrived at the depot where we were met by Rosie, from Penang. Wah! Another Malaysian migrating to NZ! Rosie took care of the registration and even showed us how to put on the snow chain on the rear tires.

A note on renting campervan in New Zealand : you are required to post a NZD5,000-00 bond, which will be refunded to you upon return. Provided you were not involved with any accident. Apparently 3rd Party Liability Insurance for Motor Vehicle was not compulsory in NZ, unlike Malaysia. So if you were involved in any accident, even if wasn't your fault, the rental company will deduct it from your bond.

We certainly could not afford the NZ5,000-00 bond so we opted for the all inclusive insurance NZD46-00 per day, for our peace of mind.

EQC60 - home for next 8 days

We then head out to buy the groceries. I honestly do not remember where, we simply input "halal butcher" in our GPS's search function and choose the nearest one. What I do remember was that the operator was of Middle East descent (probably Iranian). We bought beef, rice, chicken and some spices. Next door was a fish market where we bought some fish (I wanted to cook some Salmon Asam Pedas LoL) and we bought our vegies from a market across the road. Our freezer fully stocked, we next head to a supermarket for some last-minutes shopping. As I had all that I needed (or so I thought) I just waited in the campervan.

And finally we were ready to really begin. First destination : Lake Tekapo.

The Jockeys

From Christchurch, the drive to Lake Tekapo took about 3 hours, covering approximately 222km via State Highway 1 for about 117km, and then at Farlie we turned to State Highway 79 for about 45km.

Another turn to State Highway 8, drove for about 41km and we took a right turn into the Pioneer Drive. A short while later, we passed the Sheepdog Statue and then we arrived at the Church of Good Shepherd.

Arriving at Lake Tekapo

The drive itself was very memorable. Beautiful scenery all around us - rolling green hills, snow capped mountains, and even iced covered roadside. However as we were quite behind in our schedule, we did not make any stop so all the following images are all drive-by shots :

rolling hills view from the front seat

another drive-by of NZ's rolling hills - side view

a common but beautiful view of skeletal trees lining up the road

The Church of Good Shepherd

From Wikipedia :

Lake Tekapo is the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand (the others are Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau). It covers an area of 83 square kilometres (32 sq mi), and is at an altitude of 700 metres (2,300 ft) above sea level. The Maori were the first people discovered the Mackenzie Basin. The name Tekapo derives from the Maori words taka (sleeping mat) and po (night). The Mackenzie Basin only became known to Europeans until 1855. In order to find a less conspicuous route, James Mackenzie, a Scottish sheep stealer, ventured inland and discovered the high country that now bears his name. In 1857, John and Barbara Hay established the first sheep farm in Mackenzie on the shore of Lake Tekapo.

Apart from the church, there are other attractions at Lake Tekapo Town. At Mount John Observatory you can take a stargazing tour and experience the use of telescope. Or you can soak in the hot pools, dash around the ice skating rink or have an adrenaline filled ride down the tubing park at Tekapo Spring. For the more adventurous type, try an Alpine Horse Trekking up the mountain. And for those with thick wallet, take a cruise down the lake. Better yet, have a go at Air Safaris or Helicopter Scenic Flight!

For us on tight budget, it was enough for us to be there and enjoy the scenery. With our camera's shutter busily clicking, of course!

Here are some of the images I took around the church. I hope you enjoyed viewing them as much as I enjoyed taking them :)

Mk Azmi, one satisfied photog

Born Amin & Jemang in action

Lake Tekapo Panorama

Snow-capped mountain across the lake basking in golden light

I also managed to shoot a timelapse here. Do look for the shadow creeping up the mountain :)

Till my next post, wassalam.

<< Day 00 - Sydney Transit

Day 01 - Tekapo To Twizel >>

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HDR/DRI/Timelapse personal / group workshop is available upon request. PM me for details :)

- contact me at enquire.ariefrasa@gmail.com for information on licensing of my images and timelapse clips -

Wednesday, 12 March 2014

My Incredible New Zealand Tour

Assalamualaikum wbt.

This is the story about my awesome journey with photog-friends to New Zealand last spring - early September 2013. Yes, not exactly breaking news but hey, there's no deadline for this kind of thing, is there? :)

Well let's begin by listing my AWESOME friends : Fakrul Jamil(FJ), Born Amin, Danial Abdullah, MK Azmi and Azman Mohamad.

Believe it or not, the costs per person was only slightly less than RM4,000-00, INCLUDING return air fares! Here's the rough breakdown :

- Flight : Kuala Lumpur - Sydney) with Air Asia (return) RM1,200-00

- Flight : Sydney - Christchurch with Virgin Australia (return) RM1,200-00

- Campervan rental (8 days) - RM450-00

- Fuel - RM300-00

- Meal - RM300-00

- Campsite Entry - RM200-00

- Personal expenses - RM500-00

Of course, if you want to do all those stuffs like bungee jumping, cruise, tandem jump, speed boating and other adventures that NZ is famous for, be sure to calculate those price(s) into your budget :)

I've been asked quite many times for my budget, travel route, etc. So for this post I just want to share our itinerary plus some behind the scene/group shots. Later I will put up more detailed story about each place that we visited, plus pictures, of course (and some time lapse clips too!).

Originally we wanted to tour the whole South Island. Later we realized that this would be near impossible for an 8 days journey. So we have to ditch our second part of the journey - the West Coast and glaciers (and I fully intended to remedy that omission, soon!). I'd say it's a good thing we skipped West Coast, as even on our shortened route its was quite a rush journey!

Our actual itinerary, in brief :

30th Aug - depart from LCCT, 11pm

31st Aug - arrived Sydney at 9am. 9 hours transit means an opportunity for a brief excursion to Sydney Harbour. Depart from Sydney at 6pm, arrived at Christchurch at 10pm.

Circular Quay, Sydney

1st Sept - collected our campervan, went shopping for meat, rice, fish etc and around 12pm we started our journey to Tekapo. Arrived at Tekapo around 4pm and stayed there untill 10pm. Continue journey to Mount Cook, sleep by the roadside (and lakeside) somewhere between Tekapo and Twizel.

Awesome Milky Way at Tekapo-Twizel Road

2nd Sept - made a mistake by continuing straight to Mount Cook. After checking in at Glentanner Park Centre, we have to head back to Twizel for refuelling and our first dump site (oh, there's funny story about that! Later, though, haha). Then head back to Mount Cook - sunset at Peter's Lookout along the way and milky way shots at Mount Cook Village.

3rd Sept - trekking to Glacier View, Tasman Valley. Then off to Moeraki. We stopped somewhere at Twizel for sunset. Reached Moeraki Kiwi Holiday Park around 10pm. Luckily the owner/operator was in!

Glacier View, Tasman Valley

04th Sept - Sunrise at Moeraki Boulders, then (attempted) dolphin watch at the bay - no such luck - so we went to Moeraki Lighthouse to watch penguins and seals. Off to Milford Sound via Dunedin and Te Anau. Kudos to Jemang for still able to drive while everyone else already kaput! Another roadside overnight stop at Te Anau.

Moeraki Boulders

05th Sept - after breakfast at TeAnau, we continue to Milford Sound, with few stop at Te Anau Downs, Mirror Lake, Eglinton Valley, Falls Creek and few others spots. We tried to stop at the famed Monkey Creek unfortunately it's in avalanche area so it's a definite no-no. Reached Milford Sound at late evening. Checked in at Milford Sound Lodge for the night.

Eglinton Valley - (c) Jemang Images

06th Sept - Beautiful (though gloomy) sunrise at Milford Sound, then it rained. So we cancelled the plan for Milford Cruise and packed up and head to Queenstown. Here FJ showed his fearless skilful driving by tackling the icy bends). Sunset somewhere along the way (no idea at all where it's at) and reached Queenstown's Top 10 Holiday at 8pm - just in the nick of time as the reception was about to close.

Gloomy Sunrise at Milford (c) Mk Azmi

Sunset at Lake Wakatipu Lakeshore - approximately 30 minutes drive to Queenstown

07th Sept - Sunrise at 12th Mile Delta then continue to Glenorchy to find the willow trees. Then back to Queenstown for breakfast (actually it was brunch) and sightseeing at the town. After the Million Dollar Cruise we head back to Christchurch via Mossburn (where everybody got some nice "Windows 8 wallpaper shots) and some more Milky Way shots at Lindis Pass and Twizel-Tekapo road. Another roadside sleep.

12th Mile Delta, Qeenstown

08th Sept - reached Christchurch and visit fellow Malaysian Haneff for a delicious Nasi Lemak breakfast before returning the campervan at the depot. Haneff then picked us up at the airport for a final milky outing at Port Hill with few of his friends, Ahmad Amryl and Faizey.