A rocky backlog

I'm beginning to lose track a bit here, and my notebook is temporarily buried. I'm pretty sure this was our last full day in Wellington. We strolled the beach near the airport (meh), and drove further down the coast to Red Rocks.

I'm not sure if all these photos are from exactly there, but it's a pretty rocky coastline, and I loved scrambling over them looking for composition. As I mentioned earlier, neither me or camera equipment got wet, though it was close a couple of times. 

Along the way a woman asked if I had a sensor cleaning kit. Think about it. We are on a jumble of rocks with little pools of salt water everywhere. There's a breeze blowing off the ocean. There is sand in the places there isn't rocks and water. And this woman wants to take the lens off her camera, flip up the mirror, and clean her camera sensor. All my photo buddies are wincing right now. 

No, my camera is not waterproof, but I'm not fussed about using it in a light rain or a salty ocean breeze. Am I gonna change lenses in such an environment? Very carefully, sheltered by my body and the camera bag as much as possible. Clean the sensor? Not only no, but $#@! NO! I can't imagine it coming out of the ordeal cleaner than it was, and could well not be functional.

Anyways, I had fun. At first I thought it was just a snorkeler, but there were several people scuba diving in a tiny little cove. I guess it was deeper than it looked. Me and a topless woman working on her tan startled each other, but neither were particularly perturbed. A little kid came THAT close to a bath (at least) after tripping over something, and the mom nearly had a meltdown. I was walking very carefully.

Lunch was back on the first beach, and as usual, wonderful food. It used to be a surfing club building, and maybe still is. Imagine a cross between OEB and Galaxy Diner, with a side of 60's surfing vibe and you've got it. 

Then the bush walk to the old AF Rimmi tree. Then pick up some takeaway, and go up the hill to drink wine while watching the view. That place was amazing. If I had lots of money I might think about buying it. (Ignoring the complications of New Zealand residency requirements.) Then again, we've been in a couple lodgings I could live in for much longer than a week, and I've wanted to stay in all the places much longer. As I've said, I want to come back and I haven't even left yet.

I'd like to tell you this is a newly discovered sound and I'm gonna make a fortune giving tours on it. But no, it's only a few inches across.

Love the lines of rock leading out into the ocean. It would be so much fun to come here with a group of photographers and see what they do for composition. In fact there's lots of place I thought it would be fun to come with a bunch of camera buddies. (Neil Z, hint, hint.)

No, I didn't put that there.

I nearly fell in this little pool getting the reflection shots.