Kawakawa Glamping

Glamping: “a form of camping involving accommodation and facilities more luxurious than those associated with traditional camping“.  After travelling 35hrs from London to New Zealand the day before we were wisked away for a quick break at Kawakawa Station on the Palliser Cape in the South Wairarapa.  We had wanted a couple of days away from the hustle and bustle of city life and luckily enough for us, my sister had organised a bit of a surprise.  Arriving into Wellington to a howling southerly was nothing new, but it was supposed to be summer! The weather in the Wairarapa wasn’t any better and we thought we were in for a couple of wet days, the first thing we did was light the wood burner in the tent to warms things up.  It pretty much rained all night but by the morning it had cleared and the sun came out.  Below are a few photos of the ‘glamping’ and our visit to Cape Palliser and here is a link to the glamping website.

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The view from quarter of the way up the hill behind the campsite.

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The main tent.

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Inside the main tent, note the wood burner.

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Even the local sheep weren’t enjoying the cooler weather.

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Bacon butties for lunch! Showering with a view!

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Cape Palliser.

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Couldn’t resist photographing some of the local Architecture.

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Fun with puddles!

 

Nana

Having not been back in NZ for almost 2 years seeing my 93 year old Nana was high on the agenda and I decided to pester her for an hour or so and photograph her.  It was no surprise that Nana had not lost any of her independence, she was busy as ever going about her morning routine while I clicked away around her.  She was a real natural in front of the lens.  I wanted to capture her how she is, the real deal so to speak.  Capturing her like this is how I see her, no bells and whistles and straight to the point!  It was also nice to capture Nana and Lucy together and it wasn’t until afterwards I realized we had 4 generations of family sitting around enjoying the sun. It was a great day! I recommend that everyone have a go at capturing their older family members, it’s very rewarding.

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For over 40 years this is how we are greeted by Nana. Very matriarchal!

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A favorite spot for my sister and I.  We spent many hours surveying Nana’s farm from this viewpoint.

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All the ingredients for a hearty breakfast….porridge, milk, sugar and cream.

img_People_0385We used to have breakfast in this same spot everytime we visited. Nothing changes!

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After breakfast it’s all business to make sure Nana doesn’t miss anything….glasses clean, check! hearing aid clean, check!

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Now on to the requests for family tree info. A wealth of information!

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Nana is not alone on the farm.  The ‘Boys’ more or less pay the bills and the cat is a bit of company.  There is also an amazing amount of native bird life around.

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Roughly 87 years between these two.  One wise old lady and one little rascal!

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Ethnee Mollie Simpson or Mollie to her friends.  But to us she is Nana.

 

Boomrock 2012

On a recent trip back to New Zealand I visited Boomrock again.  The Fleetsafe NZ program is in full swing and they have just gone through a change of vehicle provider with Holden NZ now providing the cars.  It was a little unexpected when I was asked to come out to the track to shoot a new Holden Calais doing a few test laps and I was slightly under prepared. It was a less than perfect evening but I still jumped at the chance to get some shots.  The track is perched up on top of a large hill which is exposed to the wind in all directions but has amazing views of the Marlborough Sounds and the Cook Straight. It’s an awesome place to be as you can see from some of the images I managed to get.