05.31.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:02 pm by kmcd
I now have all the equipment to do some astrophotography down under next week (gosh, it is only 2 days before I start my trip!). Anyway, I have a little Meade ETX-80 backpack telescope (it is cool because it has a computer controller and can do two point stellar initialization). I have my new Nikon D40x Digital SLR, all the attachments to connect it to the telescope, and a wireless shutter release for it. Did some test shots (unfortunately, the skies around Berkeley have not been clear) of the bay bridge at night…that is about 8 miles of sealevel atmosphere, so it is kinda bad seeing.
Anyway, rumor has it it will clear up here tonight, so maybe I can take some serious photos.
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05.16.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 2:53 am by kmcd
I also plan to spend a day at the Museum of New Zealand, apparently it is not to be missed. And the Botanical Gardens are supposed to be beautiful, but I have no idea how it will be in the early part of winter. There is an Observatory/Planetarium at the highest point of the Botanical Garden.
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05.13.07
Posted in New Zealand Travelblog at 6:57 pm by kmcd
I have been thinking of travelling to New Zealand for some time. The scenary that has been shown by various recent films produced there has been captivating. So, I bought the airline tickets a couple of days ago, it is only 6500 miles from LA to Auckland, but I start flying at 5pm on 2nd June from SFO, catch a Quantas 747-400 in LA at 9:05pm and end up in Auckland at 4:55am on the 4th of June. My final destination is Wellington (the national capital) and I am expected to be there at 8am on the 4th. Turns out that the 4th is the Queens Birthday, so I am not sure how that will impact ground transport given it is a national holiday. So far, I have planned a guided tour with Wellington Rover Tours to see lots of sights of the filming of the LOTR
trilogy. It sound fun and they sell you ears to put on… running around the Shire looking like an elf (my hair is much too long to be thought of as being hobbitish) ought to be a great lark! Anyway it will be a short visit (I return on the 10th) so I can’t do nearly everything I would like, probably will just stick close to Wellington and the surrounds.
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