One big take away from attending the ADE initiation was a great session we had with a cinematographer. One of his tips for photographic success was to ‘get down low’.

I have tried to remember that. And it does lead to some interesting photos with interesting perspectives.

The Coromandel has some very beautiful stretches of water.

Terri Gragg, a teacher friend in Bragatine, sent me this photo today. A couple of years ago we shared a Skype call and Voicethread collaboration. We talked then of how cold it could get -32 degrees. Then she showed us how water vapour could fall to the ground frozen When it’s that cold a bubble will freeze.

You see some beautiful things while out caching.

My father must have used his day off wisely in 1979.

Today I have the roofing guy round to replace the flashings on my chimney to stop the rain coming in.

As he pulled the roofing iron off we noticed where my Dad had written the date on the new bit of iron he had put on in 1979.

You can see how this old house has such an attachment for me.

Seeing I’m only going to post my fave photos this year I am trying to autopost my photos to Twitter. I wouldn’t want to spam Twitter with a photo a day but thought you wouldn’t mind the occasional photo tweet. The photo is of a night time cache at Glenhope.

Driving back along the lower Buller River every bend deserved a stop for grabbing a photo. I love this hairpin bend in particular.

p311.mov Watch on Posterous

You have to love the West Coast.

Geocaching leads you to some great places that you would normally just fly by in the car on the way to somewhere. In this case we found a disused colonial cemetery 100m through a cow paddock on the road to Westport.

The cache description tells of a ‘battle’ that happened there between the Catholics and the Prostestants.

Read on from the cache description…….

Summary

Addisons Flat was once a small but cosmopoliton mining commununity, about 8 miles south of Westport, named after an African American, who found gold here in May 1867. Now all that remains is this old cemetery.

Description

Here’s a bit of history for you; The so-called “Battle of Addisons Flat” took place on 3 April 1868. A month earlier, an Irish procession headed by a priest had broken into the Hokitika cemetery and had erected a Celtic cross in honour of three Fenians recently executed in Manchester. A similar but more peaceful demonstration took place in Westport on St. Patrick’s Day. Soon afterwards, news arrived of an Irishman’s attempt to assassinate the Duke of Edinburgh in Sydney. Fearing a Fenian uprising, the authorities concentrated troops in Hokitika, arrested the Irish leaders, and arraigned them on charges of riot and seditious libel. All were found guilty and sentenced to prison terms and fines. The outbreak at Addisons Flat, a predominantly Irish gold-miners’ tent town 8 miles south of Westport, occurred when a party returned from Westport where they had celebrated the Duke’s escape from the assassin’s bullet. As they marched into Addisons Flat singing patriotic songs, they were met by a hail of stones from the assembled Irishmen and forced to retreat. During the next days Irishmen from the surrounding districts mustered in force at Addisons Flat fully expecting an attack by Government forces, while in Westport the loyalists vainly urged the authorities to allow them to march against the enemy. Thanks to the moderating influence of A. S. Kynnersley, the local warden, an armed clash was averted and the opposing forces never met. In later years the story of the “Battle of Addisons Flat” has been much embroidered, but there is no reason to doubt Kynnersley’s report that “all the wounds received did not require ten inches of sticking plaster, and all the property destroyed would be well paid by a ten pound note”. – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. A normal cache with the usual swaps. Should be an easy find. There is public access to the cemetery, but please respect the private property that this access crosses.

Next stop Punakaiki. I’m not sure how these will look on the computer but they look great on my phone. I included a photo of me as I rarely trAvel with anyone clever enough to know how to work HDR on my iPhone.

We’re in Greymouth, styled in at the backpackers, and Barb mentions that she has found 399 geocaches so off we go to find a significant place to snap the 400. The mouth of the Grey River seemed like a goodie.

It was.

While finding the cache we spotted a small pod of Hectors dolphins.

A stunning end to the day and great way to celebrate a milestone.