The HH piccies thread

[Rockposer]

Very artistic, especially the 1st one

[Nick C]

Cheers mate .. I'm trying to get a spooky otherworldy feel ...... My version of Paintshop Pro has an infrared filter which is great (in fact I prefer Paintshop to Photoshop these days) because my fave photographer Simon Marsden gets these really eerie pics using infrared film. Obviously the filter isn't as good as the real thing ... but it gives some great effects.

[SamboraRocks86]

May aswell bite the bullet and post some pics i took in April when we went to North Wales...

 

I'd really like some solid opinions on these, especially from people like Faust...

 

i know theres alot but i had to narrow 300 photos down to what follows, which is about 30 photos, so apologies for the space i am about to take up

 

and before i start posting them, id just like to say these were all taken on manual, which is the first time ive used my camera that way, the old photos i posted were taken on auto....so the exposure, focus, aperture, shutter speed etc all had to be set by me, so im proud of some of the results

[SamboraRocks86]

[SamboraRocks86]

[Rockposer]

Just some others taken at the Rare Breeds Centre

 

 

 

[Geoff]

Nice piccies, chumps. Nick, those three are awesome. Love 'em.

 

Sambora, there's some good stuff in there. Some pretty random stuff too, but I like a few of those.

 

Rockposer, my brother would love those pics! Cool flowers.

[Rockposer]

A couple from Eagle Heights I took yesterday.

 

They run the cheeteh down a zip line, absolutly amazing.

 

 

[Rockposer]

 

That just cleaned, clay bar & wax finish.

[Swazi]

Some piccies from my recent trip to South Africa.

 

Me in front of my old school - Pretoria Boys High School:

 

 

On the De Wildt Cheetah Farm, which belongs to the aunt of one of my school friends:

 

 

Lazy king-cheetah:

 

Me and a friend being very daring:

 

Lovely Jacaranda Tree in first bloom:

 

On the Solms wine farm, which belongs to another school friend:

 

Cape Town - Table Mountain behind the waterfront shopping center:

 

Cape Town - Camps Bay and the Table Mountain range:

[Faron]

Great pics Bernd

[phaffas]

Me and a friend being very daring:

 

that shirt = metal

[Swazi]

that shirt = metal

 

Yeah, I am a colourful guy ! And I didn't want to get lost between all those cheetahs ...

[Rockposer]

All I can say Bernd is wow excellent photos mate.

[Geoff]

Nice, Bernd! Very envious... would LOVE to get across to South Africa one day.

 

Got some piccies of the Cook Islands coming up (still uploading) too.

[Geoff]

Some Cook Islands shots:

 

Muri Beach (where we stayed for the first half of the trip):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Palm Grove, where we stayed for the other half:

 

 

 

 

The view off our verandah:

 

 

 

This was about the only day where the mountain tops weren't hidden by cloud up there:

 

 

 

The waves I tried to surf, in the scariest moments of my life:

 

 

The last sunset:

 

 

[Rockposer]

Officially jealous mate

[Swazi]

VERY nice, Geoff ! VERY jealous as well, mate !

[Faron]

Absolutely fantastic pics Geoff, probably the best I`ve seen posted at HH.

[metaltrekman]

Holy Crap Geoff You always go to the most beautiful tropical places!! But i guess since you live on an island in the pacific they arent all that far from you really. Your airfares probably are reasonable? And do you go thru an agency for booking the places to stay? Or just take care of yourself on the web? Do you just go where you have gotten recommendations about? Or just say that looks nice, lets go!

[Geoff]

Holy Crap Geoff You always go to the most beautiful tropical places!! But i guess since you live on an island in the pacific they arent all that far from you really. Your airfares probably are reasonable? And do you go thru an agency for booking the places to stay? Or just take care of yourself on the web? Do you just go where you have gotten recommendations about? Or just say that looks nice, lets go!

Thanks, all you guys. Yeah, thankfully going to a place like the Cook Islands all you need to do is be able to hold a camera in order to take a nice photo. Stunning place, truly loved it and have missed it every day since. I woke up early for every sunrise, not because I had to, just because I wanted to.

 

Airfares there were manageable, but we met a New Zealand couple at the 2nd place we stayed at in the Cook Islands. Their airfares cost less than half of the cost from Australia! So yeah, we get relatively good rates, I'm sure, compared to the rest of the world but it's not all cheap. Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and even to an extent, Samoa were all pretty good airfare-wise. Cook Islands and Tahiti are quite a bit more expensive because of the distance and non-direct flights. But I've been dying to go to the Cook Islands since as long as I can remember, so we just bit the bullet and did it when a great deal came up. Thankfully accomodation there is actually really affordable. We stayed in 2 beachfront rooms and both were cheaper than most non-beachfront places we've stayed at. Man I loved it...

 

We generally book through a travel agent, mostly for the fact that they are able to offer good sales, specials and deals which we usually take advantage of, but also for assurance in flights, connections, transfers etc. If we were booking a normal daily rate stay somewhere (like I will have to do if we ever get to Tonga, by the looks of it) I might try booking myself. But I'll tell you this - we went to Samoa because of an excellent deal advertised in the paper and also the Cook Islands because of an amazing deal on the net. Those sales that agents can offer are a great drawcard.

 

As for where I choose to go, mate, there is not a place with affordable airfares from Sydney I have not checked out on the net/brochures. I have it stored firmly in my mind all the places I'd like to see, and I guess I just keep an eye out for good offers to these places. There's not a place in the South Pacific I don't want to go to, but time and money are a huge factor. Like anyone in the world, I'd love to go to Tahiti but flights there are a lot, and once we're there the currency kills us. So yeah, we know the beautiful places we want to go and we just look out for offers we can't refuse. Sadly, there are truly stunning places like Palau and places in Micronesia which I'd kill to go to, but not for the au$4000+ airfares they fetch. They've very hard to get to.

 

At the end of the day, there's some beautiful places on earth I would love to go (especially Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, as well as The Maldives) but as you say, I think we are lucky because I truly believe the South Pacific is the most beautiful part of the world... if you're into the whole tropical scenery. Which I certainly am.

[highvoltage]

Stunning photos! Vanuatu has always interested me but I heard it's really expensive, not so much getting there, but as in cost of living, for food, drink, everything when you are there

[SamboraRocks86]

Are we jealous of his photography skills, trip to Cook Islands or his wife?

[Geoff]

Stunning photos! Vanuatu has always interested me but I heard it's really expensive, not so much getting there, but as in cost of living, for food, drink, everything when you are there

Yep, that one's high on my list too. My wife went there briefly on a cruise once and she was not wild about the main port, Port Vila, which is pretty average apparently. But the rest of the place, especially Santo and Tanna Island (which is where I'd be going) look amazing. We never stay anywhere near the main towns or ports anyway. The problem (as it always is) is that getting to the nicer islands, even from Port Vila, adds complications and, of course, financial additions to the cost of the holiday.

 

We really missed out last year, though, when as an introduction to Virgin Blue flying direct to Santo Island (I can't see that service is still running anymore) they offered au$99 flights!!! When it happened we weren't in a position to book, but man, something like that would rope me in immediately at the moment.

 

But yeah, you are right. Run by the French, the currency there is Pacific Francs, like New Caledoni and Tahiti, which makes the cost of the holiday a lot more expensive. And is also a reason why Cook Islands, Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga are more pleasant, using NZD or their own currency.

[metaltrekman]

Thanks Geoff, for sharing. Especially with all of us that have to deal with fuc*in hellish cold winters with snow up to our arses!!

 

When you go to these places do you find any problems communicating with the locals? And do you do car rentals, bikes, taxis or just walk a lot?

 

Ever think about here... http://www.vacationsadult.com/Hedonism_II_Index.htm Wish I could talk my wife into it.