Paradise Valley Springs

Another "must see" while in Rotorua is one of their wildlife parks. We chose Paradise Valley Springs and it was gorgeous. It was another wet day but it kind of made the rainforest even more beautiful. Being a nature lover I was enamoured by the gardens and all the animals. The redwood, the tree fern, silver ferns, everything. The major feature of the park is that a major trout spawning stream for Lake Rotorua runs right through the park - Ngongatoha Stream. Apparently nearly 20,000 trout spawn in the stream each year. The water is crystal clear and you can feed the trout and other animals throughout the park. There is also a lion park, farm walk with goats, sheep, horses, etc. The kids couldn't wait for this part where you can pet the lion cubs. I did the same thing when I was a little bit older than Phoebe is now at this very park - only without the cage. The cub I pet was a lot smaller than this one who was 10 months old. The keeper was in the enclosure with us and told us that both of the cubs were 1kg in weight when they were born and at 10 months weighed 80kg. They were huge - just look at that paw! I love the image of Ben's hand over the lion's paw.

puppies!

I love photographing dogs. You really have no idea what they are going to do, or the expressions they are going to pull but it very rewarding when you nail it. While staying at the Higgins home in Whangamata we had 3 dogs at the house; Bounce, Tahn and Marley. It created an interesting dynamic and this is a short summary of how I think the dogs were feeling. * Bounce was happy to stay indoors in the bedroom away from Marley who kept making unwanted advances (!) * Tahn was exhausted, most likely from telling Marley off from invading her "personal space" being the backyard * Marley had obviously exhausted himself after harassing everyone else and was surprisingly still for most of the portraits I took. I was ready to sit there patiently but Marley was an angel and really turned it on for the camera. So here are some of my favourites of Bounce, Marley and Tahn.

lulu stinkibelle

My little girl, Lulu, turned 3 years old today. In dog years that makes this her 21st birthday so I thought I would celebrate with a short post and some "so cute its a crime" photos. Lulu came to us from Queensland quite by accident. We initially had our name down with another litter for a blenheim girl but unfortunately the litter were stillborn and it wasn't to be. The breeder was kind enough to pass our name onto another breeder who was expecting a litter very soon and we were lucky there were enough girls to go around and we got Lulu. She came to us on Easter Weekend of 2005 and has been ruling the house ever since. She has become my shadow and one ritual I love is opening the bedroom door each morning to find her sitting there staring at was once the door and is now my feet. Lord knows how long she actually sits there and waits for! At least Lily is sensible enough to lay on the couch while waiting. Lulu quite confidently struts in, jumps on the bed and snuggles up to the cushions while watching Grant and I get ready for our day. I love the little things like this that make up my memories of our pets. Happy birthday Lulu Stinkibelle! My little fluffy girl.

oh snap!

Oh. My. God. I received my three new lenses today amongst a stash of flash cards and a couple of new batteries and I am absolutely thrilled. I decided to go with a 50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 and a 100mm Macro f/2.8 and I have left the 85mm f/1.2 for a later purchase once I have really earnt it. In the meantime I am sure my alternate choice will be just fine . . . . . . because of these babies I took this afternoon. I am so overjoyed with the quality of the images I produced just on the first run with the 85mm this afternoon. My favourite is the first one of my little fluffy girl trying to sleep while I kept rolling on the floor trying to get a great shot. She doesn't seem as pleased as me that mummy has a new toy :) Actually she seems quite bored LOL. Its going to take me a while to get used to all three lenses. With the larger apeture of course comes more light so I need to be more perceptive with my natural light surroundings and work accordingly. Having shot only at a max of 4.5 for the past 3 years is going to make it a lengthy process I bet. I better start reading up a bit more . . .