Vacation Pictures (New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa)

[Mike K]

After that we only did one night in Karamea and stayed with one of my GF’s friends. Next day we drove back to Amberley, and then packed up for Gold Coast, Australia (just south of Brisbane).


Gold Coast
Along the coast near Brisbane, there is just one long ass amazing beach. To the north of Brisbane they have the Sunshine Coast, to the south is the Gold Coast. Within the Gold Coast, the touristy part is Surfers Paradise. We stayed just south of that in Broadbeach, a touch less touristy, but we still had easy access via mass transit. It took us a couple days to figure out how the mass transit worked, which was a bummer because we were only there for 5 days, but it all worked out in the end.




Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary





Feeding a snake a dead rabbit, was kind of lame. I think they should just let loose a live rabbit.

[Mike K]

We went to the live bird show and I tried my best to get some awesome pictures of the birds. I normally do landscape photography, but I tried my best to get some good pictures. It was hard to stay on target and to keep the camera focused while shooting. Here is what I got.

[Mike K]

This wedge-tailed eagle kept getting attacked by smaller birds to try and shoo it off (you can see one of the smaller birds swooping down on it). The eagle just looked annoyed.








And who doesn’t like koalas!

[Mike K]

Tamborine Rainforest Skywalk
A small rainforest walk with a good portion of it on catwalks to get a better view of the vegetation.

[Mike K]

Rainforest Walk
My girlfriend and I went on a small (1hr) self-guided rainforest walk.


This is a strangler tree (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangler_fig) that lands on the tree leaves thanks to the seeds being ingested by birds, then pooped out on top of trees. It slowly grows from the canopy of the trees to the bottom and slowly consumes its host tree.


Land Mullet



Gold Coast Canal Cruise
This cruise wasn’t anything special, but it was free ($30 value) because we booked two other trips with this company… so why not? I have a lot of pictures of the boats and the harbor and all. If somebody is interested in seeing more pictures let me know and I will upload them. A lot of money in this part. The few houses I post (I have more pictures) are usually around the 5-10 million range. Some more, some less. They were rattling off which celebrities owned which.





I just realized I only uploaded 3 pictures… lol. Let me know if you want to see more. At this point you can tell I am about tired of processing pictures.


Humpback Whale Watching
It was nearing the end of the season for humpback whales, but we did get to see one. A couple tail flips and two jumps. I had to be quick the camera, but I was able to get them. Unfortunately, it never did get real close to the boat. These were with my 70-200mm lens maxed to 200mm.

[Mike K]

Pilanesburg Safari Tour – South Africa
Just north of Johannesburg (which I was not impressed with) is a 55,000 acre wildlife sanctuary. Not like a zoo at all, it is 55,000 acres of land with a couple roads. If a lion is hungry, it goes to get its food. If you happen to be there to whiteness it, bonus! It was a pretty warm day and by mid-day everything was hanging out in the shade, but I still got some good pictures. I was able to see one rhino, but it was obstructed through a lot of trees and almost got to see a leopard.

[Mike K]

Four lions chilllin in the shade. We only saw them because somebody pointed them out. Again, this is with my 70-200mm lens maxed to 200mm, so we could barely see them.




And that’s it! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

[SMKR]

Nice! More pics of the boats please!

[SMKR]

Isn't New Zealand where Lord of the Rings was filmed?

[Mike K]

Isn't New Zealand where Lord of the Rings was filmed?

Yes. If memory serves me right, I think it was around Queenstown, which is about 30/45 minutes from where we were staying in Wanaka. Queenstown is where all the tourists go and Wanaka is where all the locals vacation.

[Mike K]

Nice! More pics of the boats please!

Ok, no problem. I will process them and upload them later. I couldn't sleep and work up at 3am today, so I am going to get my day started.

[fordracing19]

Thanks for sharing Mike. Amazing places.

[JordonMusser]

thanks for sharing!

[CWO]

You've made excellent choices in life. I am envious. Thanks for sharing.

[Z06killinsbf]

Very nice!