So it has been a little while…
Waireinga / Bridal Veil falls in Raglan
…since I put an entry into the blog here. My apologies for not doing as much with the website as I would like but it has been a pretty busy year and three quarters. To just list some of the excitment that has been keeping me away from updates here :-
I got made redundant in 2023 right on Christmas. Gotta love US run firms for their predilection for that.
Gained contracting gig pretty quickly which lasted for five months before they unexpectedly pulled back due to global financial issues.
Spent five months hunting for work in an increasingly depressed Wellington region where jobs were thin on the ground.
Finally got a job which I am enjoying but it is based in Hamilton - a good 550km away.
Had my mother go through various health issues including an overly difficult cataract surgery and she had a minor stroke. Thankfully she has mostly recovered from this.
As a result I have to transit every second weekend between Hamilton and Wellington to help with the shared home my mother lives in and catch up with my very patient partner Gail.
This has meant my time for getting out with a camera has been a bit limited. Especially in 2025 when, mostly through accident, my primary camera and I got dunked in a river. While I took to the water with mild annoyance my camera didn’t survive the experience. Worse I couldn’t send it off quickly for repair and when I finally could I was informed my 1D was very, very dead.
Pickle.
Still given the conditions in that chasm I remain very thankful that was largely the worst (although Joy did get a nasty cut on her arm as well) and that no one was seriously hurt.
Marokopa Waterfall
It hasn’t all been bad. I’ve been very thankful for the support Gail has been providing, her patience (even though she claims she doesn’t have any) has been amazing and I remain deeply grateful to have her in my life. I also am happy to be working again in a job I do enjoy and who also have been very flexible in letting me work while Mum’s health issues have been a thing.
Also of great help is while I lost my main camera I still have the 60D as a backup and the little pocket Powershot G7X mark II which has meant while I miss the 1D I haven’t been entirely without camera equipment to work with. As you can see from the images in this post I still have been able to make some worthy images during this period.
Hamilton Lake Sunrise
The worst of it is simply the lack of time and money. I had a provisional; tax bill I had to settle - as due to contracting I now became assessed for that despite being on normal PAYE again now. Having finally settle that as of June this year a lot of the money pressure has eased up. But time is still a big factor with a lot of my spare time now taken up transiting and helping people in Wellington as much as I can.
So yeah, it has been a busy almost two years now.
But with a little luck things are settling down now and I can start to get out again and back to this hobby that I enjoy so much. Hopefully, dear readers, you can join me back on these explorations once again….
