Bridal Veil Falls

Yesterday I took the opportunity to head out towards the seaside town of Raglan. A few kilometers before the town is a road that leads to Bridal Veil Falls. Its also the access road for the construction company thats putting in the new wind generation units at the local Windfarm.
From where I live, about 20 or so kilometers in direct line, I can see the towers  by taking a walk along our road for about 500 meters. Looking west we can see the units on the skyline. You can get a feel for the distance from the photos in this section.

The track into the falls area was a visual

treat for the camera with the dappled light.

My trusty Pentax SLR went along for the ride and I will get the film developed over the next week for some comparisons.

A third of the way along the walking track was

 a solid timber post and carving.

The HS10 was used in "p" mode with DR200 and Color set to "Chrome" as I wanted deep rich color. Below is a selection of over 190 shots I took as well as a roll of 35mm film.

A Maori Carving and greeting found about a third of the
 way into the walk to the falls.

Light at the end of the walk as
you come out to the upper viewing
Platform.

Plague at the top of the falls.

Over the Top

Lower pool and viewing deck.

Doing what I was about to do, take a few photos.

The Falls from the upper observation deck.

Arriving at the bottom deck.

The large ampitheatre at the bottom.

Changing Light and tones on the rocks.

Looking back up to the top observation deck from the bottom of the falls.

The journey back up....

was much harder than the journey down.

One last look from the lower observation deck.

Some interesting things to see in the bush, such as these fungi.

Then before you know it you are back to the picnic area at the entrance
to the walking track.

And then its off down the road to a little gravel side road for a closer look at the wind generators up on the hills. For some reason the Fuji HS10 was having a lot of trouble trying to decide how to take the shot. I switched to AE metering in "Area" mode and this seemed to help. I have a feeling the contrast between subject and sky was not great enough for the camera to settle on a setting using "Spot" AE metering. Something to watch for in the future.

About a close as I could get.

There were large gusts of wind and you could
see the flex in the wind vanes as this happened.

There was a lot of variation in the cloud color as the light changed.

And yes they were rotating as this burst shot shows.

And then it was time for home. All in all I think the Fuji performed well. It remains to be seen if the IQ can match that of the SLR and Sigma telephoto lens. Stayed tuned, more to come on this later.