I was at Port Waikato yesterday just doing my thing taking photos of various bits and bobs on dunes. I had one of my most productive photos days. I took about 250 shots, and I felt that 25 of ’em where strong enough to chuck on my site, which is very high percentage for me!

This place is amazing. Everytime I go there its been a surprise. The first time I was there is when I took my ex girlfriend to Raglan and got lost on a backroad. My girlfriend said hey why don’t you take that exit over by the bridge? We did and discovered Port Waikato by accident. Needless a 2 and half hour road trip took 8 hours because of it!

Since then every time i have visited I’ve always discovered something new photograph. One time I caught a ute being pounded by the waves, other times various beach junk gets washed on the shore.

Geographically speaking its stunning. Its the mouth of the largest river in NZ and there are massive sand dunes at the entrance. The waves bashing the beach are mighty and dirty from the brown earthy that gets pushed out from the river. The beach, depending where you sand, is a mixture of yellow and black sand (from iron deposits). The hinterland is lush green and very remininscent of the Lord of the Rings shots.

A couple of weeks ago a girl wrote me from the from area after she found my photos off the internet. We met up last weekend to take shots and had a good chinwag about art and photography and life in general. It was really great meeting her and also had a choice photography day as well. I tried calling yesterday so see if she was around, but she wasn’t home but hope to meet up with her again.

Yesterday, I was walking to my car which was half kilometer away, and a 4wd drove past and stopped. A young lad, about 12 years was driving the vehicle with his father and a mate. They offered me a lift. Its funny, because normally i wouldn’t accept because I prefer walking, but i thought it would be fun driving across the dunes in 4wd.

Well, the ute was stuck in the sand 4 times (as this lad was just learning to drive) but we finally made to my car! After the father invited me over for tea. As it turns out, I made a great friend that evening. He lived a ramshackle hut with alot character. As it turns out, he was quite a well off individual but very down to earth. We talked about photography, women, philosophy and the british isreali society (thats another for another time!). As it turns out he is looking for someone to do a IT work for which happens to be my field of specialty! We might even endeavor to do some work together in future, but I made a great friend.

Well, pardon me for this long rambling – I was just reflecting on those times when sometimes getting lost is a good thing. If i hadn’t gotten lost I would have never found this magical place. If I hadn’t accepted this lift from a stranger I would have never made a new friend.