Saturday 25th August was a superb winter’s day here in NZ. Gorgeous sunny day and around 18-20c which is warm for winter. Day didn’t start to well though because I slept in. Decided to go for a ride (Triumph Rocket III) to Port Waikato, which according to Google Maps is 87kms from my home in Auckland CBD.

Port Waikato is a landmark because it is where NZ’s longest river, The Waikato River, reaches the coast and empties out into the Tasman Sea. Being on NZ’s west coast the beaches often have black sand and craggy rocky cliff’s and dunes. Great photography subjects.

Sunset Beach in front of Cafe.

Because I slept in I missed the sunrise and had to contend with mid morning sun rather than the more desirable early morning sun.  That aside it was a great ride down, the last 30kms from Tuakau Bridge was perfect big bike roads. Nice cambered corners and no traffic.

With me I had my Fuji GF670, which I have just got back after 6 months away, and I wanted to see how well it worked with Velvia.

Sunset Beach from the rocks.

And on the way back I stopped in Maraetai Bay.

And then in the Dunes this family fishing.

Was a cool place to visit. The café at Sunset Beach, think it was called the Cheeky Pipi  had great food and an excellent coffee. All in all a place everyone  should see.

See some B&W images below. These were shot with Rolleiflex 3.5F + Tri-X