My photo of the day for this last day of the working week is a shot of myself in Rotorua, New Zealand in January 2007. I was searching back through my travel shots, trying to find a photo which appealed to me and came across this one. It spurred nice memories for me of my first trip with Linda across to the Shaky Isles so many years ago.
Of course the interesting thing about the photo is that I am standing under a street sign with a very interesting title. Yes, the Sumner’s of New Zealand obviously have made a name for themselves somewhere during the relatively brief history of their nation. Enough at least to have street named after one of their own!
I was staying in a small motel on the road which is running alongside my right shoulder in the photo. The motel was to my left as the photo was taken and a very pleasant place it was too although the name of it escapes me for the moment.
Linda enjoyed the serendipitous nature of the moment; a man named Sumner staying at a motel on the corner of a street which dissected another which was known by the same name as he and decided to take several shots of me standing under it. This is the best of a bad lot!
I don’t think I have changed too much since that January of seven years ago although I think I have gained quite a few kilograms since then but those are the sorts of facts I try to ignore! Hope you enjoy the shot.
Rotorua is of course the self proclaimed adventure capital of New Zealand. Anything of a daring note that you may wish to try, be it bungee jumping, sky diving, rock climbing, zorbing, billy carting, mountain biking or simply cruising the local lake of the same name in an amphibious vehicle can be achieved in the exciting environs of this North Island city. Queenstown, the city of excitement on the South Island may quibble with my descriptions of Rotorua as New Zealand’s premier tourist attraction but I will leave that argument to the Kiwis. Rotorua is undoubtedly a spectacular place. I recommend it.
Rotorua is also world famous for it’s thermal activity and you don’t have to wander very far to find steam rising from thermal pools, in fact the centre of town is home to a small lake which provides plenty of scope for eerie shots as mist rises from the water and engulfs bystanders enjoying the vista.
Outside the town are thermal springs which are very popular and there are few people who have visited New Zealand and not managed to get a shot of themselves taken at the boiling mud pools. Linda and I obviously found a fellow tourist willing to photograph us when we visited.
I have been lucky enough to visit New Zealand on a couple of occasions since then and have found it, for the most part, a very easygoing and pleasant place. I am expecting to be back there in twelve months or so.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 