We’ve had a great couple of days in Glasgow. It is very different here than Edinburgh. People seem more edgy, both in look and temperament. To be fair we did arrive on a Saturday night when there was a big footy game on, so it’s to be expected that the gritty side is more prevalent.  We keep getting stared at… not in a good way. I know we visually scream tourist as we are both wearing cross body bags, but even so. May be it’s because neither of us is wearing make up. A full face of slap, worthy of Instagram, including huge eyelashes seems to be the way of it here.  
A wee bit of shopping was on the cards yesterday, but a visit to the famous "Barras" left us wondering. What we saw, was a second hand / tat market on a massive scale. Don't get me wrong, second hand places are often great to browse in, but I'm wondering if we missed something.
That was followed by a wander along the Clyde in full sunshine. 
Today we braved the bus system and failed miserably. We stood at a stop for an hour before being told we were at the wrong one. We moved. And still the right bus didn’t arrive, so we gave up and caught a cab. 
The University of Glasgow has possibly the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. If you can imagine a cross between Hogwarts & a Disney fairy castle that'd probably cover it. The cloister was the main attraction for me; fluted stone columns & ceiling arches. But with the travel jinx in full operation I found the columns in the central portion were wrapped in pink & blue bunting. Whaaat the hell?  Turns out that April 1st was an open day. It took quite a bit of creativity to manage shots without coloured columns. I also took a photo of a wall mural showing what the “classic” shot should be. You can see below. The stonework was stunning & I think what surprised me the most was how large the historic part of the campus was. After disappointingly not being able to get into the ruins of Elgin Cathedral we'd made a trek south to visit Jedburgh Abbey. Had we known just how large & beautiful Glasgow Uni was, we would most likely not have bothered.
The sky in the afternoon was cloudy (still very warm though) so I took off down the river again, reshooting some of the images from yesterday with better skies & light. As you do!
The Central Railway Station in Glasgow is also a fantastic architectural marvel of the past. I will post some images from that another time.

Since being in Scotland I have felt my photos have been a bit pedestrian. Well, that all changed today.
Yesterday, I mentioned be careful what you wish for, and on the quiet, I had been hoping for a wee bit of snow... guess what we woke to. Yup, all that pouring rain yesterday provided snow on the mountains but not on the roads… perfect!
Our plans for the day went out the window and we went back up to Glencoe. It was absolutely perfect photo weather: we had the drama in the skies with passing rain, sleet & even a large hail shower, all interspersed with mini fine breaks; allowing light into the drama provided by the bad stuff. I could not have scripted it better.  I have always said that snow is a “pretty” filter and it certainly lends a certain something to landscapes. With the rain/sleet/hail showers rather than unrelenting heavy rain, we were able to duck in & out and shoot without getting soaked to the skin. Perhaps I am biased because of my Scots heritage, the Highlands are without doubt, dramatic & beautiful. Add rain, and the colours saturate & intensify. Add snow, and you have beautiful contrasts. What an awesome day. 

Always be careful what you wish for… I have been disappointed that the weather has caused low to very low, water levels in most places. Apart from the day we climbed to the Storr it has been dry. Either blue sky sunny (but cold), or flat uninteresting cloud.  That is until today!
Yesterday, I was shooting waterfalls/rivers and couldn’t believe that the water level was so low in one case, that you could barely see it. What a difference 24 hours makes. It has rained all night and all day and the previous insipid falls are now explosive torrents. Literally.
This morning when the alarm went off, I looked out of the window to see what the day looked like and this deer was looking back at me. Three of them tiptoed through the car park.
I thought that would presage a great day. It was mixed.  The waterfalls & rivers are fantastic but we got soaked to the skin very quickly and spent the whole day wearing cold wet clothes. When you are touring and not staying in the same place you cannot go back & have a hot shower to warm up.  Sometime this morning I parked in the middle of nowhere in front of a couple of large rubbish bins… as I was drying my camera gear, the rubbish truck arrived and started blowing his horn. I jumped into the car and got out of his way and off down the road. Only to realise some 30 minutes later that I had left my tripod behind. Of course when we went back for it was gone.  So either the bin men dumped it, took it, or some other lucky driver (on an extremely quiet road) got lucky.
Yesterday we saw some more Heiland Coos. Not friendly ones unfortunately but still pretty awesome. I guess horns are handy to scratch your butt!

24 March: Today we went out to climb & photograph the Old Man of Storr. Oh god another steep uphill hike…why am I doing this again?
This was 100% steeper than the fairy pools but not much shorter. It took us 2+ hours return. The weather started off looking promising and was meant to clear, so I didn’t take many photos on the way up (just phone pix) and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Truly, that is exactly what it was like … don’t look up, just keep going. The weather was starting to clear below us and I thought I’d shoot from the top. BIG MISTAKE. We reached the cloud level before the Storr.   
By the time we reached the top you barely see the Storr & it’s huge 55 metres/180 feet high. The wind was howling, with horizontal … l was going to say rain, but I don’t think it was. I think it was rain laden cloud. Same diff in terms of how wet we got though.  On the way down the beautiful scenery available on the way up was gone, swallowed by the weather.  We met a middle aged, Asian couple coming up who asked “if we go 15 minutes more, will we see something nice?”  “No. It’s another 45-50 min and you will see nothing.” Pour souls. At least they did the sensible thing and turned around.  So, we get kudos for managing the climb, but zero points for the photos.

25/3 We visited Eilean Donan Castle. This is our clan castle. Well strictly speaking the McNaughtans are a sub clan, and to be honest I cannot remember which of the major clans we are part of. My niece will know, so I will have to get back to you on that one. Suffice to say Eilean Donan is one of those iconic castles everyone knows. It is beautiful.
The other major thing we did today, apart from driving for hours, was visit Glenfinnian Viaduct… you know… the Hogwarts train viaduct.  I was underwhelmed. I know it’s only just out of winter, but the place was tatty, wires hanging from the viaduct, coils of fencing wire left lying around, mud everywhere. Just grubby & rather disappointing really. I would not want to be there when the hordes of visitors arrive to see the steam train that resumes service on 1 April.
Tales of life on the road etc, I should tell you about Scotland’s public toilets. It is very surprising but quite simply there aren’t any. Or, they are few and far between. I know NZ has some pretty rubbish loos but at least you can pretty much go when you need to. I cannot conceive what the Scottish tourist board or local councils are thinking. In the summer, you have literally hundreds of visitors per day, for example, to the fairy pools. Everyone has to pay £6 for parking and there is not one single toilet. At least at the Storr there are toilets, but they have the cheek to charge £5 for parking & then ask for a donation to use the loo.  Very few of the many many towns we have come through, have a public loo either. People on tour who travel all day & cannot check into accommodation until 3 or 4pm are twisting into pretzels or visiting the bushes.  This has made me realise that NZ is much more geared to tourist bathroom requirements than I realised. Ours may not always be salubrious, but at least you don’t usually have to wee in the bushes.

22/3 We have travelled from Edinburgh up the east coast over the top & now we are working our way down the west coast. It’s been interesting to see the variation in geography. Although we are in the “Highlands” until we came over the top you wouldn’t know it from the terrain. It was surprisingly flat but with stunning beaches. Now, this side is much much more like you would expect… wild, mountainous, covered in heather and with many lochs. Yesterday we travelled past Eribol Loch which is one of Scotland’s deepest sea lochs, an important naval anchorage for much of the 20th century & hosted the surrender of the German U –Boat fleet in May 1945.
We were shocked to see many many wild fires yesterday. At one bit we got caught on a one lane road behind 3 fire engines and a Scotland water truck. The heather was still smoldering beside the road & in places the road surface was scorched where the fire had moved across.  In hindsight, I think we were quite lucky to get through. The wind was really fierce at one bit (we could barely stand when we tried to photograph a glorious beach) and the firefighters couldn’t really battle the fires, but seemed to be just monitoring. Now, I wish I had photographed the fires when we passed a bit with all the flames close by – it seemed a bit touristy and insensitive to do so at the time, so I didn’t.
 
23/3  Today was disappointing to start and also to finish with a good bit in the middle.  I had wanted to shoot sunrise at Loch Maree with the Slioch (mountain) in the background. Nope, low cloud, rubbish light, inaccessible areas – not going to happen. This evening I had planned to shoot at Neist Point Lighthouse but Google advised that the road was closed. It’s  beautiful clear night – our other sunset excursions have fizzled as cloud rolled in, but this time I’m being stymied by a road closure. Not happy!
During the middle of the day we walked to the Fairy Pools. It’s a bit of a hike, (that's a Big hike for tired old bodies) and very popular. People (& dogs) everywhere. I imagine it would be sheer hell in summer. The pools are suffering from lack of water but still impressive. It’s a downhill & uphill hike that took us over 2 hours. Unfortunately you finish on an uphill.  I was absolutely exhausted, not helped by carrying camera pack & tripod. When google told us the road to Neist was closed we decided to detour to Talisker Bay (as in Talisker whiskey), but when we got there it was another hike from the car park, some 3.6km round trip. We’d had more than enough walking by then, everything was aching, so we flagged it.  I find that really hard… in NZ you reach the end of the road, there would be a car park & you’d most likely be able to see the sea.  Here, it’s private land… the road NEVER goes to the end, there is most often no adequate parking, no signs & you have to hunt for the way forward. Very frustrating. 
Our accommodation in Portree is absolutely delightful – the nicest we have had by far. It’s a large room on the top floor of a row of old terraced houses right on the harbour quay. But to reach our room is a narrow winding staircase 2 levels up.   So we are paying for the lovely view by having to haul 23 & 30kg bags up that staircase. Not complaining (just describing) coz it was worth it.  There was a pub, chippy (fish & chip shop) and seafood restaurant all within 3 doors along. Perfect.  
Sorry not downloaded any photos of the fairy pools yest and I didn't take any on my phone.
PS: Found put the next morning the road closure to Neist Point was only9am-5pm. So we could have gone put there and enjoyed the only clear sunset after all.

Sorry I've not been blogging... 2 reasons: I'm not on my own any longer & I've had long days driving + photographing & I'm really tired. It's much nicer to have a wine and a wind down in the evening but after that then I don't have any energy left.
We've been in Scotland 6 days now & have had blue skies for 5.5 days.  I cannot believe it. 
I think I'm the only person in Scotland unhappy to have blue sky.  For any non photogs reading this, perhaps I should explain. Bright blue sky, bright sunshine & dark shadows make very it very difficult to photograph things like city buildings, castles etc. A cloudy or dull sky, evens out the light and makes images much less contrasty. In short the lovely weather is making photography more difficult.
We went to Elgin cathedral yesterday, and I was utterly gutted to be refused to be refused entry at 3.15pm because the complex closes at 4pm. What?  If we wanted to go back this morning, it would be an hour+ drive back, making a total add on time of probably around 3 hours. While I really wanted to shoot the cathedral that was crazy, we didn't do it.  
The rental car we were given is an MG 4wd (maybe all wheel). Anyway, it's got quite a few bells & whistles, including nice heated leather seats (very handy when the temperature is 3 or 4)... but, it has a driver camera. For god's sake, I'm happily going along, both hands on the wheel, eyes forward & the car will pop up a message AND bing bong at you, saying please focus on your driving.  Whaaat? I got a bit rebellious, funny that, and put my finger over the driver camera, so that generated a message saying "driver assist camera system is malfunctioning", or something like that. Hah! Makes me wonder if even our conversations are being recorded.  Unfortunately the indicator stalk is on the left, as is the gear stick (yup it's a manual). So under extreme pressure, trying to stop or change lanes in a hurry, you hit the windscreen wipers instead of the indicator and you cannot indicate and change gear with your left hand at the same time. What idiot thought that set up was a good idea??
We left Edinburgh 3 days ago and today we reached the very top of Scotland, John O'Groats. It was cold.
We have had fun exploring old ruins, (some we were allowed access to and some not), an ancient celtic pagan site, old castles and we also went on what seemed like an overland safari to get to Rattray light house which is uber cute and then had to walk up and over (what felt like mountainous) sand hills to get back to the car in the dark, we even met some Heiland Coos that did not want a cuddle.
Something we've noticed here is that you use google maps to find a destination you want but once you are there, there is usually little or no signage and you have to guess where to go next.  In NZ, you can rock on up, there is a car park & a sign saying go this way, or you'd be able to see whatever it is you are aiming for. It's not like that here and it is very frustrating having to hunt down where you want to go, especially carrying a 9kg pack of camera gear..
Note: yes, I did try haggis... and no I didn't like it. OK so I'm a traitor my Scots heritage.

Unfortunately my Amsterdam-Edinburgh connection was considerably delayed and my poor sister was was patiently waiting at Edinburgh airport hours before my flight had even left Amsterdam.  We eventually got to bed around 3am.
This morning our first job was to get sim cards sorted and we kind of got lost trying to find the store we needed. We wanted a specific sim card that is known for the best coverage in the Scottish Highlands, courtesy of the contract for the emergency services. Thankfully that is now sorted.
So, we spent the rest of the day wandering about checking out the locations that interested us.  Second stop was McNaughtan's bookshop.  That being our maiden name.  The building dates back to the 1850s but it has only been a book store since Major McNaughtan established it in 1957. Coincidentally the same year my parents emigrated to NZ.
We couldn't believe the weather; a blue sky day, no clouds. The irony of it... I would have preferred overcast conditions to photograph these beautiful old buildings, c'est la vie!
Absolutely loving Edinburgh, whatever the weather. The ancient buildings, the teeny tiny windows, winding stairs, little closes & wynds, the fabulous pubs and tiny coffee/tea shops, the sheer character of the place. I have not been here for more than 40 years so it's like seeing it for the first time.

This is is it the last day. As always it's a rush... to get to the airport, negotiating snow & often blocked roads/tunnels; to get checked in "your bag is too heavy, remove it from the machine". Oh hell!
All my angst and repacking and it was 23.1kg, (which frankly I thought was a miracle). I called over an official looking man and wailed that's it's only .1 over. "Where are you going?" I recited Bergen, Amsterdam, Edinburgh." He took pity on me and signed the bag through. Phew!  I seriously did not want to have to wear insulated gumboots on 3 flights that would be awful, I'd probably never be able to get the boots off again.
Everyone else is on a direct flight to Zurich & have gone through to international so I have down time until my domestic flight to Bergen.  There are no direct flights to Edinburgh. That's a bit of a pain as it's only a short hop from Bergen to Scotland. 
It was snowing heavily when we arrived yesterday, I had a wee walk about to get some fresh air.  There is a big price to pay for the "pretty filter" of snow. The roads are treacherous. The pavements are treacherous. Even wearing boots with big tread you can take a skid or fall in the blink of an eye. I find it a bit nerve wracking to be honest. I cannot afford a fall/another back injury so I'm inching along like an old lady looking every bit the tourist. I realised after a while that its better to walk with confidence but keep your weight forward and concentrate on walking & looking where you are going. If you want to look at something. Stop.
Below are some phone pix to give you some impressions of Tromso.  The first 2 are from the drive down from Senja yesterday. Somewhere I have a photo of the GPS in the van showing the outside  temp -12 degrees during the drive, but I can't find it so you'll have to take that on trust. I was fascinated with the parking bunker in Tromso. I asked if it was a relic of the war (WW2) but no, it was specifically built.  Apparently Tromso was burned to the ground by the Germans during the war as they departed in advance of the Russian arrival. Anyway, it's been dug out of the hillside underneath the buildings. The walls look dressed in the photos but other parts are bare bedrock. The doors are at least 20cm thick concrete. Massive.
Check out the warm rugs to sit outside a restaurant.
We had a further delay leaving Tromso so our plane could be de-iced. That seemed to involve dousing the plane in a cocktail of chemicals to prevent it freezing during flight. The dousing happens immediately before take off.
I'm in Amsterdam now waiting for my flight to Edinburgh, which has been delayed... oh great.
Funny isn't it? I can go most of the day/night for photography... but travelling not so much!

We also had to wait an extra 20-30 minutes for the plane to be de-iced in Tromso. That involved giving it a good dousing in some form of chemical wash.  They only did the de-icing right before take off.

During dinner, the weather and aurora forecasts were checked and all of a sudden the pressure went on... the skies were forecast to remain clear until about 10.30ish. Basically, we ate dinner and ran. It was back to Tungenset beach. When we got there we could see the aurora already in action.
The green sprite came out to play and brought her A game. It started reasonably quiet as usual and then the strength & pattern began to change by the second. It moved so fast you literally didn't know where to look & struggled to keep up. It was happening in front of us, above us and behind us all at once. You had to constantly move the camera to track the movement & check levels as the brightness threatened to blow out exposures. Frequently, you just had to stop ...and watch it.  It was, quite simply, the most magical thing to witness.

Yesterday afternoon we went out for a drive around stopping along the way to shoot this or that, with a final stop being for the sunset or if that wasn't available, the blue hour. Ultimately we ended up at Husoy, a tiny fishing village on a tiny island.
Our guide knows all the tricks and we stopped high up on the hill and trekked across a fairly steep snowy hillside for about 20-30 metres. There was no place to sit and not much room, so our tripod legs were crossing each other and we each stomped the snow into a small standing platform barely bigger than our feet.  We set up our cameras... and that was it until the light did what we wanted. Unfortunately that was 60 minutes later. The valley where we had just been was -7 so I'm picking that standing on that hillside had to be around -9/10. And it felt it.
That was a very tough hour, standing there you could feel your core temp dropping. I had hand warmers in my 3 pairs of gloves but they were not keeping up & my fingertips were suffering. And yes, I did have plenty of layers on... 7 on my top half to be precise!  The outermost layer was a bit compromised as the zip broke on my big coat a couple of days ago & I was making do with a rain mac over the inner puffer lining. It was fine most of the time but couldn't really keep up with minus temps.
We got back & after a quick shower to thaw out, had dinner at 7.30pm. Over dinner, the evening plan was formulated, based on weather predictions (as always).  As the clouds were to clear late, we were to go to bed and be back at the vehicles by 1am. So I was in bed by 9pm and woke again at 11.50pm.
I looked out of the window and could see the aurora going off above me quite visible despite the street lights. Whoa!  I hurriedly dressed and rushed downstairs to find the van gone (with my tripod). Long story (and much bad language) later, I finally found the group and spent the rest of the evening shooting the aurora until approx 1.30am when another plan was formulated. Those who wanted to, went to bed and would get up again leaving at 5am to shoot sunrise. No thanks.  I stayed put and continued until 3am. I got back to my room & after another warm up shower, was settling with a cuppa when a message came through that the aurora was active again.  It was tempting but I had only just got warm again.... so thanks, but no thanks.

A day in bed has improved things immensely, though I'm still struggling with the stairs.
Anyway, it's only 100 metres to the sea wall from the hotel & I could manage that while everyone else went up the hill. I'm conserving as much energy as I can for this afternoon and perhaps tonight if the weather is clear enough.
The weather changes so quickly. In 30 min it can go from blue sky to black, & then back again.
Great for photographers!

Yesterday afternoon we went out for afternoon/sunset locations: stopped at a few places & finally ended up back at the beach with the wild waves again, Tungenset. I absolutely loved the waves at this place. It's dangerous of that there is no doubt, I would never have ventured there without a guide showing us the right spots to be.  Even then, a few times a massive wave arrived and had those closet to the sea dashing for cover. I was slightly further back and had my insulated wellies on, so I simply stayed where I was with no problem. In some circumstances, I think it can be more dangerous to run - the rocks are slippery and you risk falling.  I also had my micro spikes on (kind of mini crampon type things that fit over your boots to provide a solid grip in icy/slippery surfaces). 
I'm stuck in bed today, I thought my cold/flu thing was improving but it took a turn for the worse last night and it is just asking for trouble to be out in the cold for 5-6 hours.

This phone pic doesn't do the beach justice: the sand was golden, the waves turquoise, & it would not have looked out of place in the Mediterranean... except the temp was probably only around 1-2 degrees and there was snow above the high tide mark.

We are staying in a little village on the coast, in the middle of nowhere, called Mefjord. It's surrounded by mountains, and to get to the next (or any other) beach, it is tunnels, tunnels, winding roads, more tunnels.  You often go into a tunnel experiencing one weather and come out to an entirely different one.
Oooh, just looked out of the window and we have a snow blizzard happening.  I wanted big fat flakes... but I've just washed my hair and got warm from this morning's shoot and can't be bothered venturing out again until I have to.
It was a 5.30am departure this morning. Sunrise shoot on Ersfjord beach. Back for breakfast and we have down time until 12 noon when we take off again.  Most days are a variation on that theme, although the breaks are getting slightly longer to compensate for earlier starts caused by earlier sunrise.
Did I mentioned that we are exactly 12 hours behind NZ?  That is nice & easy to remember but a little tricky in terms of catching up with family.
Another little factoid for you: the air is so dry here that it is difficult to drink sufficiently to stay hydrated as you don't feel like drinking cold water.  Your skin slurps up moisturizer as fast as you can apply it. I constantly put hand cream on while we are driving to stop the skin on my shutter & focus fingers from splitting.

It took us approx 4.5 hours to drive from Tromso to Senja, Norway's second largest island. Where Lofoton was mainly coast line Senja has much more land mass and looks/feels entirely different. It is also much quieter, the tourists have not yet descended upon it en masse.
I think I've mentioned Norway's bridges before; you hop from island to island either via a bridge or via a tunnel.  In Senja they have many, many more tunnels but they go under the mountains rather than under the sea. So they are long; some 1 lane some 2, some have the walls partially lined and most are bare rock.  They are not usually straight & have bends and/or corners. Think the Milford tunnel but wider, well lit & most definitely asphalted.  They are very impressive. It always takes me by surprise when we chug on up to the end of a fjord and the road disappears... oh yes, of course... another tunnel. You often don't see the tunnel until the last few minutes.  Once we crossed the bridge to Senja island the scenery became even more dramatic, the mountains dominate everything, they are huge & spectacular.
Once here, we quickly dumped luggage changed into "photo clothes", doubled or tripled the layers and were off out again for the sunset at a beach with fantastic waves... and warning signs that photographers uniformly ignore.
After a late-ish dinner we rugged up again and stepped outside to assess the aurora potential, but no luck. It's happening but we cannot see it - the weather is freezing, windy and raining/sleeting.  Back indoors again to sort camera gear for the morning, do laundry etc etc.  Sorry, I was  too tired to post last night. I have been fighting a ferocious cough & cold since day 3 or 4 and some days have been a real struggle.
Both photos are Tungenset.

Today was a travelling day where I go from one tour to the next. It took 2 flights (small planes) to get from Leknes to Tromso.  Over my past few trips I have got quite used to airport security screening & what is required: generally laptops out & boots off. This time boots were ignored but I had to take my watch off. Weird but true!  And in Bodo camera bags had to be open with all cameras & lenses out, laptop out. You remember how we used to have to have a zipock bag with creams, liquids & gels etc in it? Yes, all is still required here. I, as in my person, was tested/swabbed (god knows what  they were testing for) and when I got to my hotel I discovered that my checked luggage had also been opened and tested.
Coming from NZ, Norway is incredibly expensive, but Tromso takes it to a whole new level. My hotel room cost well north of NZSD400/night and is truly a shoe box.  Check this out!

This morning we went over to a rocky beach famed for something called Dragon's Eye. I had not heard of it, perhaps it's an 'Insta' thing. Anyway, it's a rock in tidal pool... but very cool.  The first pic is the "trad" shot, the second is my interpretation.
In the afternoon we went to another beach with fierce waves and had fun playing about there getting wet up to the knees when a big one comes in... as you do.  By now it was raining and we were doubtful that an aurora would be visible. Next stop was a gorgeous little village called Nusfjord.  No cars allowed, it was on a hillside & full of cute old houses that have been restored. There was a pizza restaurant in the basement of one. Small & rustic, the front wall was hewn stone and 2 feet thick with tiny mullioned windows and big deep window sills. One of the side walls was just a huge bare rock, part of the mountainside the house is built on. The pizzas were fabulous, hand made in the Italian style. A one person pizza + a glass of Chianti NZD 65.
So, then a drive to yet another beach. It was still raining, but several people said they could see the aurora behind the clouds and it was large. Okaaay.  We went down to the beach and set up and before you could say peas... the green sprite appeared, she got stronger and stronger and then began dancing. It was simply magical. Other people began to arrive & unfortunately 1 or 3  sat up on the road in their cars with the headlights on... ruining everyone's photographs. By this time a bunch of Spaniards had turned up and being excitable latinos, they did not take kindly to the twats on the road & made their feelings we known. The aurora had dimmed significantly by this time. It would still have been exciting to the latecomers but they had no idea what they missed. We decided to exit the chaos.  Our guide said this was the best he has seen this year.
Please remember that these are either unedited or have really minor tweaks. I just don't have the time or energy right now.

Photography can be a lot like travelling... hurry, hurry... wait. Hurry, hurry... wait.
And it's also full of paradoxes: you want the (often crappy) weather to provide the drama for your shots, but then you also want the skies to miraculously clear so you can do something like milky way or aurora shots.
We have been waiting all week for the skies to be clear in the evening and tonight was the night. The planning of our guides is meticulous but necessarily fluid... so the 2pm briefing: we will do an afternoon/sunset shoot, then straight to a hurried dinner and then onto the location we hope to see aurora.  We are not going back to the lodge... bring EVERYTHING. That means extra batteries, memory cards, wide angle lenses, head torches, sufficient clothes, hats, gloves and boots to keep warm; hand/glove warmers, crampons (actually micro spikes, to deal with icy roads/rocks). Tissues and cough drops for those of us with the bot. Honestly, it's kind of like when you go out for an afternoon with little kids/babies - the amount of gear required is staggering.
Anyway, long story short, we saw the aurora last night. We were at a beach and thought we'd done pretty well but on returning to the lodge exhausted at about 10.45pm, there she was, right above us  and waaay stronger than at the beach.  The jetty outside our rooms was speckled with ice... but people were running!  And that was that, until at least 12.30. And then a hot drink and hot shower was required to decompress and warm up enough to sleep. It was fun!  The only downside was that there was acres of bright lights in all directions but the aurora was strong enough that it didn't diminish the display. At the beach the moon was a bit of a pain, as were the constant interruptions of people not turning their car headlights off. Don't let me get started on that!
I must admit I was a bit disappointed with my results but that happens.
It's presently 3pm, we've just got back to the lodge from our morning shoot, and have a 90min break before we go do it all again.
So tomorrow, I and 3 others from this group, are leaving here to travel to Tromso (2 flights). That means I have to pack/re-pack probably tomorrow morning as I will be totally knackered by the time we get back tonight. Just trying to manage expectations!

Location Vik.  That bright white dot is not the moon it's Venus.

That raging storm last night left us the gift of snow & bright sunshine this morning. Although the snow very quickly turned into slush that was quite deep in places & soaked through shoes/boots. 
All the cabins at Reine have a notice on the door to remove crampons before entering. And if the floor is wrecked through not doing so, there will be a minimum fine of NOK70,000.  That's NZD11,300 odd! 
I have been really impressed with Norway's roads, especially the tunnels and bridges. The bridges often have an LED displaying the wind speed per second. The tunnels are sometimes a quite complex, long,with passing bays, under the sea, or not. And even some are kind of a half tunnel - I don't know what that is called but they look great.
We drove down to Flakstad beach and had some fun shooting reflections. Then it was onto Unstad beach for an afternoon shoot that didn't really do it for me.
We are now accommodated at Hattvika Lodge for the next 3 nights. This complex is on the site of an old fishing factory and is a strange but attractive mix of new modernistic hotel capsules along with authentically refurbished fisherman's cottages from 1850. While these cottages look modern from the outside, complete with precision airlock type doors & windows, the walls & floors are the original 150 year old woodwork.  My bedroom door can open right out onto the jetty.

The weather has cleared to a crisp cold morning. One of the downsides of the lovely cottages over the water is that every drop of moisture from yesterday is now ice. We spent blue hour & sunrise shooting round the harbour before going back to the yellow village we visited last night.
After that it was a boat trip up the fjord. The mountains here are absolutely spectacular.
Its cold, but not winter cold today (or it maybe it was yesterday, I'm losing track) -3 real feel -8. Every now & again the weather would sweep back in and we'd be pelted with rain or hail & even a tiny bit of snow. Then it would clear again and we'd just get on with it.
We've had an amazing day, currently enjoying a couple of hours "rest" hah!  Then it'll be back out & into it again. As usual I'm using unedited jpegs for this blog. I don't have the time or energy to edit while on tour and to make things even more difficult my laptop is behaving poorly.
So if the quality is not up to scratch sorry, but you know why.

We woke to gale force winds and horizontal rain. Just like being at home really.
Drove north to a village called Reine. We will stay here for 2-3 nights and shoot these iconic little cottages and houses.  Originally a fishing village the majority of dwellings are now tourist accommodation.  There is still some traditional fishing & there are fish drying racks everywhere, complete with associated fishy pong. Guess that smell never really goes away.
We had a break in the weather for about 2 hours around 4pm & were able to go our and shoot - and then the rain was back and brought its best mate, hail.
I knew Norway would be expensive, nevertheless it was surprising to pay $48 for a plate of spaghetti bolognese.

… of quirky things I’ve remembered…

Firstly I apologise it has taken me some time to get this together.  I've been ill on returning home courtesy of an extremely inconsiderate woman sitting behind me on the plane who coughed all night long without a mask. Thanks very much! 
Of course, when you get home real life intervenes and there are things to be done at home, work to resume etc etc.

I have been calling all hot baths in Japan, onsens. Not so. An onsen contains mineral water. Without mineral water it's just a hot bath. Okaay I'm glad we cleared that up!

I think I have probably mentioned before (perhaps in a blog of the 2018 trip) that Japan’s rail system is incredible; vast, efficient, smart. Even so, I thought it amazing that there was an apology over the train speaker system because the train was 2 minutes late.

It’s not just toilet seats that are heated, so are train seats and taxi seats.  Tokyo residents do not like the cold.

Train rules (metro not long distance): do not converse loudly on the train and DO NOT talk on your phone. That is particularly frowned upon.
It also used to be that people did not eat or drink on the trains either, but I noticed some relaxation of that this trip.  Mind you, that could be tourists.
A kind of unspoken rule is to wear your pack on your front. This minimizes your space requirement and stops you knocking into people on crowded trains. (Trains are mostly crowded irrespective of the time of day/night.)  And apparently, that is why vertical luggage with 4 wheels on the bottom was invented... they take up significantly less space than towed bags.

I noticed that in some train stations you'd hear what sounded like bird song, chirping. Given the proliferation of pigeons at Wellington's railway station it wasn't surprising but I'd hear it even late at night. Hiroki told me that each station has it's own individual song. Some do resemble bird song and others are jingly cheerful little tunes. Weird but true!

When departing Hokkaido a very senior policeman at the airport helped me struggling with my camera pack at the security screening and carried my bag for me. I was totally delighted and offered profuse thanks. It wasn’t until later that I was told that it’s a common way of testing people’s behaviour. Had I looked nervous or refused his help I would have been subject to intense scrutiny & most likely a search.  Aww I much preferred the story where he was just lovely, and helping me! 

Charles, my guide for the red light district shoot, offered an explanation as to why I struggled so badly with Google maps. Apparently the skyscrapers in Tokyo mess up Googles navigation to a degree. So that's why I'd get Google frantically repeating 'turn left' when there was absolutely no possibility of doing so and then saying 'turn right' 1.5 seconds later. It wasn't me after all!

Although I shouldn’t be, I’ve been amazed at the display of wealth in Tokyo. The areas that I’ve stayed in, visited & photographed are most often the places where people with money hang out. But even so, to see queues of people lining up to gain entry to exclusive fashion stores at a time when most of the world is doing it tough post pandemic, does make you look twice.  

I’m not a natural people photographer and have an inbuilt reticence to it. I’m very conscious that if a tourist pointed a camera at me in my home land I’d be right ticked off about it. So I’m cautious when photographing people. However, in Japan people love being photographed. I was walking down the main street in Ginza and saw a couple of young women around 20ish. They’d dropped their shopping bags and one was posing (and I mean POSING) on the sidewalk while the other took her photo. Then they swapped around. I thought it amusing and began shooting them shooting each other. They loved it and hammed it up even more. Unfortunately I missed the poser expert.

Weird things you see:  Strawberry & whipped cream sandwiches - yep true story, check out the picture below!  No, I was not game to try them. Eew.

I heard a most bizarre announcement at Narita airport while on my way home. A boarding call that started with Kia ora in a very very Japanese accent. It sounded so incredibly weird that it was funny.
Ok, well that's it until the next time.
Sayonnara