Despite the rain (both Saturday and Sunday), I had a fun and busy weekend here.
Saturday
First up, the
Wellington Botanic Gardens runs a light show in the month of January. They
light up the gardens with various colours and types of lights and they also have free concerts. On Saturday, it had been absolutely pouring most of the day, but that didn't discourage me from heading down to the gardens after the sun went down to see what lights had gone up. My favourite items in the garden still include the duck pond where they have lights on the area that cycle through a few colours. It just looks neat as the colours start to change. What was really great though, was the fact that everything was wet from the rain. The lillies in the fragrant garden were just covered in drops. So I'm absolutely in love with how the shot on the right turned out. Once in a while I'm really happy with something I've taken a picture, this is one of those times.
Sunday
On Sunday, I went out to Upper Hutt where the Harcourt Park International Invitational Jousting tournament was being held. They had a small medieval tent village, lots of people dressed up, and several events to watch including jousting (obviously), mounted skill at arms, and archery. In true form, it rained. So, thankfully I had a big ziplock baggie that I'd put my lenses in, and I put my camera into there as a waterproof case. A hole in the corner, the end of the lens slid through, and I put the lens hood on so that the rain
wouldn't hit the glass. The camera stayed dry, and I was still able to get some shots despite the rain. All of the events were truly impressive. I cannot imagine the guts it has to take to get on a horse and run at another person at up to about 50mph and then get hit. I mean, seriously impressive stuff here. And these guys traveled from all over the world to participate in this event. I equally can't imagine trying to explain to airport security why you're hauling full plate armour overseas ;-) Like I said, it was really impressive to watch, and not even the rain could dull the excitement of it all.
