Thursday, January 25, 2007

Of McNaught, I Saw Nought

Everyone has been banging on about the spectacular beauty of Comet McNaught, so I wanted to see it for myself. Apparently hordes of riff-raff were piling up on Auckland’s volcanic peaks with their cameras and telescopes, so last night I decided I would head out to Piha (a west-coast beach thirty-minutes drive from the city centre, for you unpolished, non-Auckland oiks).

Unfortunately, clouds and thick fog rudely rolled in, and I saw nought of McNaught. I took some photos anyway. My camera is completely rubbish (I have sat on it a few times, and now the battery compartment bulges open in a dangerous manner, and my water-bottle leaked all over it in my handbag yesterday), but the photos look quite marvellous anyway, which proves how talented I am.





Despite the lack of comet, things did get mildly exciting. At 8.45pm, we remembered the car-park locked its gates at nine. Unfortunately, sand-dunes tend towards uniformity, and we got quite lost, so there was a mad, undignified scramble over the beach and through people's properties to retrieve the car.

The lights were on at Les Mills' holiday residence. I wish he would clean his windows; I couldn't see in at all. Most disappointing.

3 comments:

llew said...

Great shots!

My horizons have been fogged or clouded in ever since this comet appeared.

Is one clear evening too much to ask for?

Stephanie said...

Wow! Love the pics. As proud westie, I miss Piha.

Mrs Smith said...

Piha is such a wonderful place, what a place to live, Blacksand! I think it looks its best on days such as that was... a bit wild and stormy.