Ryan Hellyer

Tag: new-zealand

  • Keas invade Poolburn

    The Killer Keas hockey team took to the ice at Poolburn reservoir to brush up their skating skills before heading north to Lake Tekapo. Skating conditions were a little average due to the snow, but there was no shortage of ice (up to 15 cm thick in some parts) and lots of fun to be had enjoying the scenery.

    The Killer Keas squad heading towards the face of Poolburn dam. Download high resolution version.
    Lunch break
    Dave Patchett measuring the depth of the water on Poolburn reservoir
    Ed and Pip
    The two Daves, David Patchett and David Richards
    Killer Keas goal tender Peter Wallis
    Panorama showing how massive Poolburn reservoir really is. Download high resolution version.
    Ben Wallis

  • Manorburn dam

    View of the water fall at the lower basin of the Manorburn dam
    Dave Young drilling down to 6 cm at the beginning of the channel between the middle and lower basins at the Manorburn dam
    From left: Dave Young, Dave Patchett and Alan Knowles on the middle basin of the Manorburn dam
    Dave Patchett playing hockey on the middle basin of the Manorburn dam
    Dave Patchett posing with his home-made ice poking device
    View of the middle basin of the Manorburn dam showing the moon still shining in the top right hand corner.
    View of the middle basin of the Manorburn dam from upper channel.

  • Poolburn reservoir

    Some photos showing the beauty of the frozen Poolburn reservoir this winter.

    Alan Knowles and Dave Patchett skating through the maze of jagged rocks on Poolburn reservoir.
    View of the rocks at Poolburn reservoir. This photo is result of merging three different photos to create a wider angle view.
    A light snow dusting on the rocks created a stunning backdrop for the ultra-smooth near-black ice
    Wide panorama showing how beautiful Poolburn reservoir is on a good day. Full resolution Panorama available here. If you look closely you will see Dave Patchett and Alan Knowles skating.

  • Skating Poolburn

    Thanks to Dave Young, Alan Knowles and Dave Patchett for taking me along on their ice skating trip to Central Otago. We had beautiful ice, up to 10 cm thick, at Poolburn Dam. We circumnavigated the entire lake (~20 km), most of which was beautifully smooth near-black ice. There are a lot more photos to come, but here’s a few quick snapshots from the weekends activities until I find the time to process the rest of them.

    Here you can see the "crazy squares" effect in the ice. The rocks you can see in the background are common throughout the lake and make for a terrific view across the huge expanse of ice.
    There were a lot of Canadian Geese in the area. Their droppings are somewhat of a hazard on the ice as not only are they large and gross, but they ice tends to melt wherever they land.
    Dave Patchett striding across the ice after we made a quick jaunt over to the dam face around lunch time.

    For more information about the trip, check out Dave Young’s blog post.

  • The Mighty Feroza

    Pierre-em and I went 4WD’ing in his mighty Feroza on the weekend.

    The first section of terrain was also one of the trickiest. We actually got stuck a few minutes before I took this photo but thankfully Pierre-ems skilled driving (ie: he planted it while in reverse) we managed to get it un-wedged 🙂

    The driving was much more leisurely from there on and despite a few bangs and bumps going over some of the bigger crests it was all smooth sailing

    And here’s a short video clip from the end of our journey and back onto a real road!

  • Manorburn dam history

    I’ve been fishing through my families old photo albums and found the following photos of the Manorburn dam from the past that some of you may find interesting.

    From left: Auntie Lynn, Ronald Hellyer, Pamela Hopkins, Uncle John, Dad and Robyn on the central basin of the Manorburn dam in 1954. The hand writing is courtesy of my Nana.

    From left is Ronald Hellyer, my Dad, some random guy, Phylis Hellyer and John Hellyer on the Manorburn dam in 1952.
    Dad on the Manorburn dam some time around 1970.
    Dad on the Manorburn dam some time around 1970.
    This is my brother Scott on the tiny ice cube they called a rink which sat beside the Manorburn dam. This would have been around 1984 I think.
    And this is Scott demonstrating why I'm the one who's still skating!

  • Crib revisited

    The following is a panorama I created a long time ago of Toko Mouth. It was originally created with an old film camera of my mum’s and since the film was her’s, she never let me chop them photos up and turn them into the panorama I was trying to create. Scanners weren’t readily available back then, but thankfully she let me borrow them to scan recently, and here is the final product in all it’s glory … albeit many years later than I had intended!

    Oops! It seems these are not the photos I thought they were. These are photos taken by my Mum. The ones I was thinking of were probably on my own camera. Sorry Mum!

    And here’s the original file.

  • Otago University from CFI

    I took the following photo from the roof of the Centre for Innovation today. My office is on the ground floor.

    Original picture is available here.

  • Aryton Senna’s McLaren

    More photos from the F1 exhibit at Te Papa. This bunch are of Ayrton Senna’s McLaren Honda.

    Ayrton Senna's McLaren Honda

    Ayrton Senna's McLaren Honda

    Ayrton Senna's McLaren Honda

    Ayrton Senna's McLaren Honda

    Ayrton Senna's McLaren Honda

  • Moeraki boulders

    Some photos from a trip to the Moeraki boulders, north of Dunedin.

    Moeraki boulders
    Moeraki boulders