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WAIRARAPA — “glistening waters”

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Kiwithrottlejockey
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« Reply #100 on: January 27, 2016, 01:50:03 pm »


from the Wairarapa Times-Age....

NASA image goes into online orbit

By NATHAN CROMBIE | 6:00AM - Saturday, 10 October 2015

BACKDROP: A shot of Wairarapa and both islands with astronauts Robert L Curbeam jnr. (left), and Christer Fuglesang during their construction mission to the ISS. — Photograph: NASA S116E05983.
BACKDROP: A shot of Wairarapa and both islands with astronauts Robert L Curbeam jnr. (left), and Christer Fuglesang during their construction mission to the ISS.
 — Photograph: NASA S116E05983.


A SNAPSHOT of Wairarapa — taken from a height of about 400km above the surface of the earth — is tracking an orbit in virtual space.

The photograph was taken during the Discovery Space Shuttle STS-116 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released the image on June 3rd this year to mark five decades of US spacewalks.

The astronauts pictured are American Robert L Curbeam jnr., on the left of the picture, with European Space Agency (ESA) officer Christer Fuglesang on the right. Both STS-116 mission specialists took part in the mission's first of three planned sessions of spacewalking as construction continued on the ISS.

Cook Strait, North and South islands, and Wairarapa backdrop the image, which was taken from the space station on December 12th in 2006.

The high definition shot was captured as the space station orbited earth at a height of about 400km above the ground, while hurtling across the face of the heavens at more than 27,000km/h.

The image was yesterday still tracking an off-world path through virtual space and had rocketed through a count of more than 3000 social media shares; helped lift off a burgeoning flock of tweets on Twitter; and was gravitating likes and comments to itself as the cover image on the Wairarapa Times-Age Facebook page.

The first American to take a spacewalk, or extravehicular activity (EVA) in astro-speak, was Edward H White II, who floated into the vastness of space on June 3rd, 1965, during the Gemini IV mission.

White manoeuvred himself for more than 20 minutes around the Gemini as the spacecraft hurtled over Hawaii to the Gulf of Mexico — making his orbital stroll 6,500 miles long, the NASA website states.

NASA astronauts have since performed spacewalks on the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle and space station programmes and have also explored the lunar surface, completed 82 spacewalks outside the space shuttle and 187 spacewalks outside the ISS to date.

A total of 166 hours of spacewalks had also been completed during service missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11526661
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« Reply #101 on: January 27, 2016, 01:50:28 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Wairarapa spins into a sensational summer destination

The breathtaking Wairarapa area has a love affair with cycling.

By PAMELA McINTOSH | 11:28AM - Thursday, 21 January 2016

Hire a bike and enjoy a vineyard and olive grove tour, in your own time. — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.
Hire a bike and enjoy a vineyard and olive grove tour, in your own time.
 — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.


THE low-lying plains and hilly ranges of Wairarapa certainly makes for an idyllic spot to leisurely cycle the vines as you sample some of New Zealand's top wine-maker's drops.

But its dry, user-friendly landscape — located north-east of Wellington and south-east of Palmerston North — is also a natural playground for family cycling fun and olympic-level race meets alike.

Travelling through the area arguably best-known for its vineyards and agriculture, its hard not to be in awe of Wairarapa's love affair with pedal-powered transportation.


Blackwell and Sons are New Zealand's only distributors of the hand-built British Pashley Bicycle. — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.
Blackwell and Sons are New Zealand's only distributors of the hand-built British Pashley Bicycle.
 — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.


The heightened exhilaration around cycling is based around the New Zealand Cycle Classic, which began on Wednesday 20th January and attracted 90 riders from five countries including; Australia, Great Britain, France, Kenya and New Zealand.

With some riders trying to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics, race director Jorge Sandoval said that the annual event is always guaranteed to be “fast” and “exciting”.

If you're in the region and are not at professional cycling status (yet), the Huri Huri Bike Festival, which celebrates the region's bike-friendly roads, tracks and trails, will be in full spin, as will the Blackwell & Sons ‘Very Posh Pashley Picnic’ at Stella Bull Park in quaint Greytown.


Wine tasting and exercise — that's what we call a balanced lifestyle. — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.
Wine tasting and exercise — that's what we call a balanced lifestyle. — Photograph: Mike Heydon/Destination Wairarapa.

While the buzz is mostly around bicycles for now, Wairarapa's summer events calendar is fully booked and brimming with events and attractions that you can plan your visit around.

__________________________________________________________________________

UPCOMING WAIRARAPA EVENTS:









  • 27th FebruaryBrew Day craft beer festival.






For more information visit Destination Wairarapa.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/75997289
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« Reply #102 on: February 23, 2016, 08:28:06 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

Giant floating lighthouse has test run as pilots
prepare for Wairarapa balloon festival


A huge floating likeness of a popular Wairarapa attraction
will be turning heads skywards this week.


By CALEB HARRIS | 4:26PM - Tuesday, 23 February 2016

The “Flighthouse”, one of the international participants in this weekend's Wairarapa Balloon Festival, gets in a test flight near Carterton on Tuesday. — Photo: Mark Thompson/Taureau Global.
The “Flighthouse”, one of the international participants in this weekend's Wairarapa Balloon Festival,
gets in a test flight near Carterton on Tuesday. — Photo: Mark Thompson/Taureau Global.


VISITORS to Wairarapa this week won't have to trek out to its remote, dramatic beaches to go lighthouse-spotting — all they'll need to do is look up.

The Wairarapa Balloon Festival lifts off on Thursday and among the pilots taking a test-flight at Clareville near Carterton on Tuesday morning was USA's Barry DiLibero, in his 35-metre “Flighthouse”.

The giant, candy cane-striped balloon provides a surreal mirror image of one of Wairarapa's most noted landmarks, the Cape Palliser lighthouse.

DiLibero said another Wairarapa lighthouse, at Castlepoint, was personally significant, because despite growing up near hundreds of lighthouses on the US east coast, he had never actually touched one until he visited the beach near Masterton in 2014.

“I love it out there, remarkable, so beautiful.”

Flighthouse was built in Brazil in 2006 and designed by DiLibero to replicate lighthouses near his home at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

A homely touch is a picture of the DiLibero family cat, peering from a window.

It is the Pennsylvania-based balloon's first visit to New Zealand, but DiLibero also owns the space shuttle-shaped balloon which turned heads at the 2014 Wairarapa festival.

He relished the Wairarapa event because it was less intensely competitive than others, he said.

“The Kiwis are very laid back, they just want to fly and have a good time and that's what ballooning is supposed to be all about — I mean if we wanted pressure, we'd be flying F-16s.”

The other “special shape” featuring in this year's edition of the festival is “Owlbert Eyenstein”, a 30-metre, owl-shaped balloon from Arizona.

The festival starts on Thursday at 6.30am with a mass ascent of the 20 participating balloons in Carterton, followed by daily ballooning events and competitions in the other Wairarapa towns.

It culminates on Saturday night with the Trust House Night Glow at Masterton's Solway Showgrounds.

While fine weather for most of the week is forecast to turn showery on Saturday, event coordinator Jenna Snelgrove said there was every chance it would blow over.

“Interest from outside Wairarapa has been huge, ticket sales for the Night Glow are triple last year's already and we've sold 47 balloon rides.”

Accommodation around Wairarapa was filling up fast, but there were still beds available.


• For more information and tickets: NZBalloons.co.nz.

__________________________________________________________________________

Read more on this topic:

 • Wairarapa Balloon Festival takes off

 • Balloon fiesta fills skies with colour


http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/77182338
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« Reply #103 on: April 13, 2016, 02:18:40 pm »


from The Dominion Post....

World famous aviation photographer Philip Makanna
shooting planes in Wairarapa sky


By WALT DICKSON | 10:15AM - Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Philip Makanna captures pilot Gene de Marco in a WWI B.E.12 reproduction over Masterton. — Photograph: Philip Makanna.
Philip Makanna captures pilot Gene de Marco in a WWI B.E.12 reproduction over Masterton.
 — Photograph: Philip Makanna.


PICTURE PERFECT as they are, those promotion images of vintage aircraft snapped in the Wairarapa sky are not the result of some piece of Photoshopping.

They are the work of Philip Makanna, who for the last 37 years has been shooting photographs of aircraft the world over.

One of his favourite places to do so is in Wairarapa, home to the “best and greatest collection” of WWI aircraft in the world.

Makanna, from San Francisco, was in Masterton earlier this month capturing images for his next calendar publication, Ghosts.

“What you have here is truly amazing. There is no question that this is the most extraordinary WWI environment in the world,” Makanna said.

He is referring to the collection of WWI replica aircraft owned by The Vintage Avaitor under the big hangar at Masterton's Hood Aerodrome.

A number of the aircraft from the collection have appeared in Makanna's calendars in recent years. He says he loves coming to Masterton because every time he visits pilot Gene de Marco has got something different to shoot.

His recent assignment in Masterton saw him shoot four different aircraft over two days.


American photographer Philip Makanna's tools of the trade. — Photograph: Walt Dickson.
American photographer Philip Makanna's tools of the trade. — Photograph: Walt Dickson.

Makanna usually does his work from an open-cockpit. When in Masterton however he hangs out of an open door.

“I sit there and let my legs just relax, they blow back and there I am.”

There are "lots of straps and things" preventing Makanna from falling out.

“I'm with Keith Skilling who is one of the world's great pilots, and I'm flying next to Gene de Marco who is also one of the world's great pilots, so how can you miss.”

Makanna says the biggest challenge is staying out of the slip stream.

“If you get the end of the lens in the slip stream then everything shakes and it's a blur. So you have to get into lots of strange positions, which is a little hard for the elderly.”

Not just because of the Vintage Aviator's stellar collection of replica aircraft Wairarapa is a wonderful place to photography.

“There are so many extraordinary and truly beautiful landscape events … I love the Wairarapa sky.”


GHOSTS — The Aviation Photography of Philip Makanna

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/wairarapa-news/78699251
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