Dan
Paulsen was not in attendance tonight, so Marie Bohndorf called the meeting to
order around 7:10 p.m.
Marie
asked if anyone had any old business before we start the program.
Carol
Mitchell mentioned Savanahland, the small animal park we are planning to go to
on May 24. The cost is $10.50.
Carol will bring maps to the next meeting.
We need about 20 people to go, and right now we have about 20 people
who have committed.
Marie
said another option is the two sunset safaris the zoo has planned for this
summer. We could do walk-throughs
on those evenings. The scheduled
dates are May 30 and June 27, from 5 to 8 p.m.
These are on Fridays.
This
Saturday (April 26) is Party for the Planet at the zoo.
Also, SpongeBob SquarePants will be here on May 24; there will be
activities for the kids on that day.
Marie
said these events came from the zoo calendar of events on the zoo’s Web
site.
June
14 and 15 are the dates for a classic car show at the zoo, as well.
Steve
Brewer was asked about the progress on the Camera Club Web site.
He said the site is supposed to be up next month, but Steve is still
waiting for some revamped photos from Jim Rendina.
We will transfer to EarthLink as our ISP in May.
If you have pictures for the Web site, please send them to Jim and he
will get them resized. We would
like to have all new pictures on the Web site when we unveil the updated
version.
Marie
explained that our program next month would be presented by some
representatives from Wolf Camera.
Sarah
O’Brien, our zoo representative, said she could bring some flyers about the
zoo’s annual photo contest to the next meeting. You can submit photos from June to August.
An
interesting exhibit is on display at Powell Gardens until May 11.
It shows the interior of a house furnished by plant materials.
This includes lots of orchids and other flowers.
Wayne Hickox told about a place in Topeka where you
can photograph tulips. It is
called Binkley Gardens. These
private gardens were open this year from April 11-21.
On three and a half acres, there are about 30,000 tulips.
The group discussed walk-throughs again.
Sarah said she would check with the staff about good Saturdays in June
and would report back to us at the next meeting.
Wayne
said he will have a photo exhibit at the Prairie Village City Hall from May 1
to 31. It is located at 7700
Mission Road. The reception is
May 9 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wayne
invited us to come out and have cookies and punch at the reception.
Tracy
Goodrich said she brought a guest to the meeting, John Voiles.
John introduced himself to the group and expressed an interest in
photography, which he is rekindling. Marie
welcomed him and invited him to come back, check us out again, and join if he
likes the group.
Marie
introduced the speaker for the evening, club member Linda Hanley.
Linda asked that we hold questions until the end of her talk if
possible. Linda’s slide show
was on a trip to New Zealand she and her husband took over a year ago from
mid-January to mid-February.
They
started in Christchurch and spent two weeks on their own, and then spent
another two weeks with a hiking tour group they had traveled with before.
For the first two weeks, they stayed mostly in youth hostels.
They took a train across South Island to Greymouth – the Tranz Scenic
Railroad. It had enclosed cars
plus open cars for taking pictures.
Linda’s
slides depicted sights she saw on the trip, including a view of the Ankle
Biter Café; lots of flowers, which Linda found amazing; some of the beautiful
fountains in Christchurch; and the landscape – dairy farming is a big
industry there. Linda explained
that the climate is kind of like Seattle’s – it is moist and cool, but
warm enough to be comfortable.
They
went rafting on the Rangitaiki River. It
includes some class 3 and 4 rivers. The
raft tipped on the first class 4. Linda
found it exciting.
Oamaru
was a beautiful town with a man-made harbor.
She saw lots of flowers in greenhouses, including begonias.
She showed images of people playing croquet, ducks on the pond, and
formal gardens. The statues there
were neat – nymphs, bunnies, and others.
They
stayed in a basic cabin near Moeraki, with a wonderful view of the coast.
They saw a lighthouse, sea lions, and yellow-eyed penguins, which are
about three feet tall – one of the largest penguins.
They also saw the Moeraki Boulders, which are concretions that have
split over the eons into very interesting formations.
They
saw Taieri Gorge from the train, which is a rugged gorge with thin soil.
They saw a few horses and cattle grazing there.
They stopped at Middlemarch Station and at Dunedin.
There they visited the Royal Albatross Center to see the great
albatross. It has a seven-foot
wing span. They are hard to get
pictures of, though Linda got some shots of them on nests through tinted
glass. In addition, she shot
shags (in the cormorant family) on the nearby cliffs.
They
also saw blue penguins, which in contrast to the yellow-eyed penguins, are
only about ten inches tall. They
use burrows.
Inland,
they found that Alexandra was a fruit-growing area, with lots of cherries and
peaches. They saw a house that
had thousands of flowers and beautiful landscaping, and got some pictures of
the gardens and the owner. Linda
noted that it is a perfect climate there.
They
stayed at a modern hostel in Wanaka. Linda
went parasailing there on the return part of the trip.
Her
images included some of sheep in the roadway – they have the right of way.
She also included slides of Mount Aspiring, which is a 10,000-foot
mountain. They went up the side
of the mountain to a ski area and to the top of the mountain, which is above
the tree line. In the last three
years, the government has banned grazing, and the plants, such as ground
orchids, are starting to come back as a result.
It was a tundra-like environment at the top of the mountain.
She saw borage and lupine among other flowers.
They visited the Church of the Good Shepherd, which is in a beautiful
setting.
They
moved on up north to see Mount Cook, Lake Pukaki, and Lake Tekapo.
She got pictures in the evening and at sunrise.
They were able to see the mountain!
At 12,500 feet, it is the highest point in New Zealand and is often
obscured by clouds.
They
saw many monuments to the sheep dog or collie dog there.
There is still a lot of farming in the region.
They
then moved across the plains from Christchurch. These were wonderful plains with hedgerows 20 to 30 feet
tall. White-tail deer are raised
there for meat and for the velvet on the antlers, which is considered an
aphrodisiac in the Asian market.
They
went inland, following the river valley, on their way to whale watching at
Kaikoura. She saw an unexpected
pod of orcas, which was a treat. They
were really looking for sperm whale. These
whales fish very deep and stay down for about an hour or so.
Linda was able to get some nice tail shots.
You
also could walk up to the sea lions, and she got some close-ups of them.
She also saw more shags. They
visited a historic whaling station that was built on foundation piers of whale
bone. In addition, they saw a
sheep-shearing demonstration.
They
went up the coast to a seal colony and north to Picton.
They went there to see the Edwin Fox, a slave ship that later became a
cargo ship. It was built in 1853.
Scarph joints were used in its construction, so the timbers wouldn’t
slip and break.
Next,
they kayaked across Marlborough Sound. They
put in at Broughton Bay. They
were in a double kayak. They saw
floats used for green mussel farms; the mussels grow on the cables suspended
from the floats.
Linda
decided to go skydiving, in tandem with an instructor.
Wow! She said she wasn’t
nervous, at least in the plane, anyway.
At
this point, they met their hiking group, Knapsack Tours.
They stayed at nicer hotels rather then the hostels that Linda and her
husband had stayed in. They were in the Nelson area, which is the geographic center
of New Zealand.
They
went hiking in Abel Tasman National Park.
She saw tree ferns there, which is one of her favorite plants.
They had views of white sand beaches and saw apple and kiwi orchards in
the northern part of South Island. Down
the west coast, they came to an area called Pancake Rocks.
They
saw black sand and rock beaches. They
hiked to see Fox Glacier, but it had receded about a mile from the visitor
center, so it was quite a hike to get to it.
You have to go up the side of the valley to reach it, and they have cut
stairs into the side of the glacier so you can get onto it.
They have to recut it as it melts.
It is a rough area to slide around in; they were hiking around and
through crevices that were sometimes quite deep, so they wore crampons for
traction. Linda did slip once.
Luckily she is still with us!
She
got some beautiful glacier pictures. They
spent about a half-day there on the glaciers.
It was warm in the sunshine but cold when it was cloudy.
At
Lake Matheson, they had lunch on the beach and walked the boardwalk inland to
a marsh area.
Back
in Wanaka, Linda went parasailing. Then
she hiked at Rob Roy Valley, which had beautiful flowers and glacier
waterfalls. Some folks went to an
air museum, where they saw old fighter planes on exhibit.
At
Kawerau Bridge, they saw people bungee jumping. This is one extreme sport that Linda didn’t try.
They
did some hiking at Routeburn Track, which was truly a rainforest.
They saw the Homer Tunnel, which narrows to one lane; Linda wondered
how they navigate if two cars enter from opposite directions.
They
were at Milford Sound on a crystal-clear day, which is unusual and lucky.
The fjords there are glacial in origin, with trademark U-shaped
valleys. They saw sea lions on
the rocks there.
At
Queenstown, they rode jet boats on the Shotover River.
She also went hot-air ballooning, and got some shots with the marvelous
early light and long shadows. It
ended with a champagne breakfast. Next,
Linda went hang gliding!
They
went to North Island for a very short time (one night).
They went black water rafting while there.
They actually went through a cave on the water.
If you turned your lights off, you could see glow worms about half an
inch long hanging from the ceiling! They
were beautiful.
Taupo
Volcanic Zone is similar to Yellowstone Park.
It is a unique area with a sulfur cave, hot pots, and green lakes.
Frosting on the rocks and ground is a mineral coating.
They
went on a mandala tour. A group
of Tibetan monks were creating a sand mandala.
It was made by hand by the monks, and was beautiful and very colorful.
When they have finished with it, they sweep it up and put it in the
lake; this is done to symbolize impermanence.
Marie
asked what kind of film Linda uses. Linda
said she usually uses Kodak 100VS, but sometimes Fuji F400 if it is dark.
After
Linda’s very interesting presentation, the group moved on to discuss more
new business.
Sarah
passed out a list of photos the zoo needs for its Adopt a Wild Child program.
The zoo prefers digital images or slides for this.
Crystal
Nederman said we can use more pictures for the Deja Zoo wall.
We need to keep the stock rotated there.
If you do sell something, don’t forget to give a ten percent
contribution to FOTZ. If we don’t do this, they will pull our stuff from the wall
there and we won’t be able to display or sell our work. Our ten percent has been going to Adopt a Wild Child
enrichment items for the animals and for new exhibits.
Chris
also asked if anyone was willing to take over the responsibility of
maintaining the Deja Zoo wall. No
volunteers stepped forward yet.
Marie
asked Sarah if she could bring some TV equipment to the next meeting for
digital slide show purposes. Sarah
agreed she could do this.
Mickey
Norton moved that since Steve has gone above and beyond in taking on the
updates to our Web site, we should give him a free membership for the next
year. Terry Fretz seconded the
motion. The motion passed.
Bill
Pasek discussed the suggestion raised at an earlier meeting that the zoo give
camera club members free FOTZ memberships.
He said he felt this was inappropriate, since our role is to support
the zoo. This issue was
discussed. Sarah explained that
the zoo is really not in a position right now to give us free memberships. It could give a discount such as $5 off FOTZ memberships,
however. She said she could bring
the information to the next meeting and get our cards processed.
The group generally agreed that this sounded fair.
Also,
if we have any special invitations or recognition about the club, we can put a
blurb in the FOTZ newsletter, which comes out quarterly, to drum up interest
in the club.
Carol
Mitchell provided cookies as our treat for the night. Tracy Goodrich moved and Bill seconded that the meeting be
adjourned.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. The
next meeting is on May 19 at 7 p.m.
-- Tracy Goodrich