This post has been split in two, this post focuses on the research while the other is more to do with reconnecting with family. Both have the same starting paragraph.
While the actual research side of the trip fell short of what I had planned it to be, seeing a good amount of my family after 2 years was lovely and liberating in a way. Due to covid and my former jobs, I haven't been able to see many of my relatives, or "The Regulars" as I call them (they are the family that almost always show up for celebrations and whatnot). So I took the opportunity to while between jobs. The handy part is that they live in Rotorua, where Hatupatu and Kurungaituku's story is partially set. And, while I was ready for more research, I wasn't as prepared to retrieve it as I had thought; lost in the joy reconnecting created.
On our way down to Rotorua, we passed through the Fitzgerald Glade, a forest on State Highway 5. We didn't stop so trying to get pictures in the car while travelling at speed was difficult, to say the least. There wasn't much time to be able to stop as the sky was slowly darkening. It was a failure but that was the best we could do at the time.
The next day my father and I went out to Hinehopu/Hongi's Track with my uncle. This uncle is my auntie's partner and hails from Rotoiti, so upon us going through Rotoiti he said, "Welcome to paradise."
Something I didn't realize was that Hongi's Track is also technically part of State Highway 30 between Rotoiti and Te Pōhue Bay, and not just the walk itself. So as we went through we stopped at the Wishing Tree/Te Ara-o-Hinehopu, a large mataī. It is here that the track meets the road, allowing you to go into the forest. At first, to capture some of the non-trail/pathed forest, I just walked in and found a random spot not too far from the track or car but enough that it captured some of the forest. I used a GoPro Max to get 360 images and nice panoramas. A cool moment, that happened several times when eventually walking some of the track, was when fantails would come within arm's length of me and my father. I didn't manage to capture many moments on camera because every time I tried on the GoPro they would move away.
We stopped by the Fitzgerald Glade again but were able to stop and walk into the forest. Again, it wasn't far into the forest, about a three minute walk away from the entrance we made. It had a different look to the track, there was far more brown with wilted/fallen fern fronds.
I ended up using 3 devices to capture footage, the aforementioned GoPro Max, my iPhone 11 Pro, and my dad's Samsung Galaxy Note (not sure what number).
Pictures are grouped into devices and then areas (same "gallery")
iPhone 11 Pro:
Samsung Galaxy Note
GoPro Max
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