The joys of retirement

[Tronhard]

I returned to NZ a couple of days after my 65th birthday. One benefit of being 65 is that one is automatically entitled to a Super Gold Card. This is a card that works across NZ to provide seniors with discounts and special deals by government agencies and companies for products and services. I also qualified for a transport Gold Card. This gives me free access to buses, trains and all commuter ferries throughout the Auckland Region (which covers 1/3 of the total population). This benefit is valid from 9:00am weekdays and all weekend and public holidays. It is a really great benefit and very liberating!

I got for my 65th a Canon EOS M5 MILC, with a 18-150mm lens. I've got an M1 with 18-55 for macro work, but had never been interested in the M series for general use until they had a camera with a decent viewfinder as I generally use telephoto lenses and I want the stability of having 3 points of contact and support of the camera (the 3rd being as the camera touches my face).

So, armed with my EOS M and M5, and my new Gold Cards I decided to give the transport system a shot for the day. The public transit system used to be horrendous, but traffic congestion demanded that major investments be made in rail and road transit in particular. They also aligned all services through one system of travel with one card and interlinked services. I was curious to see what the new user experience would be like.

First I got a free bus to my local station. Bus and train routes have electronic boards with arrival/departure times updated by on-vehicle GPS in real time.


Right on time I picked up the new electric train at my local train station.


I was impressed that the system was on time, smooth and had flat access from platforms for wheelchairs, mobility scooters and bikes: identified on platforms by green markers:


Inside the trains have easy access between carriages and the place is clean, quiet and the ride is smooth. A voice announces points of interest, stations and transfer points.


As we passed along the rebuilt tracks I was able to see the completely refurbished stations, now clean and well used.


In places the old infrastructure had been carefully restored and maintained for use.


Finally my journey arrived at the terminus, in this case at a Technological Institute. I was amazed at the easy access from the station into a magnificent campus building!




Right outside the environment in the centre of a major municipal area was carefully landscaped...


All photos were taken hand-held in RAW, converted and mildly modified in Photoshop or Lightroom - mostly cropping, perspective correction and mild sharpening to overcome the AA filter.
So your comments on the place, the gear or the pix are welcome!

[pnodrog]

Enjoy the Gold card. Next adventure the ferries to Devonport and on to Waiheke. The Auckland transport system is starting to come right. With a Gold card I don't have to pay the huge city parking fees.

Good little photo essay that I thoroughly enjoyed and associate with.

[george013]

Good shots.
Discounts outside the rush hours I think?

George

[Tronhard]

Hi Paul

Great to get your post! I have actually made a trip to Devonport and back - a place that was significant to me as it was the first place I lived when I first arrived in NZ at the tender age of 9.

Using the e-gates to get to the ferry:


View of Auckland City from the Ferry to Devonport


The wharf and sand where I first experienced a NZ beach


The main building is dominated by a flash restaurant:

the other side of which leads to the town centre.
I was quite pleased by how the camera dealt with the dynamic range - despite what a lot of people say about Canon being inferior in that respect...


Right opposite the ferry building and wharf is the Esplanade Hotel where I spent my first night in NZ was spent - the palm trees were a bit smaller than I suspect!


Of course sunny weather helped, although that increased the contrast quite a bit.

Enjoy the Gold card. Next adventure the ferries to Devonport and on to Waiheke. The Auckland transport system is starting to come right. With a Gold card I don't have to pay the huge city parking fees.

Good little photo essay that I thoroughly enjoyed and associate with.

[Tronhard]

Hi George:
Apart from the free travel outside the morning rush hour- free after 9:00am for the rest of the day, there are lots of discounts on an amazing range of products and services, although I wasn't too keen to take up the deal on funeral services

Good shots.
Discounts outside the rush hours I think?

George

[Shadowman]

Nice series and what looks like a new adventure.

[fatehproductions]

Perfect shoot !!

Memorable moments captured !!

[billtils]

Very good photo essay. Neat story nicely illustrated.

[lovelife65]

You are just trying to make us jealous.

[ST1]

Nice series and narrative, looks like your birthday present likes the NZ light. I sat outside the Esplanade with a beer the last time I visited Devonport. I may have a glass now and imagine I’m sitting there again.


Sent from somewhere in Gods County using Tapatalk

[xpatUSA]

Nice shots, Trev. Have you stopped tacking "eh?" onto every sentence yet?

[Manfred M]

Nice photo essay Trevor.

We visited New Zealand some 20 years ago, so I'm sure things have changed. We did not spend a lot of time in the Auckland areas (probably a day outside of getting to and from the airport), but do have very pleasant memories of the three weeks we spent touring around. I remember my wife and eldest daughter spending some time looking at the real estate ads; they liked being there so much.

Regardless, I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I enjoy mine. As others have said to me before, "if I had known retirement would be so much fun, I would have done it earlier than I did".

[davidedric]

Or, more prosaically, "to get up in morning with not quite enough to do, and to go to bed only having accomplished half of it"

Dave