Left Motutara Beach just after dusk, made a pit stop in Auckland and I drove on to Cathedral Cove on the Coramandel Peninsula. Google Maps said it was a little over 2 hours drive from Auckland, but it turned out to be much longer due to extremely windy Kopu-Hikuai Road (State Highway 25A) snaking through the Coramandel mountains. It was impossible to drive over 50km/h. Cathedral Cove is the poster boy for much of New Zealand's tourist pamphlets and websites, even more famous than South Island's attractions. What a lot of guides don't tell you is how long it takes to get this spot from the car park. It takes close to an hour of hiking, and I completely missed the sunrise photo I was dreaming about. Fortunately there was no one about when I reached there and the weather was just nice. This place is breath-taking in person and my photo simply doesn't do any justice. You have to see it in person. This photo was edited using 3 exposures: +2,0,-2. Instead of HDR I have used luminosity masks in Photoshop to get a more natural look. Exposure: 1/50 Aperture: f/11 Focal Length: 18 mm ISO Speed: 100 Get this on print here>> My other work: Facebook | Website | 500px
