Business: www.abeltasmannationalpark.co.nz
www.abeltasmannationalpark.co.nz
Taking a walk on the wild side has become possible for everybody, as long as they have access to a computer. Golden Bay’s Black Pete has created a website which allows anybody to virtually walk the Abel Tasman National Park at their leisure and at no cost.
The photographer and computer whiz will launch the virtual walk this weekend and is inviting everybody to check it out.
“I want to give people a feeling of what it’s like to be there. It starts off with a slide-show of the park and gives its history, takes you inside the huts and all the way through the park. It’s important to me to bring people into the park who can’t go there now, whether they’re in the Joan Whiting Rest Home, a New York banker on a lunch break, or they simply don’t like to travel.
“It was a big job, but I enjoyed wandering around the park shooting beautiful things - with my camera. I’m passionate about photography, and for this project I’ve worked till 2am or 3am most mornings for the last 15 months, often getting up in the middle of the night to start work again. While I was doing the writing for the website I got gored in the hand by a young stag that I tried to photograph outside my office window. That was ironic, considering how much time I’d spent in the bush.”
Some of Black Pete’s other work was installed at Te Papa last year, as he was a foundation photographer for The Map. This 14-metre long electronic satellite map of New Zealand is laid out on the museum’s floor, and as people step on it, sensors are triggered so a variety of images fill large display screens portraying aspects of New Zealand’s culture, identity and geography.
Black Pete plans to embark on a website for the Fiordland National Park next.
The website can be found at www.abeltasmannationalpark.co.nz. For advertising enquiries phone Martine on 525 8656. For all other queries contact Black Pete on 027 625 1616.
Ina Holst
