Way OT - New Desktop pics for XP

[Stone]

hoom, this one is for you! :up:

Microsoft New Zealand released some new desktop backgrounds for XP that feature a distinctly New Zealand flavor.

Here's the link for those interested.
http://www.microsoft.com/nz/windowsxp/downloads/nzbliss.aspx

I downloaded the one of Bluff because I have a picture of myself standing underneath that sign in a scrapbook some place. It brings back good memories of backpacking around the South Island with my only real care being where I had to be to find a hostel for the evening. Good times!

[hoom]

Yep, thats pretty OT.
I don't know if I have been to Bluff. If I have been, I was too young to remember anyway.

[Red_Hex]

i got the 'royale' one. its changed how everything looks. pretty cool.

[One of Three]

nice............
serenity
come hither

[Merciful]

Thanks for the tip. My desktop has now a cool new look. :cool:

[Shadowcat SFC]

On this topic, my desktop image has for a long time now been a photograph I took at Lake Taupo (in the central North Island):
http://tinypic.com/9hqs5e.jpg (http://tinypic.com/9hs9wz.jpg)
(click for 1024x768 jpeg, or if anyone wanted a bigger version I'm sure I could find the original).

[hoom]

Heh what is this, the NZ scenery fanclub? ;)

The coolest thing I think I've ever seen was travelling on the overnight bus from Orkland to Welliewood in the winter some year & as we went past Ruapaehu (all covered in snow) I got to see a beautiful, silvery, complete moonbow including inner & outer fringe bows, ground to ground, with the peak over the top of the mountain :heart:

I think I was the only person looking, everyone else was asleep or driving the bus.

I wish I'd had a camera that could have captured that :downcast:

[Stone]

I've been to Taupo too. Spent a couple of hours sitting on the shore enjoying the view from a park. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. In all I've been to NZ twice. Spent a month on the North Island bumming around seeing the sites and then a couple of years later spent a month on the South Island doing the same thing. I took in most of the country but there are still parts I missed and will have to go back for someday.

It really is one of the few places that I've been that I would go back to in an instant. The scenery is simply amazing!

[Shadowcat SFC]

> Heh what is this, the NZ scenery fanclub? ;)

I guess so! I just want to know how many people are going to try to look up "Orkland" and "Welliewood" in an atlas :)

> I got to see a beautiful, silvery, complete moonbow [...]

God, that sounds amazing.

[hoom]

Yeah, I hadn't even considered the concept that you might see a moonbow before then & it blew my mind :bulb:

Even cooler was to see the interference fringe bows like you get when you do prisms/light interference experiments at school.
I understand it is quite rare to see the outer one on a normal rainbow & extremely rare to see the inner fringe as well.

It probably helps that I didn't have an overweight snoring person next to me too, I think that would have kinda spoiled the moment :D
Wish I could have had a girlfriend there to share it with though :(