So I’ve made a couple more proper vids now, one of Charming Creek, and one of Cape Foulwind Walkway. I still have a bit more tweaking to do, and I really need to mount the camera on the handle bars.

Also, I can’t beleive how much awesomer Vimeo’s interface is compared to Youtube. Hopefully they’re going to be around for a long time to come, cause their site is awesome.

Cape Foulwind:

Pretty quick vid, a blast around the Seal Colony. Can’t get to extreme as a lot of tourists.

Charming Creek:

Long, admittantly boring vid. Needs more cowbell/action. Cool tunnel shots though. They actually were that dark, that’s not just the camera :P

So after much stuffing around over the space of a couple of years, I finally purchased a Helmet Cam, the GoPro Motorsports HERO Expansion off TradeMe.

All and all, pretty much what I expected. Not the best video/sound quality in the world, but I’ll take it places I wouldn’t take a thousand+ dollar camera.

Here’s a couple of clips I’ve made. First one was a thrash through the Millenium Walkway with the camera on my helmet, where half way through I realised I hadn’t started the recording yet, and I also had it pointed down too much:

Second one was with it mounted as far back as possible on the bike, again, I didn’t realise my leg would be in the way, heh. I think tomorrow I’ll go for on the handle bars somehow:

Very awesome piece of kit, now I just need to get my JetSki working so I can test it in the River/Ocean

Merry Christmas everyone :D

So, it’s nearly Christmas. Most of the staff are away, and I’ve been looking at doing a redesign for our company website. In amongst all of that I was Googling for certain code snippets and the like, and found myself stuck in one of those chain reaction procrastination loops. I had come across a page in someones signature on a forum, and naturally stuck in the URL for stubbedtoe. While most of the information that came out of it I already knew about, one thing i hadn’t tried before was searching google for the full url to see what random sites had mentioned this blog.

Again, while most of the results were to be expected (Embedded Google Videos of Mr Bliss being a theif) one of them caught my eye above the rest.

I don’t quite know how I didn’t come across this at the start! Fantastic bit of journalism anyhow.

GUILTY PLEA: Hastings man Dawson Bliss, who poached a stag then filmed himself and two companions carrying it, has been ordered to pay reparation.

Turns out he was true to his word for once:

Video stag-hunter fined for poaching

A filmmaker who poached a stag then filmed himself and two companions carrying it has been ordered to pay reparation.

Dawson Bliss, 52, of Hastings, appeared in Hastings District Court yesterday to plead guilty to charges of hunting on private land without the owner’s authority and of filming on conservation land without a concession.

The charges relate to a clip in The Trophy Hunters video, featuring Bliss’s son Beaudene, 27, and Cameron Young, 28, shooting a 12-pointer stag on Teme Station in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim, on April 1 last year.

They took turns filming each other carrying the head back into department land. Daniel Le Brun, of Teme Station, said the stag was bred to release into a fenced safari park on the property so hunting customers could easily take home trophy heads. He believed it was worth $8000.

Bliss, who disputed the figure, returned the head to police for valuation.

Judge Geoff Rea fined Bliss $500 and ordered he pay court costs of $130. He also ordered reparation to Mr Le Brun of $1875 – one third of the animal’s estimated value.

Beaudene Bliss was convicted last week and ordered to pay his share of reparation. An arrest warrant has been issued for Young.

Taken from the Dominion Post.

I didn’t realise that my blog was still getting so many hits (Getting over 500 a day!), so I fixed all of the links so you can check out the pictures and video of Mr Bliss with out hunting around too hard to find them.

I was actually up in the Hawkes Bay where our man Dawson Bliss operates his shady businesses over the past couple of weeks, and happened to bring up the whole ordeal with one of the locals, who knew of him all too well, and said that Dawson has actually recently been in the news AGAIN. I tracked down the article:

Video shows stag killing
The Dominion Post | Saturday, 08 November 2008

A film-maker is to plead guilty to poaching after a landowner watching one of his movies realised the trophy stag being shot belonged to him and was on his land.

Dawson Bliss, 52, of Hastings, will appear on Tuesday in Hastings District Court, where he says he will plead guilty to charges of hunting on private land without the owner’s authority and of filming on conservation land without a concession.

Bliss, a professional hunting guide who has made numerous hunting movies sold throughout New Zealand and overseas, has labelled the charges “ridiculous”.

“I’ve pleaded guilty because I just can’t be bothered with the cost and the hassle.” He said he had “no idea” a concession was required to film on department land.

The charges relate to a clip in The Trophy Hunters video, featuring Bliss’ son Beaudene, 27, and Cameron Young, 28, shooting a 12-pointer stag on Teme Station in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim. On March 31, the three men flew by helicopter to conservation reserve land. The next morning they tramped out of the reserve on to the station and tracked the stag. It was filmed alive, then killed.

Police say the men dragged it to a concealed area where they skinned it, removed its head and threw the carcass in a river.

They took turns filming each other carrying the head back into department land. A helicopter collected them on April 2.

Bliss made a video with the footage and copies were sold on the Internet and at hunting and fishing shops.

Daniel Le Brun, of Teme Station, said the stag was bred to release into a fenced safari park on the property so hunting customers could easily take home trophy heads. It was worth $8000. Bliss disputes this figure.

Mr Le Brun said the hunters must have crossed a fence in order to get the stag. Bliss disputes this.

Charges were laid early this year after Mr Le Brun saw the video and realised the men were hunting on his property.

Bliss Jr, of Nelson, and Young, of Hastings, pleaded guilty in Blenheim District Court last month to hunting deer on private property without permission and filming wildlife on crown land for commercial gain without a licence.

The men were told to give the stag head to Hastings police so it could be valued.

HRM, this all sounds just a LITTLE BIT TO FAMILAR! Dawson Bliss thinking he can beat the system. I guess this time it’s his own video that would be prime evidence, so he can’t try and dispute that it’s faked, like he did with me! If only he had of pleaded guilty in our case to save me a lot of time and money as well!

Wanker.

Dawson Bliss - In the same clothes he was in when he stole our laptop

…because that makes you look like more of a cock.

It’s funny, it was almost a year ago that I said it was over, and nearly two years ago that Dawson Bliss actually stole our laptop, but the saga has only really ended, you see, Dawson thought he was better than me.

He’s not.

Several days after the court case in Greymouth, I received notice from Dawson that I had committed perjury, and that I should get legal advice and remove the video that I put on the internet that is spreading lies about him. Yes Dawson, it was me who was trying to mislead the court… Anyhow, he filed an appeal, which has only just recently been heard, and thrown out.

Funny that.

Dawson Bliss - Dressed to talk bullshit

“…IF IT WASN’T FOR YOU PESKY INTERNETZ!!!!11111one”

Well, it’s finally over. Dawson Bliss of Hastings, of Wildnewzealand Films (And here), Farmhouse Lodge, Helicopter Logging NZ and Hunting New Zealand was convicted today and fined $2000, and $1900 reparations for stealing our laptop.

Unfortunately I don’t have the time to write up a massive post on what happened, but you can download the front page of the Greymouth Evening Star from last Friday here, which should fulfill most people’s desires for the time being!

It seems the international media has climbed onto the bandwagon a lot more than the first time as well, a search on Google returning almost 20,000 results! Everyone from CNN to random Polish Computer News websites seem to be interested!

When time permits I’ll fill in the blanks, but for the mean time I’ll leave everyone with my favourite quote from the Grey Star article:

Judge MacAskill said he believed Mr Graham was an honest, credible and reliable witness, while Bliss had tried to manipulate the proceedings by getting contrary evidence “in the back door”.

YAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! :D

Contrary to the impressions I may give off this blog, when it comes down to serious business, Judge MacAskill has got me down to a tee.

Thanks to all the Police that were involved in this, and everyone who helped me out along the way, couldn’t have happened without you, and you know who you are :)