Green Eggs and Hamilton

Journey to the Other Side of the Earth

2009-05-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

Despite maintaining cyber silence for the last few months, our intrepid adventurers are once again off on their travels. They first make landfall in Tokyo, home of the Japanese imperial court. From here, they brave the perils of the Tokaido highway in their journey to Toyohashi, home of the daimyo-lord Koishi-Pryor. Returning to Tokyo, they will pay tribute to the sumo priests before journeying on to the court of the great monarch Elizabeth. It is rumoured her power grows weak and it will only be a matter of time before a new lord is installed. Their journey will take them into the heart of the unruly Welsh Marches and hinterlands before journey's end in the murky pulsing heart of the old British empire.

Ahem. I seem to have come over all Jules Verne there. Will aim to post some updates of where we've been and what we've been doing. Sayonara for now.

ASB Classic Finals, Auckland 10 January

2009-03-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

Nelson

2009-03-01T00:01:00.001-08:00

Self-portrait with crutches, Kaiteriteri

2009-02-28T23:52:00.000-08:00

Hopscotch and hideouts

2009-02-28T23:49:00.000-08:00

Round 1: Fox v Joseph

2009-02-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

I see I ended the year in 2008 on a flippant note, which no doubt can be attributed to sheer exhaustion at the end of a busy and demanding year. So much so, in fact, that it's been more than a month since I have sat down to type a blog entry in 2009. I thought about many things to put in this first entry: a top ten review of 2008, an account of my holiday in the Nelson-Tasman area (which was very nice, albeit marred by a bad ankle sprain), even a heartfelt tribute to the glory of feet brought about by said badly-sprained ankle.

Who knows, you may still be treated to these wondrous thoughts and insights! I have, however, decided to start with an account of an event I went to last night at Te Papa, as part of the series of events and celebrations taking place around the motu for Waitangi Day. This event was the second in Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of NZ's, Treaty debate series, and concerned the topic of the Maori seats in Parliament. For those not in the know, 4 Maori seats were originally established in the nineteenth century for politically expedient reasons. Maori MPs were - and continue to be - elected from them by Maori electors only, who choose to enroll on the Maori electoral roll. When the Westminster-based First Past the Post electoral system was changed ahead of the 1996 election to Mixed-Member Proportional Representation, the Maori seats were aligned with the number of Maori voters on the Maori roll. At present, this means that there are seven dedicated Maori seats in the NZ Parliament (which currently has 122 seats). Of course, Maori can also be elected in general seats and, since MMP was introduced, numbers of Maori appearing on party lists and duly being elected to Parliament has also increased. The 2008 election, which was intriguing on a number of levels, actually saw a slight decrease in the number of Maori seats from both Maori and general rolls. As somewhat of a side-note to this, however, it is worth noting that Pacific and Asian representation increased. Guess who still made up the majority though?

The two speakers were Professor Phillip Joseph, a constitutional law expert from Canterbury University (signifier alert right there!) and Derek Fox, a veteran Maori broadcaster, unsuccessful Maori Party candidate in the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate in 2008 and currently Press Secretary to Tariana Turia, co-leader of the Maori Party and a Minister in the new National-led government. So why am I blogging about this debate, which may sound dry and dusty on this description?

Dan and I were in two minds as to whether or not to attend. It was after work on a beautiful sunny - and, more importantly, still - evening in Wellington. The streetside cafes and harbour-front bars beckoned. Nonetheless, we trooped - or limped, in my case - into the Soundings Theatre at Te Papa to hear what the two gentlemen had to say. To describe it as a 'lively debate' is somewhat of an under-statement.

Professor Joseph began in his eminently-reasonable patrician tones to lay out his arguments as to why the Maori seats should be abolished, partially in line with the findings of the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform in the 1980s: they would create an 'over-hang' for small parties, such as the Maori Party; they would give small parties the 'balance of power'; they were unnecessary to increase Maori representation as MMP's party list system would take care of that; there were already 'protections' for Maori, first due to the principle of 'active protection' as outlined in the Lands case and Treaty guarantees; they were un-democratic, as they arose from a theory of reverse discrimination based on ethnicity and, finally, they were a historical hang-over from the bad old days, nineteenth-century pateranlism writ large. Quoting a dizzying number of statistics, he said that Maori were entitled to representation proportional to their population, which, in the 2005 election, had resulted in more Maori MPs than was equitable on population numbers. He finished by quoting Sir Tipene O'Regan, former chairman of Ngai Tahu, ad nauseum on the 'repugnance' of electoral privilege.

As I listened to this extremely narrow and one-eyed view, presented in the reasoned guise of respectable academia, it infuriated me. Fortunately I was not the only one. Derek Fox could barely restrain himself during this talk, particularly when Professor Joseph appeared to intimate that the Treaty (in its English version) protected Maori rights. Historian Claudia Orange, who was chairing the debate, intervened to remind the audience - and radio listeners, as this was being recorded for later broadcast - that the Professor's views were not the views of Te Papa, but his own. When Derek Fox got up to speak, he spoke of the insult and repugnance he had felt listening to this paper. He passionately spoke about the structural inequalities that disproportionally affect Maori in education, health, employment and imprisonment. He also pointed out that Maori electorate MPs were only elected by Maori, and thus had a mandate to solely represent Maori views and issues, unlike Maori list members, who were both selected by centrist parties and answerable to wider electorates. Many of the questions from the audience shared some of his emotional outrage at Professor Joseph's dispassionate views and apparently monocultural framework.

While I shared their emotional response, I was also aware that Professor Joseph had not been fully engaged on an intellectual level. A young lawyer tried to challenge his views on the grounds of substantive vs nominal equality - at least that was the nugget of his ramblings about Matt Damon and the movies - but his question was somewhat lost. Im my view, this means that Professor Joseph could potentially dismiss the perfectly legitimate criticisms that came his way as emotive, uninformed, partisan, political, or misdirected.

Had I been able to hobble to the front quickly enough, or had my wits about me a little bit more, I would have made the following points (in the form of questions of course!), all of which I think are suspect uses of academia to structure public debate:

- at no point in his many references to just one Maori commentator, Sir Tipene O'Regan, did Professor Joseph ever say that he was referring specifically to the abolition of the Maori seats. Having not yet followed up the reference, this makes me suspicious. If O'Regan had been talking about the Maori seats, why not quote that rather than his more general comments about electoral privilege? (Am happy to be corrected here!)

- at no point, did Professor Joseph refer to the substantial body of Maori opinion that does not hold this view, making his 'use' of O'Regan's views look like a classic case of valorising the 'native informant' i.e. find a Maori voice who appears to be agreeing with you and continually cite them to give your own arguments greater legitimacy, while not referring to any alternative Maori views

- his reliance on a welter of statistics, and falsely modest admissions of unfulfilled predictions, fudged the fact that since the 19th century, only one election (2005) has produced slightly larger than proportional representation for Maori, also obscuring the fact that there has continued to be greater-than-proportional representation for Pakeha (or 'NZ Europeans'), compared with Maori, Pacific and Asian peoples.

- his continual reference to the historical expediency of the establishment of the Maori seats, as if they still served the same purpose. Compare the nineteenth-century Native Land Court, which was the instrument by which Maori communal land ownership was broken through individualisation of title, resulting in the phenomenal loss of Maori land in a relatively short space of time. Yet today's Maori Land Court, which is a descendant of the its predecessor, the bench of which is mostly Maori, interprets Te Ture Whenua Maori Act, the guiding principle of which - in a kind of 'shutting-the-stable-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted' way - is the retention and protection of such Maori land as remains. The purpose of institutions can change, as the times do. The venerable institution of Parliament is a salutary example of this.

- in further lending legitimacy to his views, Professor Joseph repeatedly cited the findings of the Royal Commission, who, in recommending MMP had also recommended the abolition of the Maori seats as inconsistent with the notion of proportional representation. It fell to Claudia Orange to point out at the end of the debate, the significant caveat that the Commission had added to this: that while the Maori people collectively wanted the Maori seats, the seats should be retained. It would be politically disastrous to abolition the seats, which a less purist legalistic interpretation might have acknowledged

- constitutional law and electoral rights do not occur in a cultural and historical vaccuum. As Derek Fox pointed out, the shocking statistics for Maori are a result of institutional and, particularly, political failure to deal effectively with them. Protected Maori representation for Maori not only ensures that these issues are on the agenda, but, in this government (and I grudgingly concede this, not being a National supporter), Maori are uniquely positioned to do something about it at the political level, to try and level out the playing field, to try and achieve substantive equality.

- having said that, so-called political equality does not equal social equality. It may be technically true, as Professor Joseph pointed out, that there are no barriers to Maori participation in the electoral process and therefore no need for protected seats. This view, however, takes no account of substantial social barriers to effective participation. Martin Luther King stung the conscience of the US by saying that 'we cannot be satisfied ... while the Negro in New York believe he has nothing for which to vote'. In the US, that changed in 2008, but, no matter what his substantial achievements, Barack Obama does not automatically equal better social outcomes for African-Americans. The same applies in NZ.

- the Lands case established not just the Treaty principle of active protection, as Professor Joseph appeared to suggest, but also that of partnership, which did not rate a mention. Partnership represents a much higher bar, and one that still remains as a horizon to be reached. Maori are not just one 'ethnic minority' to be proportionally represented, but the indigenous people of this country. The protection of 7 Maori seats of 122 seems but a small concession to the principle of partnership, viewed in this way.

In my opinion, academics have a responsibility to fully explore all sides of a debate in order to advance well-informed critical arguments, not selectively present evidence, set up straw men, and advance their own agenda (it came as little shock that Professor Joseph all but admitted he was a National supporter). The public has a responsibility not to be over-awed by them when they do so.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest ; )

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T14:50:00.000-08:00

Compliments of the season to everyone - especially to those in Japan and the UK who won't be sharing in the sun and sea at the moment. Who could put it better then NSync (watch highly amusing video here featuring Gary Coleman and a badly-bleached Justin Timberlake here): Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Paper Pryors...

2008-12-14T13:29:00.001-08:00

In the last few months not one, but two Pryors have featured in a paper close to the heartland of Green Eggs and Hamilton, the Waikato Times. The first example, which you can read here, outlines the merits of Hamilton, in particular vis-a-vis Dunedin, and manages stay on the right side of sounding like 'a Hamilton City Council press-release'. The second example, which you can read here, is a pre-Christmas feature article written by the intrepid Waikato Times journalist Kate Monahan concerning the Christmas experience of ex-pat Hamiltonians. My personal favourite part of the interview, which features my Japan-based brother, is the need to book ahead to get your hands on a Christmas treat of KFC...

Makara

2008-11-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

Signs and the City

2008-11-21T19:51:00.001-08:00

That was the week that was...

2008-11-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way". This passage from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of his most oft-quoted, not least in the week that has just past (according to my very un-scientific poll, at least). And it's hardly surprising for this New Zealander. It would have to be someone with a very hard heart - or very right-wing views - not to be moved by the election of Barack Obama at the start of the week. Dan and I went down to the Occidental pub after work to watch the results on TV and the whole room went quiet as the President-elect addressed both Grant Park and the world, as a bewildered Jesse Jackson wept and as a country danced for joy. The quiet lasted for all of 2 minutes as the TV channel then elected to go to an ad break and continue with its regular programming. Idiots.

In New Zealand, National Party leader John Key pretty spuriously sought some reflected glory by also emphasising the theme of change, both of the policy and generational kinds. So what do New Zealanders do at the end of this very same historic week? They vote OUT the government that kept them out of the Iraq war (unlike Bush), that have introduced Working for Families to assist those on low-medium incomes (unlike Bush) and have not set up a modern-day gulag on a nearby island (unlike Bush). While I object to the scathing stereotypes that the journalist from the Melbourne Herald Sun used to describe the election (read about them here), she does have a point that it seems to be change for change's sake, not because it was actually needed. This seems even more the case when you have a passing look at National's policies, which mostly recycle or keep all of Labour's or propose what seems out of keeping with what is needed in this economic climate (cutting the Kiwisaver retirement savings scheme to fund tax cuts?!) And for those of us who are (just!) old enough to remember the both the welfare cuts of the 1990s and the sting of Rogernomics in the 1980s, it was a pretty scary sight seeing rabid Roger Douglas - now back in parliament with the ACT party which provides National's key support - practically salivating at the thought of running a(nother) razor through the social welfare state. In the cold light of day, after ousting one of the more capable PMs we've had, it seems to be me to be less a case of 'Yes we can' than 'What have we done?'

Australia...

2008-11-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

I've now put up some of my photos and some brief comments about our trip to Australia. They're below 'Marsupials and Mandibles' because I couldn't work out how to change the post hierarchy. They also continue on the next page or, alternatively, you could click on October on the left-hand side to see all the pics from that month. Happy viewing!

Of marsupials and mandibles

2008-10-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well while I'm here I may as well put up a few more pics of Australian wildlife. Again, these are all from a wildlife park: the Rainforest experience. We did, however, see some crocs up close and personal in the Daintree, and very scary they were too. I must say, it gave me a new appreciation of wildlife parks and high fences....

The Flying Doctors

2008-10-11T02:37:00.001-07:00

On the way out of Cairns, we stopped at the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Remember that Australian show from the 1980s? Perhaps this will jog your memory: 'Victor Charlie Charlie to Mike Sierra Foxtrot!' Well anyway, this is the real deal, the base of the real flying doctors who serve Australia's remote communities. Fascinating stuff.

Cairns

2008-10-11T02:34:00.000-07:00

By the end of our stay we were getting sick of the bad weather and of Port Douglas (in particular its overpriced eateries and smug character). So we hired a very cute little car and tootled down the very lovely Captain Cook highway to Cairns. On the way, we called in to some of Cairns' Northern Beaches, which, while beautiful, were suffering from the same windy weather as Port Douglas. It was like being back in Wellington ... except with sand.

And lo, the sun came out the further south we drove, so we ended up finding some sunny weather after all. We also checked out the boardwark on the waterfront, some very fine galleries and some very fine (and not overpriced) lunch. Cairns gets a big thumbs up from me, despite the snooty comments people made about it back in Port.

The Sea, The Sea

2008-10-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well this is about as close as you're going to get to pics of the Great Barrier Reef. This fab aquarium was a nice surprise en route to the loos at Zinc cafe in Port Douglas. Though it was MUCH better to see them au naturel, as it were. Even if it was overcast and windy (not to keep going on about it or anything). The first pic is a view of the beach at Port Douglas from the hill above town.

Turtles

2008-10-11T02:28:00.000-07:00

We stopped to have lunch during our Daintree trip at a water hole, which contained these cute critters. In a trip over-run with crocs, undersea creatures of all kinds and brightly-coloured birds, feeding bread to these little turtles was a relaxing highlight.

The Daintree

2008-10-11T02:25:00.000-07:00

More pics from the Daintree trip. The first two were taken at Cape Tribulation (an apt name if you ask me! crocodiles, stingers...it makes NZ look pretty good!) and the second during a walk through the rainforest itself.

Crocodile country

2008-10-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

Another highlight, in a trip with many (and sadly I didn't have an underwater camera to take out to the Great Barrier Reef) was our trip to the Daintree rainforest. As part of that trip, we went on a boat trip up the Daintree river. The boat-trip would have been fine without its aim of spotting crocodiles, the moody water and bright green foliage looking particularly striking against the overcast sky. However, some people not only SOUGHT OUT but actively WANTED to see crocodiles without the protection of high fences. Lunatics. And yes indeed we did manage to spot three crocs: one basking in the sun, a baby by the side of the river and one, chillingly, cruising along in the water alongside the boat. If you look closely at photo 3, you might even be able to make out one of these sightings... I was amazed by how many of my fellow passengers suddenly became crocodile experts when we came alongside them: 'yes, it seems to be basking in the sun now', 'she looks like she's picked a good sunny spot there' etc etc. This is what I know about crocodiles: they've been around for a long time and they can swim fast! While I enjoyed the dry and laconic wit of the boatman, I was pretty glad to get back to shore and walked very speedily back to the bus, I must say.
D'oh. Photo 3 seems to have gone walkabout. Will locate it and put it up in due course.... (no really, I did go on the boat-trip, I'm not making it up....)

For the birds...

2008-10-11T02:22:00.000-07:00

Some colourful birds to act as a place-holder while I marsahall my thoughts (and try to find any spare time!) These were taken at a bird sanctuary in Kuranda. The crazy-looking beast in the middle is a cassowary, an indigenous Australian bird that is incredibly large and incredibly rare. We didn't manage to see one in the wild, despite the fact that there were tell-tale signs of their recent presence in the Daintree, though we did seem them both in Kuranda and at the Rainforest Experience in Port Douglas. Maybe it's hard to see them in the wild because, if they show their faces, they're rounded up and sent off to the nearest wildlife park, of which there were many in this part of Northern Queensland.

Kuranda

2008-10-11T02:19:00.000-07:00

And here are seem snaps from Kuranda itself. German Tucker is where we had lunch - fortunately, we managed to avoid the dishes option for payment...

En route to Kuranda

2008-10-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

The small town of Kuranda was another place that we enjoyed, even though the Main Street was dripping tourist tat. One of the main reasons was the spectacular gondola or SkyRail trip up over the rainforest. We travelled back on the Kuranda-Cairns steam train, but the SkyRail trip beats it hands down in my humble opinion. Sorry dad.

Kuku Yalanji

2008-10-11T02:15:00.000-07:00

A particular highlight of our trip was going on the Kuku-Yalanji guided walk near Mossman gorge. Kuku-Yalanji are rainforest people and our guide told us about some of the many uses to which they put the forest.
You can find out more about it here.

Port Douglas

2008-10-11T02:12:00.001-07:00

Clearly I should put these Australia photos up and have done with it! So the next few posts will be brief (hurrah, thinks the reading public!). These are from the Port Douglas Sunday markets, on one of the few hot, sunny days that we encountered. As for the belts, my feeling is that if a kangaroo has to sacrifice its life for one of these that they could at least be stylish! And I'm not 100% sure whether the key rings used to be real frogs or not...

There's a new cat in town...

2008-10-10T23:56:00.000-07:00

Minnie doesn't live here anymore. Well, she no longer comes around to visit us at least. The black cat seems to have staked its claim to our deck after some kind of feline turf-war. The black cat's favourite activities include: staring through the french-windows at us in a vaguely menacing way, rubbing itself on the clothes-horse when we put clothes outside to dry and sticking its head through the rails. We are not 100% sure, but we think its name might be the highly original 'Blackie'.

Gangs of New Zealand

2008-10-09T16:41:00.000-07:00

This is a somewhat belated response to two intriguing news stories, typically milked for political gain in an election year, which you can read here and here. To summarise, members of the Black Power gang, one of the major gangs in New Zealand, and a group of gang wives and girlfriends (the Aroha Trust) have lodged claims with the Waitangi Tribunal, claiming that colonisation -leading to cultural alienation, economic despair, impoverishment and abuse - is the root cause of these particular gangs. Both groups have made it clear that they are not seeking financial compensation, but want to have their story told and made public by drawing on the Tribunal's function as a 'truth and reconciliation' forum. Politicians' responses have been quick and severe: this makes a mockery of the Tribunal process; the colonisation argument is old hat; people in gangs are criminals and made a choice to be so; what about the victims of gang crime - when do they get their hearing?; the Treaty is with iwi and hapu so the Tribunal shouldn't hear them and so on and so on.

Obviously, it is up to the Tribunal, as an independent Commission of Inquiry, to decide what it will and won't hear. Nonetheless, the Tribunal has often reported on socio-economic issues arising from landlessness and de-tribalisation in its district inquiries. The Tribunal also reports on generic issues affecting all Maori, such as, for example, the loss and effects of the loss of te reo Maori (Wai 11, a summary of which can be read here). It is historically well-documented that Maori, in the second half of the twentieth century, became increasingly urbanised, pursuing economic opportunities in the cities aways from their rural bases and often losing their tribal links in the process. The development of urban marae and national Maori organisations were some of the positive means of maintaining collective links and forging new ones in response to the challenges of the urban experience. As New Zealand's socio-economic statistics in crime, health, education and housing indicate, however, many fell through the cracks, including those who joined gangs such as Black Power and the Mongrel Mob. It has been argued that, in a negative sense, part of the attraction of gangs derives from a similar sense of collective connection: one which conferred identity and solidarity in an alien and alienating urban environment.

There has been and continues to be a gang presence in New Zealand, and it would be naive to suggest that people shouldn't be held accountable for their crimes. The political response to the recent prominent spates of gun and gang crime has been predictable: 'let's get tough' rhetoric from both political parties, who talk about outlawing gangs and implementing 'two strikes and you're out - got to jail - do not pass Go' policies. I'm not suggesting a Tribunal hearing will be a cure-all by any stretch of the imagination - but is it such a bad idea to hear from gang members and their relatives directly? Why not hear directly from the people affected about their experiences, what they think causes people to join gangs and what might be some possible deterrents? Surely, this might offer some options to similarly disaffected young people exploring their 'choices' in straitened circumstances.

A great thinker once wrote:

'Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past (Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852)'.

Or, to translate into the political terms used in this debate, 'people have the agency to make their own free choices, but the choices they have on offer are defined, limited and constrained by the circumstances in which they find themselves'. Given the wealth of historical research generated both by New Zealand historians in their own work and for Tribunal inquiries, is it really such a stretch to say that the circumstances in which gangs exist, 'given and transmitted from the past' include colonisation and its aftermath? Don't we need to have some understanding and acknowledgment of those circumstances before we can fully understand people's apparently free choices? Explanation is not excuse, but it seems to me to be a good place to start, particularly if New Zealand is really serious about addressing The Gang Problem.

Separated at birth?

2008-09-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

After watching with growing horror as the media circus surrounding the addition of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin to the US presidential race as the Republicans' VP candidate, I have finally hit upon who she reminds me of. Out of the blue it came to me: Dolores Umbridge, Ministry of Magic stooge and Hogwarts' High Inquisitor from the Harry Potter books. Apparently, I am not alone in make this connection as a quick browse online revealed. Check out this particuarly shudder-inducing image here

I can't believe this got funding - part 1

2008-09-15T19:35:00.000-07:00

I interrupt my completely self-generated and random blogging programme to bring you a new feature. Called 'I can't believe this got funding', these posts will bring to you, from time to time, some of the more spurious - or just plain silly - uses of scientific funding. In an era where Arts programmes are cash-strapped, you really have to wonder how some of these projects justify themselves. In a not-a-cure-for-killer-disease exclusive, scientists can now reveal that, contrary to popular belief, horizontal stripes do not make someone appear larger. In fact, its is vertical stripes, usually thought to be more slimming, which are the ones to be avoided. I'm sure we'll all sleep more easily now.

You can check out an article on this research here.

But a distant memory

2008-09-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

We got back to Aotearoa barely 2 weeks ago, but already our short sojourn in Far North Queensland seems like a long time ago. Where to start? Perhaps a run-down of some good and not-so-good stuff.

Good stuff: Australian prawns - yum! way better than we get here; Mango smoothies - the ones at Soul 'n'Pepper in Port Douglas were fabulous (smoothie and prawns pictured); the Kuku-Yalanji tour at Mossman; the stunning Kuranda skyrail trip over the rainforest and sleepy Kuranda itself (even despite the tourist trap that was Main Street); the Great Barrier Reef - justly feted and teeming with life; the Daintree rain-forest - like the reef, it is a World Heritage site and equally fascinating; Cairns - perhaps a surprising inclusion given its luke-warm description in most guide-books; Rehab cafe in Port Douglas - amid a bunch of over-priced and sometimes mediocre eateries, this cafe was a real find and they even sold NZ's own Supreme coffee; and the amazing bird and animal life (like the rainbow lorikeet pictured below).

Not-so-good stuff: By a country mile, the no 1 not-so-good thing was the weather. The first 2 days we were there it was sunny and hot (as pictured below in the shot of the harbour at Port Douglas), as were the last 2. While it was warm the remaining 5 days, it was also overcast (as during our trip to the Daintree pictured below) and pretty windy, which didn't exactly make for a fun beach holiday (which is a shame, because there looked to be some pretty nice beaches around, including Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas). Runners-up in this category include Port Douglas itself - we were clearly spoiled by our wonderful trip to Fiji last year and this fairly charmless town, which was 'tastefully' developed from an earlier fishing village, was no comparison. Given that the weather meant we couldn't really spend our days idling on the beach, this was a bit of a problem as there wasn't a lot else going for it. Some of the restaurants - OK we expected to maybe pay a bit more in some places, but we also expected it to be good. We had a run of bad luck and struck a few places that were both over-priced and mediocre to poor. If you're ever in this neck of the woods avoid the following places like the plague (unless very drunk): Going Bananas and Zai Japanese restaurant.

Other random stuff: the coverage of Olympics from an almost totally Australian perspective. My favourite was gob-smacked Sally McLellan who won the silver-medal in the 100m women's hurdles, who wasn't sure where she'd placed at the finish and then completely freaked out when she found out she was 2nd - 'did you see me? did you see how pumped I was?' Hilarious. You can check it out here

Coming soon to a post near you: pictures and ruminations on Kuku-Yalanji, Kuranda, the Daintree, Great Barrier Reef and Cairns v Port Douglas.

Films Films Films - Part 4

2008-08-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

Finally, here is the last installment of my Film Festival posts. Thought I'd better finish it before we take the yellow-brick road to Oz in a couple of days.

First up of the last set of films is the quirky Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, which was set, for no apparent reason, in the early 1980s. Maybe I don't know my Swedish history well enough and there is an extra level to the film's being set then. I just thought it gave the wardrobe person something to do, and explained the use of a Rubik's cube (remember them? one of the weird crazes kids had before computers...). Setting aside, I thought it was pretty brave to try and breathe life (ha ha) into the vampire genre, which seems to have passed into the territory of witty one-liners and vampire-slayers ('not that there's anything wrong with that'). Apart from a couple of moments that just seemed a bit silly (e.g. woman being attacked by lots of snarling felines), this vampire film managed to be both creepy and frightening. The main character, Oskar, is a bit of an outsider at school and is bullied by some frankly horrible young boys. He befriends a new 'girl' who has moved in next door with what appears to be her father. Mysteriously, she only appears at night and seems to have some hair and make-up issues. She also dispatches her 'father' to slay hapless victims serial-killer style, drain them of their blood, and bring it back to her for a snack. When he messes this up, she is forced to do this herself, leading to community fears of a killer on the loose. Unsurprisingly, though not necessarily predictably, she exacts pay-back from the bullies on Oskar's behalf. This film had the same bleak Scandinavian quality about it that the brilliant Show Me Love did. Only with vampires and senseless killings. And a Rubik's cube.

Next up was The Wave. This German film is based on the book The Wave, which in turn is based on events at an American high school in the late 1960s. As in the book, the film tells the story of a high-school teacher who takes the concept of 'show don't tell' teaching to a whole new level by engaging his students in an experiment in totalitarianism. The difference is that this film is set in contemporary Germany. Here, the students are disengaged from their studies, their parents' liberal ideals and are initially sceptical about their classes on 'totalitarianism'. Much to their 'alternative' down-with-the-kids (you can tell this because he has a shaved head, a ripped T-shirt and plays really loud music on the way to work) teacher's dismay, they apathetically dismiss his comparisons with the Third Reich. Determined to show them how people could be swayed to fall into line with totalitarian regimes, the teacher establishes a classroom policy of order, politeness, obeying commands and not questioning authority that comes to be known as The Wave. Initially, he gets positive results: the class bond with each other, take a pride in their appearance, have some discipline. Some of the parents and teachers are impressed. Apart from a couple of dissident students who leave the class, so are the kids. And then it all goes out of control. The positive group atmosphere, which also includes former outcasts and instills a sense of pride and loyalty in the group, turns to bullying, loutish behaviour and a chilling willingness to dispense critical thought for shouty slogans and uniformity. Needless to say it all ends in tears. An interesting and thought-provoking choice to transplant this experiment to Germany, but I'm not quite sure they pulled it off. For example, it rather overlooked the question of creating an external other with which to define the group. This just seemed to be 'anyone who wasn't in the Wave', which may be an analogue for non-Nazi Germans, but doesn't equate with the demonising and scapegoating of Jewish people. Indeed, the film was careful to include the son of Turkish immigrants in the group. Also, the only alternative apparently on offer to totalitarianism was anarchism, or dropping out, which seemed to me a real cop-out. The question being dodged, and I realise this might be asking quite a lot of the film, is how to do you engage people who are disenfranchised without resorting to authoritarianism or a kind of 'anything-goes' nihilism? And another question, why ruin a perfectly good Ramones song by having a horrible German rock band re-record it?

The last film of the festival was Waltz With Bashir, a comic-book style animated quasi-documentary, concerning Israel's war with Lebanon in the early 1980s. In particular, it traced the film-maker's attempts to remember what had happened during a massacre of Palestinian refugees. The film-maker, a character in the film, could only remember one image associated with the events - the one depicted in the picture - and sets out to try and fill in the blanks. As such, the film is a very interesting meditation on violence, repression and the unreliability of memory. The animation has a distancing effect both for the audience and the film-maker, which is then brutally brought up short at the end, when the crying, screaming survivors of the massacre shift from 2-d line drawings to TV footage of actual people. A manipulative tactic but one that certainly packed a punch.

In short, all of the films we saw over the three weeks were enjoyable and/or thought-provoking and I'm glad we made the effort to get along to them. Hope you enjoyed my rambling thoughts about them!

Films Films Films - Part 3

2008-08-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

The third installment of the epic narrative that is my account of the Wellington Film Festival has now arrived. In this post, I review Hunger, I Just Didn't Do It and Mongol.

First up Hunger, a film about Bobby Sands and the IRA hunger-strike in the early 1980s, directed by British artist Steve McQueen. This provocative film won the Camera D'Or at Cannes this year, and deservedly so, in my opinion. The film is constructed as three parts. The first depicts the vast array of participants who contributed to the IRA protests in the Maze prison: prison guards, IRA prisoners who'd been inside for a while, new prisoners, specially brought-in riot squads. While there is background chatter in this first section, little dialogue distracts from the focal characters in it - who range from a paranoid prison guard, who checks his car out for bombs every morning before going to work, to a newly-recruited riot policeman, who can't bear the animalistic brutality with which his squad abuses the prisoners, to a new IRA prisoner, who is inducted into the prison regime and the prisoners' attempts to both protest against and subvert it. McQueen was apparently inspired in his depictions of the prison - not the actual Maze, in which he was refused permission to film - by the nightmarish war paintings of Velazquez and Goya. They seem to have provided a suitably hellish guide, as these scenes were often disturbing and repellent (especially when the prisoners were on dirty protest). The brutalising regime of the prison spills onto the streets as the paranoid prison guard is later randomly shot in the head in a reprisal attack while he is visiting his senile mother at a nursing home. Section two is a roughly 20-min conversation between Bobby Sands and his priest about the repercussions of the planned hunger strike. The viewer is held at arms-length, watching the two in profile in the middle-distance. This scene is by turns darkly funny and disturbing, as the priest questions Bobby's desire to die (as opposed to protest) and his ability to make a rational judgement - even against the orders of the IRA command - in the prison environment. With a steely and intransigent logic, Bobby lays out his reasons why and they are not open for negotiation. The last, and possibly most disquieting, section depicts Bobby wasting away in the prison hospital, covered in sores, skeletal and barely conscious. Several people had walked out of the cinema at this stage and someone in front of me had a dizzy spell and couldn't watch the scenes of his physical decay.

There were many sobering aspects to this film: the visceral and sometimes beautiful visual imagery, the challenging moral questions, and the historical parallels to present-day responses to terrorism. One of the aspects that stuck out for me was imperious tones of Margaret Thatcher - blaring out in snatches from radios and TVs - and Britain's intransigent response to the hunger-strikers' desire to be granted the status of political prisoners. While the politics and morality of the situation can certainly be debated, it was salutary reminder both of what a poisonous witch this woman was (the same person who called Pinochet 'a friend to Britain') and just how much contemporary Britain is defined by imperialism. Another aspect was that it certainly didn't romanticise the IRA. I heard some idiot say on the way out of the cinema, 'I'm glad they got the prison-guard', for all the world as if he'd just been to see an action movie. What's noble about shooting someone in the back of the head? I see nothing to cheer on in a situation that brutalises people to the point where starving themselves seems the only rational choice. But I certainly don't want to make it sound like I have the answers here. Just that this film had a really big impact on me. It's not an easy film to see, but well worth it.

Well, I seem to have written lots about the first film so I will try and be briefer about the other two. I Just Didn't Do It is another prison film, in a sense, though, I stress, very different to the other. The main character, Kaneko Teppei, is (wrongly) arrested for groping a girl on a packed commuter train. Instead of pleading guilty and getting off with a small fine, he insists that he didn't do it and so enters the Kafka-esque nightmare of the Japanese justice system. Apparently, according to the film at least, Japan has a 99.9% conviction rate, so the likelihood of getting acquitted for pleading innocent was remote. However, his legal support team persevere through numerous hearings, re-constructions and Judge-changes, highs, lows, and almost-certain acquittal, only for Kaneko to be convicted in the end. No happy-ending American court-room drama here. An engrossing, if slow-moving, drama, played with understatement and appropriate bewilderment.

Moving along at a cracking pace now! Last up for this post is the swashbuckling epic that is the Russian-Kazak-Mongolian-German film, Mongol. This was great - what Braveheart could have been without Mel Gibson's shampoo-ad hairdo and the cheesy romantic story-line. The film covers the period from when Temudgin (aka Genghis Khan) is a child to the point where, as young Khan, he unites all the Mongol tribes. Aged 10, Temudgin rides with his chieftain father to choose a bride from a neighbouring tribe. He meets a feisty young girl that he takes a shine to on the way and cunningly engineers a scheme to choose her for his bride. On the way home, his father, obeying the traditional Mongol customs, drinks poisoned milk offered by an enemy and dies. Cue carnage and insecurity, as the Khan-apparent is imprisoned and brutalised in the power vacuum that ensues. However, he maintains an extraordinary self-belief and holds fast to his customs and beliefs, in the process not forgetting those who have been kind or loyal to him. He eventually marries his chosen bride, although they are repeatedly separated. Giving the lie to the adage, 'the thing a Mongol needs above all else is a horse', she comes to his rescue when he is imprisoned, seemingly for good, in a neighbouring kingdom. After his release, the scourge of half the world is on course to unite the Mongol tribes and rampage across Asia. The battle scenes were absolutely brilliant - a thoroughly enjoyable film if historical war-like epics are your thing. I understand that this is the first part of a trilogy - can't wait to see the next two!

The film festival comes to an end this weekend and we have one more left to see. Coming up in the final film post: Let the Right One In, The Wave and Waltz with Bashir.

Films Films Films - Part 2

2008-07-25T03:11:00.000-07:00

And the film marathon continues... will the viewers have enough energy (and popcorn) to make it to the last weekend?!

As promised, this blog dissects Persepolis, The Counterfeiters, and Welcome to the Sticks. First up is Persepolis, an animated feature in French based on the autobiographical graphic novels of Marjane Satrapi. It is set both in Teheran, pre-and post-revolution, and in Europe. We see Marjane as an irrepressible child, declaring to her radical parents that she loves the Shah, only to be told by her uncle about his imprisonment under the regime. Awakened, she comes to support the Shah's overthrow. However, all is not happily ever after, as the new Islamist regime also imprisons and executes its citizens, and curtails many of the freedoms Marjane had previously taken for granted. Fearing for her safety, after an outburst at school, her parents send her away to Vienna. Here she can more freely participate in the less-regimented society she has longed for, but becomes depressed and disillusioned after having her heartbroken. After some time on the streets, she returns to Teheran. After mooching around there for a while, Marjane is admonished by her grandmother for not being true to herself, and reluctantly leaves again, this time for France. The film was by turns funny and moving - I particularly liked the conversations between God and Karl Marx - but seemed somewhat unsure about what message it was trying to send. On the one hand, it's a 2-D rendering of someone bearing witness to their own life and experiences inside and outside of Iran. It presented a mostly coherent opposition to the regime of the Shah and the mullahs, but didn't offer much as an alternative apart from unwilling exile and alienation. On the other hand, it's also reproducing some well-worn narratives: the rebellion of the strong-willed girl and the alienation of the outsider, for example. The film is framed by a very morose older Marjane waiting at Orly airport in Paris, ostensibly for a flight to Teheran. While she waits, she recalls her life there. A little confusingly at the end, we see the younger Marjane first arriving at the same airport in Paris, just as the older Marjane gets in a taxi and leaves, unable to board the plane and go back to Iran. Perhaps aptly, no easy answers are offered as the credits abruptly roll shortly afterwards.

Next up was The Counterfeiters, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film this year. This movie is based on historical events, in which a group of prisoners are put to work in the last days of the war by the Nazis to make counterfeit money - specifically, pounds and dollars - in an attempt to sabotage the Allied economies. The protagonist of the film is a criminal forger who heads up the counterfeiting operation. However, he is faced with opposition from another of the group - Adolf Burger, on whose memoirs the film is based - who refuses to print the dollars once the block has been perfected. This eventuates into a stand-off as the camp commandant threatens to shoot some of the prisoners unless the dollars are produced. Weirdly, the film this most reminded me of was not Downfall or The Lives of Others, with which it has been compared, but Enigma, the film about the Bletchley Park code-breakers. Why? Because, despite the concentration camp setting, it also had a similar sense of adventure about it - will they produce the dollar / will they crack the code? Both cases also posed a moral dilemma: in order to undermine the counterfeiting operation, Burger risks the lives of his fellow prisoners; in order to protect their work on the Enigma code, the code-breakers have to choose to sacrifice convoys. I felt there was something a little troubling about this comparison. It also got me thinking about the narratives that German filmmakers are choosing to make about WW2. Though powerful, they are often either about the end of the war (Downfall, The Counterfeiters) or about exceptional figures. I was particularly struck by a scene close to the beginning of the movie set in pre-war Berlin. The forger was at a wild bar and encountered a fellow debauchee who was sporting a Nazi badge. When asked why he was wearing it, he was dismissive, acting as if it was just a fad. This put me in mind of some of the passages in Christopher Isherwood's novel, Goodbye to Berlin. The difference is that the novel was written before the war. This movie wasn't. I wonder if there is still no narrative able to be made in Germany about the period in-between the pre-war slightly lugubrious thuggery to the regime's post-war demise.

For a change of pace after these two relatively intense films, I went to see Welcome to the Sticks on Monday morning on my day off. Apparently, this 'fish out of water' comedy has been the most successful French film ever (or something like that). I can see why. It is mostly good-natured, not too taxing and gently sending-up stereotypes of the people of the region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, specifically those who speak Picard or Ch-ti. A postal worker from Provence is sent to this apparent hell-hole - 'the sticks' of the title - as a punishment for his decidedly un-PC attempts to get a transfer to a sea-side job. After a bit of a false-start, he warms to the place. His wife, who has remained in Provence, is convinced that he is suffering. Although previously on the point of leaving him, she grows closer to him in support. So supportive is she, in fact, that she decides to move up to the North in order to share the load. Cue extremely elaborate subterfuge on the part of Phillipe's new friends to convince her that the town really is as awful as he's made out. Miners, broken-down terraces and lairy behaviour ensue (why, it was just like Wales! Just kidding). Naturellement, Phillipe and co get busted, his wife storms off, but nothing very major really happens and everyone lives happily ever after - well, until Phillipe is transferred away from the North at the end.

What's next for our intrepid film-goers? More mixtures of froth and intensity: Hunger, I Just Didn't Do It, Mongol and Let the Right One In.

Films Films Films - Part 1

2008-07-19T20:25:00.001-07:00

The Wellington Film Festival began on Friday and we have already seen three of the films: Man on Wire, Rain of the Children and In Bruges. All very different and interesting - and flawed - in their own ways.

Man on Wire (eponymous Man in picture shown walking between two pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge) opened the festival. Before seeing this quirky doco, however, we had to endure nearly half and hour of rambling in a half-dead monotone from the Festival organiser. I know this kind of thing is to be expected, but really! People are there to see the movies. Best to keep these things short and sweet.

So, onto the film. It was an extraordinary insight into the life and goals of Philippe Petit, who, from before the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre where even built, cherished a dream to string a high-wire between them and walk across it. Naturally, this would involve subterfuge, ingenious planning, and the help of friends and random punters along the way. It also involved two earlier escapades: walking between the towers of Notre Dame and walking across the Harbour Bridge. While the act itself was quite breathtaking in its execution - and yes, there was a poignancy to the fact that it was the twin towers - it kind of left me a bit cold. I stress that this wasn't the fault of the film-maker, who put together the material in a thought-provoking, awe-inspiring and often very funny way. But there was something quite repellent about Petit himself, who quite blithely sacrificed his friendships and relationships to pursue his own pretty self-indulgent goals. Yes, it was a pretty cool feat - but was the fact his friend had to haul up a badly-thrown steel cable inches at a time from between the towers all through the night less of one? It was quite a marvel that, even after over 30 years had passed, Petit himself appeared to show no regret for the sacrifices that had been made, while his former childhood friend wept at the memory. The final shot of the film - no doubt deliberately - summed this up: the vaguely ridiculous figure of a much older Petit walking a wire in his backyard alone, no-one around to applaud or carry him to greater heights.

The next film that we saw was Vincent Ward's doco Rain of the Children, primarily about Te Puhi of Tuhoe who was the focus of one of his earliest films, In Spring One Plants Alone. Te Puhi had such an effect on him that, years later, Ward sought to document her life and explore further the extraordinary relationship between her and her son, Niki.

The material traversed by the document was fascinating. Te Puhi was just 14 when, specially chosen by the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana, she married his son, and bore the first of her many children. Her husband Whatu was, however, arrested with Rua in the police raids on his community at Maungapohatu in 1916. She later married again and bore many children. However, she, along with the people of her community, believed that she was cursed and, when an epidemic swept the village, 6 of her children were killed. Another 5 were taken from her.

As the film came closer to the present the details of Te Puhi's life and her relationship with her community became sketchier. Though, unfortunately, the pretentious, meditative shots of Vincent Ward riding around on a horse, driving along gravel roads, or walking through Te Puhi's abandoned house did not. And this was the main fault with the film, too. There was too much intrusion from Ward himself. This mostly didn't prevent the moving and challenging story of Te Puhi coming through, but was an unnecessary distraction. A similar glory-hogging was evident during the Q&A session, where Ward took all the questions, even one that was very specifically directed at the Tuhoe people behind him. Ward seemed very naive in terms of the cultural politics of what he was dealing with, such as the quite condescending way he spoke about the 'curse' and the patupaiarehe. A fascinating but flawed movie. Though probably my pick so far.

The third movie we saw this weekend was quite different again. I won a free double-pass to a Festival film and elected to see In Bruges, a film about two Irish hitmen exiled to Bruges after a hit goes wrong written by playwright, Martin McDonagh. The script was mostly very funny - though there were a few dodgy moments here and there - and no doubt the very pretty medieval city of Bruges is doing an even brisker tourist trade after this. But it all felt a bit inconsequential and lightweight. Not, to quote Seinfeld, that there's anything wrong with that. But compared to say Pulp Fiction, a film about hitmen that revels in the inconsequential, it just didn't quite pull it off. OK for fairly mindless amusement though.

Coming soon to a post near you: my musings on Persepolis, The Counterfeiters and (maybe) Welcome to the Sticks.

Truckies blockade

2008-07-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

Good Lord. Just when I thought the spirit of protest in NZ was dead and buried under the weight of apathy and concern over the price of cheese, the truck-drivers of NZ forced me to re-evaluate. So what cause was it that brought traffic in cities around the country to a standstill and earned the overwhelming support of put-out commuters and spectators alike? Perhaps its was environmental, feminist, Maori? Yeah right.

I should have known it'd be something self-centred and stupid when 75% of people in the NZ Herald Digi-Poll said they supported it. Basically, a whole bunch of truckies blocked the main roads of nearly every city in the country, emitting ghastly noises and smells, because they were protesting against increased road charges for diesel-fueled vehicles. Never mind the fact that people who use petrol have already had to wear these charges at the petrol-pump! Never mind the fact that both cars and trucks are already polluting the atmosphere with their dependence on fossil fuels. Never mind the fact that increases in fuel prices are beyond the control of NZ politicians, depending as they do on resources and events overseas. The truckies were bad enough. The cheering schoolchildren and honking-in-support car-drivers made it even worse. Why are people so moronic? And why oh why when a village of relatively powerless and impoverished people WALKED to Parliament last year to protest against the treatment they had received during the extremely heavy-handed so-called terror raids, were these same morons lining the streets to hurl abuse at them? Sometimes I think it will be a good day for the planet indeed when we eventually blow ourselves up through some act of mindless stupidity...

Backlash

2008-07-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

I read a very good article the other day by Kira Cochrane in the the Guardian (you can read it here), which succinctly set out some of the more disturbing anti-feminist trends in contemporary Western culture. The article not only added some facts, figures and analysis to my impressionistic viewpoint that things had taken a retrograde step for women, but also made me appreciate yet again the value of intelligent, mildly left-wing journalism. It's no secret that I think that NZ Herald is a right-wing rag, but even apart from that there is virtually no print media in NZ that provides analysis or comment that is a) well-written b) makes its political agenda apparent and c) thinks that events other than sport and house-prices constitute news. Not that the Guardian is perfect. It, along with other UK broadsheets, however, does make a reader aware that there is more than one way to present apparently straightforward news. The danger of having virtually only one national newspaper - and a barely literate, appallingly right-wing one at that - is that people think what it printed in it is 'the news' and that its spin on the news is not spin at all.

Gideon Mantell's Tooth

2008-06-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

And here it is! In the last month, I read the book The Dinosaur Hunters by Deborah Cadbury, which is an account of the first dinosaur discoveries in the UK in the early 19th century. It is also an account of the rivalry between two of the key figures involved in finding and bringing to public attention the ancient remains. The first, Gideon Mantell, was a provincial doctor who, in his spare time, collected fossils from quarries in the south of England. He was responsible for finding the remains of - and theorising the existence of - three of the first dinosaurs, including the Iguanodon. Due to his job and his lack of financial backing his investigations were piecemeal and slow to gain widespread acceptance. His younger and better-financed rival was Richard Owen, who coined the name 'dinosaur' and eventually established the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Although Gideon Mantell was one of the first people to find these remains and start to uncover pre-historic life, he does not quite have the reputation of Owen. Instead, his scientific pursuits eventually cost him his marriage, his practice and, eventually, his health.

Apart from the sheer interest and significance of this tale, which is told in a lively and engaging way by Cadbury, there is a New Zealand connection to this story. Gideon Mantell's son, Walter, was one of the first British immigrants to New Zealand, arriving in Wellington on the New Zealand Company ship Oriental in January 1840, before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. While maintaining an interest in natural history, Walter Mantell was also appointed as a commissioner charged with extinguishing Ngai Tahu native title to large parts of the South Island, and setting aside paltry reserves for them to live on. He was subsequently responsible for the purchase of many large blocks of land. Unlike many early colonists, Walter Mantell was later in his life to be haunted by the broken promises that he and others had made to Ngai Tahu and attempted to rectify them. In an attempt to ensure these promises would be kept, Walter Mantell sought political office, serving briefly as Native Minister in 1861, before resigning as the promises remained unfulfilled.

Perhaps more fulfilling for Walter Mantell were his natural history pursuits in the new colony. Not only was he in regular communication with his father, but also with the geologist Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin. He was also able to send his father bones from an extinct species of giant flightless birds, the moa. One of the types of moa - Notornis mantellis - is even named after him. Walter was also active in learned societies in New Zealand, such as the Philosophical Institute and the Royal Society of NZ. From time to time, he was also acting director of the Geological Survey and Colonial Museum. You can read more about Walter Mantell here.

When Walter's father Gideon died of narcotic poisoning, after taking an overdose of pain medication, some of his most treasured fossils made their way to New Zealand. One of these is depicted in the photo attached to this post: the fossilised tooth of an Iguanodon discovered by his mother in Cuckfield, West Sussex. It is now part of the collections held at Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. After investigating this weekend, however, it is sadly not on public display.

The tooth was found in 1820 and Gideon Mantell realised that it did not belong to any living animal or reptile, although he found some similarities with the much smaller iguana found in the Caribbean. The name that Gideon Mantell gave to the animal from which the tooth had come was Iguanodon meaning 'Iguana-tooth'. Unlike other reptiles, however, this tooth has a flattened surface used for grinding, indicating that Iguanodon was a herbivore. Gideon Mantell then became obsessed with finding as much evidence of the creatures that roamed the prehistoric world as possible. His finds, along with those of other scientists, laid part of the foundation for Darwin's work on evolution, which shook the religious and historical certainties of the intellectual world of the 19th century to their foundations, the effects of which are still being worked through in the present. It is somewhat ironic, I think, that the quarrying and mining demanded by the rapid transformation of Britain into a 'modern' industrialised country, and which fostered and expanded Britain's empire including New Zealand, also turned up the evidence that would so radically transform the way people thought about the world.

On Tennis

2008-06-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

This may be news to some of you, but I have developed quite the armchair interest in tennis over the last few years. It all started back in Japan in 1999, when televised tennis was one of the few things that I could understand on the box. This was around the time that the charismatic Williams' sisters were starting to make their mark on the world-stage. Not only have I followed their story-book careers with interest since then, but have also followed other favourites such as Justine Henin, the 'little Belgian' with an equally intriguing story, who recently retired as World No.1 just before Roland Garros. I've also been hooked, as has just about everyone else, with the growing Federer v Nadal rivalry, and am wondering if Rafael will cause the ultimate upset at Wimbledon this year. Last year's final on grass between them was certainly much much closer than the final of the French Open this year.

There are many things that I enjoy about tennis. One is the thrill of a very evenly matched high-level contest that goes the distance and could go either way (I'm thinking of Lindsay Davenport v Venus Williams at Wimbledon in 2005, or Federer v Nadal at Wimbledon last year, for example). Another, as I mentioned above, is the story-book histories of some of the highest-ranking players, such as Henin, the Williams' sisters, and the now dominant Serbian trio. Yet another is the salutary lessons on how much success is ultimately based on discipline, hard work, mental & emotional toughness and desire. Talent gets you so far, I guess, but the other aspects are at least is important, if not more so, when it comes down to it. In these days of reality TV, where people can get their 15 minutes of fame for singing a song really badly in front of cynical record execs or snogging someone they don't know under a duvet in a day-glo house, it is heartening to see a more traditional approach to success being rewarded.

Which brings me to the actual piece of news that inspired this post. This year, one of the most exciting things to happen in the tennis world, especially for a New Zealand fan, has been the rise and rise of Marina Erakovic. She is currently, I think, no 64 in the world. I repeat, in the WORLD. That is no mean feat for a player from a country that is not a strong tennis-playing country. She started the year by reaching the semi-final of the ASB Classic in Auckland, and has picked up some ITF titles along the way too. Her new world ranking qualified her to automatically enter the French Open, during which she advanced to the second round to be knocked out by eventual semi-finalist Jelena Jankovic. She will also automatically qualify for Wimbledon and has a strong chance, based on her stellar year so far, of being an 11th-hour inclusion to the NZ Olympic team to Beijing. This week she reached her first WTA Tier III semi-final at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, perhaps her best result to date, and great preparation for Wimbledon. This is the best result for NZ tennis is YEARS and she is still only 20.

So what is the point of all this information? Don't worry, I'm on the point of making my increasingly indignant stance clear. You would think that in a sports-mad country such as this, whose traditional sporting heroes, I might add, have not exactly covered themselves with glory in recent times, that Erakovic might be getting the plaudits she so obviously deserves. A mere five months since her performance in Auckland she is no 64 in the world, playing and holding her own with the big names, and doing well in tournaments and Grand Slams, but how is this reported in that shameful rag, the NZ Herald? Looking for her result in the Birmingham semi-final against one of the Bondarenko sisters, I had to use the search function to find the belitting item, 'Erakovic fails to reach final'. OK that's technically correct, but it could have put a more positive spin on it. And the negative cast of the headline continued throughout the article, which contained the comment, ' It is Erakovic's third loss in a WTA semi-final'. Again, technically true, but another more positive way to put it, especially given all the information set out above, is 'Erakovic has reached three WTA semi-finals in a break-through year for her. However, despite her winning run, she couldn't get past Bondarenko'. Or similar. This immature and cultural cringe-worthy reportage (which, by the way, is of a piece with the treatment Tim Henman, and now Andy Murray, regularly got from the British media) spectacularly fails to acknowledge the tremendous effort and work that must have gone in for Erakovic to get this apparently 'crappy' result. It's as if because NZ occasionally manages to beat everyone else at rugby that we routinely expect the same of all our sports-people and, frankly, that's just not realistic and shows a stunning lack of support for the results they do achieve. I'm not writing this to say that her current results are the best Erakovic can ever hope to get. She clearly has reasonable targets ahead for herself, such as breaking into the Top 50 this year, and wants to progress as far as she can. But it's like nothing less than her occupying the no 1 spot will satisfy NZers and that is a very very poor show of the kind of support that we give people who give their all to bring us their reflected glory. The moral of this story then is: recognise the work and effort that it takes to go so far and support the people who are doing well and, even when they fall, support them even then because that's when they need it the most!!! It's not exactly rocket-science...

There. I feel a bit better now having got that off my chest.

The Queen is Dead

2008-05-30T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ha! I wish.. Clearly all the Smiths that I am listening to on my walk to work are having an effect on me... It is, however, Queen's Birthday this weekend and we have a well-earned break from work. It is also the weekend before the return of Dr Ropata, late of Guatemala, to this parish. Already his slightly ironic, slightly wooden delivery is enlivening the Shorty St promos. I wonder if his return will have the seismic impact that the return of Rachel McKenna and Guy Warner did last year? A great question deserving serious consideration. In other news, we have indeed booked our trip to sunny Queensland and will be heading there in August for some winter sun. And crocodiles. Well, maybe not the latter so much, if we can avoid it.

Triple jump?

2008-05-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding like a Seinfeld episode, I have to ask 'triple jump - what's up with that?' My thoughts turned to this quite bizarre sport after watching an ad which featured said jump. I'm sorry, but I don't get it. I get long jump: you run up as fast as you can to get forward momentum and then jump propelling yourself forward to go as far into the sand-filled pit as you can. Triple jump is essentially the same thing but you take two bounds before finally hurtling yourself into the pit. What I want to know is, why? Surely this just retards momentum and means you can't jump as far? And not only that, why, if there is long jump and triple jump, is there no double jump? How did we get from one jump to three jumps without two jumps in the middle? It's really quite mystifying. And yes, I do have plenty to keep me occupied, thanks for asking.

Matariki

2008-05-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

One thing sorely missing from the middle of the NZ year is a decent public holiday or festival period. In the northern hemisphere, Christmas is obviously the mid-winter festival that breaks up the darkness, cold and monotony of the winter. In NZ, however, the wintry stretch between the first Monday in June (Queen's Birthday observed) to Labour Weekend in October is without a single day where people can kick back and relax (unless of course they take annual leave).

What we do have that is unique to NZ is Matariki, or the Maaori New Year. Usually falling around 21 June, this festival marks the rising of Matariki or the Pleiaides / Seven Sisters in the sky and was traditionally a time of remembering the dead and celebrating new life. Given that this is specifically NZ festival, that also breaks the gloom of mid-winter, why don't we adopt this as a national festival and/or public holiday? It's certainly gaining in popularity among non-Maaori, so why don't we have a few days off in mid-June for this festival instead of celebrating the fact some old queen still hasn't died yet?

Queensland Here We Come!

2008-05-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, listening to a spot of Morrissey on a rainy Saturday afternoon (hence the blog title trivia-spotters) and contemplating sojourns in sunnier climes. After our trip to Fiji last year, and possibly also still feeling hemisphere-disorientation, we're keen to soak up a bit more winter sun this year. But where to go? I wanted to go to Australia, where Dan has never been, but the obvious southern attractions - Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide etc - are pretty wintry too. Answer: sunny Queensland! I've been to Brisbane before, but not since I was small. My abiding memory of it is wasps trying to drink mine and Michael's orange drink and having to abandon it, possibly at Lone Pine or some other animal park kind of place. Not that we have actually booked anything yet, but we're keen to fly to Cairns and head further north to Port Douglas and check out the beaches, rainforest and reef. Anyone got any fab suggestions of what to check out in this neck of the woods?

Rage Against the Machine

2008-05-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

OK this is the moment in my blog where I partially reveal the extent of my rage against the world, and NZ car-drivers, in particular. I have started a one-person campaign against Wellington drivers, especially those on the The Terrace on the way to work in the morning. Every morning, without fail, arrogant car-drivers, who clearly subscribe to a political philosophy of 'might makes right', attempt to mow down innocently meandering pedestrians going about their business. This is particularly the case when turning into the many car-parking buildings on the Terrace, but is not limited to it. So I have decided to take a leaf out of the book of many great leaders and have adopted a strategy of passive resistance in relation to these domineering antics. Rather than waiting in a docile fashion on the footpath (Note: 'foot-path' not 'car-path') while these lumbering hunks of metal go about their business, I have been continuing to walk along the path in front of them, so they get the message that actually the footpath is for pedestrians and they should wait their turn before turning over it. I seem to be gaining some ground with this, and have fortunately not been bowled over by someone taking their sense of divinely-appointed rights to the extreme. Unfortunately, my fellow pedestrians are still stopping in their habitually subservient manner. Keep on walking, I say! You have nothing to lose but your sense of perspective....

You're Not in Aotearoa Anymore Dr Silverstone!

2008-05-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

Well no pics of my own this time because for some reason I completely forgot to take any when the good Doctor was visiting. Maybe I can only cope with one piece of technology at a time, and seeing as my generous former colleagues at the Tribunal gave me an ipod nano as a leaving present, my camera has had to take a back seat...

Did lots of fun Wellington things (and went to one not-so-fun party), however, despite lack of visual evidence including drinks at Mighty Mighty and going to see the Whales / Tohora exhibition at Te Papa. This is really good - much better than the Egyptian one they did a while back. A huge whale skeleton dominated the exhibition space and there were some great AV-recreations of diving with a whale to the depths of the sea chasing food (including an ink attack from a giant squid). Kids in the area seemed to like crawling through the many chambers of the model whale heart too. Oh wait, here's a picture from the Te Papa website of three killer whales. It looks like Dan, Catherine and me waiting expectantly for more fries...

Food was also a feature: yummy dinner at the Matterhorn, Kaffee Eis ice-cream, Burger Fuel vege burgers, and, for some mysterious reasons, lots of fries (for this I blame Catherine and Dan. I, of course, abstained). Mmmm food! Must be dinner time....

Introducing Minnie the Lizard Slayer

2008-03-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

We have, of late, been receiving many visitations from our upstairs-neighbour's cat, Minnie. Despite the fact that she has a doting owner already and we both suffer from varying degrees of cat allergy, Minnie has worked her way into our lives. Especially this Easter weekend, when said doting owner has obviously gone away leaving her starved of attention and companionship. This weekend she has taken to meow-ing forlornly outside our door so that we will let her in and lavish some attention on her. Purring as soon as she is permitted entry, she stalks around our not-very-big flat looking in every nook and cranny. Her favourite places appear to be lying on top of Dan's laptop bag and sliding around on the floor and deck. We have taken to tip-toeing in and out of the house in order not to attract her attention if she isn't already installed by the door awaiting our return. She is no docile moggy, however. Those sharp teeth are responsible for the multitude of lizard tails littering our path - hence her nickname...

Auckland and about

2008-03-23T22:26:00.001-07:00

On 16 February, the salubrious date of my arrival on this mortal coil, Dan and I headed up to Auckland for a whistle-stop overnight trip to see Sonic Youth play 'Daydream Nation'. We spent the day catching up with Tanya and Jonathan and wee Felix, and pottering along K Road and Queen St before ferrying out to Devonport and then heading out to Takapuna where the gig was. Definitely glad we went, but the element of surprise was somewhat removed by the playing of the album in order. Have to say too that the tracks off their recent album that they played as an encore weren't quite as good, in my humble opinion.

Back to Raglan

2008-03-23T22:18:00.000-07:00

In scenes reminiscent of 'Groundhog Day', Day 2 of our trip to the Tron saw Kevin, Esther and Juliet join us for another trip to Raglan.

We even had lunch at the same cafe, Aqua Velvet, where Joshie and Julie are exchanging conspiratorial whispers in the first photo. After lunch, we headed back to almost the exact same spot we'd set up camp in the day before. After much larking about in the water - which unfortunately led to some passers-by being mistakenly pelted with sand - we re-discovered our fort of the day before. With more workers on the case, we extended it to create an interlocking series of pools and conduits for small people - and bigger people too - to lounge around in.

After much beach fun, we headed back to H-town. Clearly, in photo 4, the cousins are plotting further mischief in the backyard. In photo 5, Dan looks like he's about to cop it from Master Joshua, who is looking to bring his Jedi skills to bear on Dan's head....

Back to the Old House...

2008-03-23T22:11:00.001-07:00

It seems that we cannot keep away from H-town! A mere 3 weeks after returning to Wellington, Dan and I found ourselves heading northward yet again. There was, however, a good reason: seasoned international traveller Joshua Koishi-Pryor (and his dad) was making one of his nearly-annual trips to Aotearoa, so we went up for a meet and greet session. Joshie is a year older than when we last saw him, but is as adorable as ever. The biggest change would be that his father seems to have succeeded in brainwashing him to like Star Wars. However, young Joshua is already showing signs of filial rebellion: he prefers Episodes 1-3 to 4-6. He even appears to like Jar-Jar Binks.

We spent our first day of three with Joshie and Mike on the beach at lovely Raglan. The weather was great and we spent ages in the water, as well as taking snaps. After we'd all been for a swim, Dan, Mike and I built a massive ring-fort in the middle of the low-tide exposed sand, while Joshie 'supervised'. We liked it so much, we went back the next day with more workers to help....

Wellington's Wild South Coast

2008-03-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

These photos of our windswept walk along Wellington's south coast were taken just days after our sunny trip to the Coromandel. Must be that maritime climate, eh?

The way home...

2008-02-16T18:47:00.001-08:00

And just to finally wind up our Christmas-New Year holiday (!), here is the 'last post' on it... Our trip to Coromandel Town was on New Year's Eve and we drove back via the sealed State Highway, occasionally nearly running off the road trying to catch glimpses of the fantastic scenery. I really can't stress enough how lovely it is up there. We went out to dinner in Whitianga to see in the new year - a great Indian restaurant whose name escapes me for the moment. And I'll let the evening lie there.. New Year's day was yet again spent on the beach - amazing how that never gets tiring. This time we stopped at Kuaotonu, further north from Whitianga. The surf was pretty high and, although we enjoyed the swim, it was also a bit hazardous. I got smacked in the nose misjudging a wave coming towards me!

The next day we drove back to Hamilton via another gravel road: this time linked up to the State Highway near Thames, another stunning part of the coastline. We stooped briefly en route at Rapaura Falls Park to have a coffee. This looked like a great landscaped waterfall eco-park but we were feeling the financial pinch a bit by then and decided to pass for now. I particularly liked the welcome sign though... (see photo)

Foolishly, we didn't stop in Thames for lunch, but carried on to Paeroa, my former home for one brief shining year. At first glance, things seemed to have livened up a bit in the town: it looked like there were some nice cafes and such (closed of course for the Jan 2 public holiday) and we pottered around in various antique (ie. junk) shops for a bit. As we headed out of town towards Te Aroha though, the grimness re-asserted itself in the form of abandoned and run-down buildings, making me glad all over again that we moved onto H-town (and a timely reminder of why Hamilton sometimes is 'where it's happening'). We stopped for lunch instead in Te Aroha, which is a bit bigger than Paeroa and houses a lovely Edwardian hot pool and park complex. Sadly, however public holiday-itis had hit the eating establishments here too and we had to make do with some very average bakery food.

And then the holiday drew to a close. One more day in Hamilton and then it was back to Wellington and the daily grind. : (

Driving Creek Railway

2008-02-16T18:45:00.001-08:00

And the Driving Creek Railway gets a post all of its own! This quirky tourist attraction is a must if you're in the neighbourhood. It's the work of NZ potter Barry Brickell, who was responsible for the building of the narrow-gauge railway and re-planting of native trees and bush. The ride last about an hour and winds its way up a hill through stunning native bush to the Eyefull Tower, a truly terrible pun but a stunning view from the top. At the terminus - and dotted along the route - Barry's pottery is in evidence, from whimsical sculptures made of spare railway parts to more accomplished works. A sculpture garden contains work that Barry made with NZ artist Nigel Brown too. Other iconic NZ artists are referenced too, as in photo 4: Colin McCahon's 'I Am' series for those not in the know. Pretty sure the 'looking for a truth train' is Barry's own work though... Maybe with a little help from Cat Stevens. Seriously, this is a really great trip and it was a beautiful evening to take it. The first photo of the next post is the view from the top through the window of the train.

Coromandel town

2008-02-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

After some hardcore beach action the previous day, that had included two swims, snorkelling and a boat-trip, we decided to explore more of what the Coromandel had to offer. We decided to head to Coromandel Town on the West side of the peninsula via the 309 gravel road. Strangely not very busy at all, this road has plenty of beauty spots: river walks, kauri groves and waterfalls. We stopped en route to check out some kauri that had survived the intensive logging of the 19th century (see photo 4). Unfortunately there isn't much in the photo to show the scale of these trees, but they are giants, apparently reaching adult-size while Joan of Arc was rampaging against the English. After visiting the trees, we bumped along the road to the funky town of Coromandel, a haven for artists, environmentalists, Buddhists and other seeking an alternative to the rat-race. We had a very tasty lunch indeed at Peppertree (so-named for the large pepper-tree shading the courtyard) and then wandered the streets looking in organic food shops and the plentiful design stores. We booked to go on the Driving Creek Railway - just out of town - on their last trip of the day and whiled away the afternoon until then at nearby Oamaru Bay.

Hahei

2008-02-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

I should probably be brief here, so I can wind up these holiday posts - especially as we are now well into February. Day 3 saw us drive around to Hahei -a longish excursion by road, but not far at all in a boat. We swam and sunned ourselves at Hahei beach (first pic), before going on a boat trip round the coast, taking in Cathedral Cove, Hahei, the Whanganui-a-Hei marine reserve and some snorkelling. Hahei was probably the busiest beach we visited, but - as you can see - that was not too busy at all. Part of the boat trip included snorkelling off the boat in one of the sheltered coves. Unlike Fiji, the snorkelling spot was teeming with kelp and other underwater plants rather than fish, but it was fun nonetheless. We rounded out our trip to this part of the coast, by having dinner under the kiwifruit and grape vines at Purangi vineyard with the sun shining down on us. The setting was gorgeous - both at the beach and at the vineyard - but, after the previous day, the food was pretty average. If you're heading to Hahei, look elsewhere first before lunching at Luna cafe....

Walking to Cook's Beach

2008-01-27T20:37:00.001-08:00

After the long and winding drive up to Whitianga the previous day, we spent much of the second day of our trip walking and getting lost! In the morning, we took the ferry across the harbour mouth to Ferry Landing (another name which pretty much is what it says on the tin), which took all of about two minutes. From there we explored a great deal of the Whitianga Rock Historic and Scenic reserve, walking up first to an old pa site. From the top, we got a great view over to Whitianga town itself (which is where the first picture in the last blog was taken from). Walking down from there, we entered a very scenic and secluded bay, and made our first attempt at climbing over the volcanic plug and hills to Front Beach and Flaxmill Bay. I say 'first attempt' because somehow or other we managed to take the wrong turning on a not-particularly-well-signposted path and ended up trying to scale a vertical and just about impenetrable sheer rock face! I'm really not sure how that happened, though I guess we should have been alerted by the fact that the undergrowth was quite difficult to get through.... Once we were close to the top of our 'path not (usually) taken' we ran into a stone wall with no apparent way over the top. Curiously, however, this virtually unpassable rock-face had a ledge cut out of it with a wooden picnic-table perched precariously on top of it. With some contorted manouvering, Dan managed to climb up to it, and we found lots of smashed beer bottles littered around, evidence that this was some kind of hidden manly haunt! This didn't, however, solve our problem of how to get up and over the hill... Accepting the inevitable, we went back the way we came... Halfway back, we came across another track that didn't really look like a track. Torn between not wanting to get lost again and wanting to find a quicker way over than going all the way back to the bottom again, we chanced our luck. Fortunately, it was indeed the right track. We could tell by the way it wasn't overgrown, wasn't as steep and didn't end in a vertical cliff-face.... The first photo is a view back down from the top.

Feeling pretty hot and bothered, we arrived on the road from Ferry Landing to Flaxmill Bay, probably not very far from where we had got off the ferry a couple of hours beforehand! In need of some sustenance, we stopped at Eggcentric cafe for an early lunch. Despite the terrible name, this cafe was great! Nice food, intriguing artwork (if not always exactly good...) and plenty of colourful letter-boxes outside. I had seared scallops for lunch - yum! Scallops are a regional specialty and Whitianga holds a Scallop festival each year.

After lunch, we walked up to Shakespeare's Lookout, which gave a great view out over Mercury Bay (the whole area, including Whitianga and the various bays and beaches surrounding it). We also spotted copious native trees and birds, including nesting oyster-catchers, en route. From there, we walked down to Lonely Bay, a sheltered spot, round the corner from the more populous Cook's Beach. I think this beach was probably my favourite of the trip (although there was serious competition). It was not very busy, and was well-shaded (very important in the fierce NZ sun), with lovely, inviting turquoise water. It must be said that its prime position on my list of beaches, may be due to the fact that we had walked for ages in the baking sun ... Photo three is a view of the beach at Lonely Bay, while photo four is a view looking down on it from the lookout (with Cook's Beach in the background).

After sunning and swimming (as well, of course, as slip-slop-slapping), we decided to keep walking round to Cook's Beach. This was much bigger than Lonely Bay and more people were enjoying its undoubted charms. The great thing about this residential beach is that it doesn't seem to have been too swamped with huge, expensive beach houses...yet. It still seemed quite laidback and informal, although I'm sure the humble-looking bachs retail for mega-bucks. Of course, we stopped for a swim here too, before we hoofed our way back - along the road this time! - to Ferry Landing.

The Crossing-Place

2008-01-27T20:16:00.001-08:00

Once again, I have made a belated start to my blogging for 2008. However, I am attempting to fight off my post-holiday lethargy and get back into it. At the close of my last post, I briefly outlined where Dan and I went on our 6-day tiki tour of Coromandel. During our trip, we were based in the harbour town of Whitianga (see view of the town above in the first picture). The full name of the town is 'Te Whitianga-a-Kupe' or, 'The Crossing-Place of Kupe', a reference to the ancient Polynesian explorer. Despite it being peak holiday season, the town didn't feel too crowded or over-run, and we had a very mellow time. The only major slowdown due to the increased population was a 45-min wait at the fish-and-chip shop!

We stayed at a motel which was somewhat prosaically called Albert No 6 (it was located at no 6 Albert St) and it had a slightly...er... eccentric air about it. The rooms were fairly basic, but there was a toast-and-jam breakfast thrown in for the price, and it was very close to the main beach. It was run, however, by an antipodean, female Del-boy, who appeared to lose no opportunity to make money! The third photo in this post shows a sign that was up in our room (and presumably in all the others as well). For sale at the office, and no doubt cheap at the price, was a toilet and standing wash-basin! And when I say 'at the office' there was a 'live' version of each on display outside the door... But wait! There's more.... Not only could you purchase said bathroom suite, but you could also purchase a fractional share in the title of the motel itself. This would get you a certain percentage of the profits and a free place to stay... but only in the off-peak season. The motel website also listed further 'great' deals for holidaymakers in the form of murder-mystery weekends and international student packages. The owner certainly didn't miss a trick and her chutzpah added to the our enjoyment of the holiday...

Happy Holidays in H-Town

2008-01-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

2007 has hurtled past and we are now in 2008 with the end of the noughties in sight. Jan '08 is the 15-month mark for Dan and me in Aotearoa. To mark this auspicious occasion, we went up to Hamilton for Christmas and then made our way to the Coromandel peninsula for 6 days over New Year. I have to say the holiday-period was remarkably stress-free and relaxing. While heading off on a walk, I spotted this sign near my parents' house. Coincidence? I think not... During the walk, Dan and I ventured along the mighty Waikato river, which was actually looking very tranquil and inviting.

On 27 December, we visited Raglan with Kevin, Esther and Juliet, who is now a few days shy of 4 years old. Both these pictures of Julie were taken during this trip, representing two separate moods - thoughtful cafe patron and manic butterfly-girl. Raglan seems to be booming even more each time we visit. Here's hoping that doesn't mean it will lose the things about it that are so appealing....

Will be updating my blog with more thrilling installments from our beach holiday over the next week or so. As a brief outline, we left the Tron on 28 December and headed to Whitianga via Tairua. During the course of our stay, we visited Flaxmill Bay, Lonely Bay, Cooks Beach, Hahei, Coromandel Town ... and even Paeroa and Te Aroha, for old time's sake. We went on a boat-trip, did some snorkelling, went on a massive trek, drove down two metal roads, went on one narrow-gauge railway, and swam every day. Needless to say, the return to work was somewhat of a reality-check...

The Port of Napier

2007-12-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

Last but not least... just before we hit the road back to Wellington again, we drove up to the Bluff Hill lookout. The view over Napier, the port, harbour and surrounding area was amazing. It was baking hot by this stage of the afternoon and I gather the mercury hit 30 degrees. A lot of the surrounding hills were turning golden brown in the sun, a striking contrast with the turquoise-blue of the sea. As well as the port, another interesting feature of the lookout were the grafitti-ed plants...

The Mission

2007-12-22T16:37:00.000-08:00

No not the film! On Sunday, which was even hotter and bluer than Saturday, we visited a couple of Hawke's Bay's many wineries. We had lunch at Church Road, to the dulcet sounds of a saxophonist (!) and then visited the nearby Mission Estate, NZ's oldest winery. This was established by the Marist Brothers in the 19th century and is clearly still doing a roaring trade today. The old Mission house and grounds were absolutely beautiful and the wine wasn't too shabby either! Check out the old photo of the priests testing the wine - the guy on the right looks pretty smashed already and is trying to seriously hold it together for the camera....

Ahuriri

2007-12-22T16:34:00.001-08:00

Well I'm certainly on a roll here with the whole Napier blogging thing! These are some photos from Ahuriri, which is over the hill from Napier town centre. The National Tobacco Company building was also re-built in Art Deco style and is probably the best example of it we saw. I guess then, as now, there's a lot of money in smoking! Also included here is the old Customhouse building and a flower-laden Pohutakawa tree. Meri Kirihimete!

Hawke's Bay Museum

2007-12-22T16:23:00.001-08:00

We visited the Hawke's Bay Museum as well, which had some great and not-so-great exhibitions. Among the former was the display about the earthquake, with video interviews with survivors and footage of the devastation caused. It definitely made me hope that 'the big one' doesn't hit Wellington any time soon. More recently, it looks as if Gisborne got off comparatively lightly in the 6.8 earthquake a few days ago. There was also a fabulous exhibition of prints, paintings and carpets (!) by Don Ramage called 'Steel Jungle'. I recommend this one if you get a chance to see it. There was also a collection of household objects 'through the years' display, which gathered objects like vacuum cleaners, typewriters, phones and so on from each decade since 1900. Settler William Colenso's printing press was also on display. Perhaps less well thought out was the 'display' of 1999-2005 cyperpunk. Sounds interesting but really wasn't. Basically, there were 5 mannequins dressed in OTT rave outfits from the likes of Cyberdog in Camden Market: it looked like a couple of people returning from their OE donated a couple of outfits and that was pretty much it. And some trance music was playing from one-set of headphones. The two photos here represent two-fifths of the exhibition!

Random photos of Napier

2007-12-22T16:21:00.001-08:00

Marine Parade

2007-12-22T16:13:00.001-08:00

Just across the road from Opossum World is Marine Parade, which comprises some landscaped gardens, an art deco Soundshell, Marine World and, of course, the iconic statue of Pania. The whole complex has a slightly 1950s-ish air to it. The beach itself is probably not the most attractive in NZ: the sand is pebbly and grey and the current is too strong for swimmers. The statute of Pania was stolen and returned a little while ago (question: how on earth did they remove this thing? it looks pretty heavy to me!) The rather vacuous and sentimentalised Pania statue commemorates the Maori story, 'Pania of the Reef', in which Pania becomes the reef (sorry, I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I'm sure you can google it). The memorial to the 'Veronica' is from the people of Napier to the sailors of HMS Veronica, a ship that was moored in port the day of the Napier earthquake. The sailors assisted in the rescue and clean-up of the central part of the town.

Opposum World

2007-12-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

This place has to be seen to be believed! At the back of this shop, which almost exclusively sells possum-related products, is a display about the most noxious of pests: the possum. Introduced from Australia, where it is a protected species, the possum has caused havoc for the native flora and fauna of Aotearoa. However, one could argue that the virulence with which New Zealanders treat this actually-quite-cute little critter is a manifestation of Pakeha colonial guilt. Some of the displays were kind of amusing in a kitschy way (see the mini pics - 'look two moons'!) but the display cases showing the life-cycle of the possum by means of pickled dead babies was pretty grim. Can't say that it made me want to buy any possum products afterwards! Check out the Bridge of Remembrance too.

Around and About in Napier

2007-12-22T16:00:00.001-08:00

Here are some more pics from our stroll around the centre of Napier. The first is the Barry Bros building plus jacaranda tree. Judging from the date, it escaped the earthquake more-or-less intact. The next two are of the Napier municipal buildings, including a library 'muriel'. Then Blythe's building on the main drag. Finally, there's vista of Napier itself taken from the top of Bluff Hill.

Art deco

2007-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Dan and I went up to Napier to visit Maria before she left to take up a new teaching job in Manurewa. We hitched a ride up with her landlord / flatmate Paul, passing through Wairarapa wine country and such NZ hotspots as Dannevirke and Eketahuna. The central business district of Napier was pretty much levelled in a big earthquake in 1931 and was rebuilt in the then-fashionable style of Art Deco. Since the last time I visited Napier circa 1988, someone on the local tourism board has cottoned on to the idea that this would be a great thing to use to market the town. I'm not sure if Miami needs to look to its laurels just yet, but Art Deco Napier is well worth a visit. There's even an annual Art Deco weekend in February. These pics show the Spanish Mission-style Criterion hotel (now a backpackers), the Provincial hotel, the Carillion (which was chiming Christmas carols while we were there), a Lion's head fountain and a lamp-post .

Earthquake!

2007-12-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

Last night at 8.55pm an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale shook Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island. Judging from the news this morning, nobody has been seriously hurt, but there was serious damage to buildings in the town centre. The quake was felt as far away as Dunedin (in the south of the South Island). At the time, Dan and I were at Circa theatre on Wellington's waterfront (which is on reclaimed land) watching a performance of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (which left something to be desired, but that's another story...). The raked sitting started swaying quite violently and there was a distinct rumbling. The actors even halted mid-scene as we all looked around wondering if we should be diving for the nearest doorway. After a few interminable seconds of being shaken, the earth seemed to calm down a bit and Blanche and Mitch resumed their strained courtship.... Check out the story and photos at:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10483683

'Barbarism Begins At Home'

2007-12-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be aware of the spat between novelist Martin Amis and critic Terry Eagleton, over Amis's incredibly ill-judged 'thought experiments' (i.e. racist and reactionary comments) about Muslims in Britain and the War on Terror. The opinion piece by Ronan Bennett in the Guardian on this was very good, and the virtually incoherent response by Christopher Hitchens wasn't. Following these two pieces, the Guardian interviewed Eagleton (see URL below) and the resultant article is well worth reading, despite the rather arch tone adopted by the journalist and a certain amount of self-romanticising. His warning to the liberal left on the neo-imperialism implicit in its rationalism is timely:

'The implication from Amis and McEwan - and from Hitchens and Richard Dawkins - is that civilisation and atheist rationalism go together, and I think that is a very dangerous argument to make. The debate over God - Muslim or Christian - is for them increasingly becoming code for a debate on civilisation versus barbarism. I think one needs to intervene and show the limitations of that.'

Read the full interview at:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,2228092,00.html

Miramar and Thorndon

2007-12-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

And now the hurly-burly's done.... It's just a week before Christmas and the working year is winding down for those of us in the Southern hemisphere. Only three and a half more days until we can head off on our summer break. I say 'summer' although, currently, there is quite a downpour outside.

The start of December was marked, especially, by the end of my te reo class. It's been quite an intensive year: two three-hour classes a week, plus two noho marae and other associated activities. The wairua of the class was great and really supportive, largely due to the lovely people who were involved. I think I've learned a lot from the year and would totally recommend the Te Ataarangi programme to people who want to attain a really high level in an immersion environment. I've also learned that my free time is precious! As such, while I intend to keep learning next year, it will be in a less time-intensive way.

The end of the class was marked by a well-earned party at Miramar bowling club on December 1, a venue notable for the cheap drinks available. There was also karaoke and lots of food!

The next day was the annual Thorndon fair. Dan and I dragged our hungover selves along and, consequently, struggled a bit in the heat and crowd. Some timely hot chips and coffee came to the rescue, however. I'll post some photos of the event when I get home... and here they are!

Tauranga Moana

2007-11-25T00:34:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of November, I was lucky enough to be able to spend 3 days working in Tauranga. I drove around the city and surrounding area, getting a feel for the district and checking out some important sites. There were a couple of things that struck me about the area. First is that the small rural oasis between Mount Maunganui and Papamoa seems to be in great danger of disappearing. Already there seemed to be glossy subdivision plans on display on the some of the remaining blocks of land. Second, that Mauao is a distinctive and iconic presence around the region. I could clearly see it from Papamoa, Tauranga city centre, Judea, Mt Maunganui, and Omokoroa. These photos are just come of the many I took during the trip. Most of them, however, are of pieces of 'undeveloped' land. These show the view down the hill from Mangatawa, the mother whale. Mauao can clearly be seen in the distance, as can the town, the line of the sewage pipe and the warning sign for a gas pipeline. A good deal of Mangatawa hill itself has been blasted away by quarrying operations. The second photo shows Maungatapu marae, tucked in just at the end of the peninsula where the Tauranga-Te Maunga motorway crosses the harbour to the Matapihi peninsula. The third photo of a Katikati information sign is not really work related, but kinda took my fancy. As apparently it also did for someone else..... The fourth photo shows McLaren Falls, part of the Kaimai hydro project. Despite the fact the Wairoa River has been harnessed for power generation, it is still very beautiful up there. Just a little further on from McLaren Falls is McLaren Falls Park, a recreation site around the artificial hyrdro lakes. The final photo shows low tide at Omokoroa. The long thin line in the background is Matakana Island. I didn't make it out there this trip, but would love to go across some time in the future.

Diwali

2007-10-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here, at last, are the Diwali pictures - plus one extra of my feet! If you look closely you might be able to spot my left ankle starting to swell.... ; )

Over Labour weekend, which was marked by some pretty fabulous weather - much better than this time last year, we had another visit from Maria of Napier. It was also Diwali, the festival of lights, and we took advantage of the series of activities on offer at the TSB Arena on the waterfront. There was plenty of yummy vegetarian food to be had, as well as dancing, sitar playing and lots more.

The Moorings

2007-10-29T19:40:00.001-07:00

Dan and I went to an acoustic music evening a couple of weeks ago at a great old house in Thorndon called the Moorings. The music was mixed, but included performances by Age Pryor (no relation), the Jess Chambers Project, Justin Firely and JessieJames. The house itself, however, was, in my humble opinion, the star of the show. The gig took place on a 'ballroom' that had been added to the main house. I'm not sure what the exact date of this was, but apparently it was when Lambton Quay was the original Wellington shoreline. So quite a while ago then. The audience was told that when ships were in port, a flag would be raised at the top of the house and people would come on up and party at the house. Although this room is described as a ballroom, it seems on the small side for quadrilles and reels to me (especially given my vast experience in these matters). As you can see, it's fallen into disrepair somewhat, but this adds to its Addams-family-esque charm. I particularly liked the port-hole windows and peeling newspaper.

Flora and fauna

2007-10-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

Finally! As you can see I have now been able to upload my flora and fauna pics. Although the moment has some what passed...
The first scary wee fella was lounging - ok, dead - on our steps a few weeks ago. The second pic is off the calla lilies also near the steps. A few weeks ago the hills and valleys around Wellington were strewn with lilies, but now, alas, they have mostly started rotting away. Such is the circle of life...
The last pics are photos of our walk to work. On any given sunny morning, there are 'postcard views' over Wellington city, harbour and hills.

Isa Lei

2007-10-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd better finish off my account of this trip before everyone died of old age. Although Charles Dickens published his novels in serial format, I should probably not flatter myself that my holiday snaps are on a par with 'Nicholas Nickleby' or something. Sunday was our last day on the island and after a final tasty lunch (kokoda and cassava fries for me - yum!), we hopped back on the boat back to head back to the mainland. As each group left, a group of villagers sung 'Isa Lei' to the departing guests. For some reason - maybe because it was Sunday - there was no singing, although a group of villagers came down to the beach and sat by the shore until the boat had left. It was time for some last views of the island and environs, as we headed back past the Mamunuca islands to Vuda Point en route to Nadi.

Back in Nadi, we headed into town for our last night in Fiji. After the biggest pizza in the world at Mama's Pizza, we checked out a Bollywood film 'Hey Baby', loosely based on 'Three Men and a Baby'. If you ever get a chance, you should definitely catch this slice of cinematic weirdness. Trust me when I say the spontaneous singing and dancing was the least strange thing about it. We couldn't fail to leave with the message of the film impressed upon us: 'A child needs a mother most of all, but a child needs a father too'. Especially as they said it about twenty times like a chorus.

And so to our last morning. We didn't have time to do much except head out to the airport, where I snapped this pic of the curious public phones. Duty-free in Fiji is amazing! It's so cheap compared to NZ that I went a little bit crazy... But anyway, thus concludes our travels in the Friendly Isles. Despite the political situation, which seems to be much more complicated than the NZ media ad politicians will allow for, it's a great place to visit. Bula!

Diver Dan

2007-10-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

As mentioned in the previous blog entry, there were a number of activities on offer at the resort. Dan took advantage of the beginner's dive course, first learning how to use the equipment in the pool and then heading out to sea for his first proper dive. I was content to first sit by the pool and watch him sipping my iced coffee and then snorkel just off the beach... He seems to have enjoyed it a lot, although that night he started feeling somewhat off-colour. The next morning, when we due to take a boat trip around some of the other islands in the Yasawa group and snorkel at a spot populated by manta rays, he woke up with a raging fever. So no boat trip. : ( Dan spent the day in bed looking very worse for wear, while I sat outside reading and periodically checking on him. He was recovered enough by the next day to get up and move around. This was fortunate as it was also the day we were due to leave the island. I've also included another island view. This one is taken from the top of the hill on the track to the village, where I went to the Methodist service on the morning that we left. A reasonable group of us went to the 90-minute service, but, by the end, it was just me and an American guy left. It was pretty sweltering in the church, and the service was in Fijian, but I'm glad I stayed for the choir's singing and the thunderous sermon. We also had a chance afterwards to briefly congregate with the villagers. Have to say that I think the Fijian men look very smart in their formal sulus - usually a dark colour - with either a bula shirt or suit-jacket, shirt and tie on top. I wonder if it would catch on here?

Nalauwaki village

2007-10-12T18:59:00.001-07:00

One of the best things about staying at this resort was its links with the nearby village, Nalauwaki. Nearly all of the staff at the resort were from the village, which was situated in a neighbouring bay, accessible over a steep hill. Guests weren't allowed to just wander into the village, but there were scheduled visits there. Dan and I both went on the trip to the local kindy, and I went to the Methodist church service on Sunday while Dan was recuperating by the pool from his fierce bout of tropical fever. The village houses ranged from pretty basic houses made from corrugated iron to more sturdy constructions of concrete. There was a kind of 'square' in the centre of the village with the church at one end, and a big satellite dish and solar panel in the middle. The children at the kindergarten put on a performance of English songs for the group who were visiting, after which almost all the other guests disappeared to peruse the market and head back to the resort. Dan and I lingered a little bit, and the kids clambered around us. One little girl, Ana, decided she was going to be my companion for the time we were in the village, and it took a lot of persuading to eventually convince her that she really wanted to stay where she was... While under no illusions about our interaction with the children and other villagers, I found it disappointing that the other visitors didn't really want to interact with any of the people there, other than to watch and take pictures of the 'local colour'. Some of their attitudes to the staff at the resort betrayed a similar attitude. I wonder if they realised that, far from being mere staff, the villagers were the collective owners of the land on which they were staying?

Sunset

2007-10-12T18:54:00.001-07:00

Well, this blog continues as a tissue of cliches about tropical islands... so why not add a few pics of the tropical sunsets on Waya, which were very fine indeed.

An Octopus's Garden...

2007-10-05T16:28:00.001-07:00

Well I'm certainly dragging my feet with these Fiji posts, though I blame the hectic last 2 weeks at work entirely. These photos give you some idea of the place we stayed at on Waya Island in Yasawa group. These islands are home to the (in)famous Blue Lagoon, as well manta rays and all kinds of undersea creatures. Here too you can see the long-promised palm trees. These dotted the white-sand beach, and this one is flying the Fijian flag. We stayed at a place called the Octopus Resort. All of the islands in Fiji are privately owned by Indigenous Fijians, and the land is leased to hotels and resorts (which range from top-end to budget back-packer). Basically, you can't go and stay on an island unless you stay in a resort of some kind. This one was pretty good. It had a good relationship with the local village, from which most of the staff came, and was not too swanky. The visitors ranged from young families to backpackers to older people. Our bure was in the garden and we were surrounded by palms, hibiscus, bougainvillea and other tropical plants. One slight down-side was the communal dining. After the fast couple of days, when it was kind of diverting to meet other travellers, it just got to be a bit of a chore. Still, the food was amazing so it evened out a bit. I had kokoda (marinated raw fish) nearly every day - yum! I've also been craving the great iced coffee they served there. Our daily routine on the island - where we stayed for six days - was pretty much the same every day: eating, reading, lying around, swimming and snorkelling. The snorkelling in particular was great: there was a live coral reef just off the beach, which had hundreds of beautifully coloured fish darting through it all the time. Turtles too apparently - though I didn't see one.

dune

2007-09-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

This post continues on from the previous post, covering the hugely momentous events of the same day. Following the giddy heights of Momi guns, we drove for about half an hour along the very bumpy unsealed road - through villages and across a river by means of driving on the railway bridge - back to the Queen's Road. Marvelling at the what a great invention tarseal is, we arrived in Sigatoka. Sigatoka is one of the main towns at the beginning of the Coral Coast, and is pleasantly situated on a wide river. Being Sunday, however, coupled with the dearth of tourists on the mainland, it seemed like a ghost town. We stopped for lunch at a huge restaurant overlooking said river, where a phalanx of staff attended to our every whim. Well, they had to really, as we were the only customers in the restaurant. The guy in charge commented that at this time of year, they're usually very busy, but there had been a big drop-off in visitors in the last year.
After another great vegetarian thali - yum! - we headed to the Sigatoka sand-dunes to stretch our legs. And what a stretch! The walk started off pleasantly enough, through - of all things - a grove of mahogany trees. Then we arrived at a virtually vertical hill of sand, signalling the start of the dunes. Getting to the top of it was certainly more of a workout than I was anticipating! At this point, mum and dad decided discretion was the better part of valour and headed back to the car. Dan and I trooped on over and through the massive Parabolic dune, which, sadly, can't really be conveyed in photos. Nor can the southern trade winds that were ferociously whipping up the sand into our faces! I guess if we'd stopped to think about what created these huge dunes in the first place, we might have worked out that it was pretty windy there.... Feeling pretty sand-blasted and battling the odd bit of being blown backwards by the strong headwind, we walked across the dunes - which were spectacular in the odd glances we managed to steal at them. It was definitely a relief to reach the trees again. Near the end of the track, however, we stumbled across these two refugees from the Blair Witch Project, a suitably surreal addition to the afternoon.
This was our last day with mum and dad, so we headed into town to have dinner at the Lazy Cactus, which - unlike many of the other places we had been - was very busy. Some three hours later, we made it back to the hotel! In the morning, mum and dad departed for Plantation Island (or Malololailai), one of the Mamanuca group of islands visible from Nadi.
Dan and I had various plans for our last day on the mainland: canoeing or rafting up a river, trekking the northern highlands, or going for a boat-trip. In the end, however, we ended up going into Nadi and looking round the shops! It wasn't as quiet as Sigatoka, but the downturn in tourism was evident everywhere we went in Nadi too. We walked the length and breadth of town, and then went for a rather nice dinner at swish Chefs, the Restaurant. Notable features of the dinner included the little trolley which was the vehicle of choice for the 5-foot pepper-grinders (I'm not exaggerating either) that for some inexplicable reason the waiters had to use if anyone wanted pepper! Some regular customers were clearly leaving and the wait staff sent them off with a very moving rendition of 'Isa Lei', the Fijian song of farewell that we were to hear many more times before the holiday was over.
There'll be coconut palms in the next post, promise!

Of peace and war

2007-09-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

Our next road-trip took us down the south-west coast of the main island, Viti Levu, through Nadi, Momi, and down to Sigatoka on the Coral Coast. We had taken a short drive to Nadi the evening before, checking out our old house in Kennedy Ave in the process. As luck would have it, the place we were staying was just down the road from our old hood. The street was a lot smaller than I remembered it - but then I was 4 when we left and 8 the last time we visited. Mum and dad commented that the street was more built up than it had been when we lived there. Another notable feature of many 'urban' houses, mostly owned by Indo-Fijians, was the high fences and barbed wire enclosing the houses, a legacy of the last two decades of coups. These barricades were really the only visible sign of the political situation while we were visiting.

On a more positive note, we visited the brightly - some might say, luridly (but not me) - painted Sri Siva Subramaniya Swami Temple on the way out of town. It was apparently the week of Lord Krishna's birthday, so there were plenty of people at the temple making offerings of coconuts. The temple was particularly striking against the blue sky and surrounding mountains.

En route to Sigatoka, we took a detour off the Queen's Road - which runs from Nadi to Suva and is one of the few sealed roads on the island - to visit Momi, site not only of a swanky new development, but also of Momi guns. During WW2, the British built a battery at Momi, which covered the only opening in the coral reef on the western side of Viti Levu large enough to allow ships in. Basically, if any enemy ships had sailed in, they would've been sitting ducks. Although they didn't. The guns are still there though and, better still, the site offers amazing views over Nadi Bay. On the horizon, you can just make out some of the off-shore islands. It was still hot too...

That's all for the moment. There's still lots more to show and tell, but it's getting past my bedtime. Oh yeah, and there are pics of white sand, coconut palms and hibiscus flowers coming up...

Garden of the Sleeping Giant

2007-09-19T03:34:00.000-07:00

On the way back from Lautoka, we stopped at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The extensive orchid garden and tropical rain-forest owes its existence to Perry Mason (aka the actor Raymond Burr), and is located at the foot of the Sabeto mountains which dominate the skyline around Nadi. Sabeto apparently means 'sleeping giant' in Fijian, hence the name of the garden. Well as you can see the orchids were pretty, the trees were freaky, but best of all was drinking the complimentary tropical juice at the end while lounging in white colonial-style wicker chairs. Hey, it was hot, ok!

Bula!

2007-09-19T02:51:00.000-07:00

We've only been back from Fiji for just over a week and already, looking back at these photos, it seems like another world. The trip was great, marred only by Dan taking ill a couple of days before we were due to come home. We travelled up to Fiji with mum and dad, and we all stayed in the same place in Nadi for 3 days before going our separate ways. However, the trip was kicked off first by a marathon night-bus trip up to Hamiltron. The 10.30 pm pit-stop at the Mobil station in Bulls was a particular highlight... We rolled into Hamilton about 5am and managed to get a few hours sleep before heading up to the airport. These first few pics are from the first couple of days of the holiday. The mask was on the wall of our room at the low-key and quiet Beachside in Nadi. The place was expanding while we were there, as you can see from the scaffolding in the second photo. Seems health and safety issues are maybe not the top priority...

After settling in we did a couple of road trips. The first took us further north up the coast from Nadi to the second largest city in Fiji, Lautoka. Also known as the birthplace of Kaiviti Kevin, my younger brother. Strangely, there was no plaque around to attest to this significant event. It was Saturday and the city was jumping. The marketplace had heaps of fruit and veg for sale - some in better condition than others - as well as spices and kava root for, er, Fiji. We even managed to convince mum and dad to have lunch with us at a cheap and cheerful vegetarian Indian restaurant. Yum! En route to Lautoka, we passed through the hamlet (I guess?) of Lomolomo. Where apparently 'you are being watched' by the local police. Not being the country where advertising opportunities are passed up lightly - safety signs, for example, were routinely split with ads for Nescafe or Punjas Flour - the Lomolomo police were also touting gas. Needless to say the police presence was not menacing... Also in Lomolomo, dad stopped for the ubiquitous train photo op (any Pryors out there will be feeling my pain right about now!) However, the little cane trains trundling very slowly to the sugar mill in Lautoka were pretty interesting compared to the usual. Sugarcane fields were everywhere, which is not surprising given that it is one of Fiji's major industries, though I understand it is now declining. Also visible on both a daily and nightly basis, was the (illicit) burning off of the cane, which, when you passed it, had a heady smell of ... burnt sugar.

Lil donut man

2007-08-25T05:14:00.001-07:00

Is this the cutest little guy or what? He's the star of the Extra gum ad that's currently playing on our screens, though I think the ad is from Australia originally. The Eclipse snowman is pretty 'cool' too (sorry!).

A house. Interior. Day

2007-08-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, here are a couple of pics of the inside of our new flat. It's small so it was a bit hard to get decent angles. I didn't bother with the bedrooms because basically it's a bed in a room.

Bills Bills Bills

2007-08-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

Old Flat, New Flat

2007-08-03T23:14:00.001-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post, we had to move house due to the fact that our landlord was selling up. After the monumental move back to Aotearoa last October, it felt a bit soon to be upping sticks so soon. However, we have now re-located to a cute flat in Kelburn, which, as you can see from the photos, has a deck and some outdoor space. The native birds outside are a definite improvement on the roadworks and drunks!

Christchurch

2007-07-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

Christchurch. Home of Heavenly Creatures' Parker and Hulme and Ernest Rutherford. Self-styled as the most English City in New Zealand. Built as a planned Church of England community in the South Seas, Christchurch seems to exude a slightly sterile air, and a sense of menace after dark. It's no wonder the youth are driven to homicide ; )

Not that we had an unpleasant time, but after having spent seven years in the UK, the things I like about NZ landscape, buildings and people are not really imitation English buildings and willows weeping over the Avon. While there are arresting buildings and art around Cathderal Square, the residents seem to have deserted the city centre for the endless suburbs. In fact, as Dan commented on the mini-van trip out to Hanmer, it seemed like Hamilton ... only bigger. And Hamilton at least is near to Auckland...

Regional prejudices aside, we had a fun time in Christchurch - a lot of it wandering the streets and wondering where it was exactly that Christchurch people went to have a fun time! ; )

Actually instead of writing what we did, maybe I could make this blog into a series of witty put-downs about Christchurch! But instead I shall write a list of Good Things about Christchurch:

1) I don't have to live there permanently.... (sorry, couldn't resist that one)
2) The Modern Art Gallery - where a giant supine bunny greets you. Saw a really moving video installation there about the Erebus crash (for those who don't know what this is, it was when a Air New Zealand sight-seeing plane crashed into Mt Erebus in Antarctica killing everyone on board in the late 1970s). Part of it included some restored film recovered from the wreckage, which shows people moving round the cabin, drinking, pointing out the window etc.
3) Funky Lyttleton and Banks Peninsula - if I absolutely had to live in Christchurch, I'd probably live in the funky port of Lyttleton, which seemed like a mini-Wellington, with views across the harbour that looked like landscape paintings (there's a photo of one view in this post)
4) The gondola - expensive trip up but you get a great view over both Christchurch and Lyttleton harbour from the top.
5) Rutherford's den - a restored set of rooms in the old Victorian Gothic University buildings, which now house the Arts Centre, showing the first lab and rooms of Nobel prize-winning scientist Ernest Rutherford. It was a really interesting display and made me wish I'd kept doing science at school...
6) Amusing signage and sculptures around the centre of town (see pictures)
7) Amazing Bailey's Irish Cream fudge from the Fudge Cottage. As Mudhoney might have said, every good girl deserves fudge...

All-in-all a good trip and a much-need break from work. Just seven more weeks till the next one.....

Hanmer Springs

2007-07-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

The day after the our train journey, we hopped in a mini-van for the 90-minute trip to Hanmer Springs. Hanmer - note it's not spelt Hamner! - is an alpine village in the foothills of the Southern Alps and boasts some very nice - and a little pricey - thermal pools. The weather had cleared up a bit - it poured on our first day in Christchurch - and we went on two lengthy walks around the town. One up Conical Hill - you can see Dan having a rest on the way up, as he clearly doesn't have the stamina to match my pace - and the other following the Dog stream up some more hills. We had snapped a lot of nature-type pictures, some of which are on display here. As you can see, most of the trees here are not native and so lose their leaves, making Hanmer seem a lot more autumnal than Wellington, which has many evergreen native trees. After our long trek, we soaked the evening away in the thermal pools - along with every other resident of and visitor to Hanmer it seemed!

Tranzalpine

2007-07-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

Once again Dan and I have been travelling in New Zealand - winter is after all the ideal season to see it ; ) This time we spent five days in 'sunny' Canterbury, mostly based in Christchurch. These photos come from a day train-trip that we took called the Tranzalpine - a spectacular trip up and over the Southern Alps to the Wild West town of Greymouth. Highlights along the way included the sight of a freshly painted salmon-pink shed at Cass station in honour of the iconic Rita Angus painting; several old corrugated iron houses in various states of abandon in the middle of nowhere; a positively Antarctic stop in the small alpine town of Arthur's Pass; the gorges and braided rivers of the Canterbury high country; and the native bush and lakes on the west side of the mountains coming into Greymouth. We also had the highly unexpected pleasure of bumping into Catherine's parents, who taken the trip with some friends, in Greymouth. Greymouth itself was pretty small, but they'd clearly made a collective decision to deck out the town in brightly coloured paint which was cheery of them. I also spotted this bizarre angel in a shop-window on the main drag. Is it my imagination or is it meant to be Princess Di? They obviously don't get out much in Greymouth....

Eviction!

2007-06-27T16:18:00.000-07:00

Huh! Mere months after arriving and settling in with relative ease to Wellington life, we have to move again. Our landlord is selling our apartment and, as we don't really have a hope of affording it ourselves, we're on another flat-hunting mission. Not really all that much fun in the middle of winter when we both work full-time... : ( We've been scouring TradeMe on a daily basis and have seen a few places so far, but nothing has really grabbed our attention too much. On the plus side, we're off to Christchurch tonight for a five-day break! Woohoo! We're also going to go up to Hanmer Springs - I've been hanging out for those thermal pools for the last couple of weeks. No doubt a blog describing our adventures will soon follow.

The wintry blast of June

2007-06-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

It is just nine days until the shortest day of the year and the view out of the window is decidedly grey. After an apparently unseasonably warm May, the big chill has set in. Unfortunately, I was at a noho marae just outside Levin when it hit and somewhat under-prepared. It is Tuesday today and I am gradually thawing out. So what has happened in the heady days since my last post? Well. There was the much-needed three day weekend of Queen's Birthday (June 2-4). Yes, to all the Northern Hemisphere folk out there, you read that right. The weirdly monarchical state of Aotearoa celebrates an official public holiday in commemoration of the Queen's Birthday, while in Blighty it is the usual day of drudgery. However, I badly needed the three days off so, in this instance, I am putting my republican views to one side. Over Queen's Birthday, we had a visit from the lovely Maria Paljk, late of this Parish and now living in Napier (that's her looking peaceful with Dan in the photo). It was great to catch up and enjoy various Wellington things: brunch at Olive, lots of ice-cream at Kaffee Eis, films, shopping, homemade borscht (see photo) the Lawrence Aberhart exhibition at the Civic Gallery.

The exhibition, by a major NZ photographer, contains loads of pictures which are mostly in a modernist vein of moody black and white shots of landscapes etc. Powerful stuff but, have to say, did seem a little cliched at times. Though, as it was a retrospective, I guess he may have been responsible for establishing some of the cliches. Among my favourites was a time delayed shot of Mt Taranaki that made it look very other-worldly (see image). Another point: why do galleries only do reproductions of the least interesting pictures in an exhibition? I guess it must be so that they can persuade interested punters to splash out on the coffee-table book...

This last weekend, as I mentioned briefly at the start of the post, I was in Levin staying on a marae as part of the course I am doing in te reo. The powhiri was at 1pm last Friday, just as the coldest wind of the year so far was growing in intensity. Most of Friday afternoon and Saturday was spent in te reo classes and it was interesting to experience the styles of different teachers. Things that were in short supply, however: vegetarian food, sleep and warmth. I guess I will be a little bit better prepared next time. Overall, it was good intensive language experience, and seems to illustrate that even if your language skills are not that strong you can still communicate in an immersion environment. Things that I did as soon as we hit Wellington again: had a very long hot shower, went to Ernesto for coffee and spaghetti, went shopping for thermal clothing! The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching the dramatic end of season four of the 'West Wing'. Thanks to Susy for lending the first four seasons to us - luckily Laura and Burt have hooked us up with the remaining three! ; )

May meanderings....

2007-05-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's nearly the end of May and it is sunny and warm outside, with clear blue skies. After brunch at Katipo this morning (ok, but nothing special) we wandered into the City Gallery to see a small exhibition called 'Radio with Pictures' featuring art-work and music videos from a bunch of Wellington musos. Enticed outside by the sun, we sprawled on the wooden walkway linking Civic Square to the waterfront. It was so warm we both ended up taking our jerseys off and sitting in t-shirts. This may not be news to most NZers, but having spent the last seven years in Blighty, it's a pretty big deal to me to be wearing short-sleeves at the end of the autumn! I cast my mind back to the last November I spent in Cardiff and remember living in layers, hat, gloves and coat and missing the sunlight big-time. Though it must be said, by the time we had bought ice-creams the wind had picked up and clouds were starting to scud over the blue sky....

Not much has been happening in the last couple of weeks. Just the usual stuff: work, sleep, food, tv. The only really newsworthy thing, as those of you who have checked out the 'what I've been reading' section of the blog may have already noticed, is that I am in the final stages of having my magnum opus (aka my PhD) published. This weekend I have to finish editing the proofs of the book - hence the reason I am blogging and booking holidays! ; ) - and compiling the index. It looks pretty much like a real book now, which is pretty satisfying after all this time - though a little scary too. Am now contemplating whether or not to have a book launch.... Any thoughts?

Check me out on Routledge's website and on Amazon

Earthquake(s)!

2007-05-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well, after all of my dad's tasteless comments about 'the big one', the lower North Island was rocked by not one but THREE earthquakes in the early hours of Monday morning. I woke up around 1.30 am to loud rumbling noises and the room, as Morrissey might say, 'oscillating wildly'. Feeling that the end was nigh, I spent an adrenalin-filled moment or so thinking that the roof was going to cave in and crush us. We're six storeys up in a twelve-storey apartment building, so would be in a dodgy position if, and when, the big one does strike. Suddenly, a one-storey house on a quarter-acre section in Lower Hutt doesn't seem quite so unappealing. I didn't sleep much for the rest of the night, and some hours later there was a smaller tremor. Not quite as alarming as the first one though. Checking Geonet the next morning, I discovered that first quake was centred 100km west of Wellington and measured 5.4 on the Richter Scale. Check out the details at: http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/2737984g.html

There were two further earthquakes at 5.17 and 5.45 am measuring 3.6 and 4.1 respectively. I think it must have been the second of these that I felt. Both of these were centred much further away: near Murchison in the North-west of the South Island.

And Dan? He slept right through it all....

Easy like Sunday morning

2007-05-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

And lo, the rain had ceased. We woke up on Sunday morning to a clear blue day, and decided to make the most of the half-day we still had. Because a three hour ferry ride back to Wellington wasn't quite enough for us, we decided to go on a 3. 5 hour boat trip around the bays and coves of the Queen Charlotte Sounds. The boats in the picture were moored near where we embarked on our voyage. As we left Picton, the clouds started gathering once again, but the weather pretty much held. The previous post has pics of the Sounds - though it's hard to really get a sense of what they're like from them.

The second picture in this post is of the Interislander ferry itself, getting ready to load up with cars, trucks, passengers and livestock on their way to being brutally slain to feed the insatiable appetites of carnivores both nationally and internationally. The sun shone during our ferry crossing back to Wellington and we passed the time by watching all sorts of sheep shenanigans going on in the back of the sheep truck. Poor wee blighters. I'm surprised none of them tried to make a break for it over the side. Still - a watery grave or lamb chops? Not much of a choice. Pass the tofu please....

Sights and Sounds

2007-05-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the Queen Charlotte Sounds, mostly taken on the Sunday when the weather was much more camera-friendly.

And then it rained...

2007-05-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in Marlborough. It rained. A lot. Like the proverbial deluge. None of that misty British rain neither. Real NZ rain! Actually, in terms of seeing the sights (or, indeed, seeing anything!) misty rain would have been preferable. There went our plans for biking or walking or being outside admiring the scenery for any length of time. Ever resourceful, however, we braved the monsoon to wade into town and hire a car. Fortunately, the attractions of Marlborough are not solely limited to the Sounds, but also to the wine-growing region centred around the town of Blenheim. So instead of kamikaze bike-riding round the twisty roads and hills of Queen Charlotte Drive, we headed out east to where the wild grapes grow, along with olives, garlic and and a wee chocolate factory. Oh, the hardship....

Well, it was for me after a little while since I was doing the driving and had to severely curtail my tastings. Meanwhile, Dan soldiered bravely on by himself. We headed to the Village, Cloudy Bay, Allan Scott's, Hunter's, Montana and drove past countless others vineyards and wineries. Even though the weather was extremely inclement and the clouds were low on the hills, we managed to appreciate some of the spectacular scenery around the district. My favourite was the Wither Hills (also a winery) which put me in mind of plates of stacked up sandwiches. Mmm, sandwiches....

There's a picture of them above on a much nicer day.

After numerous tastings and lunch at Hunter's, we drove back to Picton via Havelock and the Queen Charlotte Drive. And boy, if I hadn't been sober by then I certainly was after that! (That was a joke, by the way...) We left Havelock about 5pm as the sun was starting to go down. We stopped briefly to look out over the Sounds on the way and they looked pretty spectacular in a spooky sort of a way even in the grey, rainy half-light. Darkness fell not long afterwards. And then the fun began. Even with the headlights on full and the rubbish windscreen wipers wiping their little hearts out, it was a pretty challenging drive back to Picton. The road was very windy and our side of the narrow one-lane road dropped sharply away into the Sounds. And did I mention the rain? After a while I gave up on the road rules and crawled up the white centre-line as it was the only way I could be sure we were still following the road and not driving off the edge of it into unknown peril. I was pretty relieved to see the welcoming lights of Picton - all fifteen of them - by the time we were finished.

Once again we ventured into town to sample the culinary delights of Picton. This time it was Le Cafe (witty name, huh?). It was ok. They had live music. It was not quite so ok. We went back to the motel and watched 'The West Wing'. It was more than ok.

The Mysterious Marlborough Sounds...

2007-04-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

This last weekend (27-29 April), Dan and I visited Marlborough. It was the first time that Dan had set foot on the soil of the mainland / Te Wai Pounamu / the South Island and his initial comment was that 'it was pretty much like the North Island'. Some people clearly have no appreciation for regional diversity! ; )

The Adventure Begins.... We set off to catch the Interislander after work on Friday night and, due to a slight miscalculation of walking time and completely INEPT signage (i.e. there wasn't any) as to how to get to the ferry terminal, we nearly missed the boat. Literally. But fortunately we happened upon a good-natured young accountant who showed us the way and we made it just in time. We sailed out of the steadily darkening harbour and all appeared well. The lights of the Wellington waterfront twinkled at us and the sights and sounds of the Hurricanes v Highlanders entertained us. OK, well the rugby was on in the lounge we happened to be sitting in. The only low-light of the fairly smooth ferry ride was the 15 minutes of pitching as we left Wellington harbour. And the really rather rubbish catering. The combination of the two made for an uneasy quarter of an hour...

Roughly three hours later (no pun intended), we arrived in the bustling port of Picton. After checking in to our motel, we headed into the big smoke to check out the local fleshpots. And it didn't disappoint. After realising that the only food places still open were the charcoal chicken joint and the service station, we headed for the only drinking establishment that still seemed to be open on the main drag: the Flying Haggis. Which, if you didn't pick the subtle use of symbolism in the name, was a Scottish pub. And talk about your hyper-real proliferation of signifiers! It was only matched in this by the discovery a street over of Seamus's Irish Bar.... On the plus side, the people at the Haggis were friendly, poured real pints and kept the kitchen open to make us some chips. Heh! Well some effects of living in Britain for 7 years have to linger on...

We then headed back to our motel to get some rest before taking in the sights and Sounds (heh!) of Marlborough. Comment from Dan as we turned in: 'It's really quiet here...'

Will post more - along with pictures - shortly...

Around and About in Wellington

2007-04-17T02:46:00.000-07:00

Once again we hit the streets - or, more specifically this weekend, the waters - of Wellington. Dan attempts to walk the plank with his cup of coffee still firmly in his grasp. The Beatles showcase their inter-cultural skills (John seems to be going for it!) in a display at Te Papa. Dan recovers from his near drowning / lost coffee-cup ordeal at the Chocolate Dayz cafe across the harbour in Days Bay. And the sun sets across the harbour as we sail homeward 'tired but happy'.

Yet more shots of Julie

2007-04-17T02:31:00.000-07:00

OK, there are a lot of pictures of a certain three year old, but we don't get to see her that often so have to make up for it when we do. One of the joys of the digital camera is that you can just keep on snapping..

There were lots of cats....

2007-04-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

Jellicoe Drive appears to be a haven for felines. Must be all that free food they get...

Easter in the Waikato 2

2007-04-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

After lunching at Metropolis and meandering along the river, we headed over to Kevin's for a final family bonding session on Easter Monday just before we had to catch our plane. In the first shot, the usual family photographer is caught on the other side of the lens; in the second shot everyone enjoys a wholesome dinner of...pizza; and the third shot is of some reprobate who wandered in off the street....

Random Signs Round Wellington

2007-04-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

Just to keep things a little less linear, I've included some pictures of random signage around Wellington. The first is over the bus sheds in Kilbirnie, the second from the waterfront, the third also by the waterfront on Writers' walk, and the fourth attached to the trolley-bus wires.