Voyage to Te Wai Pounamu, available in all good bookstores.
Yep, it took a little longer than expected, but after one long slog of 14 days, I got the book together and had it published. Look it up on amazon, where you’ll pay €43.90 for 128 action filled pages, 90 of which have coloured photos (more than 170 coloured images in total, with another 25 or so in black and white).
And that’s it folks, until the next adventure begins! Continue reading
Thanks to old friends Tom Bishop and Rayna Ramsay for organising some functions for me in Auckland; Hamish Spencer for getting the ball rolling in Dunedin and to new friends Shinichi Nakagawa, Jenny Rock, Katie Brockie for organising the three lectures in Dunedin (for Zoology, Skeptics in the Pub called the Church, and Science Communication) and to Michael Edmonds for organising the talk in Christchurch (Skeptics in the Pub, but their pub has fallen down, so it was Skeptics at CPIT, with the pub for pizza and beer afterwards). To all those who attended my talks and demonstrated that they could think: congratulations. Continue reading
Stopover in Singapore was too short for any meaningful activity but once we were back on the plane, I was seated next to another passenger to my right, a German woman living in Australia, and the two seats to the left of me were free, so I grabbed the F seat before takeoff, so that we both had a pair of seats to ourselves. After dinner and a couple of bottles of wine I managed to sleep for about five hours and after waking took in Hitchcock, and in Pulp Fiction was surprised to find Julia Sweeney with a speaking role. Then it was time for breakfast. Had had a couple of nosebleeds along the way, but they were survivable. Continue reading
Was up at 7:30 for a shower, a shave, some breakfast, and then the rest of the packing. Suitcase was too heavy with the laptop in it, so decided that the laptop could be carried in the rucksack. Had everything together just after 10:00 and bid farewell to Graham and Joe.
Filled the tank for the last time down the road and then made my way to Wendekreisen for the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s decommissioning. Had the printed out receipt for the shuttle from the last time with me this time and was able to have the $32 refunded to the credit card. Not much in the way of formalities and we were quickly at the airport – so early that Qantas was not yet open. Didn’t have to wait long, however, and soon had my suitcase on its way. Continue reading
Old beach, new pier, New Brighton.
The processing of the sunset series was finished this morning, so the pictures were clipped and reduced in size and rendered into a shortish film that was produced with Windows Movie Maker. This took a little getting used to, but in the course of the morning the film took shape. Graham had left rather early this morning, and Joe left for a climbing trip later in the morning. Continue reading
Not a day for very much. Graham was not a morning person (he spends most of the night on the net and the phone with the UK where he is an inheritance sleuth – real, and not Nigerian) & Joe had already left for work (as an intern in a hospital in town) when I got up, but I got the tip that breakfast was self-service and that there was toast in the freezer and helped myself to some coffee and two slices of wholemeal with vegemite. Continue reading
Not much left for breakfast this morning, so zipped across to the 4square and cornered a lukewarm egg & bacon pie to eat with the fruit juice and the coffee (pie could at least be subject to the microwave). Guy at the backpackers suggested taking the high road to Little River, which I did, as I had quite a bit of time on my hands. Continue reading
Akaroa from the Skyline Track
Went down to the i-SITE to get a brochure on a walk for today and stopped by at the library to download the podcasts as the 50 MB limit in the hostel would have been quickly used up. Bought some sandwiches (ham & mustard; corned beef & piccalilly) from the supermarket for lunch and then set off up the hill. Continue reading
Bumblebee in the garden of Bon Accord
Was about the last to leave this morning around 10:00 – everyone else had to go to work. Checked the net and decided to head directly for Akaroa; with only a stop at a petrol station to check oil and air pressure in Methven and then to refuel in Tai Tapu. Fuel tank showed full but can’t have been absolutely topped up because that would mean that I’d done the last 500 km @ less than 5 L/100 km; and in any case the fuel level dropped significantly as I drove towards Akaroa. Stopped for a bit of a stroll just inside of town past the cricket ground and found my lodgings at around 12:30. Continue reading
Still feeling a bit under the weather so this morning was dedicated to piecing together the Mt Cook panoramas. Got all of them done, as well as the brackets of the waterfall from yesterday. Went out to buy a pie from the supermarket for lunch, then decided I would at least have a look at the Rakaia Gorge. Continue reading
