Category Archives: Trip Planning

Epilogue: Introducing GEOrgET

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GEOrgET logo

GEOrgET logo

Recording many a track with GPS over the years and collecting heaps of data (as was also done on this trip, and hopefully, on some to come) means having to use GoogleEarth to view and edit the data. But GE has many a drawback, e.g. paths can’t be joined, or reversed, and GE’s automatic “tour” algorithm results often enough in simply bouncing around the countryside, instead of viewing it. Therefore it is with great pleasure that I can announce the publication of GEOrgET, the Google Earth Organiser, Editor and Toolkit. This is free software, licensed under the GPL, and resides here. Go download. Continue reading →

Epilogue: On the Precariousness of Technology

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Technology played a key role before, during, and after this trip. It was not only a question of having been there and done that, but also one of preparing the spoils for showing afterwards. Therefore it was sobering on many occasions to see how close I came to Wallace’s tragedy. Continue reading →

54. Christchurch

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Graham’s
Thursday, March 28: Sunny for most of the day, clouding over in the evening

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 →

46. Oamaru – Twizel

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Ruataniwha Holiday Park, Max Smith Drive, Twizel. Double cabin as single for $45/night
Wednesday, March 20: Very sunny in the morning, with a couple of clouds in the mountains

For the late bedtime I was up relatively early at around 7:00 and had breakfast in the upper lounge, packed my stuff into the car, unhung and folded the laundry that had been left overnight on the line and was now dry in the rising sun. Had attempted some full front photos of the District Council Offices trying to minimise perspective distortion, and then took off down to the library after taking leave of Fanny. Not much by the way of mail or facebook, except that the wordpress-facebook plugin has distinguished itself by not working (again). Continue reading →

45. Waianakarua – Oamaru

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Empire Backpackers, 13 Thames St., Oamaru, $40 single room
Tuesday, March 19: A bit clearer in the morning, although still quite cold, becoming cloudier in the evening
Steampunk Museum, Oamaru, exposure bracket

Steampunk Museum, Oamaru, exposure bracket

Today was a bit of a day for odds and ends. On the way into Oamaru had the tyre pressures checked – front right was down to 16 psi, which probably explains the recent fuel consumption. Leaky old air delivery system had to be operated by the attendant himself as I could not work out how to let the tyre down again. Will have to check this again tomorrow to see that there is no leak. Continue reading →

43. St Patrick’s Day in Dunedin

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Ben & Lucy’s
Sunday, March 17: A little rain overnight; overcast in the morning, then some rain in the afternoon

Was out of the house by about ten to stroll around town. A couple of people stopped me with requests for various directions and I did as best I could. Went right around Moray Place, then back along George St. Decided I wanted to look for “Boy the Movie”. Had a look at Whitcoull’s and their staff tracked down two copies in Christchurch & one in Nelson. Then tried a record store in the Golden Middle shopping centre, which is right out the front of my lodgings. They, too, gave me a pass. Continue reading →

42. Otago Peninsula, South Dunedin

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Ben & Lucy’s
Saturday, March 16: Sunny and somewhat windy until the clouds appeared in late afternoon

This was a day for a latish start after all of the action yesterday, but I did want to drive down the Otago Peninsula & see if I could do some walks, but first there were a couple of computer matters to deal with.

Developing the pictures from Milford Day 1 virtually filled up the hard drive, so a solution had to be found to avoid gridlock. Looked around a bit and saw that Dick Smith had a 2 TB hard drive for $149 and that will have to do as a backup device for the moment. Tried for ages to get the other 32 GB card to become bootable for the SX 120, but if it were bootable at all it couldn’t find the necessary modules to load for grids, etc. Continue reading →

24. Nelson

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The Palace
Tuesday, February 26: Cloudy at first, clearing somewhat and quite warm

Today was meant as a technical day, but there was certainly a lot to do. Breakfast at 8:00 was pretty empty (the hostel here provides one, at least) and I made my coffee and a bowl of cornflakes; then some toast for which I collected my vegemite.

Washing could only be done after 12:30, so I started on transcribing the hiking diary into blog format. Rearranged the TV room to get a comfortable enough seat for typing and downloaded at least some of the outstanding podcast episodes and finished transcribing two days. Guys came in every now and then to watch something on the telly, which was really helpful. Continue reading →

20. Waiau – Hanmer Springs – Cathedral Cliffs – Kaikoura

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Kaikoura TOP 10 Holiday Park, 34 Beach Rd. Standard cabin for $80 per night
Friday, February 22: Cloudy and cold at first with a little drizzle, clearing in the course of the day

Had a rather relaxed breakfast of vegemite on toast and coffee, and then made my way to Hanmer Springs for the divine service of the internet. Looks like I lost my hairbrush on the way out—the changeover to this new style of living out of the car and transferring most of the belongings to and fro the accommodation still has to become routine. Continue reading →

18. Invercargill – Christchurch

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Matt’s
Wednesday, February 20: A little cloud, with the sun shining through & reasonably warm
Backside of the bottom in the deep south...

Backside of the bottom in the deep south…

Up at 7:30 for breakfast with Tina & Courtney – muesli, toast (with vegemite) & coffee. Then Tina was off to work and I set about the task of packing all the heavy stuff into the case and some overnight stuff into the rucksack. Worked OK and was able to close the case by just after 9:00, so I could have slept in. Continue reading →