Wellington Harbour

The harbour today. Just 5 min ago.

Hutt Valley Hills

This pic is sideways and bad quality, but trust me... It is beautiful.

Mobile Pics III

Here's the big Xmas decor item in NZ. Note the sun shine... It was hot.

Another batch of phone cam pics.

The Right to bear Shoes

I have to confess I was at first highly amused at the Iraqi reporter winging a shoe at President Bush.  But as I pondered more about why he threw that shoe, I realized I was proud of that Iraqi.  Here is a man whose culture and country have been attacked.  He likely has friends or even family who have been hurt or killed.  He was given an invite to this press conference.  He knew he would be in the same room with President Bush.  *But* instead of lethal violence, he screamed his protest and threw his shoes at him.  He yelled for thousands of dead Iraqis as a result of this war. 

We could easily claim that perhaps Saddam was worse.  But that does not absolve Bush from the deaths of so many.  Bush commanded thousands to their deaths.  Maybe it was for the greater good.  Maybe it wasn’t.  They are still dead.  This Iraqi was angry.  He was outraged.  He voiced his frustration in the strongest message he could craft.  Whether he is right or wrong, he was one of the bravest men I have ever seen.

I hope they let him go.  No one was hurt.  What a message that would be!  I would begin to believe that Iraq could indeed become a free democracy if one of their loyal citizens could voice such criticism in the face of “the most powerful leader in the world.”  I hope he goes to the US.  I hope they put him on Letterman and the The Tonight Show.  There may not be a finer example of American freedom than this Iraqi.

So this is Christmas

This Christmas season seems more full of worry than Christmas Past.  I have little to give in the traditional sense.  No snow, no Christmas Tree, and no decorations.  Yet still I am excited.  I have ahead of me so much time to spend with Amy and Gabe.  I will be able to write and call Chandler and Sabrina.  I will have several days to just enjoy walking and breathing.  I have no grand plans.  We may pack some sandwiches and just go drive around.  I bet we indulge in a few cookies.  But life will be pleasingly slow.

Today I have been trying to figure out emergency budgeting.  The numbers don’t look all that good.  But then I started getting little signs from the universe.  My friend Neal left a present for me on my desk.  Co-workers have sent messages of support.  While out for a quick break-time walk, a friend bought me a sausage just because.  It is Christmas time, even in New Zealand.  None of these folks would know anything about my worries.  I wish I could do more.  I just hope I can do enough.

Everyone stay healthy out there.  Enjoy some sappy movies on the couch with your family.  Eat something freshly baked out of the oven.  Kiwi’s will be grilling sausages and picnicking on the beaches.  To all our friends back home, we’re thinking of you.  Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year! 

Christmas 2008 BBQ with Stu

For some reason I was featured in most of the food shots.

Our department from Wellington had a Christmas cookout.

Kiwi Christmas and the arrival of Angus

 

So it’s Christmas time in New Zealand.  It is very weird.  It is coming full on in to Summer complete with shorts, flip-flops and beach BBQ’s.  The malls are all decorated with pine wreathes and Christmas bulbs, but it all has a very “Christmas in July” feel to it.  I can not help but feel like I’m in an old mall that just hasn’t taken down its decorations yet.

Last weekend we attended a Christmas festival in Avalon Park in Lower Hutt, not too far from our home.  We only knew it was a Christmas thing with some fireworks at the end.  We went with our friends Aaron & Lisa and their kids Sam, Emma, and Sophie.  Sophie could be a dead ringer for Cindy Loo Whoo who is just more than two.

It was a bit of a walk through the park to get to the festival proper where we discovered the festival was really more of a concert in the park.  It was awesome! They had blues, rocking Christmas carols, the Funky Monkey’s (kids performers), and hip hop dancers.  We had two stars from “NZ has Talent” perform and The Beat Girls did a rocking segment on great 60’s music complete with shimmering flapper dresses.  We even had an opera singer from Auss join in on O Holy Night.  It was fantastic.  The fireworks at the end were great, but combined with Feliz Navidad it was an amazing Christmas celebration.  Totally unlike any other Christmas party I’ve ever experienced--all for free and each moment a surprise.

The next exciting thing to happen was the arrival of Angus—a new black/brown long hair cat.  For the whole year we have been here, we have struggled with making a responsible pet decision.  We loved our Lucy sooo much and missed her when we moved, but we knew we couldn’t replace her just be getting another cat.  We also were not sure how a pet might affect our travel ability.  But after a year, we felt we could make room for a pet.

Times are bit tight right now and I have struggled to come up with good Christmas “gifts” for the family.  A cat would be quite special, but any new cat would come with several hundred dollars of expenses for shots, de-sexing, supplies, etc.  But Amy found several listings on our trade site, TradeMe, for free cats.  I know “free ain’t free” when it comes to kittens, but Angus was full grown and his owner was including all his stuff, 3 months of food, and 2 kitty beds.  We thought we should check him out.

.

     Angus is the much loved cat of a Kiwi family.  He is 12 years old.  The woman who owned him, Moira, had been married to an American.  She was moving to Scottland basically to travel and see long lost family.  Her son’s were in Auss or unable to care for him so she had to give him away.  We felt immediately that it was exactly the situation we faced in the US.  We couldn’t take our Lucy with us.  It was mandatory that we found her a great home.  We knew exactly what Moira was going through and we knew we could be a great home for Angus.

He arrived Monday night.  Amy is over the moon to have a purring kitty to sleep with again.  He has adjusted extremely well.  He even flopped on the floor with us last night.  He seems ready to make himself at home.

Amy says that a house isn’t a home until it has a cat in it.  Welcome Home, Angus! Merry Christmas everyone!

 

 

The Little Boy who Loves the Red Train

Nearly everyday I see a little boy about 3 or 4 with his mother getting on the morning train in to Wellington.  At 7:40 AM he is full of energy while his poor mom tries to keep up.  She is a young mother and sometimes I think she just doesn’t know what to do with this little man in her life.  She carries two large bags—one for him and one for her.  She’s tired and I think a little self conscious of the small child who likes to run around the station making car noises.

At this particular time in morning, Wellington’s older train comes to our station.  Most of these cars are from the 1950’s or 60’s.  They have old electric lights (the kind with real bulbs and not fluorescents), decorative metal vent covers, and those seats that flip direction so the rider can always face front on a train that can go either direction.  Wellington has a pretty large fleet of these aging carriages.  But it has precious few red carriages.  These are the original trains of the metro line.  The old “Cyclops” carriages and they are kept their original fire engine red colour.  The train may have only 3 of these carriages in a line of 12 cars for the morning rush.  They end up clustered together usually in the middle or the back of the train.

The little boy loves these red carriages like Christmas.  I think it might actually be that strong a love.  He runs in circles when he sees the red cars at the end of the line yelling “Yay! Yah! Red carriage!”  No matter how large the crowd is in the morning, he must be the first to leap on board.  He never waits for help even though the step over the gap is just large enough to make my parent instincts cringe.  Mum often waits at the back to get on.  But most days there are no red carriages or, even worse, they are at the front.  Tired mom isn’t going to run to the front where they would both end up standing for the ride around the harbour.  Oh the terrible tiny outrage on these days.  He yells at the train and gives it copious rassberries—and those are the good days.  On bad days he’ll refuse to board or simply wail forcing tired mom to drag him screaming aboard.  I’m sure she feels terrible.

Some day I will tell her that I don’t mind—that her little boy is wonderful.  Days will roll by in to years and all too soon there will be no more leaps of joy at the red train.  After a few more years, she will even miss the tantrums.  I may see if I can find a toy red carriage.  I hope she doesn’t mind.  I hope she doesn’t find it strange that I might have watery eyes laughing at the little boy that loves the red train.

A 4 hour public transit odessy in Wellington

So… having decided to go to a brunch holiday coffee with Amy we got on the train to Kaiwharawhara station only about 3 stops down from ours at Hutt Central.  It was a gathering of other emigrants to New Zealand and had several friends that Amy had made here.  The coffee was lovely and in less than an hour we were on the stairs back down to the Kaiwharawhara station.  The trains are all above ground here so you have to climb up and over on pedestrian walkways.  Kaiwharawhara is only one stop from the end of the line at Wellington station.

We thought we were in luck as the train was just approaching.  Perfect! We thought.  We hopped right on and after a few minutes the ticket taker approached.  She took our passes and then doubled-looked.

“This train is going to Paraparam.” She said…

“Oops!” We said.

She laughed and gave us a transfer ticket and told us we’d have to get off at the next station and take the next train back.  The next station turned out to be Takapu Road which was a very nice station.  I had a hard time picturing just exactly where it was, but judging from the length of the ride, I’d guess about 5-7 kilometres from Kaiwharawhara.  Well about 15 minutes later we got on the return train.  After getting off we noticed the sign that shows which side of the platform to board for the train to Hutt vs Paraparamu… well that should be easier next time.

So we are on the right train.  All is good, right? Oops! The train in front ours breaks down.  Now we’re stuck on the tracks and it’s been about 2 hours since this trip began.  The crippled train inches to the next station (only 2 hops from home), but by now it’s well past lunch so we decide to get off at Petone for some food.  There is a nice spot called Kilim just a few blocks from the station.  We’ve eaten there a few times before.  The place is a little busy, but not bad.  It takes 45 minutes to get our food… LOL!  But it was very tasty.  We eat and go back to Petone station.

There are no confusing platforms at Petone, just going to Wellington and going to Hutt.  Easy Peasy!

Oops!

We managed to get on the one possible wrong train going toward Hutt, but veers off to Melling instead of to Hutt Central.  Luckily the ticket taker catches this in time for us to get off immediately and wait for the real Hutt line.  After about 40 minutes at Petone we finally get on the right train home.  The ticket taker this time is the same one that was on our very first train.  She had a good laugh at our journey.

We finally got home around 2:00.  Whew!  I guess we didn’t need to do anything anyway!

Paper Kings

"Yet I think, having used my words as the kings used gold,

ere we came by the rustling jest of the paper kings,

I who am overbold will be steadily bold,

in the counted tale of things."

One of the stone tablets on the harbour that I had not noticed before.  I read it today and was reminded of my writing and these words spoke to me.  We have dreams of being paper kings and may we all be counted in the tale of things.

The quote is from Iris Guiver Wilkinson under the name Robin Hyde.  She was a poet from New Zealand.

For Tom

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey, I've collected the odd photo of the cool cars I come across in Wellington.  I think my step-father would get a kick out of them  The triumph was pretty wicked.  One of the guys here at work has a Delorian even... 

Blog Dump November 2008

Okay... I have a bunch of totally unrelated things to share.  I've been sitting on a couple of photos and just haven't linked them in to a blog yet.

First off... Turnbull House.  This was the location of the "Fright Night" RPG convention I attended.  It is right across the street from the Parliament house.  That puts it 2 blocks from the train station and therefore easy as to get to.  Details of the gaming can be found on my other blog.  I don't know the history of the house yet, but apparently it can be rented cheap as.

Spring has sprung in Wellington and I have captured bad pictures of it.  What I really enjoy even more than the pretty flowers is how wonderful the air smells every where you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally today I got off the train to this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cool as, eh?  I need to check out the web site.  http://www.cartooningforpeace.org

Sort of on topic for peace.  A NZ soldier was recently awarded the Victoria Cross--the highest medal awarded in the British Commonwealth.  He carried a fellow soldier to safety in the face of heavy automatic weapon fire from both sides while caught in a cross fire.  It was a miracle they both made it.  His friend would have certainly died.  Willie Apiata didn't want the award--too much publicity and he felt his unit all performed admirably that day.  It is the first time a Kiwi has been given the Victoria Cross in 60 years.  One of the benefits of being both American and a resident Kiwi is the ability to be proud of both.  I was happy to have two things to be happy about this week.

I am past 10,000 words on the "novel". WOOT!  I didn't think I would ever create 10,000 words on a single topic.

Tread Lightly...

We have serious problems to solve.  At this moment deciding who is to blame for them is less important than deciding how to solve them.  Campaigns are built on ideals and theories.  Only when candidates confront the complexity of the real issues do we see how well the theories will hold up.  No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.  In order to proceed forward we will have to step in to the mine fields. 

Whether you are a Republican or Democrat or Other… these are only labels.  The steps we take will be as a nation—a nation that is a member of the world.  While we may have great influence on the world we do not speak for the world.  On both the domestic and the international stage we must go forward humbly.  We must be prepared to question common convention.  We must be ready to consider that an opposing view may yet lead us to the same goals.  We must not fall back on tired excuses.  We must not get hung up on differing labels.  Solutions that work while not compromising our values are correct regardless of what we call them.

The ideals of our country have not changed although I would say we have not considered them often in the last 8 years.  I refuse to believe that our nation was founded to cater to elite rich and international corporate interest while at the same time ignoring the welfare of every human being below a certain balance sheet value.  The notion that if you let the super-rich get richer, then this will make middle and lower income household better is not proving to be true.  The accusation that “lazy Americans” are to blame is only partially true.  Americans are responsible for America, but I don’t know any lazy ones.  The vast majority of Americans I know work really hard with both spouses trying to put in 40+ hour weeks. They work hard trying to afford homes, health care, day care, insurance, taxes, and retirement.  While at the same time the corporations they work for, pay less salary, reduce health care, penalize (mostly women) for child care demands, steal retirement funds, and avoid taxes at every opportunity.  The Executives that run these corporations are often paid 300% more than average employees, receive perks valued at millions of dollars, never want for health care or child care, and are often paid huge bonuses even when their employees face lay offs.  If we implement a few policies to curb unchecked greed and allow working families to establish homes, receive health care, provide for their children, and save for their own retirement, then I think we will have made some vast improvements. 

People desire to live well and do well for their children, but I think most folks would also see the same opportunities given to all people.  I think America can deliver that.  I think by doing this well we will see prosperity grow and expand naturally.  International influence will spread by example rather than by force of policy.  But know that your neighbors and fellow citizens would see you do well.

Intarweb Eats Blog

I had a good general blog written.  My proxy ate it.  Here is the short form...

Amy and Gabe are home. Yay! :)

I have new walking shoes, new hiking shoes and new sandals. Yay!

Today is Guy Fawke's Day. Fireworks tonight!

It is windy.

Work is better than average.

I am writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month.

Talk to ya again soon!

Corporate Taxes

I found this clip on Facebook.  I hesitate to believe anything that talks about financial benefits for corporations, but this does make some valid points.  Although, I think the solution is flawed.  The US will never be able to compete for low cost operation with other countries--our cost of living is too high.  It will always be cheaper for mega-corporations to outsource most of what they do to China, India, or Mexico.  Financial decision making is not exclusively based on tax rate.  But still, this does cover an interesting topic in easy to understand language that people around the world should be aware of--not just Americans.

 

If you Love something...

Todays lesson from the random universe.  If you love something, then go after it.  If you love someone, then tell them.  Do not hesitate another day.  Do not make excuses for why today is not a good day.  Do not assume it won't be as good as you hope.  Join that group.  Call that friend.  Sit with your mother.  Climb that hill.  Go see that place.  Do the thing and find out what you have been missing.  Waiting won't get you any closer.

Babylon A.D.

In a word, "Crap".

I am generally pretty forgiving about action movies.  If they have pretty much nothing going for them other than pretty cool stunts and explosions, I still rate them adequate movies.  I also like Vin Diesel as an action hero.  But Babylon A.D. was crap.  While meeting the requirements of no plot and lots of bullets... even the action wasn't all that great.  Each combat seemed to even start the same way... Bad guy gets the drop on Vin with shotgun to his head... Vin whacks gun in such a way as to reverse the barrel to bad guy and blamo.  They repeated that trick like 4 times.  A bad sex scene would have improved this particular title and while they set it up, they killed it at the last moment.

The rest of the movie makes no sense whatsoever.  But on the "how bad was it" scale, I'd say it was not as bad as Blade III or Highlander III.  But if you never saw this movie you wouldn't be missing anything any one will remember in a month.

Political Commentary!

Here's a link if that doesn't embed right... damn Multiply. Blatently stolen from my Sister-in-Law.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxvHkFLmqRk

Embedded below!

More unpronouncable places in New Zealand

Last weekend I hit the Putangirua Pinnacles with a couple of new friends, Virandra and Nalashi.  I found some pictures of the place on a random Facebook profile from New Zealand.  The picture showed a tiny hiker coming up on a massive rocky citadel looking formation.  At first glance I thought it must me somewhere exotic, but then noticed it was tagged as picture from NZ... Intrigued I thought well it must be some remote place on the South Island so I looked it up.  Turns out the Putangirua Pinnacles are probably on 40 miles away from my house over in the Wairarapa Valley on the other side of the Rimutaka mountains.  So there would have to be some sub-optimal driving to get there, but the whole trip time was listed as about 2 hours.  Remember there are no straight roads in NZ more than about 15 feet long.  Also remember that our speed limits are in kilometers.  The speed limit in the Rimutaka pass is 70 kmh... sounds fast, but that is only about 40 mph.  Anyone actually trying to maintain 40 mph on the bazillion hairpin turns through that pass is going to end up deadas at the bottom of the 300 foot valley.

Realizing then that some navigation was going to be required, I consulted Google Earth.  Getting throught the pass is easy so I started looking at the routes from the first town in the Wairarapa Valley, Featherston--one of the few pronouncable places in this odessy.  From Featherston I had follow to State Highway 53 to Kahutara Rd... no problem.  Kahutara Rd eventually crosses Martinborough Pirinoa Rd.  Since that sign is going to have to be 4 feet long, that should be easy to spot.  Martinborough is easy enough to deal with.  I still haven't attempted saying Piniroa outloud.  Martinborough Piniroa Rd (already tired of typing that) connected to Whakatomotomo Rd... hmmm... Well exercising my lore of NZ phonics I know that "wh" is the "f" sound and that you pretty much annunciate every vowel you see.  But I don't really have to know how to say it, I just spot it on a sign, right?  How many Whakatmmmmmmwhatever Rd's can their be?  Whakammmmmwhatever takes me straight to Putangirua Pinnacles right next to the Aotera Park.

So with Virandra and Nalashi in tow, off we go.  Everything went pretty well until we started looking for Whakammmwhatever.  I discovered that NZ is really only concerned about signage on the State Highways.  Once you get off of those, it is really a crapshoot whether you're going to see other road signs.  They are good about giving you sign about various features.  So you may not know wtf road you're on--and really, you couldn't pronounce it anyway--but it at least you know this road is going to Cape Palliser which is sort of on the way, right? My maps are limited to Wellington so I'm going on memory at this point. What concerns me is that the road to Cape Palliser is listed as "no outlet".  My brain works on this a bit as I whip by about 5 different roads all starting with Whakatxxxxwhatever.  So much for word matching.  At one point I was stopping at every intersection comparing road names letter by letter looking for a match.  But after a few wrongamotomo turns we found the pinnacles. 

What I didn't expect was the absolutely beautiful coastline right next to Putangirua.  A long stretch of open beach meeting aquamarine blue ocean.  I think I might have to come back just to enjoy the beach.  If you do ever make this drive, be sure to stock up on anything you may want before leaving Featherston... there isn't a single shop of any sort on the last hour of the drive.

If you have checked out the pinnacles link you might have noticed there are 2 trails discussed; the "river bed" and the "bush walk".  Both are listed a "easy".  Having experienced kiwi-easy on the Rimutaka Death March last month, I was prepared for "easy" this time.  The river bed was listed as shorter and imagined it as a nice trail only the bottom of the valley.  Something confirmed by the pictures I had found.  So I chose the river bed.  The trail started off a little weird as it wasn't really marked.  There was just a gap in the scrub leading to the wide rocky expanse that held a tiny stream.  Well I thought the trail would appear somewhere. I could actually see other folks returning from that direction.  After about 30 minutes I gave up trying to find a trail.  There really wasn't anything creating the trail other than what the stream had done over the last several hundred years.  It was rocky, unstable and winding... then it got steep.  It got steepas.  After about 45 minutes of steady, slippery climbing we hit the top of the river bed trail which put us in the bottom of the pinnacle valley where I got this pictures.  I'll have some more later.  It wasn't quite as challenging as the Rimutaka trip.  But I was still heaps puffed at the top.  The view was amazing and when all 3 of us stopped talking it was still as the moon.  The NZ bush contains few creatures and virtually no bugs.  There wasn't a chitter or a chirp--just the slight wind in the trees above.  Pretty amazing.

For additional torture and comic relief, Virandra and Nalashi made the round american climb to the top of the canyons on the bush walk.  Despite their best efforts, I didn't fall over dead or even fall off the numerious edges.  The view at the top was pretty cool.  The pinnacles on one side and the ocean on the other.  The bush walk back to the parking lot was a breeze as it was all downhill.

After the long trek we drove the rest of the way down the coast to Cape Palliser and then back reversed our route back to Martinborough where we had an excellent meal that more than negated every calorie we burned on the walk (victory was mine!)  Martinborough is the wine capital of the Wairarapa Valley.  While tiny town, it was a perfect dinner.

Overall it was a good walk with a couple of good friends and a great day.

A few notes about "As"

The videoblog I did talked about the word "as", but the video is large and the video and sound were badly desync'd.  So I'd thought I'd just clarify a few things about as...

As I said, kiwi's have this great slang feature where they can put the word "as" on the back of anything as a short form of saying "sweet as honey".  Only it is shortened to just "sweetas" (all one word).  This has the wonderful side benefit of saving the speaker from having to say how sweet it was--just that it was really sweet!  It was sweetas!  And if you want to really emphasize it... "It was sweetas, bro!"  Sweetas is the most common form, but folks like to work it in on other words too, but generally in unusual ways... like "cheapas" (often short for "cheap as chips") or in "beachedas" from a popular funny youtube vid (search for beached whale).  You do have to be careful to put a hint of z in the as (azs) so you don't sound like you're saying "ass".  Which they really don't use here, cuz that's your bum or arse.  I've also heard easyas and coolas.  I can theorize that they would commonly understand negative connotations like "hardas" or "fatas", but they don't use them very often.

Anyways... good on ya, mates! You'll be talkin' like a kiwi in no time.

Videoblog #2

A few kiwi words and my bad accent

The Libertad

So I walk the harbour everyday and everyday I look for new ships.  I have seen giant freighters, naval patrol boats, frigates, destroyers, ferries... once I saw a massive oil drilling rig.  But last week was the most amazing ship yet.  The tall ship Libertad of Argentina.

It has always been a dream of mine to actually take a trip on one of these last few real sailing ships.  I know I'd probably be sea sick the whole time, but I don't think I care.  I find the idea that people traveled the Earth with nothing but a chart, compass and sail as a wonder.  These ships are all that remain to show us a hint of  how the grand age of discovery came about.

I was surprised to discover there are well over 40 tall ships around the world.  Most of them are national treasures of one sort or another.  Many are used as naval officer training vessels--just like the Libertad. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_Libertad_(Q-2))  Built in the 1950's she has a metal hull with a wooden deck.  The deck isn't flat.  It has a curve to it at every point.  I'm guessing that helps keep it drained.  For an ocean going vessel, it was still pretty close to the water.  I bet waves over that deck happen more often than one would like!

The masts were several stories tall.  My estimate is about 10-12 stories from the top to the water.  There is rigging all over the place.  At first I thought there must be a series of wenches.  There isn't.  Each rope is hand tied and would have to be manipulated by the crew.  The set up was well beyond my comprehension.  There had to be 4 dozen sails on the ship at least.  Wiki says she can carry 350 crew!

She stayed for a week and set sail over the weekend.  I didn't see her leave the harbour, but I'm sure she left under motor power.  But it would have been amazing to see her open up the sails and catch the New Zealand winds across the Pacific.  It would be so incredible to be on deck under full sail... How many dreams can come true in one lifetime?

The Libertad

A tri-mast "tall ship" from Argentina that docked in Wellington Harbour in Oct 2008

Videoblog #1

Hey, just my first stab and making video.

Videoblog #1

Hey, just my first stab and making video.

Rimutaka Death March 2008

A friend of ours here in "the Hutt" (the local's name for anything in the Hutt Valley on the East side of the Wellington Harbour) invited me and the boy on an overnight tramping trip.  Most of this invitation was actually done through my wife and his wife as his boy and my boy are friends at school.  After several months here, I have quickly determined that my definition of "easy tramping" and the Kiwi defnition of "easy tramping" are not equivalent.  Even after several months of Kiwi-living, I remain a mostly round American.  Soooo, instantly suspicious, I verified how hard this trip might be with Aaron (the friend and organiser).

"So, how many kilometers is this hike?"

"Oh maybe 1 and quarter.  It's pretty easy.  We'll go Friday after work and be at the hut before dark."  (This time "hut" means cabin.)

"Oh, well that's easy.  Sure we'll go."

It was then with some stress that I discovered in the parking lot of the Rimutaka Forest trailhead that it was, in fact, 3.5 kilometers and that what Aaron meant was 1 and quarter hours of walking one-way.  Gabe and I are each carrying pretty full and not insignificantly weighted backpacks... I thought to myself that perhaps 3.5 km won't be too bad.

While no one was permanently injured, it was 3.5 km all up hill except for the very end where the trail dropped sharply to a river valley.  We had to wade across the river which was icy cold.  It was getting dark and after crossing the river we were confronted with a wide rocky washout that would have to be navigated (quickly) in order to get to the other side where we *thought* the hut was.  No one was really sure at this point.  Another dad/kid combo had come with us (total party of six now, 3 dads / 3 kids) and Chris was all Kiwi.  By this I mean he walks through thorny trails, up mountains, while barefoot on a weekly, if not daily, basis.  The pace he set was grueling.  So as we scrambled over rocks and deadfall trees in rapidly sinking darkness we were also "heaps puffed" (tired) and a little confused.

Luckily we guessed right and we found the hut just as it got dark.  We proceeded to quickly get a fire going for heat and then Aaron cooked up all the stuff we hauled in.  We had a "sizzle" (cooked sausages), canned spagetti, heaps of junk food and some coke and bourbon (for the dads).  It was pretty nice.  The kids were bonkers and had latched on to perpetually singing the same song about farting and barfing over and over.  That proved difficult to stop.  Eventually they passed out.

I managed to have a nice smoke of the pipe while looking at the amazing stars.  The area we were in is very remote (as is everything about 5 minutes outside of town in NZ).  There are no cities surrounding us and the stars are so clear and so abundant that I can't spot the constellations anymore.  They are lost in the background.  The Milky Way is huge and stunning.

We wanted to be back before noon on Saturday.  That meant a pretty fast trot out of park.  We were all much lighter having eaten most of the food, but even so we (at least Gabe and I) were tired.  Poor Gabe must have fallen like 5 times, but he carried his pack all the way out.  He was the only kid that did.  Which was good, cuz my legs were jello after we hit the parking lot.  Moving for the next 3 days was a quiet symphany of "ouches" and "umphs".

Of course the scenery was amazing.  But just for the record... a "easy" Kiwi trail assumes you about 22 years old (strong, long limbed, and quickly healed), sober, and in full possession of all limbs.  These trails may be 40% grade at times, skirt along dramatic drop offs (no hand rails), narrow to only 12" wide (with drop offs), require wading through river(s), and cross over rough terrain (like rock jumbles, fallen trees, and small crevasses).  I have no idea what a "hard" trail would be like, but I suspect it might involve lava, waterfalls, and deadly pygmies.

Check out my Photos for all the pics.  Love y'all.  Can't wait to see you all again!

Rimutaka Tramping Trip Sept 2008

There were 3 huts up there, Jans, Oak and the Tramping Club's.

Me, Gabe, Aaron, Sam, Chris, Eli out for a short overnight tramping trip. We hiked about 3.5 km mostly uphill, waded across a river, scrambled up a washout, and stayed overnight in a Dept of Conservation hut.

"The Player of Games" by Iain Banks

A while ago I discovered "The Algerbraist" by Iain Banks and loved it.  I was so inspired by his writing style that I went out to find more books by him and thankfully he has well over a dozen.  I tried reading "Against a Dark Background" but just could not quite get in to the story.  I had bought "The Player of Games" around the same time, but after failing on Dark Background, I let Games sit for a long while.

I started reading it last weekend and finished it last night.  It is another great book, by a really good Sci-Fi author.  Banks writes in many genres, I haven't tried his non-sci-fi stuff yet.  But I'd easily put him up there with Issak Asimov in the depth and richness of his vision of the far off future.  He has created the most believable "utopian-esque" society I've read.  The world he creates works.  The characters are interesting and the landscape is facinating.

Two thumbs up for Iain Banks and "The Player of Games."

What is wrong with America?

I think I have finally put my finger one what is wrong with Americans…

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When I lived in the US, I knew about other cultures and I knew they were “different”.  Exactly what made them different was only vaguely clear.  As an example I could fundamentally understand that Asian cultures placed more importance on ancestry and that altered how they saw the world.  But in all my years living in the US, I never knew what my cultural heritage was.  I did not know what about American was different from other cultures.  I think I have found one bit.

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There have been several moments in conversation where I’ll say something conceptual that I felt was fairly obvious only to have my Kiwi co-workers smile politely and ask me why that was important.  This usually revolves around the ideas of price competition and in general beating our competition.  I began to realize that while a competitive nature is healthy and alive in Kiwi’s, it isn’t ingrained in their thinking.  It isn’t cultural.  I then began to realize that Americans are really obsessed with competing and, more importantly, with winning.  

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In this epiphany I saw clearly all the ways Americans act and re-act in a competitive nature to win.  In all our negotiations we strive for the “win-win”.  In all of our most popular sports—only Americans compete.  The World Series, the NFL, NBA, NASCAR—all of them are American sports and predominantly only played in the US.  We don’t compete in truly world sports significantly.  I would theorize that this is because we don’t like losing.

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By the American definition, winning is making the most money and having the most power.  Always being able to get what you want when you want, regardless of what others may want, is what the American Dream is really all about.  We have some mental picture that all Americans can achieve this and we just assume the wealth will come from “somewhere” and we don’t particularly care from where.  As an extension of this “ideal” we see the US as a nation of unequalled wealth and military power.  To put it simply, the US is winning.

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What we don’t realize is that the culture of winning (read as, Obsessed with winning) is not universal.  Certainly other cultures value wealth, success and even competition, but the zeal that Americans have is still unique to Americans.  When you are inside a culture and have little exposure to other cultures you can’t see these traits.  We naturally assume that the rest of the world is, more or less, just like us only with slight “differences” like placing more importance on ancestry—but still… everyone likes to win and likes winners, right?  

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Here is the fatal mistake.  We assume that because we are winning, that everyone else would naturally like to win too and therefore they will probably try to copy us—in fact, they probably even admire our ability and respect us!  Or at least they should… We’re Winning!  Because we are so good, we obviously have the best of everything… OR if we don’t have the best, then we’ve had to make a sacrifice in a few areas to ultimately remain the winner.  

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We are blind to the value the rest of the world has to offer.  We implicitly believe that if other cultures were as good as ours, then they would be winning and not us.  We have very little awareness of how well the rest of the world operates and no awareness of how completely stupid we appear.  We have not come all that far from the “Might makes Right” philosophy.  The leadership of New Zealand (for example purposes only) has every bit of the brain power possessed by the keenest US politician.  Perhaps not the same set of cut throat experiences, but at least the same level of empathy, compassion, and wisdom.  This is true of most nations.  Truth is not contained in one nationality.  Yes, the US may be the biggest economic power.  Yes, the US may have the strongest military.  But these two qualities do not give the US more wisdom than other nations.  It does not give the US more right to say how they should govern.  It in no way implies that the opinions or vision of a US politician are better than the wise men and women around the world.

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The US has in the past delivered some great goods to the world.  It will certainly deliver more in the future.  But we must lead together.  We have a lot of power.  Do we have the wisdom to use it?  The very wise know that they are not wise.  If we were to assume that we are not wise, then we should be listening to others.

Project: Seals

Completed!

We finally got see seals over in Island Bay (just West of Wellington CBD).  While I did capture some video of them, I didn't get any pictures of them.  My digicam battery was dead.  I did snap some mobile shots along the walk, but I apparently didn't get any seals.  Ah well, we are sure to go back.  Check out the new shots in the Mobile Pics II photo journal.

It was a good walk--4 km each way.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful walk.  The whole time Amy and I were just amazed that we live on a beautiful island in the South Pacific.  The hills and cliffs along the coast are dramatic, but still appear scaleable--although I know dang well that I couldn't.  The ocean was at least 5 shades of blue.  There were fun surf beaches and turbulent craggy rocks.  Someday, I would really like to get some goggles and snorkel around.  We saw a few sea anemenies (no idea if that's spelled right) and one tiny exotic fish in a tide pool.  But you don't see much sea life from the shore.

The seals were big males.  This particular coloney is populated year round and is exclusively male.  It makes seeing them a lot less stressful as the bachelors don't have cubs or females to protect.  They just flop around and lay in the sun.  They are pretty big critters.  I had some image that seals would be roughly dog sized, but these were some pretty big dogs!  They had to weigh 400 pounds or more... really more small bear sized.  But oh so sleepy.

We had a bit of a picnic and walked back while the boys played along the route.  It was near impossible to keep them from getting wet.  As it turned out, it was impossible for any of use to stay dry.  You had to forge 2 shallow streams.  Hopping from rock to rock did not work.

Did I mention amazing and beautiful?  Come on down and see us! Hehe *grin*

Game Screen Shots

A small "stealth" bomber seen here in front of a jump gate. I like the cool blue on the left with the red sun on the right.

Fun captures of my favorite games.

Grammatolotry

Grammatolotry: The worship of words: regard for the letter while ignoring the spirit of something.

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Students of faith must be aware of grammatolotry.  This one concept might just be responsible for all human conflict over religion.  We get hung up on the words and miss the message.  Words are just symbols of meaning.  Despite our intense ability to document, archive and record, we just can not quite keep our world from changing.  We change, society changes, the world changes and so then our symbols change. 

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We look back to the ancient records of wisdom like the Bible, the Qu’ran, the Torah and many other books of Truth and we assign them higher status.  The authors were undeniably wise and we should remember what they said.  But even the wise will tell you that the path of all people is not singular.  Enlightenment is universal, but the paths are many.  We suffer from grammatolotry.  The words give us some guidance.  But the truth is in our heart.  You know the truth as you know yourself.  When you know this, the words seem as quaint as a children’s primer.  While the words may be beautiful, poetic and spiritual, they are yet only symbols of the Truth--not the Truth itself. 

Kid Quote of the Week

As for for turning 9, Gabe just told me, "I don't really feel that different but I see things as a bit shorter.   I can now reach the coat hanger." ~My son commenting on turning 9

E haere ra, Pop pop!

Yesterday my father-in-law, Don, started the journey back to the US.  I think he is probably not quite home yet.  Despite the stories about “in-laws”, Don is great and having him with us for the whole month of July was not only good, it was poignant.  For as long as I have known my son he has been completely in love with his grandpa, Pop pop.  It was so, so good to have him here with us and Gabe.

 

He was our first visitor from home.  The first person we have been able to share all our new discoveries with.  We went to Staglands, Kaitoke and Turakirae.  We saw the Te Papa museum, the Wellington Botanical Gardens, Mt. Victoria and drove out to Breaker Bay where the ferry Wahine sank in 1968.  We drove out to Featherston and Whitby.  He took Gabe on the farthest road trip yet—all the way to Napier to see the Marine World and National Aquarium.

 

I can not believe how fast the time has gone.  I am sure Don loved the trip, but probably at the same time felt the tug to go home.  From my point of view, he could have stayed forever.  I hope now that he knows the way that more trips will become not so daunting.  I know, at first look, a trip of 10,000 miles looks like so much.  All those questions about airports, flights, security, passports and exactly “what is a 12 hour plane ride like” are now answered.  The quantity of effort is now understood.  I bet Don would say it was all worth the trip.

 

While we were excited to show him New Zealand, the best part was just the quiet--or the goofy and very not quiet--play time with Pop pop.  We have made a great many friends here, but it has been a great gift to have family here.  I knew, after my trip home in June, that seeing family again is made more joyous with the knowledge that this time is special and finite.  What is less obvious is that even time spent living close is finite.  Our distance now makes this reality obvious.  It forces us to take advantage of the time given to us.  I knew that when the time came for the visit to end that we would all be sad to see him go.  I try to remember that while we don’t know exactly when we’ll be together again, that we will see each other again soon--perhaps not as soon as we would like.  But still soon.

 

Time goes by.  The Universe teaches us that things are always changing—that often the question is not “if” but rather “when”.  Our human ability to predict future outcomes makes us uncomfortable when we are left with uncertainties like “someday.”  But impassable mountains have a way of becoming merely mountains over time and tenacity.  Don crossed the mountains, the deserts, and the ocean.  I have faith that the way home will often present itself.  Exactly when and how I can not say, but we will be watching for opportune moments.

 

Thanks, Don, for making the trip.  I can not quite say how much it meant to all of us.  Tell everyone how great it was and send them our way.  In Maori you say goodbye with “E haere rā” when you are the ones staying.  You say, “E noho rā” when you are the one leaving.

 

E haere rā, Pop pop!

 

The South Island, A Ferry Tale

Well… It was an unofficial long weekend in New Zealand for me and Amy.  We decided to hop the ferry to South Island for our first out of Wellington excursion.  There are two large ferries that run continuously between Welly and Picton.  The Interislander is owned by the state and the Bluebridge is the upstart competitor.  Walk on fares are pretty cheap at about $78 for two each way.

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The route to Picton is about 1 and half hours just getting out of Wellington harbour and then about 1 and half hours navigating the long Marlborough Sounds with about 20 minutes of open water between the two.  It is beautiful throughout the trip even on overcast cool days.  I suspect it would be absolutely miserable on stormy days.  But our particular trip was partly cloudy with startlingly gusty winds.

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I am fascinated by large machines like ships.  I see each voyage as a marvel when you consider each bolt and seam had to be planned, each small task that must be attended before disembark, the sheer power of the massive engines, and yet the fragility of these immense steal constructions on the water.  I know it is just a ferry.  I know it sails about 4 times a day.  But I still say that each trip is something of a miracle.

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I have always loved the ocean.  There is nothing that compares to the wind on the waves.  You can feel the motion of the planet in the wind across the unobstructed seas.  The view from the top of the observation decks of the ferry is both commanding and humbling.  The ship is surprisingly tall and the view is amazing.  But at the same time you can’t help but notice how you are a tiny monkey that doesn’t swim all that well on a very big ocean.  It becomes easier for me to appreciate things on a planetary scale and remember I am just a human.  In much the same way that cat who has just been unceremoniously swept from warm couch to floor must think, “Ah, yes.  I guess I am just a cat.”

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For a while I stood at the front of the ship face in to the wind.  I had to hold on to the rail with both hands as the wind whipped my jacket and jeans.  The wind so powerful it can never be ignored.  Fully braced, I tried to burn the colour of the waves in to my memory--a deep blue green… so completely inadequate to describe it.  It is a colour of thousands of metres of water, of eons of erosion, of millions of years of living things, of endless motion—a colour representing time without end.  Today it was dark in the shadow of grey clouds.  Here and there it turned slightly green in contrast as the sun would strike the surface.  Occasionally, gulls would race the ship and skim the water although they remained uncharacteristically silent—perhaps unable to complain in the face of the unyielding wind.

 

The ocean is awe inspiring all on its own, but it is made majestic by the sun.  I have attempted to describe the sun on the water many times.  Today the sun was half veiled, but still it managed to touch each wave tip and granting each with its magic light.  I imagine there is a struggle fought each day on the surface between the fury of the sun and cool dark depths of the ocean.  Each remains the master of its domain.

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The sounds themselves are beautiful.  Rounded peaks rise from the ocean.  Inside the sound the waves calm to indistinct ripples from the vantage of the tall ship.  The wind is deflected off the tree covered hills and the sun becomes warm again.  I was surprised to see houses all along the shore.  There were no roads behind them.  Each of these homes was only accessible from the water.  Most had visible power lines strung to them.  They dropped down off the mountain crests at impossible angles—but many cabins had none.  I wondered what it would be like to live in a house with no power and no access to the world.  How strange it would be to see the giant ferries as great moving islands of modern existence only a few hundred metres from my shore of isolation.

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Picton is a small township.  You can see all of it from the deck of the ferry.  Indeed I suspect that virtually the entire town is required to support the ferries in some way.  Certainly the town survives on them.  The homes drape from one hillside to the other like a blanket laid over rough ground.  It is less patchy than Wellington.  It appears more well defined and as if it has been comfortable with its boundaries for many years whereas Wellington seems to still be crashing over each valley.  

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One can clearly see Picton’s singular great visible historic claim to fame in the giant dry dock of the “Edwin Fox” on the shore between the large marina and the massive docks of the ferries.  We visited the Edwin Fox museum on our stay.  She is a wooden merchant ship built in 1853 making her the 9^th oldest ship (still capable of floating) in the world.  She is little more than a massive empty hull now, but what remains is still quite impressive.  You can actually walk on to it and put your feet directly on her teak timbers.  You can touch the support beams and hear the wood creak under your feet.  While she has a long and well travelled history, I was amazed to just feel a real wooden sailing ship.

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All of New Zealand is awash in food from the sea, but for some reason we felt extra close to seafood in Picton.  We tried a small restaurant near the water edge (realizing that every structure in Picton is in full view of the water edge).  We ordered some massive platter sampling everything they offered.  There were mussels, oysters, grilled oysters, giant crawfish (more like lobster than crawdads), garlic prawns, calamari and 3 kinds of fish.  It was delicious.  We also tried some local Marlborough Sound wine—a Sauvignon Blanc by Stoneleigh.  It was also excellent.

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The town centre was full of cute shops like any tourist town should be.  The prices were much better than we’ve seen in Wellington.  While it was obvious they catered to tourists, the whole affair seemed to close down at 7:30—even on a Friday night.

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It rained a bit, but not too much.  Amy and I walked all over the town.  In fact the whole getaway was by foot.  We took the train from our house to downtown Wellington, walked to the ferry terminal (barely a block), and walked off the ferry to our motel, the Ferry Link Motel.  We slept in and watched some DVDs on our portable player (Arrested Development).  A prominent feature of our walks was this huge yucca plant… It looked wildly out of place.

We had a great time.  It was very peaceful.  We can’t wait to do it again and range about a bit farther—perhaps to Blenhiem for more wines or down the coast to whale watching Kaikoura or farther still to Christchurch.