NewZealand

2008-06-29T03:12:00.000-07:00

Kiwi Top 10

While biking the other day my mind wandered on to what my favorite moments in New Zealand were here is an approximate top 10 list and might be subject to change if I suddenly remember something else:

The view of the Ruapehu volcanic crater. After climbing 4000ft (1200m) and being buffeted by high winds near the top the view as you crest the crater edge is simply stunning.

Tongariro Crossing. Has to be the most amazing day walk I've done for the range of volcanic scenery in picture perfect weather.

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. The idea of riding a 160km/ 100 mile bike race with thousands of others might not appeal to everyone but it really was an enjoyable challenge.

Picton to Wellington Ferry. The first time we did the journey in the light with perfect early morning weather in late winter afforded great views of the Marlborough Sounds, both islands and Wellington Harbour.

Curio Bay. On the windswept south coast near Invercargill this amazing petrified forest would have been stunning enough without the penguins that arrived in late afternoon and a very impressive rainbow brightening what had been a stormy day.

Camping at Mangaweka. We camped twice at a beautiful site right on the Rangitikei River with good company from our friends in the Palmerston North Hash House Harriers. Activities like white water rafting, tubing and zinging golf balls at the cliffs opposite the campsite added to the experience.

Climbing Mt Taranaki. This perfect cone volcano proved to be a challenging hike on Tim's birthday, particularly ascending snowy slopes without ice-axe and crampons. Amazing terrain on the way up and fabulous views from the summit made it a birthday to remember.

Dunedin Modern Art Museum reception. We went to a private reception here as part of a dental conference Tim was attending. Lots of excellent snacks and fine local wine with the opportunity to check out some impressive modern art at the same time.

Cape Farewell. The beautiful northern tip of the south island mixed a long sand spit with unique dunes, cliffs, caves and fossils. Great campground at Collingwood too, and a fine brewpub nearby.

Marlborough Sounds. We took a trip to these inlets at the northeast of the north island with our friend Dave on his boat. Fishing, diving, scallop collecting and a pub only accessible by boat made for a unique weekend.

2008-04-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

On the Road Again

We managed to get our possessions and are now on the road. Follow the adventure at http://www.timtracyoz.blogspot.com/

Hopefully I'll also have time to finish blogging about NZ soon.

2008-03-31T03:49:00.000-07:00

Still Trying to Catch Up

We are about to embark on our Australian adventure when we finally get our possessions out of quarantine (they are very strict on what you bring in here and we have to have our shipment inspected... mostly for mud on bikes, boots and tents). Meanwhile we are preparing our Chevy Silverado and camper for the trip (picture soon). Once we are on the move I will have time to type more.

In the end I will finish the New Zealand blog in time and link to the new Australian one.

2008-03-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Still Travelling

I am finally restored to the online world with a new computer. This is our last day in New Zealand and given a few minutes I'll update our recent travels .

2008-02-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

Recent Inactivity

There has not been much on the website and blog recently as we have packed up our belongings and are traveling... plus a slight coffee laptop interface has rendered our laptop inoperative. For a quick update:

We left Wanganui on Feb 14th, spent a romantic night at the Flying Fox then headed north to Northland, the region beyond Auckland. Highlights included diving on the Poor Knights Islands and getting to the NW corner of the country, Cape Reinga.

On the 21st we picked up friends Jeff and Amy who were visiting for a week. We began in a fairly relaxed way by revisiting the Flying Fox and taking in a Super 14 Rugby game in Wellington... then managed a 4 day combo of partying Saturday night, half marathon Sunday (Jeff and Tim), climb up Ruapehu Monday (2800m, highest point in the north island) and Tongariro Crossing Tuesday. This is the classic day walk in the area, 17km with some serious climbing to see volcanic craters, lakes and spectacular mountains. We also diverted to take in the two main peaks Ngaruhoe (Mt Doom in the "Lord of the Rings" and Tongariro (see the website for earlier pictures of these two)).

Tracy and I are now embarking on a 3 day trip down the Wanganui River by canoe (kayak for the Americans) through some of the most isolated territory in the north island so don't expect an update for a few days! Then we sail for the south island for more adventures.

2008-02-05T14:19:00.000-08:00

Ticketmaster

I just bought some tickets here through Ticketmaster. Exact same online system as the US, paid by my US Credit Card, but when it came to the massive charges you expect to get slapped with by the company in the US (service charges, transaction charges etc) there was just a reasonable $6 on a $156 bill. I'm sure that I'd have paid over $50 in the US for the same transaction. Capitalism at work I guess... but next time I buy tickets in the US I will be enquiring exactly what the extra $44 pays for.

2008-01-30T23:38:00.000-08:00

Marlborough Sounds

Our weekend on a boat went well. The crossing to the South Island takes about 90 minutes and was a bit choppy but once you are in the sounds (a large number of inlets along the island's north coast) things calm down. We enjoyed diving (water is pretty cold here at 17C, 63F compared to our usual caribbean conditions, but we were well equipped) both to catch scallops on sandy sea floors and among rocks to find crayfish (lobsters), We also fished for the delicious blue cod and managed a night at a pub accessible only by track or sea. Tracy would like it noted that she caught a lot more keeper fish than Tim!

Weather got more settled for our final two days and the sea was very smooth (which suits me just fine!). Thanks to our friend Dave for taking us out!

2008-01-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

Drought

Our "green and pleasant land" is currently looking awfully brown after only 16.5mm of rain (little over half an inch) in January, 90% of which fell in 1 stormy day. Like Scotland they usually expect the wet stuff to fall out of the sky so usage is not optimized and we are already having complete watering bans and emergency measures. There will certainly be some thin sheep around soon if the rain does not pick up.

Of course the warm dry weather has been great for those of us who don't depend on the land and have no stake in a wilting garden. It has also contributed to the limited number of blog entries and new pictures on the website! And the long range forecasts suggests warm dry conditions will continue, perfect for our travels. The weather has also been very warm and humid for the area, we're used to it but you notice the lack of air conditioning we all take for granted in the US.

2008-01-18T01:36:00.000-08:00

Police Concert

30 years on it was still great to finally see the Police in concert. They put on a great show in Wellington, though it could have been longer. Support came from Fergie ("whose idea was that shit" said Tim; Tracy liked her) and Fiction Plane whose singer we thought could have done a good vocal rendition of the young Sting. Checking the internet later reveals that this may have something to do with the fact it's his son!

2008-01-18T01:24:00.000-08:00

I'm On a Boat in the Middle of Summer and You Are Not

We are off to spend the holiday weekend (yet another NZ holiday) fishing and diving in the Marlborough Sounds on the north of the South Island. Enjoy the winter northern hemisphereites!

2008-01-18T01:16:00.000-08:00

Sporting Update

Our shearer failed to start the attempt on his world record because his sheep were over-crutched. Sad to say I actually know what this means (my dental assistant is from sheep country).

2008-01-18T01:05:00.000-08:00

Sir Edmund Hillary

While of course it was sad to hear of the death of someone who was still a hero to those of us brought up in the 70s many years after his Himalayan feats, it is quite something to be living in his home country. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was the national icon, the world's best known New Zealander and personified the Kiwi self-image. He was even given the rare honour of being depicted on a banknote while alive.

2008-01-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

Breaking Sports News

Just to give a flavour of one of the sporting activities that might not earn the country international recognition:

Shearing longshot set to tackle ewe record

Fordell is the site of our favorite local pub by the way, and is real sheep country.

2008-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

New Year

It is clearly considered to be a drinking holiday here but nowhere near on the scale of Scotland - where the rush in the off licences (beer/ liquor stores) has to be seen to be believed. Getting drunk on the beach seems to be popular and several busy beaches nearby have one night "liquor bans" to discourage the practise. Public drinking is allowed in most of the country except in marked liquor ban areas, mostly in town centers.

2007-12-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

An early welcome to 2008 here just west of the International Date Line. The TV here certainly didn't go overboard counting down to 2008, one channel cut into a film to show a few minutes of fireworks, another just played Elton John's 60th birthday concert and ignored midnight while the third seemed to be showing infomercials.

2007-12-29T00:22:00.000-08:00

Xmas (part 2)

To add to the general craziness at this time of year it would also appear that Boxing Day is the equivalent of Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) in the US: the biggest shopping day of the year. So Xmas shopping fever is extended at least one more day. Much of the population of Wanganui, however, spends the day watching motorbikes tear around a street circuit set up in town which sounds like a whole lot more fun than hitting a mall to me.

2007-12-26T22:46:00.000-08:00

Merry Xmas

Slightly belated holiday wishes from Tracy and Tim (Tim spilled wine on the computer in a fit of pre-Xmas excitement or something) and it took a few days to work again.

In the end golf won out as an Xmas pursuit for Tim (while Tracy worked) before we got together at 3pm for the usual extravaganza of eating and drinking. Weather was not great (I'm told it never is here!) but warm enough to spend the day on our friends' deck.

Xmas wishes from Tracy and Tim

The pictures were taken on Mount Taranaki, the island's second biggest mountain. We spent Tim's birthday climbing it.

2007-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Xmas (pt 1)

It would seem that the holiday season is if anything more crazy here than in the northern hemisphere. Along with the usual orgy of consumerism, parties and overeating it's also the main school and family holiday time and of course coming into the heart of the summer. Some northern hemisphere habits seem a little ridiculous (overdressed santas, winter scenes) and others don't translate well (lighting your house is less effective when it gets dark after 9pm) but I am looking forward to my choice of activities including biking, hanging out on the beach and golf.

2007-12-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

Marathon

I managed to survive my first marathon in fairly good conditions yesterday (generally cool, not as windy as it can be here) and, despite nursing a cold for a couple of days, finished in a respectable 3hrs 3mins 19secs to be 5th overall. The body held up well but the legs were very painful for the last 10km. Tracy came out and captured a couple of pics:

11km to go, still running well

Not looking too good at the finish:

On a 4 lap course my quarter splits were approximately 43:15, 44:15, 46:45 and 49:04.

The run began at 7.30am in near ideal conditions: cool, slightly damp and with little wind. About 55 runners set off at that time ( a few set off with the walkers at 6.30am including 2 heading straight from the run to a flight out to Chile for the Antarctic Marathon - one a wheelchair competitor - and a glutton for punishment who had run 157km last weekend) and I enjoyed my moment of glory in the lead before swiftly being overtaken by the eventual winner, the defending champion and Wanganui Harrier Club's best hope of a win. I ran for a while and had a brief chat with a runner who I'd met at a recent half marathon where we'd run most of the race together before he moved ahead in the latter stages. Once again Pat moved ahead of me and I settled down to a long spell in 5th place on the first lap of 10.55km.

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Route description:

We began on the west side of the Wanganui River, running NW on the road to a bridge crossing. On the east bank we continued north in Kowhai Park, turning to run back for several km south through the park. A stretch of road works complicated the first few hundred meters out of the park before we crossed the main Town Bridge so we could loop underneath and cross back to the east bank on the other side of the road (no way of avoiding crossing the road on the east side). Another couple of km on pavement/ sidewalk brought us to a stretch on the main highway before looping under the highway bridge to a pedestrian bridge on the south side. Once back on the west bank we turned NE looping under the bridge for about 1.5 km back to the start.

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During the first go around I passed the early starting runners (and the wheelchair racer manfully getting across the uneven grassy stretch in the park) before beginning to pick up the slower walkers later in the lap. So far so good, feeling good and ready for more.

By lap 2 the weather was dry and still cool but with some wind getting up and despite some calf pain (which pretty much eased off by half way) I continued to cruise in 5th until I was overtaken near the end of the lap. Still feeling fairly good though for the uncharted territory of the third lap (I had never raced more than a half marathon or ever run more than 27km in training) where the course would get busier with first the half marathon runners then 10km and 5km joining us. The halfers were setting off at 9am so I passed by about 2 minutes 30 secs before they set off.

Early in lap 3 I got back into 5th place (the runner who had overtaken me must have gone too fast early as he trailed in a lot later at the finish) but in the park I was surprised to be passed by a halfer as if I was standing still... turns out he was an Olympic representative for NZ in town to supervise his school team in the NZ Schools Athletic Championship, who obviously wanted to stretch his legs. The faster runners on their first laps passed as I ground my way through lap 3 with increasingly painful thigh muscles but few other problems. The wind was a little unpredictable though, a headwind in places, tailwind in others when we seemed to be running in the same direction. I guess it was the effect of the bend in the river and an east wind blowing around a couple of hills .

By lap 4 the sun was out and the day was warm, not bad for me but increasingly tough for slower runners. I suppose the real leg pain really kicked in about the 33km mark, about when we got to the park for the last time and by 35km it was really tough. I had decided to walk at water stations and make sure I took in enough water and energy drinks but the final stop was difficult to restart from, and the final drop to loop under the highway bridge on loose gravel was extremely painful. There were also a lot of people in other races to avoid by now. However I kept going till I was back on the west bank and knowing the end was nigh helped spurred me to try and overtake Pat in the distance as I was gaining, but just as in the previous half he beat me by about 14 seconds.

Tracy was at the finish to greet me and provide coffee and cakes from the nearby River Market to supplement a couple of bottles of isotonic drinks and we settled down in the by now warm sun to watch the rest of the athletes finish. On the whole the body held up well: no blisters, minimal chafing, no hypoglycaemia or dehydration... but the legs were sheer agony for the last 10km and walking was pretty tough for maybe 3 days. Post run we stayed till everyone was finished before visiting our favourite pub, the Fordell Hotel, for a restorative beer or two.

2007-11-30T12:41:00.000-08:00

Lake Taupo Bike Challenge

Both of us successfully completed the 100 miles/ 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge last weekend in the company of 10,000 others. In an event which is both a challenge and a race Tim clocked in at just over 5 hours (and about 30 minutes ahead of the pugilist MP in the post below!) and Tracy just under 7.

We were staying about 4km from the start so we had a gentle (downhill) warmup on a dull and drizzly morning to get down to the start about 7am. Here the 5000 or so participants in the solo ride (one lap of the lake) were corralled by estimated finish time to start in waves over maybe an hour, and having been extremely conservative in our estimates (we signed up without having biked much this year... then actually trained quite hard) we were well to the rear. Tim was in the 6:10-7 hour group and Tracy in the 8-9 hour division. From now on this is Tim's account:

After a long period of shuffling forward towards the starting arch as groups ahead began it was finally time for the off and I was soon overtaking people, especially on the early hills. To begin the route is rolling and climbs gradually from 360m (1170ft) to 640m (2080ft) in 20km (12 miles) or so and it was easy to pass with few big bunches forming. The road became tougher on the west side with constant climbs and drops, but the conditions remained perfect as the drizzle stopped and the wind held off.

It was clear that I had started well after I should have and was very glad that there were no headwinds because I could never find a group to ride with consistently. Mostly I was running quicker than the others around, but occasionally we were passed by small groups in the 2 people relay (80km each, starting a little later than we solos) who I would try and ride with briefly before they would disappear ahead. Further south on the west side the views began to open up south over the lake to the volcanos beyond but still the wind stayed away. This stretch ended with a huge, fast, winding descent where I raced at a scary speed and whistled past others... while those of a braver dispositions raced past me.

From here much of the route is flat and for a while I would latch on to a group for a breather before racing on solo until finally an 80km relay group went past that I could actually stay with if I worked hard. At one point I was passed at the back of the group by a strong rider but one who a) seemed to have trouble holding his line and b) had lost quite a bit of skin in a previous crash. I dropped back from him till he moved away! By now we were overtaking some bigger groups and I was finally dropped by the quicker riders trying to get past a large pack, but found a few riders to stick with on a short up and down stretch before the last big climb up Hatepe Hill. For the last time I was able to blow past a lot of people, riding with another guy who also clearly relished the hills. From here it was a question of hanging on with a few riders at the same pace for a brief stretch with headwind, enjoy the last big downhill and get the head down for the last 15km (10 miles) into town.

The final stretch was a lot of fun despite the exhaustion with a stretch by the lake with some cheering spectators and a final dash down the finishing straight with quite a crowd. Then it was time to get off and throw down a few bananas and energy drinks thrust into my hand by volunteers. On the whole I'd managed to keep pretty well hydrated and fueled with only a low point just before a high energy sachet I'd taken in anticipation of the last big hill kicked in.

After a little recovery time I biked up to the hotel, showered, changed and drove down to find our friends and wait for Tracy. After checking out the event field (food, drink, stalls and lots of tired riders) I retrieved the bags we left at the start, took pictures and decided to go for a beer. For some reason however I went for a look at some more finishers before leaving in a barwards direction and who should be riding up at that moment than Tracy in a very impressive time (especially as she'd lost a few minutes en route looking for a beer!) and much earlier than anticipated . We repaired to a nearby Irish bar and were soon joined by friends Joan and Sam.

The rest of the afternoon/ evening was spent getting Tracy showered, meeting Wanganui friends, watching the prizegiving and rounding things out with a curry in the company of Tracy's colleague Jean and his Swiss cousin who had put us to shame by being one of the 18 riding twice around (8 riders did 4 laps!). All in all we both found it an excellent experience.

2007-11-12T22:43:00.000-08:00

Politician Shortage

It is easy to forget how small the population is here but some things bring it home. The long serving Prime Minister recently reshuffled her cabinet in an effort to freshen things up as she trails in the polls with an election due next year. With a relatively small number of MPs to choose from a minister will hold a number of responsibilities so while very few faces actually change in the reshuffle the jobs get passed around. The ministers are also arranged in a pecking order of seniority with the top 9 in the cabinet.

The lack of available replacements meant that an MP who decided the best response to an opponent making some choice remarks about his divorce the other week was to "take it outside" and land a couple of punches was punished by dropping 3 places in the "chart" and losing the choice portfolio of Sport. Including responsibility for boxing I guess...

2007-11-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

Road and Rail

The rail system here has declined a lot over the years but still has quite a network of freight lines. These very often lie in close proximity to the roads with many level crossings and it is only the scarcity of trains that prevents more accidents with cars. While the main crossings have lights, bells and sometimes gates many minor roads cross with just a warning sign, and late at night I wonder how many people think to check for trains. That thought came to mind on a dark night in the middle of nowhere as a train suddenly - and unexpectedly - passed me.

On the South Island's west coast the road and rail lines run parallel and shared the bridges... not side by side but on the same one car wide span. We never saw a train though. I assume that as the rail traffic has declined the cars have proliferated and there was never a time both were so prevalent as to cause trouble.

2007-11-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

Just Like Home

We took a long drive up to Northland to meet up with my parents, and this gave us our first taste of travel in the populous part of the country between Hamilton and Auckland. Much of the terrain closer to Auckland is very reminiscent of southern England: dull farmland, cattle and even a motorway looking exactly like it was transplanted here from the UK. Even the Motorway Services look pretty much the same. North Hamilton also seems to be trying to look like modern Britain with faceless out of town shopping estates and an overdose of roundabouts.

2007-10-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

Lucky Dube

I was much saddened to hear about the murder of Lucky Dube last week in an apparent carjacking attempt. While he becomes a statistic in the appalling litany of murder in South Africa, maybe his death will galvanize opposition to a violent gun culture among young men, many of whom must have loved his music. Maybe...

We became familiar with him Malawi where his reggae music rang out in bottle stores and at parties hosted by both foreigners and Malawians. The song "Prisoner"was virtually the soundtrack to our time there. We also heard him regularly in the Caribbean where again his songs of trials and troubles but also of love and uplifting resonated with many in the population.

Rest in peace, you'll be missed all over the world.

2007-10-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

Halloween vs Guy Fawkes

It seems that despite the influence of America in NZ, Halloween (the dentists' nightmare holiday but a good excuse to party in silly costumes as opposed to street clothes) is not particularly significant here, despite the efforts of retailers to turn a few dollars. Meanwhile Guy Fawkes Day (Nov 5th for the Americans among you and an excuse for fireworks and a general melee of burning and blowing up stuff - think July 4th without the nationalism and with worse weather) is commemorated with enough gusto that there are tight limits on the number of days fireworks can be sold, while the fire service and police warn about the hightoll on property and damage to people.

2007-10-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

Gisborne and the East Cape

My parents are over visiting and have a 12 day tour of the country to view the highlights, so last weekend (including Labour Day, a Monday holiday) we all headed for the East Coast where the tour does not take them. This also happens to be the most reliable part of the island weather wise and we struck it lucky with 3 days of sunshine while the rain came down on Wanganui.

First stop was Napier and from there we moved north to Gisborne, the "first city to see the sunrise" and a part of the North Island we'd yet to visit. It proved to be an attractive small city with good eating options and a host of monuments commemorating the fact that Captain Cook and crew landed here after first spotting the country (though he had a little contretemps with the locals and didn't hang about long). It was also their annual food and wine festival so by evening more than a few of the inhabitants (temporary or permanent) were having trouble with their grasp of reality and the concept of vertical.

Elsewhere the Cape features rugged country where the Maori culture is still strong, and inland the extensive Te Urewera National Park helps preserve a large area of native forest. The mainly dirt "main road" through the park is beautiful but the feeling of dust building up on every surface of car and skin was reminiscent of African travels. Shame the grey dust here doesn't give the same attractive "fake tan" as red Malawi dirt.

2007-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

More Running Nonsense

In a clear demonstration of compulsive behavior or stupidity I finished the Wanganui Harrier Club season today by running a half marathon despite hobbling for the last 2 days on a painfully bruised ankle. It was more painful raising the foot than landing so a good dose of Ibuprofen meant the run wasn't too bad but I'm back limping around on an even sorer leg now. Good thing we have an automatic car, pressing a clutch would be a real chore.

For the record I ran 1 hour 24m 08s which was great, 5km breakdowns were 19m 32s, 20m 0s, 20m 23s and 19m 56s. The course was half the Wanganui Marathon course, which I'll hopefully run on 8th December.

2007-10-16T01:51:00.000-07:00

NZ, Terrorist Hotspot

Apparently we have terrorists here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7044448.stm

I'm not sure however if these are truly dangerous people or come under the George Bush definition of anyone the regime doesn't happen to like!

2007-10-13T02:54:00.000-07:00

Getting Fit

We both have a fairly tough couple of months of physical activity coming up, prior to the undoubted descent into sloth that the Xmas season tends to bring (even in the middle of summer no doubt). We both ride the "Tour of Manawatu" on Nov 4th, a 116 km (72 mile) ride around the region to our west as a buildup for New Zealand's biggest biking event, the Lake Taupo Challenge. This will take us (and 12000+ others) around the country's largest lake for 160km (100 miles) on November 24th. Tim also runs a half marathon on Oct 27th and his first marathon on December 8th.

To this end we are both going to the local cycle club's spin class (pedalling bikes on static rollers) 2 nights a week and trying to fit in a long ride at the weekend. Tim is also running on the cycling off days, and the training must be helping as the 38m 12s posted for 10km today was the quickest he'd run the distance in 15 years. And by the magic/ smoke and mirrors of pace projections and age adjustment was probably the best he's ever run (or not, who trusts statistics anyway).

2007-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

All Blacks Lose

In an event that will be treated as a national disaster here the All Blacks lost to France this morning in the Rugby World Cup. New Zealand hasn't won the premier tournament in their national sport since 1987 and this just adds to an infamous litany of failure. While the referee didn't do New Zealand any favours they should have been able to make their dominance count, but lost to a late try.

The only positive here is that Australia also lost leaving England and France to fight it out for a final place. All I can say is Go Scotland!

2007-09-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

Magpie Attack!

We've taken to riding longer distances on the bikes at the weekend which is great with warmer weather and lots of back roads to explore. Unfortunately at this time of year the magpies (slightly different in appearance than those in the UK or US but similar in demeanor) get frisky and are prone to attack passing people. Apparently they only do this if they spot you from above but they can be quite a hazard for kids, runners and - as we've discovered - cyclists.

The sudden sound of flapping mixed with the crack of a beak bouncing off your helmet can come as a bit of a surprise... not good if a car is passing. And they are persistent unless you manage to scream at them loudly enough (something Tracy has become pretty good at though I won't outline the exact language). We are told magpie behavior is at it worst now, but attacks are not unknown into the summer.

2007-09-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

3am

With the current obsession here with the Rugby World Cup I finally decided to get up at 3am Monday morning to watch the NZ All Blacks play Scotland in Edinburgh. This despite the certainty that a weak Scottish team (our big game comes up in a week vs Italy) was likely to be beaten soundly. A surprisingly large number of Kiwis watched the game too, despite them treating the first round games as little more than a warmup.

In the end the 40-0 result reflected decent Scottish defence against a mistake prone NZ side but poor kicking and few good attacking moves. The major problem for those of us watching bleary eyed however was the similarity in the two teams' shirts, making it difficult to decide who was on what team. I hear this was also a problem the players ran into...

I am still proudly wearing my Scotland shirt however (it attracts a certain amount of sympathy!) and look forward to the remaining games (plural I hope if Scotland make the quarter finals). They will be at a more hospitable hour.

2007-09-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

Rioting

The day we arrived in Dunedin the city was full of students from Canterbury University taking part in the Undie 500 car rally, or at least the drinking peripheral to the main event. While we were enjoying the liquid hospitality of the Dunedin Art Gallery with a crowd of dentists the students were clearly lubricating in less salubrious surroundings... leading to a major riot later in the evening.

We headed straight to our hotel but many of my colleagues came across riot police confronting bottle throwing students ( although I was told the bottles were not being aimed very close to anyone). Parts of the city were certainly a mess the next day. Not the image NZ wants to portray abroad, but rather more drunken fun getting out of hand than appalling crime to my mind.

2007-09-05T03:19:00.000-07:00

South Island Tour

We spent the last week of August (and officially the last week of winter) in the South Island doing a whistle stop tour of some main highlights while the weather was good. The excuse for the trip was a dental conference in Dunedin, and we also checked out the south and west coasts while fitting in a days skiing in the tourist trap of Queenstown.

Day 1 - to minimize time off we left Wanganui at about 10pm (Tracy worked till 9), driving down to Wellington for the 2am ferry. The ferry journey was smooth... and we slept all the way.

Day 2 - The ferry docked at 5am, we had to be in Dunedin for 6pm, and we were told the drive was about 10 hours... so not much time to see the east coast. The first stretch in the dark was a winding hilly road, flattening out as the coastal plain widened. Great sunrise and some big hills to the west.

The day remained clear and beautiful as we approached and passed Christchurch, and we got great views west to the Southern Alps in the distance. We finally stopped for photos at the Waitaki River and having made good time also spent some time in the pretty town of Oamaru and at a couple of beachside rest stops before we arrived in Dunedin.

Our hotel was located above the town with good views and while Tracy caught up on some rest, Tim set out to see the town while running. It's an attractive place and has a lot of Scottish influence in place names, architecture and scenery.

In the evening there was a reception for meeting attendees at the Dunedin Art Gallery... preceded by the usual opening ceremony where assorted heads behind podiums droned on for a while. The opening was enlivened by the Sextet, an Otago University institution featuring six students harmonizing beautifully on a series of songs running smoothly through amusing to off colour and on through offensive. They'd be perfect for a hashing event and certainly more fun than the typical dental meeting.

At the reception we enjoyed a fine selection of Otago wine, plenty of tasty snacks and as much modern art as you could take in before returning to more wine and nibbles (for obvious reasons food and drink was limited to the reception area to avoid anyone adding the creative use of red wine to an assemblage). It was a good thing our hotel was close by...

Day 3 - Tim was off early for a day of dental lectures while Tracy spent the early part of the day recovering from the reception and the later part in a largely unsuccessful effort to spot penguins on the Otago Peninsula. She did see a couple in their burrows but none out wandering. We finished the night at a restaurant right in the working port area.

Day 4 - More dental meetings for Tim (who'd have thought you could spend so long hearing about teeth?!) while Tracy spent the whole day our on the Peninsula checking out Larnach Castle, the spectacular scenery and volcanic formations.

In the evening we took a tour of one of the city's institutions, Speights Brewery followed by sampling and a good meal in the neighbouring Speights Ale House. An extensive pub crawl followed with some of the reps from the conference Wel OK, 2 drinks at one bar and we were ready for bed...

Day 5 - Not a good weather forecast today so we didn't rush out to hit the road to Queenstown. At this stage we were in fact still undecided on which road to take. A visit to "the world's steepest street" also netted us a recommendation from a local to travel a way down the coast (better weather, great views) and this proved an inspired choice. The road followed the coast much of the way and we enjoyed sun at a couple of stops before lunching in Balclutha and picking up information on a drive through the Catlins, the sparsely populated area at the SE tip of the island. We made several seaside stops as we tried to dodge the rain showers spotting dolphins , seals and finally a couple of penguins at the mighty impressive (and totally untouristed) petrified forest.

Once daylight ran out we took off for Queenstown, missing the views of approaching mountains but having made the most of our day.

Day 6 - We finally get in some skiing in the southern hemisphere, at Coronet Peak. It has not been a good year for snow (the Southern Alps have been very dry) but we get in some good runs as the snow quality is excellent and the weather fine after a dull start. Meet up with Tim's boss and a group in town for a dental conference, all good skiers so we enjoy the day. Meet up in the evening with one of Tracy's colleagues and husband for dinner.

While Queenstown has developed a reputation as a tourist mecca it is really still quite a small and pleasant town. It was hardly busy for a ski town in the college holidays. Fantastic scenery around too, rather like a giant version of Scotland.

Day 7 - Today we hit the road for an epic journey over one of the finest routes in the country. Starting from Queenstown we climb over the Crown Range road (ignoring signs that snow chains must be carried: for one we are below this year's snow line and two we have a certain amount of practice in snow and ice on normal tyres), through Wanaka, up Lake Hawea, back to Lake Wanaka (all with spectacular mountain views). Then into the native forest and up over Haast Pass with a long drop down to Haast on the west coast (with typical west coast rain replacing the beautiful weather as we neared the sea).

From Haast the drive north begins by looking like Scotland, mist and rain, rain, rain. However we get lucky and the clouds break as we detour a few km to Fox Glacier and we get great evening views of Mount Cook, highest peak in the country. With night falling we still have a long way to go before Picton where we'll catch the early morning ferry. Stop for a curry in Greymouth (a town Tracy could have taken a job in) where the Indian Restaurant seems to be the main attraction, despite looking like a Transport Caff/ truckstop and being none too warm... we arrive and there is one other customer so we grab the table by the gas fire. Within 30 minutes many more customers arrive and most pick their spot according to the proximity to the fire so we timed our arrival right. Great food by the way.

From here we again miss some great scenery up the Buller river and watch the time pass: this is a country with few 24 hour check-ins so we're not sure where we'll find to stay at nearly midnight, but fortunately a couple who own the Copthorne in Blenheim happen to be in reception with a light on tidying up after partying with some of their guests... a lucky break as we get a nice room.

Day 8 - Up early for the short hop to Picton and we are glad to see gorgeous weather, the crossing is rough if its stormy but beautiful in the sun. Our journey could not have been more pleasant in clear weather with a millpond like sea... and we are soon safely back on the North Island for a weekend in Wellington.

Check out all the pictures from the trip at www.timcooke.com.

2007-09-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

All World Cup All the Time

The New Zealand All Blacks have failed to win the Rugby World Cup since 1987, a dreadful failure in a country when the game is the national obsession. Even England have won more recently... and no-one here has much respect for northern hemisphere rugby. With another World Cup upon us you can't get far in the media without the competition dominating, and the team don't even play a meaningful game till October (I'm assuming they'll dispatch Portugal, Romania, Italy and even my native Scotland with ease). If they don't win this time I'll be interested to see the reaction!

2007-08-19T04:47:00.001-07:00

More Public Toilets

It seems the antipodeans really take this topic seriously. No sooner do I comment on the number in this country than I get a link to an official map of the location of said conveniences in Australia:

http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/

By the way there was no shortage of toilets for those caught short on my half marathon route.

2007-08-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

Half Marathon

Tim had his first crack at a half marathon today and it went very well. Once again the winter weather here was dry, very light winds with warm sun and moderate air temps around 15C (56F). The course was pretty flat (with a climb only in the final 1km) and these conditions helped to achieve a time of 1hr 25mins 48secs (or so, their automatic timing was messed up and someone was standing in front of the seconds on the timing clock at the finishing line... so I had to squint at my watch as I gasped for air in the finishing channel).

For any running nerds the 5km splits were 19.40, 20.26, 20.54 (bettering my 15km PB), and 20.42.

Edit: My "official" time was finally given as 1.25.45, good for 4th in the 40-44s and 20th overall in a field of 374.

2007-08-16T03:07:00.000-07:00

Public Toilets

I'm sure the friends who could never roadtrip far without pause for relief (you know who you are P**l and A*d*ew) would be interested to hear that there can't be anywhere in the world with more public toilets per person than New Zealand. Even in small towns you can follow the trusty blue signs and find a convenient errr convenience. While the main facilities tend to close at dusk there is always a reserve option in the same block open 24/7. Tracy is doing her best to visit every one.

Wanganui itself is quite the hotbed of public toilets thanks to an elderly man who has campaigned on the subject for years. Another good reason to retire here I guess.

Meanwhile on the same theme those people who would do anything to avoid pub toilets should visit the gents in the Thirsty Whale, Napier. This wood paneled haven features flat panel TV's so as not to miss a moment of the rugby action.

2007-08-10T01:11:00.000-07:00

Flora

I seem to bring up the weather a lot (it was up around 16C (60F) and sunny again today but with a big storm approaching) but hey, after New York I love the temperate ambiance. And the lack of extremes mean we are never without flowering trees, shrubs and flowers. I mentioned that the town had recently planted fresh bedding plants, and we've also had lots of daffodils and right now a number of common bushes and trees are in bloom.

Next month I'd imagine another selection will be in season. Sure brightens up a town.

2007-08-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

School Uniform and Short Trousers

In the dim and distant past when I was at primary (elementary) school I used to wear shorts every day, despite the fact that most of my contemporaries were in long trousers (pants). I think I must have wanted to be different or something. However I would have fitted in well here where many of the boys are still in short school uniform trousers at and older age than me. I'm not sure if it is compulsory or optional at different ages... will have to find out. I rarely see kids at work incidentally, young ones get care from school dental nurses (therapists) free and the high schoolers are only seen by dentists with the relevant paperwork sorted to be paid. No loss for me!

Like the UK and unlike the US all kids are in uniform. The boys look like Brits in grey with school tie and requisite coloured jumper (sweater) but the girls all have very long tartan skirts matching the jumper, giving them a very old fashioned appearance.

Incidentally, even in the middle of winter many men coming from work are in short shorts... and a few patients turn up in sandals too.

2007-08-10T00:39:00.000-07:00

The Flag

As some may know the New Zealand flag owes much to it's colonial history:

and is also rather like that of Australia:

There are moves afoot to change the flag and efforts to collect 300,000 signatures to force a referendum. Some of the possible designs are shown here.

The flag is used more like the British one as a decoration for official buildings rather than the American habit of flying it everywhere. Especially as the silver fern on black or Kiwi bird motif are also used as national symbols. So the argument on a possible new flag is not exactly heated!

2007-08-08T03:24:00.000-07:00

More from the Letters Column

I commented a few months ago that the letters page of the local paper was a treat but one recent contribution really stood out among the local political mudslinging, fascist rants and religious diatribes. The letter focussed on the prevalence of melon in general and water melon in particular in the "fruit salad" purveyed by local caterers. This was apparently all some kind of plot to defraud the populace, and while the actual point of the missive was not entirely obvious it seemed to center (I note I still spell like and American sometimes) on the fact that as melon disagreed with the correspondent's digestion it should be classed as a vegetable.

The editorial comment following dryly noted that the dictionary definition of melon was as a fruit. I wonder what other gems will follow!

2007-08-08T02:49:00.000-07:00

Winter and Stuff

Once again it's a while since I've updated the blog, work, blah, blah, etc.

The weather, always a favorite topic in every country I've lived in, has actually been sort of wintry in the last few days. Not enough to need a jacket but there were hail stones bouncing off my bike helmet at the weekend and apparently a combination of hail blocking downspouts, then heavy rain managed to flood and collapse a flat roof at our local home improvement/ DIY warehouse. It's actually been pretty much that favorite of Scotland's weather forecasts: sunny intervals and showers. However the town is still very attractive with fresh flowers in all the beds and hanging baskets still going strong, and the sun is pretty warm when it does come out. I've only recored 2 frosts at the house, and neither made it down to -1C (30F).

I did get a little crazy Sunday with the fitness freakery. The town promotes a 10km run with the slight twist that the course includes the two steep hills on the east of the river (75m/ 270ft high) with start, midpoint and finish back at the river. I did OK finishing in 41.54 and was just behind the same girl who beat me in a recent flat 10km. However in the afternoon I wanted Tracy to try out a little duathlon (bike/ run) and while she did the short course (run - bike - run 1.5k - 10k - 1.5k) I tried the long course (5k - 30k - 5k). This turned out to be hard work and while the first 5k was done at a jog the biking was a chore: the good competitors were fast, the weather awful (see note about hail bouncing off helmet) and the wind managed the trick of being in my face most of the way. By the time I got back to the transfer point the legs were numb and it took about another 2km of running to get feeling back in the legs. Maybe that's why they end up with a run? A time of 1hr 38.05 was good enough for me and I joined Tracy in the local pub before we staggered home (in more pouring rain) via the chip shop.

Kiwi vocabulary for today, another one for the dentists: Lollies - not lollipops as I first imagined but a general word for sweeties/ candy.

We have still not hit the ski slopes... the only two possible days have promised high winds and rain so we demurred. Some day hopefully, or maybe on the South Island where we head in a few weeks.

2007-07-19T03:42:00.000-07:00

1000 km Weekend

Last weekend (13th-15th July) we took a Friday off to spend a long weekend traveling and partying The plan was to visit an American friend in Hamilton (4th biggest city in NZ, south of Auckland), take in a Friday night party near Tauranga (fast growing city on the north coast, will soon be bigger than Hamilton) and end up at a Hashing event in Napier on the east coast. Luckily the weather was unbelievably good for strolling in Hamilton and Napier and partying the night away outside in Welcome Bay... which we'll certainly take in the middle of winter.

Temperatures all weekend were well in the 60's F (~17C) with warm sun, while the nights were clear and even a bit frosty. We finally managed to get the classic view of the volcanoes from Taupo too as we drove through, and the whole country looked good (other than a stretch of fog). This week though Napier has had severe flooding, so I guess we were lucky. This is after severe problems in the area with low rainfall this year.

2007-07-19T01:43:00.000-07:00

Team Nicknames

Most sports teams these days have nicknames, whether long used or invented to go along with pretty coloured pyjamas (yes I mean you English cricket). New Zealand however has taken the naming of its teams to new levels without departing far from the theme of the classic rugby "All Blacks":

Football (soccer) - All Whites
Basketball - Tall Blacks
Cricket - Black Caps
(Field) Hockey - Black Sticks
Netball - Silver Ferns (which might seem novel... except the silver fern is the non-black bit of the All Blacks all black rugby shirt).
Softball - Black Sox
Women's Rugby - Black Ferns

I'm sure there are a few more...

2007-07-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

Winter Weather

We've been "enjoying"quite a mix of weather here. A couple of weeks ago it seemed like the ski season would be getting going with snow falls on the hills and cold temps all over allowing snow making. Then last weekend torrential rains hit much of the north island with warm temps (up to 20C, 68F) wiping out much of the snow base. This week has brought thunderstorms with destructive tornadoes in Taranaki to our west (and a couple locally) and hail.

This weekend has been more settled and we finally had the first sub zero temps in Wanganui. On the whole though it's mild and not too wet in the day, I've still only donned a jacket once to walk the 10 minutes to work... though one night was very cold for running. Right now Ruapehu has pretty good snow cover and there is some on the lower Ruahine hills north of Palmerston North. I'm told it never snows here though.

2007-06-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Running

As I have mentioned before New Zealand loves its sport and has great facilities given the population. However they also like to make the most of the terrain and in running this means we spend the autumn and early winter pounding around sheep fields. I should of course note at this point that they remove the sheep first...!

A few club members, sometimes with the assistance of an ATV or 4x4 take out a pile of flags and set out a course which will certainly be chosen to run up and down the hills (the steeper the better) and might include stream crossings, mud and fences. Most weeks our local club members race each other with either a closed handicap (we all run together and the results are adjusted at the end based on your previous times) or open handicap (we set off at designated times with fastest last in the hope we all race together to the line).

At times however we get more adventurous and race around the fields in other places against other clubs. There seem to be clubs in almost every town so a lot of people turn out for these events. And when we are really lucky we take place in national races which usually feature racing in parks with nary a sheep in sight. Normality will soon return, after the North Island Cross Country Championship (NICCC) in two weeks we'll be back running on the road.

For those who care we men usually run about 8km, the ladies do "only" 6km and juniors run a little less. The courses are usually two laps so you get to enjoy the thought of running up all the hills for a second time. At the NICCC we old men (35+) actually get to run less than the younger ones, usually we run together.

2007-06-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

Winter

We are finally getting some wintry weather, at least in Scottish terms. Some days have been clear and crisp with highs around 11-13 deg C (50-55 deg F) and nighttime temperatures dipping to only a few degrees above freezing. Others have been blustery and wet with chilly winds. It's still often pleasant outside in the sun and the stars are gorgeous on dark nights like tonight. I don't know if it is coincidence or weather patterns but very often the heavy rain (we've had some, though it is still quite dry around and farmers in the East of the island have been suffering) has been overnight with only squally showers in the day.

Like many in the area our house is not centrally heated, has single paned windows and is not well insulated. However we have a powerful gas fire in the living room and someone else pays the power bills. New Zealand is becoming more energy conscious and there are efforts to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

The ski season officially began this weekend on the north island but they don't have much natural snow and were not yet snow making last I checked. It is much colder inland at altitude than where we are on the coast but ski seasons are somewhat unpredictable. We will be spending time on the south island in August and should be able to ski there.

2007-06-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

More Slang

Back working as a dentist gets me talking to the locals and two phrases crop up regularly:

Munted - As in "My tooth is munted"; means falling apart, decrepit.

Sook - Unlike in Scotland where a sook is a "suck-up", here "I'm a sook" means "I'm a wimp", commonly used by people who use being a sook as a reason for wanting an injection prior to dental care.

2007-05-22T03:08:00.000-07:00

Laurel

One of the downsides of coming here was leaving our dog Laurel. For those who know her you'll be glad to hear she has settled in great with our friends Linda and Joe (and fellow canine Ellie) in rural Massachusetts. Sounds like she is better behaved than she used to be and is not leaving little "gifts" on the rugs!

2007-05-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Wine

In an enthusiastic attempt to boost the local economy ( and because the beer is somewhat bland on the whole here) we find ourselves drinking much more wine here than in the US. Several plus points:

1. It is available in supermarkets unlike New York and often discounted there. A decent bottle ranges in price from maybe $US6 - 12 (3- 6 pounds) including tax, with cheap mass produced Aussie plonk cheaper still.

2. While some of the local wineries are owned by major companies a lot are still small to medium businesses.

3. While screw tops (adopted almost universally here) might not suit cellared wines and are vaguelly redolent of the delights of Lambrusco they are great for having a glass or two and saving. Many taste better after a day or two as well.

4. And best of all, a great range of good product.

2007-05-13T03:25:00.000-07:00

A Kiwi View

I found these comments about the country on the website of a fellow Wanganui resident:

http://www.mistywindow.com/site/new-zealand-and-me.html

Interesting reading.

2007-05-13T02:43:00.000-07:00

The Earth Moved For Us

We had our first earth tremor here that I've noticed, a couple of weeks back. They are not uncommon in the 3 range on the Richter scale, there's not been a destructive one in this area for 150 years though. It basically sounded like a very large truck trundling by but made our metal roof creak impressively.

2007-05-13T02:30:00.000-07:00

Gangland

Our rather small and boring town (and to clarify I mean boring in the positive sense of pleasantly predictable and quiet before the natives lynch me in a pleasantly predictable way) has suddenly hit the news here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/location/story.cfm?l_id=131&objectid=10438111

so we are now getting cast as a hotbed of gangland activity. There is no doubt that a gang culture exists here both in the town and as one of the sides of the country the world does not hear about. But compared to other places we've lived it all seems pretty small scale. I've never lived anywhere quite as quiet downtown in the evening (both when we've been out and on my regular evening runs), even the drunks falling out of the pubs are few and far between.

In some ways New Zealand is a fairly violent place, at least in the sense that violence is tolerated among both Polynesian and Pakeha populations. Family violence is historically high and obviously the country excels at and glorys in the violent sport of rugby. The outcry here when a Green Party MP introduced an anti-smacking bill suggests that there are plenty of people who want to beat their kids, though even the conservative National Party agreed to support the legislation when opposition to it threatened to link them up with a "lunatic fringe"of religious and right wing groups.

However the country does well in most measures of crime and factors that predict crime. Quality of life for a large % of the population is high, violent crime is low by international standards and income distribution is good. Conservatives undid some of the reasonably effective social safety net in the 80s, and the same people who rail against criminals would dismantle it further (yeah, that works great in the rest of the world for detering crime!). But the New Zealand way which seems to me to comprise a combination of a reasonably strong state social system with a relatively socially conservative mindset and respect for individualism is not the worst way to balance different sides of the political spectrum.

Wanganui has been trying to up its profile and attract people, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

2007-05-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

Random Update

Somehow with having to work for a living again I'm failing to keep up the blog. I'm sure my army, or possibly small gaggle of readers (now doubtless reduced by my choice of collective noun) are sorely disappointed. I often think of possible topics to address and just as quickly forget them, so you'll get what is on my mind right now. Wanganui has managed to get on the news of late here for all the wrong reasons which I'll address in the next post. In this one I'll look at the more universal issue of language.

New Zealand is a bilingual country with English and Maori, but not in the sense of Wales with it's dual road signs or Quebec with its uneasy relationship with the rest of Canada. Here most place names are in Maori (tough for the newcomer), at least in the North Island while Maori language is used in reference to Maori activities and concepts (whether it be meetings, cultural activities, relationships, values etc) especially where these are maintained in a separate and distinctive way. However pretty much all mainstream life is conducted in English. This means that my exposure to the spoken language is minimal, though I think Tracy encounters it more.

In some ways for me it's like the exposure an English speaking lowlander gets to Gaelic in Scotland (though the Maori culture remains more vibrant, distinct and widespread than that of Gaelic speakers now). It's all over the maps of much of the country, it's useful for describing history and culture and is heard in artistic presentations. But you are not going to pick up much by way of colloquial use. There's no denying that it's a beautiful and lyrical tongue though, even when rendered by Pakeha newsreaders.

The effort to remember popular NZ slang dredges up a few favorites:

crook - having some physical ailment in a usefully non-specific way: "I'm a bit crook" seems to cover everything from a mild cold to being about dead.

heaps - general word for "a lot"covering times the Brits might use lots, loads, tons etc.

And a couple of more specific favorites:

chilly-bin - cooler or cool box

judder-bar - sleeping policemen (always one of the stranger british phrases I always thought) or speed bump

Tracy adds "sweet as" meaning great and I'm sure a linguist could work on how the use of "eh" at the end of a sentence varies between NZ, Canada and the Dakotas.

I do have one question. If eskimos are supposed to have heaps of words for snow (is this true or a grand myth?) and Scots certainly describe rain in a multiplicity of ways, why do they not have more words for sheep inNZ?!

2007-05-04T02:47:00.000-07:00

Newspaper Letter Writers

Now I'm working I'm exposed to the local newspaper which sits in the waiting room and gives me something to read on breaks. While it does an adequate job of covering local, national and world events the highlight has to be the letters page. While every paper must get its share of unhinged correspondence the Wanganui Chronicle actually prints most of it. Sadly they do not post letters on the website (that might not influence the world's view of our little town very positively methinks) but I might be forced to highlight a few on these pages.

Many of the letters continue a fairly personal slanging match about our local politics which can't avoid being personality driven when

a) The mayor is a well known talk radio host and political maverick
b) Most of the local politicians seem to fall into the "small town conservative" camp but manage to disagree on plenty

You feel you should check in every day as the same writers slag each other and their chosen political targets with the regularity of a soap opera plot. However these regular missives are only an apetizer to prepare the reader for the truly unhinged. Today's best contribution began by noting that crayfish had been found entombed in solidified mud after our recent lahar. This managed to prove via some spectacular leaps of pseudoscience that the earth's fossil record had been created in a short period of time by the biblical flood and therefore all the problems of the world were due to our failure to adhere to the bible. I look forward to the correspondent's next contibution and continuing to monitor the entire letters page!

2007-04-12T01:35:00.000-07:00

Kurt Vonnegut Dies

Sad news, one of the few people I'd really have liked to have met. But he took the right atitude to getting old.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=580066&category=Nation&BCCode=NATION&newsdate=4/11/2007

2007-04-11T02:38:00.001-07:00

Tracy on the TV (not)

Tracy failed in her bid for TV stardom when her role hit the cutting room floor. Basically a local personality here is on the local version of Dancing with the Stars/ Strictly Come Dancing (the show is big here, like almost all reality shows I fail to understand why) and broke his toe. He is continuing on the show "against medical advice" as they keep telling us... and guess whose medical advice!

Tracy was a bit nonplussed to share her office with a film crew but commented that she did like the professional dance partner.

2007-04-11T02:29:00.000-07:00

Personal News

In a shocking development Tim actually started working as a dentist today, having finally sorted out his registration with the NZ Dental Council. Finally fixing teeth again after nearly 8 years away from general practice and 6 months without working!

2007-04-07T05:09:00.000-07:00

Pictures

There are now a ton of pictures of our time here at:

http://www.timcooke.com/NZ/index.htm

2007-04-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

Easter

It is a big holiday here, as they get 4 days off and it obviously falls at the end of summer/ early autumn. It is an interesting combination of laws based on the religious nature of the weekend (no alcohol can be served Good Friday without buying food we discovered) and extreme commercialism with all kinds of end of season sales. I'm not sure how Easter Sunday will pan out. We are staying at home because Tracy works Friday & Monday but at least the holidays she works feature shorter hours and more pay.

2007-04-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

Work Update

Tracy continues to enjoy her job and its not too arduous hours. While patient confidentiality precludes me relating an interesting story till it's in the public domain she did get visited by a TV crew doing a story on someone else. If she makes it on NZ TV I'll tell all.

Wednesday (the visit to Wellington was to help finalize the dental licence). This will be a shock after nearly 8 years!

2007-04-07T04:24:00.000-07:00

Wellington

You may have noticed my disclaimers that I've only experienced rural and small town NZ, but I finally made it to Wellington, the capital and 3rd biggest city. It certainly has a British city feel and a fantastic setting, while a few features missing elsewhere are well represented:

A motorway, cut right through the city in true Glasgow style. Doesn't go far out of the city though.
Quite a few stretches of real dual carriageway/ divided highway. There was even a high occupancy vehicle lane coming into the city from the north.
Traffic jams. Like many cities built for the features that led to large scale developments pre 20th century and now get in the way (harbours, rivers, deltas, defensible hills) the traffic is bad

However it is a very attractive city and I look forward to getting there again.

2007-04-07T04:16:00.000-07:00

Currency

An interesting concept in the money here is the fact that they've dispensed with coin denominations below 10c. All cash amounts are rounded to the nearest 10c which saves on worthless change (take note USA!). The copper 10c is a little confusing to those of us used to cents and pennies however.

One question though: why don't they just round all prices to the nearest 10c, for at least everything over maybe NZ$1. Prices with 99c at the end are dumb enough without a rounding system, but meaningless with.

Interestingly the notes are almost identical to those in Vietnam, especially the NZ$20/100,000dong, I suspect they use the same mint. A major security feature is a clear plastic window in the design.

2007-03-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Dairys

A staple of the New Zealand shopping scene is the "Dairy", roughly analagous to the British corner store, less so to the American 7.11 or convenience store. What is amazing to me is how many there are, our compact town boasting 13 in the yellow pages alone, several within a short walk of the big supermarkets.

Most seem to stock the usual line of groceries, milk, papers and lottery tickets, but I would be interested to know if their real popularity is down to the New Zealand love affair with the meat pies they all sell!

2007-03-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Foreign Influence

I've been a little slow it getting this blog populated, mainly because the weather has been great and we've had lots to do exploring the great outdoors. However I have a few topics to cover and this is one that keeps coming to mind.

As I normally do I'll preface the discussion by noting that:

a) in our area there are less expats or Kiwis who've spent a lot of time abroad than you might meet in more cosmopolitan parts of the country.
b) I haven't visited Australia so I can't comment on that influence.

Obviously New Zealand is physically a long way away from most of the world's population, so some of the influences are ingrained while others come from the modern media of TV, radio and internet.

Sport

Totally British in influence, our town abounds with bowling clubs (the genteel kind of Bowling on perfectly tended grass), cricket squares, rugby pitches, tennis courts an artificial (field) hockey field and even a croquet club. While there is some basketball and softball US influence is minimal.

Town Planning

Superficially the town is very British with tree lined streets, well tended gardens, many small shops in the centre of town and walking access everywhere. While the houses themselves may appear more American as I've mentioned before due to weather and population density the environment they are set in is not. Wanganui has also done a reasonable job of intergrating the big stores within the town like in better planned bits of the UK.

Press and Media

A bit of both here. Like in the US many people get their news from a local paper and there is a strong daily local and regional press. However like the UK the TV (and many Radio) stations are national so the major national news stories predominate. It's like the UK in circumstances where a story will get greatly inflated as every news outlet chases a "fresh angle" on the same thing.

TV

Near total domination by the US. The big US shows dominate prime time on the 3 major terrestrial stations (Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Men In Trees, Two and a Half Men, Ugly Betty... decide for yourselves what that lot tells NZ about the US!). From the UK you get Coronation St and Gordon Ramsey while unsurpringly Neighbours and Home & Away from Australia get on screen daily.

Fast Food

This one gets fought to a tie. We have a number of the staples of the US fast food scene massing threateningly near our house: Burger King, Pizza Hut & Dominos, McDonalds plus Subway downtown (and yes they do make 6" and footlong Subs even in a metric country). However they are outnumbered by the fish and chip shops, while the town also boast those traditional UK eateries the Kebab shop, Indian takeaway and Chinese.

Pubs and Bars

A mixed bag. As in much of the world we have a couple of Irish bars and there is a strong attempt at an English pub atmosphere at the Rutland arms, while elsewhere the sports bar vibe is a little american. However the small towns often boast unwelcoming looking places called things like the "Commercial Hotel" which reminds me a lot of Scotland. Stay tuned for more comments on the bar scene as we get the chance to partake.

One place that was uniquely New Zealand was the sheep themed bar we found up the River...

2007-03-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Roads and Traffic

I've finally found time for more random thoughts on the country, and as we've been hitting the highways and byways I thought I'd start with the road system (where we drive on the left if anyone isn't sure).

While there is ostensibly a motorway/ highway around Auckland, my experience is with the three major roads in the center of the north island: State Highways 1, 2 and 3. These are all well kept (it's summer of course, therefore road work season - here they tend to fix a short section while diverting you around it with single lane traffic during the working day, then leave it covered in gravel with a 30km/h limit until they get around to surfacing) but consist mainly of just two lanes. These are shared by whatever traffic is passing: lorries, cars, cyclists, farm machinery. While the slower vehicles try to move over to the left like in Ireland (an many areas have good hard shoulders) the windy nature of many roads mean overtaking has to wait for short sections where one direction of traffic gets two lanes. These are often on uphills and you have to be ready to hit the accelerator pedal. Consequently NZ has a high level of fatal head on road crashes. On the good side, at night most roads show up well with cats eyes/ reflectors in centre and on the sides.

Most of the roads are not particularly busy, and in town delays are few. Main roads generally go right through town though SH3 manages to bipass the centre of Wanganui just, and you can take an alternative route to skip Palmerston North.

Kids can drive at 15 (though there are many rules for young drivers) and just like my old home in rural England the local youngsters like to roar around in their rides, whether pimped or merely decrepit. Speed limits are pretty typical (100km/h - 62 mph out of town; 50km/h in built up areas). So far one hazard we have not met is livestock on the road.

Cars run the gamut from less than classic UK vehicles of the 1970's (among those I have seen: Mk1 Escort, Vauhall Viva, Morris Maxi, numerous Minis, Hillman Hunter) through to modern Japanese (NZ imports many 3 year old trade-ins as older cars are not allowed in Japan) and Australian imports. Lorries can look like those in Britain or the US.

We have discovered that it's as well to keep filled up with petrol (costs about 52p/l or $4.00/US gallon) as stations to refill are few and far between, even on main roads. A nervous journey was spent hoping the next dot on the map would have petrol, luckily we finally found some before we ran out.

2007-02-16T01:41:00.000-08:00

Buildings

Building styles in this town betray certain things about both the builders and the environment. Most obviously the center of town is attractive with a lot of older buildings and is now well decorated and beautified with plantings and hanging baskets. While this may suggest a concern for history I've been told that it was more a case of lack of money for building something modern than a desire to maintain the town's heritage. Now many older buildings and warehouses just outside the center are being renovated as property prices rise.

There is some art deco influence in town which may reflect some rebuilding from damage from the Hawkes Bay earthquake in 1931, but many of the buildings would not look out of place in an English market town. Similarly the leafier suburbs resemble those of middle England with tree lined streets and well tended gardens, though the houses and lush greenery remind us more of Florida. The lack of central heating also reminds us that it does not get really cold here, but as the house was pretty cool the other night when it dropped to 9.5C (49F) I expect we'll be cranking up the heaters.

There was a stronger European influence (and specifically British) in the town's development because of the early battles with the Maori over land rights, and prominent in the town center is a memorial to the Europeans killed in these skirmishes. I'm not sure how many war memorials there are in total here but it's and impressive testament to New Zealand's involvement in Britains battles.

One thing that is missing is out of town big box stores, though there are quite a few situated in the town. We are "blessed" with McDonalds, Burger King, Dominos etc and Subway seems to be particularly popular, but most companies are domestic or Australian.

2007-02-16T00:38:00.001-08:00

Politics

So this blog does not turn into a list of things we've done in Wanganui I'll try and make some comments on New Zealand with the benefit of two weeks of perspective and a somewhat US bias! While some might suggest this is uninformed comment I prefer to quote Robert Burns:

"Such a gift as god would gie us,
To see oorselves as others see us."

Two major political events (I use the term major with tongue in cheek) have occured in February: firstly a scandal has "erupted" after 18 months (including an election) about a member of parliament who arranged immigration status for an man employed working on his home, secondly there has been a fuss about whether children go to school hungry and whether the solution is for private companies to send in food items. While I can't comment on the details of these they did impress me with a couple of things:

1. What the troubled MP did seems to be pretty minor compared to the massive corruption endemic in the US system where politicians need vast amounts of money to be elected and the people providing most of the money clearly expect some benefit. I'm told however that whatever trouble politicians get into here, they tend to duck out and reappear in a year or two. If not rehabilitated then at least with their transgressions forgotten.

The expulsion of this MP from the party does actually remove the 1 seat majority of the Labour Party, but they enjoy the general support of two minor parties (Maori and Green) if push comes to shove in a vote to dissolve parliament.

2. The political heat about the children led to some very British style grandstanding with the leader of the opposition (National Party - conservative) making as much political capital as possible while the party in power (Labour - liberal in the US sense) denouced him for the way he presented the message. None of which was much use to hungry children. And anyone who thinks that the UK parliament can be entertaining theatre at times (at least at Prime Minister's questions) should see the coverage in NZ where the general level of debate was slightly lower and the theatrics slightly more to the fore than the Glasgow University debating chamber.

As a positive aside a politician recently tied the knot (OK, underwent a civil commitment ceremony) with his gay partner. I don't see this occuring in most US states.

I'm not sure what to make of the political pulse here, and my feel for the mood is obviously coloured by living in a conservative area. While certain features of life suggest a more European style leftist view (moderately generous welfare benefits, comprehensive health care for children, nuclear free status) the overall feel is more like the individualist mindset of the US. It'll be interesting resolving the dichotomy.

2007-02-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

Pictures

Pictures are starting to appear at:

http://www.timcooke.com/NZ/index.htm

I'll hopefully keep up to date as we explore the area.

2007-02-14T02:51:00.000-08:00

Panorama

Click on the picture for a bigger version. We live at about *. The sea is top left with the center of town above the river bridge.

2007-02-14T01:57:00.000-08:00

Running

For the runners among you, a few positive comments on Wanganui:

1. There are sidewalks/ pavements and street lighting which is a blessing to anyone used to attempting to run in the US.

2. Low humidity.

3. You can plan routes with many hills or none.

4. There is some interesting running history at the track I do some training on: http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/articles/2002a008.html.

2007-02-14T01:52:00.000-08:00

Introductory Stuff

Wanganui is an attractive small town with a real town center, a pleasant range of parks and excellent sports facilities. It is sited on the Whanganui River with views of the two highest peaks on the North Island (Ruapahu to the north, Taranaki to the west) and the South Island on a clear day. And so far we've had virtually nothing but clear days. Read more about it here: http://www.wanganui.com/ and here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui#Wanganui_City.

Tracy's job is not difficult, though doing urgent care is a lot different that what she's used to (lots of x-rays and getting foreign objects out of eyes so far). Tim was only here 29 hours before he got the first call from a dentist needing his services so he should be all set when his dental licence comes through.

2007-02-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

Arrival

So here I am in New Zealand, this time the blog will chart our year here in Wanganui. The flight (Albany- Chicago- Los Angeles- Auckland- Wanganui) was as good as can be expected and kudos to Air New Zealand for giving us good leg room.

First impressions of Auckland airport (where I waited for 4 hours for the final flight to Wanganui) were that it strongly reminded me of Prestwick (small airport west of Glasow, remained viable for years as it rarely fogged and planes often diverted there in pre-instrument landing days) in the days when transatlantic flights still landed there: same small terminal building, same flight in over water with fields all around, same sleepy feel (though it is the national day here so it may get a little busier). The weather is nice too and it was great to get the option to walk from iternational to domestic terminals.

One interesting feature: no security in the domestic terminal, and no door on the cockpit of the 24 seater. Memo to the USA, it helps to be a country that is well liked!