50: South Island Tour: Part IV: Queenstown to Dunedin (15 Feb 2009)

We thought we'd leave Queenstown early to get a head start on the drive back to Dunedin, but we somehow ended up dragging our heels and did the gondola ride (see part III). We got out of town a bit late, but still managed to make pretty good time getting back to Dunedin. We stopped off at the Shingle Creek Pub for lunch which, if you blink, you'll miss it. It's an amazing little place in the middle of nowhere with a quirky lot working in the bar and kitchen. They live on site so have no real expenses in terms of commuting. Back in Dunedin, we had about 90 minutes before I had to get them to the airport for their flight back to Wellington. We did a whirlwind tour around town, snapping some photos of the old style buildings. Dunedin apparently has a lot of history and is one of the older settlements in New Zealand.

49: South Island Tour: Part III: Milford Sound to Queenstown (14 Feb 2009)

Saturday the 14th seemed like an eternity. The days this time of year are extremely long, with the sun going down around 10 to 1030pm due to being so far south. We left early for Milford Sound, did the tour (see part II below) and then had to get straight back on the road to get to Queenstown before it got too late. NZ is so full of scenery that it's hard to keep to any semblance of a time table. It makes you want to stop at every beautiful panorama. We eventually pulled up to Queenstown and found that the entire place was booked out. All of the grungy backpackers hostels were full so we scouted around on foot and found a nice hotel which was reasonably priced when divided by three. Had a nice evening out relaxing and got to bed at a reasonable hour, only to get up early on Sunday to make the mad trek back to Dunedin to get my friends off to the airport.

48: South Island Tour: Part II: Te Anau to Milford Sound (14 Feb 09)

Day two: We arrived the night before into Te Anau only to find that accommodation was nil to limited. We fortunately scored a little cabana in the camp ground near the lake. No clouds in the sky so it was absolutely freezing. This, of course, made for perfect weather during the day, so no complaints there. The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound was stunningly breathtaking! Milford Sound itself is usually overcast and rainy but on this particular day we scored perfect weather which was great for getting some quality images.

47: South Island Tour: Part I: Dunedin to Te Anau (13 Feb 09)

I was living down in Dunedin for 6 weeks doing a collaboration with a physiologist at the University of Otago. But all work and no play makes me a dull boy, so decided to duck out for an impromptu South Island tour with a couple friends visiting from Wellington.

46: Rain Rain Go Away....No, Even Better, PISS OFF For a Good Long While

Incessant rain can take its psychological toll on a mere mortal after just three weeks of monsoonal punishment. I mean, yeah, it's rather refreshing at first. It washes away the grime, keeps things nice and tidy. But enough's enough already!! Add in the wind and cold winter temps and this is a carbon copy of Seattle.

SOS!!Please, send sunshine! Need suuunshine!!

45: Til We Meet Again....On The Dance Floor!

Happy times but sad times. My beloved friend and esteemed salsa partner Jessica has finished her work contract here in Wellington and is on her way back to Canada. Yes, who'd have ever thought that the Canadians and Yanks would ever get along in such perfect harmony?! The salsa gang met up at a Restaurant 88, a little Vietnamese place on the corner of Tory and Ebor. As you can see, plenty of smiles all of which belie the fact that we will be losing one from the Wellington salsa family before long. But the good thing is, most of us are from all over the world and have traveled quite extensively, so are confident we'll cross paths yet again in the not so distant future!

<----See salsa video off to the left on the side bar. Click on photos for larger view.

44: Wednesday Bloody Wednesday....

This photo prompted a memory of the lyrics from the U2 song Sunday Bloody Sunday, "under a blood red sky...." However in this case it was more like Wednesday Bloody Wednesday. Last week the rain cleared out just in time to create something on par with a laser light show at a Pink Floyd concert. I dove for my camera and captured this image. Quite impressive actually. Click on image for full size.

43: Surfing Titahi Bay: Always Unimpressive, But Marginally Good on Rare Occasions Such As This

As you've seen from previous posts, we've been getting clobbered to death with some rough wintertime weather. Well finally a change of tune. Today was one of those rare days where the fury of mother nature subsided just long enough for the surf and wind direction to come together. Titahi Bay is not known for its awe-inspiring surf by any stretch of the imagination, but today was quite fun. I'm still on the upswing in recovering from my knee injury back in December, so this was just right for getting out and testing out the ol' left paw. It eventually got crowded (by New Zealand standards) and there was even a bit of vibe in the water. All in all, no major complaints...except for some goatboaters.

I also ran into Luke, an Aussie friend that Bobby and I had met on previous occasions out in the Wairarapa. He'd also been off the surfing radar for some time due to a repeat blow out of his knee. He had done in his ACL some time back but then reinjured it and had to get yet another ACL reconstruction. We surfed together for a bit and then decided to do a joint surf mission to Paekakariki in hopes of getting some good surf with no one around. Strong winds with too much south in it spoiled it, so we decided to give it a miss.

The following photos were snapped just before I paddled out. Nothing epic, but fun nevertheless. Click on each photo for a larger image.

42: Frosty the Snowman? No, Frosty the Windscreen!

In all the time I've been in New Zealand, I've seen some pretty chilly days. I mean, yeah, I've had a few of those cold-enough-to-see-my-breath kinds of days, but this morning threw me for a loop. I had to be up early to go train some subjects in my study. Now bear in mind the sun doesn't come up til after 7am or so, so imagine my surprise when I got in my car this morning and went to wipe away what I thought was morning dew on the windscreen. All I heard was a crusty scraping sound as the wiper blades grinded across what turned out to be frost! Ironically, all other windows were covered in liquid dew, but the windscreen bore the brunt of it. I was running a few minutes behind so I had to look for something to scrape off the ice. Nothing. I haven't touched an ice scraper since I lived on the east coast in the early 90s. I was able to get the car heated up quickly which then melted the ice, but it was still a little rough seeing out of only part of the windscreen whilst the remainder defrosted.

41: Noah, Is That An Ark In Your Pocket Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

I think Noah must have conjured up the idea to build an ark whilst on holiday in New Zealand. Sure, we're all about clean and green in this part of the world. It rains hard and frequently enough that dust and dirt don't have a chance to settle on anything. And well, I think the green part you can figure out for yourself. These photos were taken on two separate days from my bedroom window. Scarcer a place you'd rather be when the sun is shining in a cloudless NZ sky(photo on left). But come the gale forced onshore southerlies off of Antarctica and rain blasting in sideways (photo on right), well, that Air New Zealand package to the islands doesn't sound so expensive after all! Click on each photo for a larger image. See video on left.

40: Random Kiwiana

Now that I've been here for over a year and a half, I find it interesting just how many things there are in my daily living to which I'm now just completely oblivious. I guess you could say the living just gets to be living no matter where you are on Earth. The things that I used to marvel over upon my arrival, now they're just a part of the every day scenery. I remember being in awe over the lush green mountainside that just plunged straight to the ocean's edge between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki. Now I still find it just as beautiful, but after seeing it more times than I can count, well, it just doesn't seem to have the same effect.


Anyway, I just thought I'd take a retrospective step back and add some kiwiana photos. Things you won't likely see in other countries that you will see here.



Click on each photo for a larger version.

39: Colonial Knob Hike (Elsdon, Porirua)

I woke up this morning to a beautiful New Zealand winter day. Pristine conditions with clear blue skies and and crisp winds blowing from the northwest. This past week was particularly heavy in the work department, so after finishing up some projects at home, I decided to venture out and take a hike (tramp in kiwi terminology) to the summit of Colonial Knob. I'd heard about it and read a few things on it, and amazingly for the past 9 months that I've been living here in Titahi Bay, I somehow managed to evade this mountain literally in my back yard (not on purpose, though). As with nearly everything I do, I always have a digital camera on hand to capture the action. Most of my friends live in Wellington and with the price of fuel these days at $2.12 per litre (or $6.70 USD per gallon), it's hard to attract any exercise buddies up this way. Click on each photo for larger view.

38: Birthday Dinner at Istanbul Turkish Restaurant, Wellington

Bob once told me one time that doing a PhD is the most isolating experience I'll ever do. Now that I'm neck deep in the thick of it, he was right. Very right. And although there is a social component to the work I'm doing with the participants, the isolation really hits hard during those long hours when I'm either glued to the computer or stuck in the office on a late Friday or Saturday night doing some sort of menial (albeit necessary) grunt work. However, I was deeply humbled by Bob's orchestration of putting together a birthday dinner for me. It offered a welcome respite from everything and gave me a chance to just "be" for a little while. Thank you all for making my birthday special and memorable!!

37: Lifting the Weight of the World....Or Maybe Just Mana Island

While I confess Titahi Bay seldom turns on the goods in the surf department, I can't complain about the natural beauty it has on offer on a regular basis. There were microscopic knee to waist high remnant of a windswell and not enough to entice me into the water. Instead I took a run up to the top of the hill this evening and, like usual, I brought my camera to capture some of those special moments.

36: A Glorious Winter Day

Greetings all,What can I say? After a few cold, windy, wet days, the clouds parted and we were left with this beautiful day. It was the clearest I've ever seen the South Island. Just impeccable. I ran up to the top of Colonial Knob and here were the photos I took. Simply incredible. The sunset photo was taken several days ago, but spectacular nevertheless. Click on each photo to see the large image. Enjoy.

35: Outlaw Surfers Take Advantage of Queen's Birthday....Disappear to Taranaki for Two Days

Greetings all,
Yes, it's true. I've not posted a single anything in 6 months. Three reasons: first, I've been busy. Second, I've had a knee injury since December and hadn't surfed in 5 months. Third, nobody reads these things anyway unless they're under three paragraphs long. I know you all just like the photos anyway....and so it shall be. Here's the story in short form. Queen's birthday gave everyone a three day weekend. See, the old bag still has some practical value in modern times, even in a parliamentary nation like New Zealand. We ducked out of town for a couple days to take advantage of a bit of swell pumping up the Tasman Sea. Not great surf, but good to just get wet again after so long out of the water. On a positive note, have been tremendously productive, so if anything positive can come out of injury, that's it.








I actually had the privilege of being "profiled" the other day. We stopped off in Oakura for petrol. The attendant came out seemingly attempting to be helpful. He was all but up our asses like an enema. I told him I didn't need any help and could pump my own fuel. But he wouldn't leave. He washed our windows. Then the minute I finished pumping, he abruptly cut in front of me to put the cap back on my tank. We went in and paid and that was the end of it. But as we drove down the road, we thought back to the sign on the pumps that said something like, "it is an offence to steal fuel." I recall seeing it and thinking, "yeah, well that's got nothing to do with me." Well, considering how grungy we both looked, I think that was probably the reason for the condescending VIP treatment. Had I figured it out while still there, I might have paid out on him and given him an earful for his poor judgment. I figure he'll be flipping burgers somewhere else by the time we get back up that way.

34: Wairarapa Surfing Goes World Class: On Any Given Sunday

11 November 2007
This past winter has been absolutely appalling for quality surf. Seems like every time we had any legitimate hint of swell, there was always something wrong with it. Usually strong winds would create such a strong surface chop that there was no hope for getting in anything that would remotely be considered a satisfying surf. Well, after countless days, weeks, and months of hit and miss sporadic garbage, the old girl finally turned on the goods with some world class waves and conditions. The following photo show that on any given Sunday, nature can turn on its magic show.

Place your cursor over each photo for the caption.

33: Titahi Bay Walk: A Three-hour Tour

I seem to have a habit of going out for what I think will be a leisurely walk around Titahi Bay, just to get some fresh air and clear my mind. But then the competitive/curious part of my brain takes over and commandeers my leisurely walk, often making me keep hiking "just to see what's around the bend." Today turned out to be another nice day, so I figured I'd take a walk around the bay and hike to the top of the north end of Titahi Bay. I decided to keep walking around the perimeter of Whitireia Park since the usually brisk wind was rather light. Next thing I know, I found myself half-way to Mana on the other side of Aotea Lagoon. By that stage, I was past the point of no return, so decided to just keep on going. In all, my hour-long walk spontaneously converted into a three-hour hike. Great exercise and great photos to show for it.

Place your cursor over each photo for a description. Click on the photo for a larger image.