Me? Snowboard??

Here I am, roaring down the slopes of Mt Ruapehu. The person that falls over in about half way through, is not me. I am the one zooming past in the orange jacket. Anyone else impressed? Or just me....?

Water restrictions? What a strange and foreign concept. Growing up in rural Australia, water was always seen as finite resource and restriction were commonplace. It is now at point where it is no longer a question of whether there are restrictions in place or not, but at what level the restrictions are. Furthermore, the restrictions are no longer seen as a temporary state but a permanent part of life – all year round. Farmers can no longer to ever expect to get 100% of their water allocations, summer watering hours are enforced as harsh as speeding fines or other minor criminal offences, and green lush lawns are frowned upon even in public spaces. This is what I left behind in Australia, this new cancer firmly chiselled in to the Australian psyche.

Leaving Australia in November last year, we flew over vast plains of dry, brown grass and dust. Nothing too unusual for the south of the continent at the end of spring though. Arriving in New Zealand, we drifted over great swathes of dark green grass, not a patch of bear earth to be seen anywhere. Brown was not a colour clearly visible in the New Zealand landscape. Instead, it is a palate of shades of green, surrounded and mottled by various hues of blue. These were the colours which assaulted my eyes in every direction I looked. Even in the height of summer, everything was green and lush helped along by summer storms between the long fine runs of sunny days. Come winter, it turned colder and then the skies delivered the real reason behind this perpetual greenness. The rain tumbled down, filling all the creeks and rivers and creating other temporary ones. The fields became marshes and soil remained sodden. The opposite of water restrictions and preservation were methods to drain the land as quickly as the rain falls. Channels and drains criss cross the landscape to allow the water to remove itself and its inconveniences with it.

So, water restrictions? Still pretty much unheard of in this part of the world. We clean with water blasting machines, not brooms, we have shower heads that deliver enough water to fill the Sydney Harbour in seconds and everyone has dishwashers, swimming pools, and washes their cars and driveways with hoses. Just one of the many minor differences that remind us that even though a form of English is spoken over here, we are not in Australia anymore.

Be great in act, as you have been in thought. (Shakespeare 1564-1616)