J is for Journal

Way back when I began writing this blog, its sole intention was to be an online journal.  I wanted to write about my experiences on this adventure and be able to share them with family and friends that were being left behind.  A record of events.  A historical narrative.  Proof.  I look back on old postings, especially the early ones leading up to leaving Australia, and I am instantly transported back to the feelings of anticipation and excitement of the unknown.  I reflect on what may have been done differently if I had known what I know now. I find myself wanting to talk to the John Ray from then and tell him how magnificent the future is going to be and how many adventures he will be experiencing, big and small.  This journal has become part of the adventure in its own right.

I is for Islands

One of the ambitions we set ourselves when arriving in New Zealand was to take advantage of the proximity to other Pacific Islands.  Two factors have helped us achieve this.  The first is an obvious geographical benefit of being closer to the Pacific Islands than Australia = cheaper fares.  The second is the fact that New Zealand has a significant proportion of people from the Pacific Islands living here.  This results in a lot more flights, airlines and options travelling between NZ and The Islands = cheaper fares.  First we went to Samoa, then Niue, most recently Vanuatu and in February we are off to Tahiti.  Each island has been different – culturally, linguistically, geographically and geologically.  Some had ocean caves full of colourful fish like a huge underwater aquarium; others were fringed with reefs in an endless mosaic of patterns.  Others had white sandy beaches fringed with swaying palm trees or black volcanic rocks tumbling into deep ocean cliffs.  Some had volcanoes, spewing lava and ash into the atmosphere; others were clad tightly in dense jungles.  No two islands had the same combination of elements but one thing they ALL had was an exotic charm, feeling of remoteness and loads of friendly smiles.

H is for Happiness

Happy to be here.  Happy to have done what I have done. Happy to do more of it. Happy.

G is for Grab-a seat

This is a website set up by Air New Zealand, the national airline of this great country.  Every morning hundreds of cheap seats are put up for sale giving passengers the chance to fly between set destinations for a fraction of the normal price.  It’s simply a matter of watching out for something that interests you and you GRAB it!  We flew to Auckland for lunch one day, even though it is only an hour and half drive away.  Every few months they do crazy things like $1 airfares and such. There are usually a selection of seats to various other Pacific Islands and Australia and every few weeks they include flight to almost all of their worldwide destinations.  If only we were rich……..and didn’t have to work.  Damn.  Anyway, about a year ago they added something a little different to the bargain and that is a reverse auction.  Every 15 minutes during the day a few tickets to one of their domestic or international destinations is advertised with a clock which runs backwards for a minute.  With each second, the price drops and the first person to stop the clock gets the tickets for the price that it was stopped at.  So the real gambler will wait until the minute is almost over as the price could be a mere $1 by then.  If only other airlines did this as well.

F is for Fotography

I know the spelling is wrong, but it did seem like a good match.  A little over a year ago I bought a big camera with two lenses and no idea how to use them.  I had always wanted to get in to photography but found the cost debilitating and so just admired great photography from afar and dreamed of what I would do if I had a better camera.  A few short courses later, and hundreds of hours of reading later, I finally feel that I am getting a feel for taking good photos.  I have been experimenting with exposures, getting in to night photography, and have bought an array of lens filters and other accessories.  I now find myself looking at objects and landscapes as potential photos and trying to work out what settings and lenses would be best to capture it all.  I love it.  

E is for Extinct

The most notable aspect of New Zealand for me is the silence of the forests.  Where once a myriad of bird life coexisted to fill every ecological niche in New Zealand’s varied habitats, only a few remain.  Many of the native species have become extinct since humans arrived here 900 years ago.  What native species persist are largely outnumbered and displaced by introduced pests such as sparrows and starlings.  Gone are the largest eagles ever known with a wing span of 3 meters and weighing up to 15 kilograms.  Gone are the eleven species of flightless moa, ranging from small chicken size to nearly 4 metres tall.  In fact New Zealand has lost over 47% of its bird species since humans arrived.  Given that there were no mammals in NZ prior to this apart from a few species of small bats and coastal sea lions, this is still almost half of all terrestrial vertebrates that existed around 1400 AD when it is thought the first wave of humans arrived.  The damage has been done through overhunting, land clearing, swamp draining and feral animals. The few remote areas which have remained less affected give glimpses of what may once have been an aural symphony of music filling the now silent theatres.

D is for Delightful dogs

Another animal one I’m afraid.  When we were originally only coming over here for one year we were planning to be leaving our 2 dogs behind in Australia in the care of others.  Upon deciding to stay longer we opted to bring them over to join us.  An expensive undertaking of about $4000, but one we didn’t ever consider not choosing to do.  As a result we have been able to enjoy our days off with walks around the countryside and runs along the beautiful Raglan beaches with Renner and Flinders in tow.  It has been great having this part of our ‘family’ life continued in our adopted country and they have loved it too.  Being a water loving dog, Renner has relished in all of the streams and puddles that the wetter climate over here produces.  Being surrounded by farmland and livestock has kept Flinders busy watching and trying to ‘round up’ all the neighbouring cows. Delight in the simple pleasures is what D represents for me.

C is for Chimps

Chimps have been a big part of my life in New Zealand.  From day one over here I have been involved in the chimp troop and some days I felt I was one of them myself.  Many hours, if not months!, have been thinking, worrying, feeding, cleaning, training and playing with my little hairy friends.  Some days have been joyful, others mentally challenging and a few even ending in tears.  Lots of fights and screaming, banging and bashing, mind games and politics all definitely has a sanity tax for those who work with chimpanzees.  These extra grey hairs in my beard can account for that.

B is for Black sand beaches

The North Islands beaches along most of the western coastline are remarkably different than those along the east.  Many of the rivers that drain the volcanic North Island flow out west, taking with them the dark coloured eroded sediments from past volcanic eruptions.  These sediments are very fine, almost dust like, and so get carried along the coastline by the currents and waves to form long glistening beaches.  On closer scrutiny, the ‘black’ colouring is from the moisture in the sand as the particles themselves are more of a grey colour.  The different sized particles are slightly different shades of grey and as a wave recedes, a rainbow of these shades is left behind in amazing patterns of art.

A is for Annabel Langbein

As a tribute to my time here in New Zealand, I am going to present 26 of my favourite memories and other things about my time here thus far.  Why 26?  To follow the path of all corny things that have gone before me, I will go from A- Z with each letter of the alphabet representing one of these memories.

So starting from the beginning and with a topic close to my heart, but even closer to my stomach, is the lovely and delicious Annabel Langbein.  Annabel is the queen of the recipe collections here in New Zealand and took me quite by surprise with her fresh and easy attitude towards food.  As a result, her book was purchased and many a recipe was prepared and will continue to do so.  Her TV series "The Free Range Cook" and the subsequent book were set around Wanaka in the South Island as well, which is one of the most beautiful and one of my favourite places on this earth.

What I learnt at the Dunedin Art Gallery....continued...

In hindsight, this is what I learnt.  I believe that first and foremost, art should speak for itself.  It should stand alone without the need for lucid interpretations with pretentious justifications.  A famous name does not guarantee great art.  Ever heard of the expression ‘a one hit wonder’?

Ironically, my favourite visual experience was part of the building itself.  Four gallery exhibition rooms which were each painted in a bold yet complementary colour.  They had their doorways centrally aligned so that by standing in the middle of the first green room, you could see through in to the second blue room, then through to the third red room and then through this last doorway into the fourth black room.  The striking contrast of these bold colours disappearing into the distance was astounding.  Pity about the art blemishing the walls.

Dunedin Art Gallery taught me.....

Art should speak for itself.  That's what I think anyway.  As an art novice I have been lead to believe I was inept.  I was unable to look at art and start waxing lyrical about it, having it consume my consciousness as a result of bearing witness to its powers.  I didn’t comprehend the diminutive descriptions that galleries post next to their collection pieces explaining what the art is or what the artist is representing, communicating and embodying.  How is it those 7 paintings in a row, all white except for a small black dot in the centre of each, can get the label of ‘art’?  We have all had similar experiences when visiting galleries, or seeing the unveiling of a public sculpture or simply flicking through a magazine.  We have all at some stage gawked “that’s art?”

A recent visit to the Dunedin Art Gallery did change my life however.  Not because I saw a piece of art that captivated me and spoke to me.  There wasn’t a piece that epitomised my own conviction that a struggle between colours can mean a struggle between the sexes, or that smooth curves embody the changes in life stages experienced by the artist.  Blah, blah, blah, No.  The visit to Dunedin Art Gallery made me defiantly decide that I cannot be in a minority as someone who fails to understand the intricacies and intimacies of art.  I must be one of millions who are missing the fictitious ‘art’ gene.  There is no rational explanation for why many of the pieces were even held in the gallery.  They all had descriptions, but even they struggled to  make meaning to me.  Some even read like excuses, justifying why a wall of bright coloured oversized sequins with a fan blowing air on them is in an art gallery and not a circus tent or a child’s birthday party.  So, a sense of relief came over me as I left the building.  This ‘art’ did have a massive impact on me after all but I am sure it was not the way as the artist intended.  I will tell you about it next post……

A nice walk for a nice day....

While strolling around the new Auckland waterfront development.  I couldn't resist looking beyond the brand new and very shiny black lustre of the luxury cruiser, to the small and brightly painted yacht in the back ground.  A nice display of the bold and the bright together.

Attention: Visitors To Australia

These questions are from potential visitors to Australia. They were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have am Aussie sense of humor.

Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV, so how do the plants grow? (UK).
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney – can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it’s only three thousand miles, take lots of water.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/ gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets, especially The Taipans.

Australian Clouds

Norway, land of inspiration.

I wrote a lot of poetry while working in Norway.  It was such a beautiful country with beautiful and down to earth people, that it was hard not be inspired and pensive about life.  None of it will ever be published in a greatest poems of all times style of book, but it was a relaxing and thought provoking way to spend some down time with myself. So , without fear of reprimand and ridicule here is one of my favourites.  This poem flowed from my mind one afternoon while sitting on the balcony in spring, looking down the long glaciated valley that I called home.  Green grass carpeting the fields along the valley, snow slowly melting on the peaks and a gentle breeze carrying butterflies to golden flowers everywhere.

As the sun descends to kiss the horizon

these thoughts come clearly to me 

through the spring mist.

There is no one beauty in the world, 

just one world which is beautiful.

By embracing new places and allowing no stagnation

we have the chance to see beauty around each new corner.

All that is required is to open our eyes

and look closely at what lays before us at any point in time.

Feel it move within our hearts, souls and minds.

If we walk with our eyes closed

we become lost in an obscurity

that shields the individual from what the purpose of living

really

is.

It is to challenge ourselves, to experience and to learn.

To win, to lose, to conquer, to concede.

But most importantly.....

to shine.

An interview with myself.....part 2.

John Question: Do you see yourself staying in New Zealand for much longer?

John Answer: A little while longer, but not really sure beyond that.  There are a lot of changes going on at work at the moment, within the bigger organisation of the council and even within the New Zealand economy as a whole.  Things aren’t looking promising but we aren’t about to the flee the country in the dead of the night or anything.  We have flight booked to Tahiti next year!

John Question:  What is it you miss about Australia?

John Answer: There are the most obvious things like my family and friends.  They are by far what I miss the most.  Then there are a range of other things which I realise now, after being here for 3 years, that I took for granted.  I miss the wildlife, all the colourful birds with their equally colourful singing all day, I miss waking up to kangaroos staring through my bedroom window, I miss the colourful native flower displays which change with the seasons so there is always something to marvel at, I miss the high wispy clouds of summer and the heady smell of eucalyptus at night….I had better stop there before I do flee the country in the dead of night!

John Question: Is there anything like that which you think you will miss about New Zealand when you leave?

John Answer: Absolutely, I look around and see things that I feel are very unique to New Zealand and my time here and know that once I leave, they will be things I wish I had somehow enjoyed more.  I have met some great people over here, a few even that I would consider lifelong friends, so again, people top my list.  Other things will definitely be the beach at Raglan, it has so many moods and I have spent a lot of time there running around with Phil and the dogs. It’s a black volcanic sand beach and is always so beautiful in a rugged west coast way.  I will also miss the kebabs from the Turkish place on Brice Street; they are simply to die for.  I will miss the regular sound of rain as it falls soothingly all around, the vast expanse of green in a myriad of hues, being able to ski down the sides of a volcano, cheap trips out to tropical Pacific nations and again I will stop there because there really are so many things.

John Question:  Is there any message you would like the readers to take with them today?

John Answer:  Epictetus was a Greek philosopher who lived in the first century AD.  He wrote – “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do”.

An interview with myself.....part 1.

John Question: What’s the best thing you did today?

John Answer: I took the dogs for a predawn walk this morning up to the hill at the end of the road and watched the sunrise.  Stunning way to start the day.

John Question: What are your plans for the rest of this weekend?

John Answer: I have a list of random things I want to do, but probably won’t get to all of them.  I need to update my blog, make sure I do some yoga and some stretches and just generally relax.  I also need to start looking at accommodation in Tahiti for our trip there in February.  Generally, I want to relax and not think about work or anything negative that makes my soul feel heavy.

John Question: What is it about your work that makes your soul feel heavy?  I would imagine working with animals to be very soothing and joyful?

John Answer: And to a large degree it is, which makes the bad things about the job seem even worse (he chuckles).  Keeping animals in a zoo environment poses many challenges for those who work with them.  There is a constant need of enrichment, care, observation and training, not to mention the daily cleaning and feeding.  All of this can be different from one day to the next, so there lays the challenge of keeping on top of it all so in the end you are giving the animals a great life while keeping yourself sane.

John Question:  What would you be doing if you weren’t a zoo keeper?

John Answer: I would imagine I would still be tour guiding, or I may have finally got around to becoming a teacher.

John Question:  What do you think you will be doing in 5 years?

John Answer:  I seriously consider my options for the future because zoo keeping is a very physically demanding job and I have never seen it as the job I will be doing until retirement.  I hope that my next career change will see me back in the tourism industry again, either as a tour guide or a travel agent.  I enjoyed the customer focus of tourism as well as the travel.  I may end up doing a travel agent course sometime soon.

John Question: What do you think you will be doing in 10 years?

John Answer:  Again, tourism would be something to keep me happy for some years, but again I think I would like a change after a while.  Counselling is something I can see myself doing later in life.  The personal contact with people and the issues that they face attracts me to the role.  I have often been the one people come to for help and feel it to be some sort of calling.  Sounds corny but that’s how I feel.

The remainder of the interview will be published soon.

Aussies vs Kiwis....again...

Another example of how the Kiwis like to have a go at the Aussies.  All in good fun!

Living and loving.

I have lived and loved with so many people, and I feel so enriched by the experience.  The sad fact is that the majority of those people are now just faces in old photographs, addressed on crumpled bits of paper or names that are no longer known by my lips.  These are people I was close to and I assumed I always would be.  We laughed and sometimes cried, we share our lives for a brief moment in the grand spectrum of our mortal existence.  We seized the moment and made it ours, no thoughts for the future and certainly no mention of departing from each others presence.  The thought of our feelings changing or even dying, was unimaginable.  But the day always comes where we must move on physically as well as emotionally.  We part company and swear we will remain great friends by staying in touch.  And stay in touch we do.......for a while.  Then slowly, quietly, without warning, you suddenly realise what has happened.  They have become a personal statistic, another "Oh, I used to know him" or "I knew someone from there once".  What is worse, there is absolutely nothing that can be done about it.  It is a process of life over which the individual had no control. No matter how hard they try or how good their intentions are, the sad realisation of a friend becoming a memory will be a reoccurring event....for everyone.
So should we stop meeting people if we think there is a chance that we will get hurt by the experience?  I have had many great people who have passed in to and out of my life and most I will probably never see again.  That is a fact.  However it is also a fact that from each person I have gained a new idea, an enlightenment, a lesson or a experience.  I carry a small part of them now, each and every one of them.  If I had chosen to stop meeting new people for the fear of being hurt, I would not be where I am or who I am today.  If I stop now, I will never develop in to my full potential.  Life is not designed to be a lonely experience.  So as I sit here and look at the people around me, I can't help but become resigned to the fact that the pile of old photographs, the drawer of crumpled addresses and my memory bank of names, are all about to grow.  On the same hand though, as they grow, so am I.

Skiing in slo' mo'

This was taken a few weeks ago when on a ski trip to Queenstown.  I appear half way through wearing a bright blue jacket.  It felt like I was flying down the slope, kicking up powder and blinding the skiers behind me, with danger and adventure the names carved on my skis.  The reality is a casual stroll in the park as children a fraction my size zip past me as a mere blur out of the corner of my eyes.... 

Well it’s about time I hear you say!

Sorry it has been a long time since I last wrote a bit of an update.  There are of course all of the same old excuses of being busy, work and holidays, but none of them can really be considered acceptable reasons to be so slack with keeping you up to date.

It is coming up to three years since we left Australia and headed across to New Zealand for a change of scenery and a bit of an adventure.  And the adventure continues.  Time has moved along at a pace that it hard to distinguish a difference between when we left Australia and what I did last week.  It all seems to have blurred in to one.  Maybe this is a sign of the adventure we are on, or maybe it is a sign of getting older.  Either way, it feels good.

We moved to a new house earlier this year. The little cottage we were living in was the original family home of our landlord, and she wanted to move back in after a relationship break-up.  There was no hurry for us to move so we took our time to search for the next great house to make our home.  We found one in April and moved what little we had with no fuss.  The new house is bigger, much newer and warmer so there were some nice changes.  It is also closer a tiny settlement which has a store and a great coffee shop (the only two buildings in the village) which we can walk to for any last minute supplies or a coffee in the sun on our days off.  It is also closer to the coastal town of Raglan, our most loved corner of New Zealand.  We did sell our cows though, which was a bit sad to see them go.  They all went to the same hobby farm somewhere near Auckland so I am sure they are happy.  The yard is bigger so more room for the dogs to run around and the view looks right out into the landscape compared to our last house which was nestled in a bit of a valley.  So, all up, it has been a good change in scenery.

We have been travelling around as much as time permits.  We spend a little over a week in Vanuatu in April.  We have gone out to a Pacific Island each year we have been here and so we hope to get to Tahiti next time.  We also travelled around the east coast of the north island which was the last of the regions in New Zealand that we had not yet conquered.  Can cross that one off the list now.  The most recent big trip ended just yesterday, after a week-long skiing/snowboarding trip to the South Island staying in Queenstown and Wanaka.  It was sunny the entire time so the skiing was great, although very bright, and school holidays had just finished so the place was relatively stress free.  Wanaka has been a favourite place ever since visiting there on our first trip to NZ and it has proved yet again why.  It was so peaceful and serene.  In many ways it reminded me of when I was living in Norway with the steep glacier formed valleys and countless waterfalls tumbling from the slopes.  Our next trip is already booked and that will again be to the South Island but we will go out to some of the islands that have become refuges for NZ’s rarest of birds as well as a visit to the sounds in Fiordland

Work is going well.  I am currently the acting Team Leader of Mammals which is a long way from what I thought I would get to do over here.  My boss is away on a long holiday and I got nominated to take on the role until she returns.  I have been filling in for her on her days off but nothing for as long as this.  What were they thinking, eh?  It is a good way to learn a lot very quickly and a small part of me will be disappointed when she returns.  There is an opportunity looming to become a team leader in the next few months, but there are so many other things to consider.  Like I started off saying, it has been three years and I find myself thinking of home more and more.  As for Phil, he is also growing a developing himself.  Apart from doing a lot of tiger training and becoming a primary keeper of the carnivore section, he is also one of the heads of the design team involved with building a new gibbon exhibit and modifying the tiger exhibit to accommodate more tigers.  Our year way from Australia to learn a few more tricks is really paying off for both of us.

The dogs are all good.  I am sure Flinders misses having goats to chase like he did in Australia, but we take them to the beach often and walking around the country roads around the house.  There is one goat down the road which likes to chase the dogs if they get too close, so that is their ‘fix’ of herding animals.  We also left our chooks at the previous house, so it’s just us and the dogs now.  A far cry from the days of our farm at Rockleigh back in Oz with all the goats, chooks, peacocks, pigeons, frogs, snakes, geese, emus, fish, guinea fowl and everything else.  I miss having lots of animals around us at home, but we really don’t spend as much time here as we did back in Oz.  Our days off are often used up going places and walking or skiing or just taking the dogs to the beach.  We wouldn’t have time to appreciate or properly care for anything else these days.  It will probably change upon our return to Australia although it has been good not having to organise someone to feed a hoard of critters when we go away.

As always, if you want to know more, I am still maintaining my blog that I started when I left Australia although I don’t update it as much as I would like.  It is now being archived by the National Library of Australia as material which they said was of national significance.  I’m not so sure about that, but just glad to hear that someone is reading it.

On this past holiday I promised I would try to write to family and friends more often so I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy and rest assured that I think of everyone often.

Hugs from Aoteroa

John

Never enough.

When reflecting upon holidays past, I often find myself wishing I had enjoyed and appreciated the time more than what I remember doing.  I know it doesn’t make sense really.  In such cases, the perceived act of hindsight can become a curse.  Now here I sit, on the last day of a magnificent holiday to the heart of the New Zealand Alps and I can sense that thought looming again.  It is just waiting to flood my head with guilt as soon as I am back on home soil.  The longing to have created more fun and joy during this holiday has already begun to creep in to my head.  And it is this which now confuses me because I knew it would happen so I did try to amplify my experiences, thoughts and impressions.   I looked at every minute detail of the panoramas, so as to not miss a thing.  I breathed the alpine air deeply, filling my lungs with mountain freshness in the hope of remembering it better.  I ate glorious food with passion, using all my senses – the smells, the colours, the textures.  And yet, here I sit, wishing I had done more………..and so I learn, it just isn’t possible.  I just have to sit back and relax in this moment of tranquillity.

 “Once you have travelled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy

Did you know.....

In New Zealand it is illegal to wander the streets at night with your face blackened, and it is lawful to take a leak in the street provided that you maintain one hand on the rump of the horse while you leak, and you aim for the ground where the horse would leak onto. (Police Offences Act 1906).


Here are some more strange facts about New Zealand, just in case someone ever asks.....

	No capital city in the world is further south than Wellington.
	No part of New Zealand is more than 128 km from the sea.
	French Pass, which separates d'Urville Island from the South Island coast, is the only place in the world where two different levels of ocean can be seen at once.  This causes tremendously dangerous currents - sometimes the tide flows at up to 8 knots through the narrow Pass.  [The only time we went through there, we didn't know that.  Jeff said that was the closest he's ever come to putting our boat, Lady Fair, on the rocks.]
	More fresh water gushes up from cracks in the limestone at Waikoropupu, near Takaka, Nelson province, than from any freshwater spring anywhere in the world.  Over 2,100 million litres of water gush up every 24 hours.
	Fiordland National Park is one of the largest in the world at 1,228,348 hectares.  It is also one of the wildest and least populated.
	Fossil-bearing rocks in the Cobb Valley near Nelson have trilobites that are 550 million years old.
	Each year some 400 significant earthquakes are recorded in New Zealand, of which roughly 100 are likely to be felt without instruments, but aren't of sufficient importance to warrant public notice.  The biggest New Zealand earthquake in historical times was near Wellington on 23 January 1855.  It had a magnitude of about 8 on the Richter scale and was felt over about 940,000 sq km, tilting a block of land 50 m wide and 190 km long.  In Wellington the uplift was 1.5 m; great stretches of shore became permanently exposed (including what is now the airport).  The centre lay along the Wairarapa Fault, whose horizontal movement is estimated to have been at least 12 m compared with about 6 m for the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  Despite this huge movement, only 12 people died in the quake, because Wellington was still sparsely populated at that stage.
	Less than 5% of the population of New Zealand is human - the rest are animals, giving one of the highest ratios of humans to animals in the world.
	The first all-female group of pallbearers was six sisters who carried their father's coffin in 1974.  Mr James O'Brien died on 1 June 1974, leaving eight daughters, 6 of whom officiated as pallbearers.
	More rainbow trout in the 2-3 kg category are caught annually in New Zealand than in the rest of the world put together.
	Energy consumption per head in NZ on a kilogram-of-coal equivalent is around 3,000 kg.  This compares with 6,845 in Australia, 10,888 in North America and 4,023 in Western Europe.
	New Zealand has more bookshops per head of population than any other country; one for every 7,500 people (compared with one for every 19,000 in England and one for every 50,000 in the USA).
	The shortest term of a New Zealand Prime Minister was seven days: Harry Atkinson was appointed on 28 August 1884 and resigned on 3 September 1884, beating the record of his immediate predecessor, Robert Stout, by six days.
	The youngest person ever elected to a city council in New Zealand was Miss Vicki Buck, who won a seat on the Christchurch City Council in a by-election in May 1975, at the age of 19.  Her majority was in excess of a thousand.  (Vicki Buck went on to become mayor of Christchurch.)
	A total of 194,000 men (67% of all NZ males between 18 and 45) served in World War II.
	There are more Scottish pipe bands per head of population in NZ than in Scotland

What men do.

Aspiring to acquire new skills has been my mantra since moving to New Zealand.  I craved this to be a chance to break away from how I saw myself by challenging this self-perception with new routines and new interests.  Some things have worked well – like snowboarding – others have been epic fails – going to the gym every week.  Other things seem to come and go as they please, and I am happy with this – swimming laps for fitness, reading more books and eating healthy are just a few.  The latest craze for me though has been……mosaic.  Gasp! The domain of bored housewives and childcare centre inmates.  However, I did some research and found it to be one of the most ancient and elaborate art forms in the world, with examples still standing from thousands of years ago all across northern Africa and the old roman empire.  A stash of library books later and an all day work shop saw a new terror unleashed on society.  I was ready to create a formidable artistic impression on the world.  So far though the impression is more of a small dent with only one piece completed – a mirror.  No quite the walled garden of an ancient roman artisan but a comfortable place to begin.  There are a few more pieces lurking unfinished in my ‘studio’  as well as a mountain of tiles, boards, mirrors, glass and assorted utensils – all waiting to rally to generate pieces of enchantment and admiration.  Stay tuned to be enthralled (and guess what you’re all getting for Christmas’ for the rest of you lives)!

It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything in this blog.  Time just seems to be short some weeks and at the moment this is occurring week after week.  We have had a few weeks off and gone camping, plus work has been all consuming - physically and emotionally.  Taking a deep breath this weekend has made me realise how incredibly foolish I have been to let my job over power me and that it is time to take a step back and remind myself what the positives are.  I will return soon with a greater sense of clarity and understanding.

Life is great!

There must be something in the autumn wind, or maybe it is the change of seasons or the recent moving of house……but things are going great and here’s why.  I have become uplifted with grace and vigour, leaping into opportunities and challenges with fervour.  An earlier post spoke of much promise and encouraged personal growth and all things bright and shiny.  I am an idealist and I make no excuses or apologies for being so.  However, somewhere along this road paved of sparkling green grass and shiny pebbles, life sometimes gets in the way and pushes me in directions I am less inclined to seek.  It is all too easy to let these things set the rhythm of life and not the pleasant challenges that line the sparkling green grass paths of my fertile mind.  So time to get back to the open field and run towards a few new challenges.  First up, I have been tracing my family roots on my father’s side.  I know almost nothing about my father’s life before us kids and ever since he died, I have been planning to do so.  So, start tracing family tree - Tickü.  Second thing was to get a bit more creative and this is going to see me advance in a few different directions.  First, I have enrolled in a photography course so I can learn more about the impressive camera I bought and hopefully illuminate the walls of our new home with bold statements and memories.  The other creative venture I have embarked on is a mosaic course.  I have always marvelled at ancient mosaics and the lavish and elaborate craft work that many Middle Eastern buildings have, all done with tiles, mortar and amazing patience.  I can only hope to achieve a small fraction of the aforementioned.   So, creative genius - Tickü.  Let those sparkling green grass paths lead me astray.

Becoming a part of Australian history

Who would have thought, eh?  I started writing this blog as a means of keeping a personal journal of this adventure as well as a way to share the fun with those friends and family who choose to do so.  Along the way I have been giving an honest account of how I feel about it all, as well as putting up a few photos and videos to add to the thrill for the readers chasing of my exploits.  Recently I was contacted by what I thought was yet another junk link to my blog by someone wanting me to contact them.  For those in the dark on such issues, the way to leave 'spam' on a website is to leave a message containing a link back to their own website to generate traffic and interest in their products.  This time however, it was a genuine message, from the National Library of Australia.  My humble entries have been deemed as being "of national importance and significance" and as such they were asking for the copyright permission to archive the entire blog and any future postings.  It still makes me blink when I think about it.  Who would have thought, eh........

Time for another dust-off

At the end of this week we will be moving house again.  We have been lucky enough to be living where we are for over two years now, but the owners want to move back in and rightly so.  It is a beautiful cottage in a lovely location and we are surprised they havn't wanted to return to their family home sooner.  So, it's time to empty out the draws and take stock of our belongings once again.  Somne of my first postings were about packing up our lives in Australia in preapration for the move to New Zealand - Scattering the Seeds and Some Years Ago. It was both overwhelming and invigorating - sorting through the memoeries and clearing out the clutter.  On a much smaller scale, we have done this again, and once more I am swept away with the sense of change and renewel which this process brings.  I feel fortunate to have spent this time in such tranquil surroundings and was initially very disappointed to get the news of having to move.  This disappointment has pupated in to a promise of vigour and potential for the future.  We are moving to slightly bigger house not too far away and I am really looking forward to waking up in this new world.  Its only the beginning.....

What I miss about Australia

Birds – On my initial visit to New Zealand several years ago I was struck by the silence of the forests. Nothing stirred, very few birds calling, nothing scurrying from the walking tacks before me. For a real ‘birdo’ like me it felt like uninhabited forests and blank skies.
Long-term relationships – You can’t beat the sensation of having close contact with people who have known you for most of your life, if not all of it. Family and friends I am close to are truly missed. People who know everything about you and still enjoy your company.

Flowers - A similar story to birds. With so much vegetation covering the landscape, it remains green the majority of the year. However, it is never punctuated by the mass flowerings of plants back home like eucalypts, acacias and grevilleas. It’s just continuously green.

High clouds – Simple but true. Cloud cover is usually low over here, hence the high rainfall. I miss the long wispy clouds of an Aussie summer spread across the sky, frequently culminating in remarkable sunsets.

Good wages – NZ has had a poor economy for a few years now and wages are low compared to the cost of living. It was even like this before the global financial crisis and wages are generally 20% less here than in Australia. Lucky for us, having one car, no kids, no mortgage and a simple lifestyle allows us enough money to travel.

Quality news programmes – The only way to describe what New Zealand news bulletins discuss is contrived babble. Not much interest in the world beyond NZ shores so the limited number of news bulletins struggle to fill their time slot with anything of real significance.

None of the above is intended as a harsh criticism of New Zealand as a whole just some of the things I miss about Australia. For any offended Kiwis, a future posting will be things that I DON’T miss about Australia. That will be interesting……

I love Julia Roberts.

I watched the Julia Roberts movie ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ on a recent flight.  It’s a colossal ‘chick flick’ if you are the sort of person who likes to categorise movies.  As bad as this may seem, I must admit this was not the first time I had seen it.  Keen to go to the movies some months ago, it was the best of a bad bunch to choose from.  In a cinema full of young females and old couples, I guessed there wasn’t going to be much violence or gratuitous sex in it.  It is, I learnt quickly, a woman’s journey to find herself and learning to open her mind to the world’s wisdom and love again.  With such a charming description I sense your eagerness to sprint out and obtain the DVD instantly.  Anyway, with some splendid cinematography, stunning landscapes and inspirational locations, somehow Julia Roberts portrayal of a self centred and manic woman, actually spoke to me in verse.  Not that I think I am any of those qualities, but her longing for contentment and answers in life is no different to mine, albeit slightly more exaggerated.  It’s what we all want really and anyone who tells me otherwise is a liar.  We may be happy now, I know I certainly am, but this shouldn’t stop us from wanting more of this feeling.  Once we stop wanting happiness and bliss, we will slowly begin to die inside.  Our souls will empty of passion, leaving a void that the universe itself could never fill.  It takes effort to keep our lives at a happy balance.  So despite my adoration of the ‘chick flick’ that even my most girly of female friends snigger at, it gives a good warm glow to my heart.  It reminds me to keep living, keep looking and embrace all opportunities and challenges that come my way.  Keep your eyes wide open. Life is generous. 

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad,but it's everything in between that makes it all worth living...