Thursday, March 31, 2005
Whew! Finally home
I'm doing this last post from home - just to wrap up this little diatribe.
Monday, I took the morning off from gazing at art to do a bit of shopping. I had been trying to think of something to bring back as a gift for Chris. I wanted something special (not that the others gifts I picked up weren't) - perhaps even extra special. I had been really missing our weekly get togethers and so had he. So I got a brilliant idea and found a store that might have what I was thinking of (but no, I'm not going to give it away. Chris told me he was reading this blog and it'll be a few days before he gets the item). After a long walk, a bus ride, a train ride, another long walk, getting lost and asking directions and finally yet another long walk, I reached the special store (actually Fry's - a famous store for a particular type of item - that's the only clue Chris). The item was available and I bought it at an excellent price and it's now in my bag waiting for Chris to get it. Note also, I've been back for more than 24 hrs and I still haven't unpacked.
Monday afternoon I went to the LACMA - no that's not the Lactating Mothers Association, it's the LA County Museum of Art. I've been to quite a few galleries over the years, this is the first one in which I have ever had a feeling of ostentatiousness (I hope that's a word). I can't quite put my finger on why. I think it has something to do with that fact that each gallery within the larger gallery was named after some sponsor (e.g The Steve Martin Gallery) and most works in the galleries were gifts of private individuals. Another example was the Raymond and Frances Bushell Netsuke Gallery that had a vast (almost bewildering) array of netsuke (small Japanese carvings) in a room of, probably 400 sq ft. The space devoted to these little pieces seemed out of all proportion to the potential public interest in them. It seemed more like a statement: "Look what I own, isn't that impressive?"
Finally, the photo gallery sucked, big time. They claim to have 5000 international examples of images from the 1830s to the present. The display had six images, all by one artist I had never heard of. They were fine in their own right, but what about the rest?
Shopping and LACMA was all I had time for Monday. Note that going anywhere required me to spend 3-4 hours each day on transit or walking. By the time Tuesday rolled around, I didn't have the energy to look at another painting, let alone a gallery full of them. Thus, unfortunately, I didn't get back to Getty. Hopefully next time.
Getting home was uneventful, except for the fact that I had to get up at 3:30 AM to get to my flight 90 minutes before departure as required by AA. I got home tired and woke up the next morning with a cold.
I guess that's better than travelling with one.
Monday, I took the morning off from gazing at art to do a bit of shopping. I had been trying to think of something to bring back as a gift for Chris. I wanted something special (not that the others gifts I picked up weren't) - perhaps even extra special. I had been really missing our weekly get togethers and so had he. So I got a brilliant idea and found a store that might have what I was thinking of (but no, I'm not going to give it away. Chris told me he was reading this blog and it'll be a few days before he gets the item). After a long walk, a bus ride, a train ride, another long walk, getting lost and asking directions and finally yet another long walk, I reached the special store (actually Fry's - a famous store for a particular type of item - that's the only clue Chris). The item was available and I bought it at an excellent price and it's now in my bag waiting for Chris to get it. Note also, I've been back for more than 24 hrs and I still haven't unpacked.
Monday afternoon I went to the LACMA - no that's not the Lactating Mothers Association, it's the LA County Museum of Art. I've been to quite a few galleries over the years, this is the first one in which I have ever had a feeling of ostentatiousness (I hope that's a word). I can't quite put my finger on why. I think it has something to do with that fact that each gallery within the larger gallery was named after some sponsor (e.g The Steve Martin Gallery) and most works in the galleries were gifts of private individuals. Another example was the Raymond and Frances Bushell Netsuke Gallery that had a vast (almost bewildering) array of netsuke (small Japanese carvings) in a room of, probably 400 sq ft. The space devoted to these little pieces seemed out of all proportion to the potential public interest in them. It seemed more like a statement: "Look what I own, isn't that impressive?"
Finally, the photo gallery sucked, big time. They claim to have 5000 international examples of images from the 1830s to the present. The display had six images, all by one artist I had never heard of. They were fine in their own right, but what about the rest?
Shopping and LACMA was all I had time for Monday. Note that going anywhere required me to spend 3-4 hours each day on transit or walking. By the time Tuesday rolled around, I didn't have the energy to look at another painting, let alone a gallery full of them. Thus, unfortunately, I didn't get back to Getty. Hopefully next time.
Getting home was uneventful, except for the fact that I had to get up at 3:30 AM to get to my flight 90 minutes before departure as required by AA. I got home tired and woke up the next morning with a cold.
I guess that's better than travelling with one.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Getty up
Today I slept in, for Sydney time. I was awake at 5:30, 5:40, 5:50 and finally at 6:00, I got the message and got up. Of course, in Sydney it was probably 9:00 AM on Monday, so two hours beyond my usual waking time (for the last 2 months anyway) and I had turned out the lights (literally and figuratively) about 8:00 PM last night.
I had no trouble getting ready for my $42 bus ride to the Getty (return fare). Aside from the price, the big mistake I made was that my ride back required me to leave at 2:15. Apparently that's all the culture their average customer wants, and that way after the gruelling 4 hours at the Getty they get to go on other package tours such as a bus ride around famous peoples homes. In fact most of their customers appear not to be interested in the Getty at all. The bus depot was packed with buses and hordes of people, but only 3 of us went on my tour. When I complained about the 2:15 pickup, the driver assured me that after 4 hours of looking at paintings any normal person would want to leave (also implying that no real guy would want to go there in the first place). However he did know how much money the Getty foundation spent building the museum, $1.2 billion.
Whatever was spent, it is an amazing resource. The architecture itself is worth the visit, then there's the garden, also worth a glance, and, oh yeah, there's some art too. Most amazing of all is that it is free - even the audio handsets, if you choose to take one. In the galeries, the lighting is subdued but enough to see the objects and seems to be designed to avoid reflections so you don't have to struggle to see things, unlike many other galleries I've been to lately, and there have been a few. The interpretative signage is excellent, there are a number of guided tours with further interpretative info. I'm going on and on I know. It's great and I'm going back on Tuesday.
And the art.... Today I spent most of the time with looking at a special exhibit of the work of 19th century British photographer Roger Fenton. He was one of the early photographers who tried to take photography into the realm of fine art. After a decade or so, he quit photography because he couldn't make enough money from his art to live on and didn't want to to be simply a portrait photographer. Anyway, the images were inspiring, especially given the limited capabilities of the tools he had it his disposal.
The other exhibit I saw quickly (as I was running out of time) showed a collection of paintings by French painter Jacques-Louis David. He was a cohort of Napolean and the paintings shown reflect a lot of Napolean's reign and elites from that society and also some imaginary scenes from Greek classics. To my eye, his paintings have an element of realism (which I like) augmented with a kind of "unreal beauty" filter - to use a photographic analogy. I think I saw a couple of these works when I was in Paris years ago (although there were so many then, its hard to remember). Aside from those this was likely my only opportunity to see these works. Maybe I'll have another look on Tuesday, if I have time.
Well, aren't I blathering on. At least I'm sitting down, because my right knee is killing me. It's been bothering me occasionally this trip. I've assumed it was from too much walking since I've done a lot (partly to counteract the large amounts of beer and wine I've been drinking). For the past few days it has been getting worse. The only thing I can think of is that I haven't been drinking enough beer or wine. In fact, I haven't had a beer or glass of wine since my first meal on the plane. I intend to rectify that shortly - plus take a couple of advil.
TTFN - gotta go have supper...
I had no trouble getting ready for my $42 bus ride to the Getty (return fare). Aside from the price, the big mistake I made was that my ride back required me to leave at 2:15. Apparently that's all the culture their average customer wants, and that way after the gruelling 4 hours at the Getty they get to go on other package tours such as a bus ride around famous peoples homes. In fact most of their customers appear not to be interested in the Getty at all. The bus depot was packed with buses and hordes of people, but only 3 of us went on my tour. When I complained about the 2:15 pickup, the driver assured me that after 4 hours of looking at paintings any normal person would want to leave (also implying that no real guy would want to go there in the first place). However he did know how much money the Getty foundation spent building the museum, $1.2 billion.
Whatever was spent, it is an amazing resource. The architecture itself is worth the visit, then there's the garden, also worth a glance, and, oh yeah, there's some art too. Most amazing of all is that it is free - even the audio handsets, if you choose to take one. In the galeries, the lighting is subdued but enough to see the objects and seems to be designed to avoid reflections so you don't have to struggle to see things, unlike many other galleries I've been to lately, and there have been a few. The interpretative signage is excellent, there are a number of guided tours with further interpretative info. I'm going on and on I know. It's great and I'm going back on Tuesday.
And the art.... Today I spent most of the time with looking at a special exhibit of the work of 19th century British photographer Roger Fenton. He was one of the early photographers who tried to take photography into the realm of fine art. After a decade or so, he quit photography because he couldn't make enough money from his art to live on and didn't want to to be simply a portrait photographer. Anyway, the images were inspiring, especially given the limited capabilities of the tools he had it his disposal.
The other exhibit I saw quickly (as I was running out of time) showed a collection of paintings by French painter Jacques-Louis David. He was a cohort of Napolean and the paintings shown reflect a lot of Napolean's reign and elites from that society and also some imaginary scenes from Greek classics. To my eye, his paintings have an element of realism (which I like) augmented with a kind of "unreal beauty" filter - to use a photographic analogy. I think I saw a couple of these works when I was in Paris years ago (although there were so many then, its hard to remember). Aside from those this was likely my only opportunity to see these works. Maybe I'll have another look on Tuesday, if I have time.
Well, aren't I blathering on. At least I'm sitting down, because my right knee is killing me. It's been bothering me occasionally this trip. I've assumed it was from too much walking since I've done a lot (partly to counteract the large amounts of beer and wine I've been drinking). For the past few days it has been getting worse. The only thing I can think of is that I haven't been drinking enough beer or wine. In fact, I haven't had a beer or glass of wine since my first meal on the plane. I intend to rectify that shortly - plus take a couple of advil.
TTFN - gotta go have supper...
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Java then MOCA
Well, it's amazing what a coffee can do. It's 5:30 PM and I'm still up and I even have enough energy to add to this blog. After signing off from my previous post this morning I had my coffee and went back to the hotel to see if I could get a room. It was only 10:00 AM and no rooms would be ready for 2-3 hours, so I decided to see if the LA Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) was open. I had travelled downtown to it twice when I was here in Feb and both times it was closed.
Today I was in luck. I resurrected my limited knowledge of the LA transit system and headed downtown. It takes about an hour to get there by bus and then train. The bus travels through a black/hispanic area of LA and there are a lot of "characters" on the bus. I just sat there as quietly as I could (near the front of the bus) and listened to all the "blanguage" and "spanglish". If it had been night, I might have been a bit more stressed.
Anyway I reached MOCA without difficulty or incendent. The MOCA had two shows going:
A selection of abstract art from the collection focussing on artists of the 40's through the 60's. There were lots of really famous names (i.e. ones that even I recognized) such as Alfred Steiglitz (the only photographer I found), Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. After reviewing their MOCA web site while writing this blog, I see there are some artists I missed. The gallery was very poorly laid out and didn't have a map.
The other show was abstract sound and light shows of various kinds (and mostly was not interesting) - one was a reflector ball like those found in a night club with various computer controlled lights - coool! not.
The other disappointment was that there was almost no interpretive or contextual information. For art ninnies like me, that made any comprehension of the works shown virtually impossible. Too bad because there were definitely some important pieces of art to be seen.
Anyway, I won't go back to MOCA. Tomorrow I have booked a tour to the Getty. I go at 9:00 AM (I'll probably have been up for several hours at that point) and get back at 3:00. It will cost $42 for the transportation but it will save me hours on the bus and trains, not to mention the likelihood of getting lost or mugged.
Time to close. LA is the pits, but it is definitely nice to be closer to home.
TTFN
Today I was in luck. I resurrected my limited knowledge of the LA transit system and headed downtown. It takes about an hour to get there by bus and then train. The bus travels through a black/hispanic area of LA and there are a lot of "characters" on the bus. I just sat there as quietly as I could (near the front of the bus) and listened to all the "blanguage" and "spanglish". If it had been night, I might have been a bit more stressed.
Anyway I reached MOCA without difficulty or incendent. The MOCA had two shows going:
A selection of abstract art from the collection focussing on artists of the 40's through the 60's. There were lots of really famous names (i.e. ones that even I recognized) such as Alfred Steiglitz (the only photographer I found), Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. After reviewing their MOCA web site while writing this blog, I see there are some artists I missed. The gallery was very poorly laid out and didn't have a map.
The other show was abstract sound and light shows of various kinds (and mostly was not interesting) - one was a reflector ball like those found in a night club with various computer controlled lights - coool! not.
The other disappointment was that there was almost no interpretive or contextual information. For art ninnies like me, that made any comprehension of the works shown virtually impossible. Too bad because there were definitely some important pieces of art to be seen.
Anyway, I won't go back to MOCA. Tomorrow I have booked a tour to the Getty. I go at 9:00 AM (I'll probably have been up for several hours at that point) and get back at 3:00. It will cost $42 for the transportation but it will save me hours on the bus and trains, not to mention the likelihood of getting lost or mugged.
Time to close. LA is the pits, but it is definitely nice to be closer to home.
TTFN
Time travel
Today I arrived back in LA. I left Sydney at 8:50 AM on Saturday March 26 and arrived in LA at 7:00 AM on Saturday March 26. The trip didn't feel that fast. In fact, it was a long slog - 18 hours. My first disappointment came at checkin. I found out that my flight from Sydney to LA stopped in Melbourne - a backward treck of about 2 hours and then a stopover of 1.5 hours. The next disappointment was when I learned that the flight from Melbourne to LA was 14 1/2 hrs. I guess you don't always get the best flights when you go on points.
Anyway I'm here now and hopefully will be able to checkin to my hotel before I turn into a pumpkin. I tried to sleep on the flight, but it was hard to get comfortable. Now I'm groggy but reluctant to sleep or I'll screw up the next few days with jet lag.
Anyway I'm half asleep now and if I don't end this drivel soon, all I'll be able to write is zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz , huh? What's that?
My coffee's ready
OK, bye.....
Later........
Anyway I'm here now and hopefully will be able to checkin to my hotel before I turn into a pumpkin. I tried to sleep on the flight, but it was hard to get comfortable. Now I'm groggy but reluctant to sleep or I'll screw up the next few days with jet lag.
Anyway I'm half asleep now and if I don't end this drivel soon, all I'll be able to write is zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzz , huh? What's that?
My coffee's ready
OK, bye.....
Later........
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Blue is the colour of water
It's Wednesday. I'll be home in less than a week. I almost feel like yelling yahooooo!, but not quite. I imagine I'll miss this a bit - I might even feel a bit blue...although it'll be nice to get home and rest - sleep in even, maybe.
We are now in the Blue Mountains in a town called Katoomba. It's vaguely reminicent of Banff or Stowe except no skiing. The mountains are actually blue in the distance, due, apparently to the high level of water vapour in the air. The weather has lost it's summery feel, more like fall. It apparently will get better in a few days, but I'll be gone. Despite the weather, the scenery is phenomenal, great cliffs with 150 meter drops over dense forest canopies, sculptured rock surfaces, musical birds - quite magical.
We did spend two days in Canberra. Except for the galleries and museums, exceptionally boring.
Tomorrow we return to Sydney. M&B leave on Friday and I leave on Saturday. I probably won't post again till I get to LA, where I'll spend a few days before I get home Tuesday.
TTFN
We are now in the Blue Mountains in a town called Katoomba. It's vaguely reminicent of Banff or Stowe except no skiing. The mountains are actually blue in the distance, due, apparently to the high level of water vapour in the air. The weather has lost it's summery feel, more like fall. It apparently will get better in a few days, but I'll be gone. Despite the weather, the scenery is phenomenal, great cliffs with 150 meter drops over dense forest canopies, sculptured rock surfaces, musical birds - quite magical.
We did spend two days in Canberra. Except for the galleries and museums, exceptionally boring.
Tomorrow we return to Sydney. M&B leave on Friday and I leave on Saturday. I probably won't post again till I get to LA, where I'll spend a few days before I get home Tuesday.
TTFN
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Sydney the friendly giant
Sydney is a big place. We we have been here for 4 days and have barely scratched the surface. When we arrived, we had booked our accomodation for 7 days and discussed shortening our stay here in favour of spending more of our remaining 2 weeks elsewhere in Oz. In the end we decided to go with our original plan and I'm glad we did - Sydney is a fascinating city.
There is lots of old city to explore and even many new business areas with sky scrapers have the feel of the old city. This has been accomplished by keeping the facades of many old buildings and placing the taller new buildings back from the facade so the streets don't seem as cavernous.
Of course, we have seen the Sydney Opera House, and yes I took a bunch of photos - how could I not? Also the Sydney Harbour bridge and combinations of the two. They're icons and they just have to be in the photo file. I also took pictures of large bats haning fro trees at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. I have to go back for a video, the noise they make is amazing.
The main downside of Sydney is: it's expensive. Unexpectedly, one of the most expensive things (given the amount we tend to consume) is beer. Barry is having a major crisis - he has calculated that beer is more expensive than wine! Oh well, in 2 weeks (more or less) we'll all be back to familiar surroundings (and costs).
Sydney has a monorail that travels around the major tourist area near Darling Harbour (our area) and part of downtown. When we went out for supper last night we decided to try the monorail. We got on the train and did a complete circuit of the track before getting off at the station closest to our destination (it was not very close). The trip was mildly interesting, offering a different view of where we had previously walked. It was definitely not rapid transit though, in fact Maureen called it vapid transit. I guess that's a mom joke. We could have walked to the get off point in about the same time we spent on the monorail.
Today, M&B had a together day and I did my thing. In retrospect I'm surprised there hasn't been one of those days sooner. This has been the longest time I can recall M and I have been together since we were living in Noranda. We probably should have had more days apart, although I've been fine with how things have been going - only minor occasional snips.
We will be staying here till Sunday and then leaving for Canberra. Originally I had thought we'd just do the Blue Mountains, but M&B want to see Canberra. I have to admit it does look interesting from a map view. It'll be the only formally planned city I've ever visited. There'll be lots of galleries and museums (musea?). We'll have 2 days in Canberra and 2 days in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. We had wanted to spend 3 days in the mountains, but the last day is the day before easter and we couldn't get accomodation.
This blog has turned into boring drivel, even I'm falling asleep writing it. Also, I want to go have one of those expensive beers and then some Vietnamese for supper. I'm in Chinatown (I think). There are orientals everywhere here. The computer I'm using brings up all it's prompts in chinese (or Japanese) all I can hear around me at other computers is chinese.
Bye for now.
There is lots of old city to explore and even many new business areas with sky scrapers have the feel of the old city. This has been accomplished by keeping the facades of many old buildings and placing the taller new buildings back from the facade so the streets don't seem as cavernous.
Of course, we have seen the Sydney Opera House, and yes I took a bunch of photos - how could I not? Also the Sydney Harbour bridge and combinations of the two. They're icons and they just have to be in the photo file. I also took pictures of large bats haning fro trees at the Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens. I have to go back for a video, the noise they make is amazing.
The main downside of Sydney is: it's expensive. Unexpectedly, one of the most expensive things (given the amount we tend to consume) is beer. Barry is having a major crisis - he has calculated that beer is more expensive than wine! Oh well, in 2 weeks (more or less) we'll all be back to familiar surroundings (and costs).
Sydney has a monorail that travels around the major tourist area near Darling Harbour (our area) and part of downtown. When we went out for supper last night we decided to try the monorail. We got on the train and did a complete circuit of the track before getting off at the station closest to our destination (it was not very close). The trip was mildly interesting, offering a different view of where we had previously walked. It was definitely not rapid transit though, in fact Maureen called it vapid transit. I guess that's a mom joke. We could have walked to the get off point in about the same time we spent on the monorail.
Today, M&B had a together day and I did my thing. In retrospect I'm surprised there hasn't been one of those days sooner. This has been the longest time I can recall M and I have been together since we were living in Noranda. We probably should have had more days apart, although I've been fine with how things have been going - only minor occasional snips.
We will be staying here till Sunday and then leaving for Canberra. Originally I had thought we'd just do the Blue Mountains, but M&B want to see Canberra. I have to admit it does look interesting from a map view. It'll be the only formally planned city I've ever visited. There'll be lots of galleries and museums (musea?). We'll have 2 days in Canberra and 2 days in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. We had wanted to spend 3 days in the mountains, but the last day is the day before easter and we couldn't get accomodation.
This blog has turned into boring drivel, even I'm falling asleep writing it. Also, I want to go have one of those expensive beers and then some Vietnamese for supper. I'm in Chinatown (I think). There are orientals everywhere here. The computer I'm using brings up all it's prompts in chinese (or Japanese) all I can hear around me at other computers is chinese.
Bye for now.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Winding down NZ
We're now in Touranga, a beautiful coastal resort city on the east coast of NZ with a dramatic sea mount at the end of a peninsula forming part of the city's complex of inlets and bays. Barry has a cousin Keith who lives here and showed us around the city this morning. We went to see the sea mount (Mt. Manganui) walked around it on a nice trail, but infortunately, didn't walk up it. Keith is a bit over weight and didn't feel fit enough for the walk up. We ended up driving around the city instead. Oh well, we can't do everything - another reason to return.
Tomorrow (Saturday) we head back to Auckland to catch the plane for Sydney on Sunday. NZ is definitely a great place for a holiday, but I wouldn't want to live here. It's expensive and too far from the rest of the world, for starters. Also, NZ bread sucks, the beer is OK but not better than Canuck beer and not as good as Belgian for example, and ... well I could go on, but why? I have to leave some complaints for my next trip to NZ. There will be one.
Tomorrow (Saturday) we head back to Auckland to catch the plane for Sydney on Sunday. NZ is definitely a great place for a holiday, but I wouldn't want to live here. It's expensive and too far from the rest of the world, for starters. Also, NZ bread sucks, the beer is OK but not better than Canuck beer and not as good as Belgian for example, and ... well I could go on, but why? I have to leave some complaints for my next trip to NZ. There will be one.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Napier Nonsense
We have moved from windy Wellington to natty Napier. Napier is an art deco mecca. It was devastated by an major earthquake in 1928 which destroyed most of the stone buildings and started a fire that demolished most of the wooden structures. The city residents decided to undertake a massive rebuilding and also decided to proceed in the art deco style (think of pictures of Miami or Santa Barbara). Today the forsight, resilience and hard work of those citizens has created a major tourist attraction.
We went on a self guided tour today of many of the art deco commercial buildings. 4 hours later we gave up, unfinished but too tired to continue. I probably have 50 photos of buildings or architectural details. That should be enough to recall the experience.
Barry, when reading the guide book, told us with a straight face that Napier was an approximate translation of the Maori name for the place - the Maori name being Takitaki.
Good one, huh?
Tomorrow we go back by Lake Taupo (see earlier blog - hole left by big volcanic explosion) on our way to Touranga and the Bay of Plenty.
We went on a self guided tour today of many of the art deco commercial buildings. 4 hours later we gave up, unfinished but too tired to continue. I probably have 50 photos of buildings or architectural details. That should be enough to recall the experience.
Barry, when reading the guide book, told us with a straight face that Napier was an approximate translation of the Maori name for the place - the Maori name being Takitaki.
Good one, huh?
Tomorrow we go back by Lake Taupo (see earlier blog - hole left by big volcanic explosion) on our way to Touranga and the Bay of Plenty.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
Ferry fun and other nonsense
Here are some cultural adventures I had on the ferry coming back to the north Island.
The first was at lunch. I ordered fish and chips (for a change - as if!). I asked for malt vinegar but Kiwis don't use it - they use mayonaise, but it was all gone so I tried the tomato sauce (aka ketchup). The package was one of those little plastic tubs with the apparently pealable plastic cover. The only prblem, the top was completely glued to the tub - there was no edge to lift, but there was a little dimple in the middle. I looked at the bottom and it was actually two little tubs joined together, so I flexed it slightly at the joint.... bad move. Ketchup everywhere, up my favourite yellow teashirt, down my pants. I had to wear those stains for the rest of the day.
The second "adventure" was just a funny announcement. Kiwi accent (from my view) involves sliding the vowels, so soft a (as in back) becomes e (as in beck), and e as in bed becomes i as in bid and so on. The funny announcement had to do with where people could smoke on the ferry - it was restricted to the rear of the main deck in other words - "the reah of the mine dick". Maybe you had to be there - I was.
I'm in Wellington now. Aparently it's the windiest city in the world after Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago but in Wellington you have to watch out for flying debris in the street today. Give a whole new meaning to the term fliers.
Today we went to the Te Papa, Maori name for the national museum. I learned a lot about the history of Maori and European imigrants. Everybody here is (was) an immigrant. The Maori have been here about 800 years longer than the Europeans.
Oh yeah, I've come up with a new food group - carbofat. We've had more of it than we should. The best source is 2 beer and an order of fish and chips.
The first was at lunch. I ordered fish and chips (for a change - as if!). I asked for malt vinegar but Kiwis don't use it - they use mayonaise, but it was all gone so I tried the tomato sauce (aka ketchup). The package was one of those little plastic tubs with the apparently pealable plastic cover. The only prblem, the top was completely glued to the tub - there was no edge to lift, but there was a little dimple in the middle. I looked at the bottom and it was actually two little tubs joined together, so I flexed it slightly at the joint.... bad move. Ketchup everywhere, up my favourite yellow teashirt, down my pants. I had to wear those stains for the rest of the day.
The second "adventure" was just a funny announcement. Kiwi accent (from my view) involves sliding the vowels, so soft a (as in back) becomes e (as in beck), and e as in bed becomes i as in bid and so on. The funny announcement had to do with where people could smoke on the ferry - it was restricted to the rear of the main deck in other words - "the reah of the mine dick". Maybe you had to be there - I was.
I'm in Wellington now. Aparently it's the windiest city in the world after Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago but in Wellington you have to watch out for flying debris in the street today. Give a whole new meaning to the term fliers.
Today we went to the Te Papa, Maori name for the national museum. I learned a lot about the history of Maori and European imigrants. Everybody here is (was) an immigrant. The Maori have been here about 800 years longer than the Europeans.
Oh yeah, I've come up with a new food group - carbofat. We've had more of it than we should. The best source is 2 beer and an order of fish and chips.
Friday, March 04, 2005
From Blenheim to Blenheim
Maureen and I kayaked today in Marlborough Sound. It was a day-long guided paddle with morning tea and lunch provided. The weather was fantastic until about an hour before the end. At that point we had to paddle to our takeout point and were battling a head wind and what seemed like 1 metre high waves for that hour. It was still a great day though. We saw lots of wildlife (whitefaced herons, several types of cormorants including dozens nesting with young, sting rays and other sea life). Barry doesn’t like the water, so he stayed back at the hotel and did the Barry thing. I probably had my mosts enjoyable day of the trip (I enjoyed the paddling - I don't mean I liked not having Barry around).
Tomorrow, we take the ferry back to the North Island and spend 2 nights in Wellington. We are going to have to go the museum and find some Maori cultural events/activities there because that is one aspect of NZ life that we have not seen much of since we were in the north (Dargaville) and we gave it scant attention then. Before I sign off for tonight, I will try to briefly cover the missing bits between when we left here (Blenheim) and when we returned. I’m too tired to give it a lot of detail so you are going to get the short version. Also, Maureen has absconded with my guide book, so some of the names will be missing. I’ll have to update the blog names later. So what happened between Blenheim and Blenheim?
Christchurch – our first destination - is the 3rd largest city in NZ. It is a lot smaller than Auckland and feels it. The centre of the city (historical downtown) is gridlike and surrounded by 4 main streets. The city was created by English Anglicans in the mid 1800’s for people of like mind. It was started by a group from Christ College Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It may be my imagination, but the city still seems to have a sense of an English town – not as multicultural as, say Ottawa, stores close early and many aren’t open on Sunday, school children wear a very conservative school uniform. None of these are necessarily bad and the city is a great place to walk around. A huge park downtown, lots of other green space, wide sidewalks, interesting architecture. I’m just not sure I’d feel welcome if I were to move here though – perhaps my imagination. On the other hand, our kayak guide today is a Brit expat (here for only 2 years) and says that she found people of Christchurch very welcoming.
We stayed in Christchurch 3 sleeps (2 full days) and one of the days Maureen and I spent visiting Lyttelton, the main seaport on the South Island – more great scenery, old buildings, small roads etc. Barry did the Barry thing that day too(and cooked supper - yumm).
After Christchurch we headed south with 2 objectives in mind. We wanted to see penguins and to see the Moeraki boulders. We had originally planned to go as far south as Dunedin, where we could see lots of penguins, but we were running out of time. We determined that we could see Blue Penguins in Oamara and from there we could take a day trip to Moeraki to see the boulders. Closer and shorter travel times.
The boulders were a half day drive (there and back) to see and probably, in the end, were not worth the trip. However, if I hadn’t gone, I would have regretted not going, so – what could I do? I took lots of pictures so, you won’t have to go (unless you get into the conundrum I did). The boulders are round rocks (really?) formed by some unusual volcanic activity eons ago – sort of like large geodes. They are on a beach and most are partly buried in sand – others are broken. Originally there were smaller ones, but these have all been scavenged by tourists over the last century or so. Now they are all about 1-1.5 metres in diameter - too big to steal.
The penguins were much more interesting. The Blue Penguins are not like the ones we see in the Antarctic pictures and movies. They are small – about 30 cm high and weigh about 1 kilo.
The blue penguins go out in the ocean to fish in the very early morning (4 am) and return only at dusk (9 PM). they swim 20 kilometers or so out in the ocean to fish We viewed them from a sort of penguin viewing stadium. We arrived about 8:00 PM and watched them return to their nests from their fishing expedition. When they come back to land they scramble up on the shore through the crashing waves and stand around in groups drying off. They look a bit like little people. Once they are dried off they go to their nest and yack with the other birds. They make quite a racket.It was quite an experience seeing the birds. Unfortunately we couldnot use cameras so I have no pictures.
The final day of the south we headed north to Blenheim, where we are now. I’ve interspersed our latest Blenheim activities (except for all the drinking and carousing) throughout the last few posts, so now I’m up-to-date. Phew!!
Tomorrow, we take the ferry back to the North Island and spend 2 nights in Wellington. We are going to have to go the museum and find some Maori cultural events/activities there because that is one aspect of NZ life that we have not seen much of since we were in the north (Dargaville) and we gave it scant attention then. Before I sign off for tonight, I will try to briefly cover the missing bits between when we left here (Blenheim) and when we returned. I’m too tired to give it a lot of detail so you are going to get the short version. Also, Maureen has absconded with my guide book, so some of the names will be missing. I’ll have to update the blog names later. So what happened between Blenheim and Blenheim?
Christchurch – our first destination - is the 3rd largest city in NZ. It is a lot smaller than Auckland and feels it. The centre of the city (historical downtown) is gridlike and surrounded by 4 main streets. The city was created by English Anglicans in the mid 1800’s for people of like mind. It was started by a group from Christ College Oxford and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It may be my imagination, but the city still seems to have a sense of an English town – not as multicultural as, say Ottawa, stores close early and many aren’t open on Sunday, school children wear a very conservative school uniform. None of these are necessarily bad and the city is a great place to walk around. A huge park downtown, lots of other green space, wide sidewalks, interesting architecture. I’m just not sure I’d feel welcome if I were to move here though – perhaps my imagination. On the other hand, our kayak guide today is a Brit expat (here for only 2 years) and says that she found people of Christchurch very welcoming.
We stayed in Christchurch 3 sleeps (2 full days) and one of the days Maureen and I spent visiting Lyttelton, the main seaport on the South Island – more great scenery, old buildings, small roads etc. Barry did the Barry thing that day too(and cooked supper - yumm).
After Christchurch we headed south with 2 objectives in mind. We wanted to see penguins and to see the Moeraki boulders. We had originally planned to go as far south as Dunedin, where we could see lots of penguins, but we were running out of time. We determined that we could see Blue Penguins in Oamara and from there we could take a day trip to Moeraki to see the boulders. Closer and shorter travel times.
The boulders were a half day drive (there and back) to see and probably, in the end, were not worth the trip. However, if I hadn’t gone, I would have regretted not going, so – what could I do? I took lots of pictures so, you won’t have to go (unless you get into the conundrum I did). The boulders are round rocks (really?) formed by some unusual volcanic activity eons ago – sort of like large geodes. They are on a beach and most are partly buried in sand – others are broken. Originally there were smaller ones, but these have all been scavenged by tourists over the last century or so. Now they are all about 1-1.5 metres in diameter - too big to steal.
The penguins were much more interesting. The Blue Penguins are not like the ones we see in the Antarctic pictures and movies. They are small – about 30 cm high and weigh about 1 kilo.
The blue penguins go out in the ocean to fish in the very early morning (4 am) and return only at dusk (9 PM). they swim 20 kilometers or so out in the ocean to fish We viewed them from a sort of penguin viewing stadium. We arrived about 8:00 PM and watched them return to their nests from their fishing expedition. When they come back to land they scramble up on the shore through the crashing waves and stand around in groups drying off. They look a bit like little people. Once they are dried off they go to their nest and yack with the other birds. They make quite a racket.It was quite an experience seeing the birds. Unfortunately we couldnot use cameras so I have no pictures.
The final day of the south we headed north to Blenheim, where we are now. I’ve interspersed our latest Blenheim activities (except for all the drinking and carousing) throughout the last few posts, so now I’m up-to-date. Phew!!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Where did the week go?
It's hard to believe that it's been a week since I updated this log. Oh well, I guess that means I'm having fun. What I'm not having fun with is the computer I'm using. It’s crashed once and logged me off the network once. Each time I lost my updates to this blog. So far I’ve wasted about an hour and a bit. The computer’s free (a laptop on loan from the hotel owner), so I can’t complain too much. It’s a great suite we have here too, so overall, a very nice spot.
The place we’re at is the same one we were at when I posted to the blog a week ago. We’re in Blenheim, near the top of the South island of NZ. We’ve been as far south as we are going to get and are now heading back north, eventually to Auckland and our flight to Sydney, Australia in 10 days time.
I should tell you about our adventures of the past week – that after all, is what this blog is for, so here goes.
We left Blenheim a week ago for Christchurch, which is about 1/3 of the way down the south island on the east coast. At the start we drove through the a wine growing region of nZ called (in the guide) Marlborough wine country. It seemed to be very dry, yet there were many vineyards, olive groves and crops of other types, so the dryness must either have been temporary or there must be wonderful irrigation. In the distance we could see massive mountains. The mountains got gradually closer and eventually we were travelling through spectacular arid mountain scenery with windy narrow mountain roads. Like many other areas we have visited, it would be great to spend more time stopping or exploring. There were several times I would have stopped (sometimes just to take a photograph) if I had been alone. Travelling in a group is different, even with just 3. You have to consider what other people want to do and we had our objective – getting to Christchurch.
It took most of the day, but we did reach Christchurch (Cc) in time to do some walking around. Since I’m getting up early to go kayaking tomorrow, I’ll stop here. Hopefully I’ll get this clunker laptop again tomorrow and can catch up with the blog.
The place we’re at is the same one we were at when I posted to the blog a week ago. We’re in Blenheim, near the top of the South island of NZ. We’ve been as far south as we are going to get and are now heading back north, eventually to Auckland and our flight to Sydney, Australia in 10 days time.
I should tell you about our adventures of the past week – that after all, is what this blog is for, so here goes.
We left Blenheim a week ago for Christchurch, which is about 1/3 of the way down the south island on the east coast. At the start we drove through the a wine growing region of nZ called (in the guide) Marlborough wine country. It seemed to be very dry, yet there were many vineyards, olive groves and crops of other types, so the dryness must either have been temporary or there must be wonderful irrigation. In the distance we could see massive mountains. The mountains got gradually closer and eventually we were travelling through spectacular arid mountain scenery with windy narrow mountain roads. Like many other areas we have visited, it would be great to spend more time stopping or exploring. There were several times I would have stopped (sometimes just to take a photograph) if I had been alone. Travelling in a group is different, even with just 3. You have to consider what other people want to do and we had our objective – getting to Christchurch.
It took most of the day, but we did reach Christchurch (Cc) in time to do some walking around. Since I’m getting up early to go kayaking tomorrow, I’ll stop here. Hopefully I’ll get this clunker laptop again tomorrow and can catch up with the blog.
