Elinor the Teacher

Please note, this is not what Elinor looks like... this is Doris Day.

I'm very proud of my girlfriend, Elinor, today.

She's been on a bit of Customer Service dirge by her own admission over the past few years, and a couple of years back happened upon the idea of learning sign language (AUSLAN to be precise). Having enrolled, studied and successfully achieved a diploma in AUSLAN, Elinor has realised just how much she loves the world, the people, and the community, and managed to get onto a very competitive course for Interpreting which started a couple of weeks back.

Encouraged by friends, family, and a number of her teachers, El started applying for a few jobs in the industry to keep her in bread whilst she's studying this new course part-time. The latest she has just been appointed to!

So my girlfriend is going to be working at a school which is populated by a mix of deaf and hearing children. They are pioneering a program to teach AUSLAN to the hearing youngsters instead of a foreign language, to encourage better integration, promote AUSLAN, and generally give them some different kind of skills than many others their age will have. El will in fact be 'Miss Cuttiford' for the coming month or so whilst they're figuring out if they have to have a teacher with an actual degree in teaching ~ and re-assessing at that time.

Awesome!

What a change from 2 years ago eh? Very very proud of you young lady, so CHEERS to you!

Bloomin Marvellous

As the last of the summer rays beat down on Christchurch, the insects buzz around in eager anticipation of the last bits of pollen for the year, and the far off forecasts promise Autumn is almost here, I took a walk to the Botanic Gardens once more.

The late summer bloomers are out in force, and with a little tweaking of apertures and shutter speeds, I was able to capture an element of the rather pretty fleurs, so here's a selection (click on them for bigger versions);


I reckon my Grandpa, Ma & Pa would been proud of how much time I've spent in Botanic Gardens recently!

Gramps was head of Parks & Gardens a long time back in Greater London, Mum has been a keen gardener for years & seems to know every European flowering plant by its Latin name, and father dearest... well he's famed for his "Mmmm Flowers!" comment.

Album Cover

Alright, this a complete and utter break from the norm for me.

I never get sucked into the facebook world of 'instructions, quizzes, forwards & timewasters' but for some reason this one has been amusing me.

Instructions;

1. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random : The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 : The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days : Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

I've seen quite a few popping up on Facebook which have made me chuckle - the randomness of it all thrown together gives some pretty impressive looking Album Covers! I think what was different was this time mine seemed to throw up something so random that it almost linked in to me!

So here goes, introducing a little known Mexican Mariachi band, 'Two Pesos', with their debut album 'Save and Savour the World' (seriously, this was random!)

Impending Travels

Soon. Oh so soon.

In 2 weeks, I once again hit the shores of 'Straya!

I am of course very very excited to be returning to the kangaroo infested shores, to see friends again, to feel the sunshine on my skin, and see some familiar areas of Melbourne. However, I'm also ridiculously excited to be seeing Elinor once again, and to be back just before her birthday. Hurrah. Should be a picnic in the botanic garden type affair.

I actually miss Australia somewhat. There's definitely something I can't quite put my finger on about that dusty ancient land, whether it be the cities, the forests or the deserts. It's somewhat drawing, somewhere that I think about a lot - who knows whether because it's the life I set up + loved, or whether it's just because of Elinor & my other buddies... but I miss it.

Anyway, I'm back in 2. Bring on the dumplings.

Oh, and here's a recent photo album for your perusal!

Rain Zealand

This weekend, is quite frankly... Rubbish.

Sadly our trip to the Mueller Hut has been cancelled - the Department of Conservation suggested 'if there's anything else you could be or should be doing instead, then do it.' When it's that succinct, you just figure 'well what's the point in fighting it?'

So we're a little thrown by Aoteroa's ability to suddenly be covered in cloud, with no indoor activities planned in its place. Apparently the weather front has been brewing off the coast of Oz for a little while, and was only recently downgraded from a hurricane. Nice. Basically as I write it is lashing with rain, it's been doing so since about 9am this morning (all through my drive to Chch), and it is likely to continue until Sunday evening.

Well Aoteroa (Maori name for NZ/North Island) is supposed to mean 'Long White Cloud'!

Suggestions welcomed, am currently toying with;

• Cinema
• Orchestral/Choral performance
• Comedy Club
• Vehicle Shopping (for a camper/converted people mover for away trips + independence)
• DVD/Music Shopping
• Sports
• Writing more blogs, postcards, letters, and the like
• Reading more of my text book on Conservation
  

As I mentioned, any suggestions are welcome!

Camera-ing

A term coined on a West Coast Radio Station... one I have adopted as I think it's hilarious.

Here's some albums to keep you amused as I have another blog ticking away at the back of my mind and need to do some more reading before it is written.

Elinor's Visit
West Coast Adventures
Cave Creek

What I'm listening to right now:

04 – Colours (XFM Version) - Hot Chip


Where I'm going next weekend: Mueller Hut

Back soon!!

Where I'm Living - Part III

Part III relates to the fact I'm now into the exciting 3rd year of life overseas.

Where I'm living - well, I was speaking to one of my old school chums and trying to explain a little about where I live, the fact that my nearest supermarket, banks etc etc are 45 minutes drive away. I've just completed a map of my local area with all the bits & pieces to do, walking tracks, and a few things of note - it shall be expanded, but for now here it is;


View Larger Map

So here's my current abode - the CVNZ Volunteer House. It's a couple of holiday houses, 1 minute from the rainforest, 1 minutes from the river, and maybe 90 seconds from the beach. There is roughly 40 people living here year-round
The nearest town in Greymouth (Shitmouth) which is 45 minute drive, has under 10'000 inhabitants, and was founded in the 1860's due to Gold & Coal found in abundance in the area.

It's a little different from my flat in Surbiton with Dave, and of course from my parents' place in Thames Ditton. Records of Thames Ditton go back to 983, and Surbiton 1178. Thames Ditton boomed when Hampton Court Palace was built in the 16th Century, and now boasts a population of around 6000. Both Surbiton and Thames Ditton have a large population of those who commute to London (c8 million population).

When Thames Ditton was owned by the Bishop of Bayeux in 1086, it was probably about another 200-400 years before the Maori arrived to the Greymouth (or Mawhera as they called it) area, collecting Greenstone for tools, carving and ceremonial means.

Thames Ditton... Punakaiki... the change really is quite one to fathom.

The 3rd year is also ushered in with a 'significant other' in tow - the lovely Elinor who I have written much about recently. Being somewhat enamoured with one another, I feel the need to add that Elinor has great patience and understanding of my slightly strange life I choose to lead, has been incredibly supportive of my adventures, and frankly I just can't wait until November comes around when we will be free to galavant around together as we please... of course that's another 9 months closer to my fourth year away.

For now I'm content with my life; perhaps I shall find a new abode soon, but I'm in no hurry. Money is leaking out of my bank account into various projects, funds and air-miles-winning electronic vestiges. So for now I shall be staying in the holiday houses, but really I'm hoping to find my own place sometime soon - rent or buy, house or shack, I'm not fussy - it's just nice to have your own space.

Annum II : The Oddest Prime

Two has many properties in mathematics. 

Two is the smallest and the first prime number, and the only even one (for this reason it is sometimes humorously called "the oddest prime"). The next prime is three. Two and three are the only two consecutive prime numbers. It is an Eisenstein prime with no imaginary part and real part of the form 3n − 1. It is also a Stern prime, a Pell number, and a Markov number, appearing in infinitely many solutions to the Markov Diophantine equation involving odd-indexed Pell numbers.

It is the third Fibonacci number.

Despite being a prime, two is also a highly composite number, because it has more divisors than the number one.

TWO is also how many years I have been away from England now.

On 12 February 2007, I jumped on a plane destined for Asia, and since then it's been a bit of a blur of a (frankly) cool life.  

I have travelled to Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Australia, Singapore, England, France and New Zealand in those 2 years.  

I have lived in and jungles, community halls, Raleigh fieldbase, hammocks by the Kinabatangan River, backpackers lodges, guesthouses, an apartment near Melbourne, and a house on the edge of the Paparoa National Park.

I have eaten wild boar, mouse deer, frogs legs, fish heads, chicken bums, freshly caught fish, wild mussels, oysters and probably a whole host of other things I don't even want to think about.

I have climbed mountains, kayaked down rivers, touched glaciers, walked among temples, danced with jungle rangers, built a bridge, battled a bearded pig for my rucksack, mourned a friend, planted trees, swum with turtles, relaxed, driven Bravo's, trapped stoats, fed 300 people at once, dived attols, danced with australians, chatted malay with jungle rangers, swum in ocean

s, camper-vanned islands, made it to a hockey grand final, communed with nature, shouted from hill tops, photographed beauty, met the girl I love, eaten from street stalls, befriended dudes, served cocktails at sunset, celebrated Australia Day, breathed at 40m underwater, drunk beer chilled in the sea, watched sunrises, padded along a squeaky beach, BBQ'd, and driven 2000km in 2 days. Among other things.

Thank you to all of you for your support through the last 24 months.  

Here's to the next 2 years being as fulfilling, for all of you as well as myself!

Despite all the ghastliness that is around, homan beings are made for goodness.  The ones who ought to be held in high regard are not the ones who are militarily powerful, nor even economically propserous.  They are the ones who have a commitment to try and make the world a better place  ~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Help Needed

Considering this is a country living with the threat day-to-day, and is ready & prepared for fire, this is a big deal. Further to my last post, only midway into the bush fires in Oz, the darkest hours of Victoria have become darker yet.

Lives have been lost, homes destroyed (1 in 4 isn't covered), families devastated, Red Cross centres flooded with refugees, and the fires are still burning. The firefighters who have every ounce of my respect, can't cope and reinforcements are being sent in from all over Australia as well as New Zealand now, including the Australian Army.

The fires have changed direction with the wind

I know this may sound selfish, but I am very happy there are no fires burning in the vicinity of Elinor & her clan. All accounted for & safe, taking Emergency crew's advices and shall hopefully come through relatively unscathed.

It is now officially the worst natural disaster in Australia's recorded history with 131 deceased at the latest count, more will follow. A policeman was quoted as saying 'we're just picking them up off the streets as we go through'. I find that chilling, and my thoughts are with those on the front line as well as those involved in the clear up effort, for it will be traumatic for all those concerned.

I repeat my pleas for anyone to make donations (whether it be monetary or clothing and the like) to whatever disaster relief funds that have been established in their own countries. In Australia;

• To donate to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund by clicking on the link. Phone 1800 811 700
• Go to any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch
• Go to any Bunnings store
• Make a direct deposit to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund. BSB 082-001, Account number 860-046-797
• Australia Post will donate $1 million to the bushfire relief fund and collect donations in more than 4000 post offices across the country. (Managing Director Graeme John said people will be able to donate immediately at Australia Post outlets.)
• Another appeal set up is the Myer Bushfire Appeal. All proceeds will go to the Salvation Army. Donate at any Victorian Myer store.
• Charity AFL game to be played at the weekend - GO!
  

I'm glad to say that the "firebugs" as they have been nicknamed - a worryingly cute & cuddly sounding name for arsonists - have been threatened with murder charges if they are caught & convicted. I hope they are.

I'm a few hundred miles away, but as you can probably tell, I'm pretty devastated still. Ok perhaps this isn't the death toll of a tsunami, floods or earth quake in Asia, but it is very close to home for me - and there's something so horrific about fire. I urge you to donate, to spread the word, and to do whatever you can for the victims.

Now is when we need 'community' whether it is local or global.

Victoria's Burning

Fires are raging in Victoria - the state in which I used to live in in Australia.

My young lady, Elinor, has been out in the North of Victoria seeing friends, and was cut off for awhile from a return to Melbourne. When she arrived in Echuca the temperatures had been recorded at 52 degrees! Despite Australia being used to and set up for fire (unlike England and snow), the bush fires that have taken hold are largely out of control and beyond the established infrastructure's ability to cope.

The last I saw, 65 are dead (and this figure is rising every 15 minutes) and over 650 homes have been lost. There's already talk of these being the worst fires since Ash Wednesday (1983 fires where 75 lives were lost, many of them firefighters).

Further lives will be lost, homes destroyed, and families devastated.

I'm keeping in touch with Elinor as she travels home (they got the ok from the authorities), and about to call her family in Ringwood. It doesn't look from the map that their home area is affected (yet) but I'm worried about the Cuttifords & Ellerbocks as I know they have various family spread across the state.

I also am a little worried about one of the girls who was in my Green Corps team - Emma joined up for the CFA and was fully qualified to be out there fighting fires, so I iamgine she is at the moment. A very dangerous volunteer activity, but immensely brave & important to have signed up. My thoughts are with her too.

If you have any spare money, then please look for somewhere to;

• Donate to the victim fund once they're established in a day or two
• Give money to the CFA (Country Fire Association) if you'd prefer to donate to the fire fighters.
• Donations to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund can be made at any National Australia Bank. BSB: 082-001. Account: 860 046 797.
• Donate blood at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service.
  

For now, here's a link to the Australian News which should give you more regular updates.

One moment I shall spend with the news that some 'people' are lighting fires deliberately - to those arsonists I simply ask you to stop, and either to get your head checked out or to go play with the traffic.

Let your thoughts be with those affected.

19-17

Last year's Champions - New Zealand, perform a victory Haka after their win.

Haere Mai!

This year was not the same story! NZ faced England in the Final and lead most of the way.

But then, in the last seconds, 15-10 down, and then Isoa Damudamu ran in a try under the posts which was soon converted to put us 17-15 ahead, and the final whistle blew!!

Rugby Sevens always seems to have a party atmosphere, and is a very very popular 'dress up' event in Wellington's sporting calendar. The TV pictures show it all - it's like there is a no admittance without costume policy! The NZ team making it to the final obviously helped with the atmosphere, but I really wanted to be there having watched both days on TV. Perhaps I can make it next year!

As I write this, Ollie Phillips (England's Captain) is lifting the 7's Cup. I think I best keep a low profile in NZ for the next couple of weeks!

As most of you know, I'm not the most patriotic of people, but I do follow the Brits playing overseas - whichever sport it may be - so I'm sad to admit that I did give it a bit of an air punch as Damudamu ran in that final try. What a thriller!

If you want to read more, there's quite a good blog with photo galleries here.

Hunting Kiwi's

courtesy of Rolf Hicke

Perhaps 'Kiwi Tour' would be a more appropriate description, but I like the shock tactics.

I refer of course to Okarito Kiwi Tours who kindly took my Volunteers and myself out into the forest near Okarito to show us the Okarito Brown Kiwi.

The Okarito Brown - or the Rowi - is one of 6 officially recognised Kiwi species, and numbers only 300. Presently confined to South Okarito Forest and its proximity, rowi were once distributed over much of the lower North Island and upper South Island.  In 2000, South Okarito Forest was designated one of New Zealand’s five special kiwi sanctuaries and funding for the management of recovery of rowi was provided through the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy.

Rowi vary from other types of kiwi in a range of ways. They are quite greyish in colour and often have patches of white on their faces. They also feel soft to touch, whereas North Island Brown Kiwi feels quite coarse. Rowi breed between June and February and usually lay one egg per year. Both the male and the female rowi take it in turns to look after the egg, while in most other kiwi species only the male does this.Rowi have a much higher adult survival rate than North Island kiwi. Some rowi may live up to 100 years while North Island species may live up to 32 years. Most pairs remain together for their entire lives.

The Okarito Kiwi Tours boys are absolute gents; Ian & Paul run the show mainly, with a great deal of knowledge between them now.  They are very keen to keep the tours as low impact as possible, briefing us fully before we went out, playing us calls of the kiwis, and telling us a little about their system for finding these kiwi which have ultra-sensitive hearing and are naturally cautious birds.  Their focus is on kiwi conservation as well as just taking people out to see Rowi - since they have been operating, the birds have almost doubled in numbers.

I actually went on my own, whereas my 4 volunteers were split over the 2 previous nights.  They all saw at least one or two rowis, arriving back late but very excited. 

As for the actual evening - you start before dark, heading up to the territories to get in position early whilst the birds are still asleep and the sun is up.  Paul took our team of 4 people (two Germans, an Austrian and myself) up to an area they commonly go to, spaced us out along the path, told us where to concentrate our sight and hearing, and was moving around with a tracker to establish where the birds were sleeping.

Throughout the evening, we moved around a little, responding to suspected 'hearings' of rowi movement, Rowi calls, Paul's guidance from the sensor, known territories and expected activity.  At one point we were only 2m from a Rowi, but she sadly moved away from us - perhaps we weren't quiet enough.  Hearing the Rowi calls was exhillarating, sadly I can only imagine (on this occasion) what it would be like to see one walking across my path, for we weren't able to spot a Rowi on this outing.

From what I understand, the boys are running at about 90% sightings at the moment, which seems pretty spectacular to me ~ 9 out of 10 times they go out, they see a Rowi or three... pretty good odds for a wild spotting if you ask me.

I have to say thanks to Ian & Paul for taking out myself & my volunteers, and we're (CVNZ are) hoping to work with them in the near future in whatever way we can help conserve the rowi habitat, reduce the rowi introduced predators, and essentially help the rowis themselves!

Who knows, perhaps in another10 years, we could add another 150 birds to the 300 that are currently living in Okarito.  I've been inspired to head out into the Paparoa National Park behind our house in Punakaiki and go looking/listening for the Great Spotted Kiwi as well now!