Obviously, it is long overdue time for some news. And a haircut, for that matter, but I digress. I’ve just been sitting out on the lawn at the IRL Christmas BBQ. Very very pleasant: sausages, steak and some lovely salads, but forgot my hat so the ears are probably sunburned. You could almost say ‘it’s been a long, cold lonely winter’, but things haven’t really been that bad, neither on the personal nor the meteorological (weather) side of things. Having said that, the weather in Wellington is nothing to write home about, and I often find myself missing my distant friends quite a lot. New Zealand is pretty much empty of people my age, hardly a surprise, but has a noticeable effect on society here. As for myself, well I don’t want to start moralizing, but suffice to say that I could hardly be happier with various choices I have made. I don’t think I could handle it if there weren’t challenges and unrealistic ideals to work towards.

So things have been good. The lifestyle is great. It’s a great country. And I have been going out with Jacinta (not Lawrey) for the best part of 2 years now, and she is great. I have been ‘Andy Partner’ on a few occasions this year, noticeably last night when she won ‘best female costume’ at her work party after dressing up in a rash vest and board shorts, with a swimming cap. I have just remembered that ‘Leaf Man’ also wore a swimming cap, an Italian one …

Some people made it to Welly this year. Matt and Amber came down for the 7s, which is somewhat spoiled for us cricketers, but was nonetheless great fun with Samoa upsetting Fiji in the finals, but no-one caring too much because of the alcohol. Joe and Sonya (Sonia?) Taylor, whose wedding we went to in Taranaki in January (pic below), popped in later on the way through to the Wairarapa. Everyone else who has visited seems to have been a Girdlers Scholar – George (& Kate), Jacinta (& Stu), Frannie and Alfie have all popped their heads in. Everyone is always welcome (I can find you some ‘floor’ if required) and encouraged. Talking of the Girdlers, one thing I did this year was sit on the selection panel, and have been invited back for another go, so can’t have made too many faux pas(es).

New Zealand, of course, has just rounded up probably our worst year of international sport ever with a humiliating thrashing by Oz in the cricket one-dayers. We also lost in the netball world champs, the cricket world cup semi (as usual) and the yachting. The lowlight of the year in any field of endeavour was, of course, the debacle in Cardiff in the World Cup quarter final. Not sure what to say about that, except that Graham Henry and co. were considerably more constrained in their assessment of the refereeing than I, much to their credit, but not to that of Wayne Barnes or the French.

I’ve been playing cricket in the senior squad for Victoria University of Wellington Cricket Club. Just after posting this I’m running off to that website to update the player profiles. The club is short on batting depth, so I’ve been struggling in the senior team most of the time, and getting a few more for the second team the rest of the time. Of course, I still thoroughly enjoy cricket in general, but the icing on the cake this year was the one-day finals (2nd division) which was played on the Basin Reserve, the test ground in Wellington (pictured - Varsity taking the field).

Work has been about a squillion times more eventful than last year, which can only be a good thing. The highlight came last week, being nominated as an Assistant Investigator with the MacDiarmid Institute of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, which is a ‘Centre of Research Excellence’ here in NZ. Or an AI with the MI, a CoRE. Getting your head around organisational matters like this is essential for a scientist in NZ, if you wanna get money. I’ve also had exciting work trips to Dunedin (x2), Palmerston North, Wellington Central (x3) and, well, Sydney which was actually pretty good. Next year’s looking better already with trips to the States and Europe in the offing. I am still doing work on microfluids at Industrial Research Limited, based in Lower Hutt. Most of the past two years I’ve been examining surface slip, which has proved extremely difficult but we got a couple of papers out. Recent developments concerning the MacDiarmid Institute relate to a resizeable nanopore. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that. In science-related news, I was shortlisted for the inaugural Manhire Prize for creative science writing.

Some more pictures.
Kurt and I went to Oz in January to watch NZ lose 3 matches to Oz and England in Hobart (pictured) and Sydney. This was great fun and we also caught up with Rob MacRedie and his fiancee Sarah (rumoured to be getting married next month) in Sydney.

I got a new BBQ last Christmas and in February probably came close to Juliarse's record for 'BBQ's in August'. I would note that February has fewer days that August - but then again, BBQs are probably pretty tricky to organise in Antarctica.

At Easter I (left) went with a crew (right) kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park, keeping up my goal of doing at least one great 'walk' per year. The crew is (ltr) Lisa, Bouse, Conrad, Myregel, Me and Jacinta.

I went up to Auckland, or more precisely Leigh, to watch the Black Caps take home the cricket world cup with Kurt. We pulled an all-nighter for the semi final and were still cheering on Jimmy Franklin and Jeetan Patel when they needed 100 with a wicket left ... anyway, the sun still came up the next day. On the right, Otago University during a cold NZ Institute of Physics Conference.

Moving into winter, a guy from Jacinta's work (Sandy) had a 'Kamikaze Folding Chair' party. We responded in similarly absurd fashion by dressing up as sushi and taking a quarter pack of KFC. And on the right is the view looking back into Wellington Harbour from the lighthouse at Pencarrow Head during a long bike ride on Queens' Birthday.

Most wintry Saturdays I have been refereeing rugby. I've moved from schoolboys on to approx. U21 or weight restricted levels this year. The pictures show a 2nd XV match on a relatively good day at Mana College (Jerry Collins' alma mater) when Mum, Meg and Dad came to watch.

And there was a little bit of snowboarding around September up at Whakapapa and Turoa skifields on Mt Ruapehu. Honourable mention should go to Toast Martinborough Food/Wine/Music festival. I don't have any photos of it, but I think it might be my favourite event on the Wellington 'social calendar'. Such as it is.

I've probably missed a whole lot that has happened. Like having lunch at the French Embassy. Coming up, weddings of school friends all through January, bids for funding due start of Feb, walking the Milford track end of Feb, Jacinta leaves for Ireland start of March, APS meeting in New Orleans middle of March, Matt and Amber’s wedding in Taranaki at Easter. Action packed. But just now, up to Auckland for a bit of this:

So that'll do for now, can't be bothered fixing up the layout - hope to hear from you or see you sooner rather than later ... via Skype if you're into that kind of weirdness. In the meantime, Merry Christmas (to you and your kin), have a great New Year break and wishing you lots of love and sunshine for 2008.

Long Time no Blog

Where to start? Well I've been buried in work for 6 months ... no really

Skiing the other weekend

I hit the slopes for the first time ever the other week. Strapped myself in to a snowbaoard and away I went. It was fun and beautifually sunny so we were up there for 2.5 days. Here's the team, l-r Cath, Alice, Summer, me and Jacinta, in the carpark at Turoa Skifield on Mt Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park (see Tongariro walk post below).



This is me at the top of the skifield, having just made it up the tow bar on a snowboard on my third attempt. The other two were kind of embarrassing. The top of Ruapehu is somewhere in the background.




This is Jacinta in the same spot but looking down the skifield. The first time it had clouded up all weekend! She was on her secondish time boarding so we were of similar standard although she has skiied quite a bit before. We have the same sunglasses. This is a coincidence.




Me and Jacinta and Summer took a couple of days off and went to Hawke's Bay. This is the famous Pania on the Reef thing which was stolen earlier this year but they got it back in one piece. This is a fairly standard tourist photo if it wasn't for the idiot missing the timer and looking like some kind of deviant as a result.

Winter Schenanigans

So no posting for a long time because nothing much has happened since that Heaphy expedition. It has been cold and horrible, being Winter and all, and I have largely been hanging out in a small room with the windows blacked out staring at a computer screen. I have also been refereeing rugby, which is uber-fun if incredibly dweeby. There are some recent photos of me on the WRRA website, click on the photos link here: http://www.wrra.co.nz/. In the first one I am playing air guitar.

But on to some brief items of interest.

I have made some weekend road trips to the exciting metropolises of Palmerston North and Masterton. On the first trip to Masterton I learned what the Wairarapa is. On the way back to Wellington we took a left and headed out along Cape Palliser in search of surf, ending up in a place called Ngawi which is in this photo. One of those stormy Cook Strait days. Bleak and ugly, yum.

Both times I went to Masterton we made the trek out to the East Coast and a place called Castlepoint, which has a lighthouse on it. In this photo you can see down into Deliverance Bay (ha!-thought of OC&C when I read this) which is fed by a 'gap' in the reef, a well-known surf spot. The first time we came out here, Summer (the driver) got her car stuck in the sand twice trying to drive down the beach to this gap. The big rock up the back is called Castle Rock (named by Captain Cook 1770) and the whole coastline has some pretty impressive/dangerous reef/cliff-type regions. Look, here are some dudes fishing...



I guess I should comment on the surfing. Well I have been out maybe 3 or 4 times (mostly at Lyall Bay next to Wellington Airport) and not managed to stand up yet. I'm not too worried as it has been outrageously cold on each occasion and invariably followed by a feed of 'Starfish and Chips' in the Thorndon New World car park, excellent.

Been watching quite a lot of rugby down at the Stadium, free ANZ Cup tickets with the reffing and preferential test tickets helping with this. Saw NZ beat SA in Wellington then went up to Auckland for the ABs vs Ireland and saw a bit of the family. Here is Craig...











... and here is Megan ....











Wellington zoo was a nice day out but not quite in the same ballpark as Auckland zoo, not that I've been there for 20 years. The other weekend it was Springlike and I went for a walk out along the far side of Wellington Harbour towards Pencarrow (?) lighthouse. Anyway this photo is looking towards the Harbour mouth with the Interisland Ferry just at about the position that the Wahine sank in 1950-something. All the bodies floated across the harbour and washed up at Eastbourne, where we had parked the car prior to this walk.












"We" has usually meant me and girlfriend(!) Jacinta. Jacinta's pretty much the first girl I met when I moved to Wellington, and I was moving into her flat, so you'd have to say I landed on my feet there :) We have been going out since just after the Heaphy trip I guess. I have received a few requests for a photo so here are a couple:




As well as netball, she is the surfer in the relationship and works as a lawyer for Maritime New Zealand, which seems really interesting from a distance.

Over ANZAC weekend I walked the Heaphy Track with some friends and sister Meggles. It was four days of walking from near Takaka in Golden (ne Murderer's) Bay on the top left of the South Island, over some hills and down through rainforest to the rugged West Coast. The finish of the walk is at Kohaihai, North of Westport.

Commuting to and from the track took pretty much a day each way.

The cathedral in Nelson. Great day for the race.


Team photo at Brown Hut, morning of day 1. Left to right Megan, Kurt, me, Macca, Summer and Jacinta


Nice view of the bush on the climb from Brown Hut to Perry Hut on the Perry Saddle.


Lunch break on day 1. I had some chocolate easter eggs which were in high demand, and a kilo of nuts and raisins, which were not.


Drinks break after leaving Perry Hut, early Day 2. There was a good bit of scrub etc like this because of the relatively high altitude.


"Enchanted Forest" near Gouland Hut, which was the lunch stop on Day 2.


There were some limestone caves and resident pixies in the enchanted forest.


Another pixie.


Some of the fording was a bit dodgy because there had been a bit of rain. But we were intrepid.


If you lived here you would have divided loyalties for the rugby.

There is a very similar pole on the Milford Track. This one is pretty much equidistant from the two ends of the track, so if you've left your boots here, you're in a bit of trouble.


Gouland Heights is a bleak scrubby plateau between Gouland Hut and MacKay Hut, where we stayed at the end of Day 2.


After Mackay Hut, the track descends through some ace West Coast rainforest.



It was raining a lot on Day 3. Luckily we were only walking for 3 hours due to hut bookings, and got to Lewis Hut early for drying out purposes.



There were several swing bridges over the Heaphy and Gunner Rivers at the start of Day 4.



This is the view of Lewis Hut and the 'confluence' of the rain-swollen Lewis (left) and Heaphy (right) rivers, taken from a swing bridge.


A biggish weta. Not a giant one though.


This is a big snail. A related (carniverous and endangered) snail is holding up mining down the road in Westport. The mining company are having to relocate snails at a cost of $10,000 per snail.


This looks like some kind of duck to me.


High-fashion brunch at Heaphy Hut, where the Heaphy river meets the West Coast.


Kathmandu catalogue shot of me and Meg on a rugged West Coast beach.


Kurt's hair behaves uncannily like the Nikau palms behind him. The Nikau is the world's Southernmost palm tree.


Self portrait on a swing bridge. It was grey and raining and all the streams were gushing.



This is a weka, which is a bit like a kiwi, but not so iconic nor endangered. We went kiwi hunting one night but couldn't find any, which is probably a good thing because Kurt was hungry. This fella/felless was hanging around Katipo Shelter, which was also notable for its sandflies.

There were lots of these shags hanging around. This one is a bit of a philosopher I reckon.



Near the end. Kurt actually went for a swim.


Tired and happy and in the end pretty wet at the end of day 4. Summer has been mercilessly evicted from the right edge of the photo by John, the nice man who came to pick us up.


The airport terminal at Westport. There were about 20 people on the (full) plane, one flight per day.

So the other weekend I did the Tongariro crossing with brother Craig and sister Megan and Craig's friend Arrum and Kurt and Gemma. The Tongariro Crossing has been labelled 'The Best 1-Day Walk in NZ' and we had a few arguments about this on the day, but I'd have to agree. Basically in the middle of the North Island there is a volcanic plateau on the South side of Lake Taupo (which is itself a massive volcanic crater). On this plateau are three volcanic mountains, Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, all of which are active to varying degrees - Ruapehu the tallest point in the North Island and the most volatile. The crossing goes over the saddle between Tongariro and Ngauruhoe, with an optional side trip up Ngauruhoe. More details on the track are at http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/002~Tracks-and-Walks/By-Region/007~Tongariro-Taupo/008~Tongariro-Crossing.asp


Mt Ngauruhoe from Mangatepopo Hut side. We walked over the saddle to the left of this picture, between Ngauruhoe and Tongariro.

We started on a nice bright morning from the West (Mangatepopo Hut) end. I should probably mention at this point that in the Lord of the Rings, Mt Doom was made by sticking Ngauruhoe on top of Ruapehu. This works quite well because Ngauruhoe has a nice volcanic cone shape.


Me in front of the saddle, Tongariro to the left covered in cloud, Ngauruhoe to the right in bright sunshine. The Devil's Staircase goes up the saddle behind me.

The 'Devil's staircase' is the hardest part of the normal crossing path, going up a steep little rise to the saddle. There was a nice traffic jam of wayward puffing hikers the day we did it, but we all got to the top without too many probs. Meg had blisters though! At the top of the saddle you have the option of a 2 hour detour to climb Ngauruhoe. This is really hard and I had struggled the time I did it before, on school camp aged 14. Me and Arrum took it on and got to the top in beautiful weather (chilly wind). This was most excellent. There's a big crater at the summit.


On the lip of the summit crater at Ngauruhoe, looking South to Ruapehu.


Me and Arrum on the summit, looking towards Taranaki, which you could see then but only just above the clouds in this.

The Tongariro side, including the sulphurous lakes, were shrouded in thick fog, so the walk over Tongariro was not pictureque, but was a bit freaky due to the lack of visibility. When we eventually got back down under the cloud cover we were at Ketetahi Hut, near Ketetahi Hot Springs, which you can't actually go to because it is Maori land. Anyway everything's a lot more lush on this side of the mountain and there's a good half hour native bush walk down the end of the track just before the carpark. I think the whoile trip was about 7.5 hours.


Looking North towards Lake Taupo from Ketetahi Hut on Tongariro, having come out from the cloud cover.


Getting a lift back to the car on the back of Kurt's ute. Ace.

We were staying at Whakamaru, a little town which is a good 80km North of Turangi and the mountains, so we had a quick pizza and beer at Turangi and were mostly asleep by the time we got back. In a related side issue, I had to do an 840 km round trip to Whakamaru in my car, which was ace, except that I got a speeding ticket in Ngauranga Gorge, which is about 2km from my house in Wellington.


Meg and Whakamaru dam. Go hydropower go.

Wellington essentials

OK, so I am now living in Wellington. This is a fairly typical New Zealand city and as such, there is stuff all decent public transport, so I bought a car. This was quite exciting for me because I have never owned one before and my full clean drivers' licence of 10 years' standing was somewhat underutilized in Pomgolia. I drive to work in Gracefield, the other end of Lower Hutt, every day.


This is my car. It is black and has windscreen wipers.

My flat is on Glenmore St in Thorndon, which is pretty central to Wellington. It's about 10 minutes walk up the road from the Beehive (houses of Parliament) and 15 minutes walk from the Caketin (aka Stadium). A little bit further from all the booze joints downtown. I am across the road from the Wellington Botanic Garden which is excellent for going for runs (with hills !!! ... !!!) and climbing trees and spooky walks with glow-worms etc. I live with 3 others in this flat, 2 of whom (Jacinta and Bridget, pronounced Brudgut) walk to work in the City and on of whom (Kerri) drives to Lower Hutt like me ... actually we are swapping Bridget for Fearis (sp?-it's not like Bueller) and his pet rat Nigel, and he drives to the Hutt as well. This is not unusual as it is easy to get on to the motorway from our place and people of a certain age like to like fairly central regardless of where they work. Bridget is soon to be spotted in a London pub near you.


This is my room. You can see the leafy Botanic Garden on the other side of the road. This was when I first moved in, now there is all my junk in here plus 2 of the flat's 6 couches. Trademe.com is working hard to dispose of some of these.

I have been playing cricket (aka crucket). The guy whose room I moved into has turned out to be my cricket captain at Victoria University Wellington Cricket Club's Senior Reserve side, which is called the Lions (rarrrgh). Highlights of the half-season I played included 156 for VUWCC 2D side when I first turned up, then 2 unbeaten fifties in 4 knocks for the senior reserves, including a crucial 73* in our do-or-die relegation match, in which we perished by the sword, but it turned out we weren't relegated anyway so we needn't have bothered. Also I took a catch just like Nathan Astle's, the week before he did, on our beautiful (if windy) home ground at Kelburn Park (see photo), just on the other side of the Garden from my flat. Cricket has been responsible for me hardly getting any further than the Occidental during my brief forays into Wellington township.


This is a photo I took that looks a lot like a common postcard. View is from the top of the cable car overlooking Wellington City/ Harbour. The cricket ground in the middle is Kelburn Park, home of the mighty VUWCC Lions.



This is a bruise I got playing cricket. Some guy was bowling fast inswingers. I got this and a foot and toe that are still sore and 73*.