Journal of my Pacific adventure

Journey's End

2006-12-31T17:47:00.000+13:00

This post is the last chapter of my Pacific Adventure. I'll be starting a new blog tomorrow which will hopefully run for another year - A Year in New Zealand! The new blog can be found at: www.allasoneword.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone who checks in here!

For picture of our Christmas, go to http://muddlethru.co.nz/christmas.html

This week, four of us drove from Wellington to the Wairarapa to visit Paul and Joella and to go fishing. The drive took us over the Rimutaka Range along an amazingly long and winding road. After dropping down the other side we reached Featherston - our final destination. Almost as soon as we had caught our breath we were back out of the door and driving on our way to the river, with our fishing poles and tackle in the boot!

We rose at 5am the next day and drove down to Lake Wairarapa. The fish were nowhere to be seen, and did not take so much as a nibble, so we left shortly after and went back to the semi-successful river spot of the day before. Here, Ellen cast her simple hook, line and sinker into the river and pulled out a perch on the first go! Buoyed by this stroke of luck (or skill) we stayed for a further couple of hours and hooked two more perch to add to our tally. We caught five fish in all, over the two days. They tasted good stuffed with onions and parsley!

Before leaving Paul and Joella to their peace and quiet we took a brief walk to Cross Creek, the site of a railway town in the late nineteenth century which serviced a set of Fell steam engines. The Rimutaka Incline was the steepest section of rail track in the Southern Hemisphere until it was taken up in the middle of the twentieth century. All that is left now is a series of old buildings and an exquisite nature reserve which is slowly returning to native bush.

This is a fitting end to the Journal of My Pacific Adventure. Here I am at the site of a historic railway siding in The New World - somewhere my Grandfather would have found great delight. I have been a long way from home and been lucky enough to meet some wonderful people and be shown some amazing things. I feel home here now, in New Zealand, amongst the vestiges of European settlement and the enduring legacy of the Maori people.

A day on the farm

2006-11-22T16:53:00.000+13:00

Ellen, Pete, Tim, (Maggie), Annie, Bron

Thanks to Tim Stitz and family, I have finally been able to live out my dream of being an Australian sheep/cattle farmer, and to ride on the back of a quad-bike!

This weekend we drove up over Mount Macedon to visit Tim's country retreat and connect manure for the garden. It was a gloriously hot day and so after an hour or so collecting (by hand) and mulching the sheep and cow pooh, we cooled off in the lake and had tea.

Next weekend we will be applying the manure to the town garden, so the housemates can look forward to some bonza tucker from the veggie patch next year!

Melbourne and the G20

2006-11-18T14:28:00.002+13:00

G20 protests were described as "havoc" by local media yesterday, referring to left-wing activists occupying the buildings of mining and petrochemical multinationals in central Melbourne. Video footage of the protests, taken by the activists themselves and disseminated via the web, show the quiet, clinically pristeen offices filled with a rangy, dreadlocked diaspora. Mostly young, the protestors seemed organised and measured, this was no riot; but the message they were trying to put to the frightened office workers was simple: take responsibility for your actions, including the actions of your employer.

Later in the evening Bono and Eddie Vedder introduced a free concert for young people in Melbourne with the words: "politicians have to do what you tell them to do". It's a charming sentiment, and I hope the thousands of sixteen to twenty-five year-olds in the crowd were inspired by it. Australia's Treasurer Peter Costello was inside the G20 ring of steel talking to Paul Wolfowitz at the time (possibly) whilst his brother Tim, a leading light in the Make Poverty History Campaign, stood on stage at the concert and said: "This is how politicians govern: they wet their finger, ..., and they say which way is the wind blowing?"

My only contribution to the protests so far has been a targeted action yesterday lunchtime organised by a student group. The protest was called Give 20; the organisers had collected organic open-pollinated seeds from horticultural groups around Melbourne, which we handed out to business people and commuters around the city. The seed packets were printed with information about agribusiness, water efficiency, commuity cohesion, and political autonomy. It was a small contribution but one I felt comfortable taking part in, and it was a positive action for many. I didn't receive any negative comments, except one from a man complaining that the current drought prohibits him from growing plants. I thought about telling him about greywater recycling but thought better of it. One battle a day is enough.

Some of the protests turned decidedly nasty; latest news at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/protesters-breech-g20-security/2006/11/18/1163266813994.html

Children of Men

2006-11-07T22:28:00.000+13:00

In a word: "go and see it".

"Children of Men" is number two on my top-two list of films to see right now! Go and see "An Inconvenient Truth" aswell!

Children of Men is based on a novel by P.D. James; Mum, it may be his best work (wait though, is P.D. James a woman?), and stars Michael Caine and Clive Owen and Julianne Moore. This film is like all my favourite movies rolled in to one (with the conspicuous absence of Austrians, however), and contains many poignant social and political messages.

People I know who would like this film:

Dad Huggins and Dan Huggins
Luke, Cath Andersen's housemate
Joe Kloska
Svend Andersen

Australia is for The Australians

2006-11-03T16:52:00.000+13:00

Immediately following the release of the Stern Report on the Economics of Climate Change this Monday, all heads in Australia turned, as they invariably do, to the leader: Prime Minister John Howard. His message was frank, and totally in-keeping with his traditional political line: "I am not going to lead Australia into an agreement that is going to betray the interests of the working men and women of this country and destroy the natural advantage that providence gave us", he said. Just how he concluded that the report even suggested such an agreement, the day after it was published, I don't know, it's over 500 pages long and is very dense, but then perhaps he had a leaked copy, or perhaps he skipped straight to the end to see "whodunnit". Anyway, the UK release of the Stern Report was a carefully orchestrated affair *1; and so it seems it was no different here in Australia.

John Howard's political messages on climate change are simple enough; Australia is for the Australians he asserts, and, "there is no merit in basing policy on one report alone"*2, but lastly, perhaps more encouragingly, Howard describes how Australia plans to diversify its energy policy away from fossil fuel reliance and toward nuclear power and solar energy conversion*3. All reasonable comments from one wishing to stay in power one might think, but to what extent do they make any real sense?

Optimistically taking the encouraging sign first: diversification of Australia's energy portfolio and investment in solar technology, what is Howard talking about? The vaunted scheme to develop a solar power station in the State of Victoria is a 154-megawatt project, which would provide enough power for ca. 40,000 homes, or roughly 3.2% of the current population of the state (nearly 1% of the national total)*4. Not exactly a sweeping reform then. Perhaps that's because such technology requires Government subsidy. When exploitable fossil fuels are, in the words of Sir Nicholas Stern, the subject of "a massive market failure". This failure of the industry to pay the true cost of a toxic and finite-resource, and instead benefitting from extortionately low prices for extraction and consumption, means that new and more complex technologies struggle to compete in the marketplace*5. So how much subsidy is the Australian Government shelling out on solar? In fact, the total funding for solar projects here is just $75 million*6, reported to be less than half of one year's subsidy to company car users under fringe benefit tax*3.

The announcement of a commitment to "clean coal" is a little more worrying, because "clean coal" hasn't been invented yet, it's a set of unproved (and in some cases unrealised) technologies including plans to pump greenhouse gases underground. So we're supposed to believe that Australia is betting on achieving "clean coal" in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. This route is certainly more likely to be commercially viable, given the fact that the Prime Minister's own white paper intensifies national reliance on coal as a domestic energy source, and the size and value of Australia's annual coal exports*7.

So we take it that John Howard is not sufficiently alarmed by the Stern Report to make any huge concessions to the environmental lobby. Why should he, in his words, when it is "only one report"? Taking this at face value, it appears that he is also ignoring all the other warnings that have been made regarding unsustainable development, presumably on the basis that each of those is also "only one report". Mr Howard is a member of the exclusive club of climate change deniers and therefore allows himself to ignore the sweeping literature review undertaken by Nicholas Stern, along with the compelling gamut of science pointing to the reality of climate change. Instead the Howard Government is taking its economic advice from ABARE (which advocates the deregulation of coal mining) and has commissioned a report on Nuclear Energy*8.

And so we come to the most pressing of all Mr Howard's concerns, to preserve Australia for the "working men and women" and to protect the "natural advantage that providence gave us". Which is presumably why he continues to advocate un-restrained exports of the country's mineral wealth, ignores suggestions that capitalists should pay something approaching the "costs" to the Australian environment which their activities entail, risks the health and safety of future generations by promoting uranium enrichment for energy (and presumably military) use, and requires his soldiers (working men and women) to remain in Iraq and Afghanistan "until the job is done", or, should I say, when Iraq is "reasonably secure" *9.

____________________________________________

*1. Sarah Mukherjee, 31.10.06. "Digesting a Report in Record Time", The BBC.
See http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6100724.stm

*2. Michelle Grattan, Jewel Topsfield, James Button. "PM defiant on climate change". The Age.

*3. Peter Christoff, 31.10.06. "Crisis? What Crisis?". The Age.

*4. John Vidal "Australia to give solar power a Try". The Guardian.
(Percentage coverages based on populations taken from www.wikipedia.org; and assuming an average of four persons per home).

*5. Nicholas Stern, 2006. "The Economics of Climate Change". HM Treasury.

*6. Australian Government, August 2006. "Alternative Transport Fuels and Renewable Energy: August 2006 Update".

*7. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2005. "The Composition of Trade".

*8. Australian Government Media Release. 06.06.06 (prophetic timing perhaps). Review of Uranium mining processing and nuclear energy in Australia.

*9. Australian Associated Press, 20.10.06. "Howard hits back at Iraq accustions". Sydney Morning Herald

The Wedding

2006-10-24T20:52:00.000+13:00

Mum and Mike had a wonderful day with all the guests and we went on late into the night at The Orange Tree celebrating and making merry!

The trip to the Registry Office was by vintage charabang across the rolling hills of Cumbria!

Here is a picture of the Lune near Kirkby:

Return of the Native

2006-10-24T20:44:00.000+13:00

We have had a wonderful journey to the UK with Singapore Airlines. I actually felt awful travelling all that way for just two weeks; however it has proved to be a fantastic time. We stayed with Joe in London for two nights and got to see him on stage at Shakespeare's Globe: performing in King Lear. Well done Joe!

Here is Ellen out and about in London!

We also visited Oxford and Hinemihi at Clandon House in Surrey. It has been a whirlwind tour of goodness!

Around the House

2006-10-06T13:50:00.000+13:00

Ellen shows off her smile on a recent trip to the country!

We have good things going on here at Falconer Street. Our housemates Greg, Bron, Hayley and Tim have looked after us with great care and hence made our time in Melbourne an absolute joy so far; it is wonderful to make friends so quickly and to be priviliged to share their space, their stories, and their lives. We will be moving out next week, but to a flat that Greg's Grandparents own, and so we're remaining within the fold.

Ellen's work has taken off since a colleague went on leave, allowing her to expand her role and to begin to enjoy the experience more. Her Director, Greg Burgess, is a good guy, and we count Ellen very lucky to be working under him. We also consider him very lucky to have Ellen! It's a good partnership!

Last week I had my first game of eleven-a-side football since Oxford. This time I was up-front on strike! I hit the woodwork in the first half and then blezzed one over the bar in the second. Oh well. In the end we won on penalties (hit mine straight at the keeper in true English style) and then went for a knees-up at the bar which sponsored our team. Football, or "soccer", is on the up and up in Australia since The World Cup. Damn. Another sport that the Australians are going to beat us with!

Since I published a damning report at work, things have taken a turn for the bureaucratic, with several members of senior management reaching for the bottom-covering manual and going through it laboriously looking for somewhere to hide. For someone from the outside, with ideas and a passion for change, it is all very frustrating. A break in the form of a trip to England to see friends and famaily is very much what I need right now.

We have been working hard on the garden and have benefited from some good broccoli, lettuces and beetroots so far. I have also taken my first step into the horticulture of roses - with some rewarding results! The pruning appears to be crucial, and needs to be followed by heavy watering with a seaweed-based fertiliser. If only I could bring these home as a present to Mum on her wedding day!

Be Clean, Be Green

2006-09-29T17:41:00.000+12:00

Coming to grips with the idea that my lifestyle may be damaging the environment, and feeling a frustration that there is little choice but to continue living that way, has been a depressing part of my thoughts in recent months. It's not that I'm a hideous over-consumer, or a user of an oil-guzzling 4x4, but simply that the whole infrastructure of our civilisation here, and therefore my day-to-day life, is out of balance with the nature of the planet Earth. This has happened before with dire consequences; as Jared Diamond outlines in his book 'Collapse', many past civilisations have passed beyond existence due to an imbalance with their local surroundings.

Published in the GuardianWeekly on 22/09/06, Jonathan Freedland's article "Don't Shoot The Messenger" does well to raise the profile of Al Gore's recent film; I agree that An Inconvenient Truth should be seen by absolutely everyone. However I'm not convinced by Jonathan's argument that this is primarily a political film, and I'd warn him against relying on any politician to see through the changes necessary to limit climate change. After all, Al Gore himself was Vice-President of the US for eight years, and just what environmental changes did he make during that time? Did he make any? The film makes no mention at all of the Bill Clinton administration, or of any of Bush's possible successors, and this fact is quite striking.

It seems clear to me Al Gore is encouraging everyone, including Jonathan and myself, to make a personal crusade against waste and CO2 emissions. This is where the message gets inspirational: we can stop this, and we have to act now, but even quite simple changes to our lifestyles will have a big impact. This film isn't about politics, but personal responsibility, and that's why it's so emotive, because every audience member is party to the problem, and can be part of the solution!

Maybe Al Gore recognises that the world of politics is too vague to tackle global warming, and that's why he's aiming his moral argument at all of us. Voting Labour, as Jonathan advises, would only be a small part of the solution. An Inconvenient Truth has convinced me that I have to make this cause a part of my day-to-day living. If a majority of us do that, then Big Oil and Big Politicians will be forced to move their investments and their policies to match.

However, more distinguished and more knowledgeable writers than I have already accepted that politicians need to take charge. George Monbiot's very recent work "Heat" is a well-researched look at what changes would be required of Britain if it is to meet the large reduction in emissions which George and others are calling for. His assertion is that we need Government to act because they have a large enough influence to make bigger changes, more quickly.

So I suppose my current question is: how do we get Governments to act?

Sight and sounds of Melbourne

2006-08-19T19:42:00.000+12:00

It's been three months here, in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city and the state capital of Victoria. That's long enough to know my way around on foot, and to have found a game of football on a Saturday, long enough to have found a good Indian Restaurant and a place to buy quality fruit and veg, and long enough to have an opinion on the state of the local public-transport network. Certainly long enough to have caught an Aussie twang to my speech, according to Rebecca, Joe Kloska, and Mum. Not long enough however to have bought a bicycle, or to have found a copy of Joyce's Ulysses, or to have chosen a favourite Australian Rules Football Team (I have been told to choose anyone but Collingwood, who seem to be the Manchester United of AFL, incidentally). The public transport is really really good by the way.

For Ellen's birthday we have had guests here from New Zealand and so we got out and about plenty, enjoying a drive in the countryside, and cruising Melbourne's many fancy restaurants and watering holes. Here we are outside the picturesque cafe on the Mornington Peninsular we visited. That's Claire, Ellen, Bronwen, and Michaela, from left to right. Bronwen is our new housemate and she very kindly included us on this visit to write a review of the cafe for Melbourne's daily broadsheet, The Age. After eating we took a walk along the sea-front and saw a seal, before driving on to some local vineyards and tasting some of their produce. Well, what a lovely way to spend a Sunday!

Ellen has completed two weeks at her new job with Greg Burgess Architects. She has enjoyed the return to employment and is already grappling with several projects. It is very exciting for Ellen to be finally here, doing what she came to do. It is a definite success, already impressing her employers with her prescience and conscientiousness. Not to mention her cooking! We are hoping she will be able to continue her internship through New Year and that she will be able to take a break with me in October for the wedding of Mum and Mike in England. Watch this space!

I have been listening with excitement to news from both England and Aotearoa; there are weddings galore to look forward to, and the exciting news that Paul and Joella Andersen are expecting has recently put the icing on the cake for us, 2007 is set to be a very exciting year indeed. I am also glad to see that Joe has left RADA and walked straight into work with the BBC, well done Joe! Also special mention needs to go to Daniel Huggins for being awarded a summer internship at Bristol University Astronomy Department, now that's pretty cool!

A Happy Birthday to Rebecca!

2006-08-03T00:57:00.000+12:00

Here's my testimonial to Rebecca, who is spending her summer holiday in Cornwall working, so she can save enough money to fly and visit me somewhere soon!

So, Rebecca Jane CherryAngel Huggins. Now, that is what I call a full-name, it pretty much covers all the bases. With a name like that I suppose you would expect to meet a lovely intelligent girl; someone down to earth, yet imaginative, creative and hard working. Well happily enough you’d be almost entirely correct. In fact Rebecca has all these abilities in spades, plus an unsurprising talent for dance and drama (unsurprising if you know me, that is).

The night Rebecca was born Daniel was very sad, he cried and cried because he was confused by our unfamiliar house at Cairns Road, while Sharon was rushed to the Maternity Ward. He fell asleep finally in his buggy, an oasis of familiarity for him. The excitement was palpable, and we were all delighted to meet Rebecca the day she arrived. As I remember, she had an unmistakeable strawberry mark on her left cheek, and I’m not talking faces here, which quite drew the attention.

“So how’s Rebecca then?”, asked Ellen, her smile glinting from beneath her glasses.
“She’s a little bit Goth”
“Does she wear all black clothes?”
“No, she wears jeans, with a studded belt. A little bit Punky , but she’s also Indie. You know, a bit Punky and a bit Indie”, said Pete; he was imagining a combination of a stripy shirt and a studded belt, with black eyeliner. He was describing to Ellen how his sister had looked to him during the last visit home.
“Oh she’s Emo”, said Ellen, with a certainty in her voice and expression that was at once convincing, “you should look it up!”

Not long ago in London, at Christmas time, sitting at a table in the Shakespeare pub next to Victoria Station, David and Peter were enjoying a drink together before going their separate ways into the night. It was early evening and the pub was full of revellers, the pub’s gaudy Christmas lights surrounding them. For fun the two of them were making predictions on the futures of their younger siblings, and writing the predictions down for posterity. I’m unable to tell you what those guesses were exactly, but I know that they talked of big things for all three.

This year, while Rebecca spends her Birthday away in Port Isaac Cornwall, I am thinking of her and wishing her many happy returns. At fifteen she is as delightful as ever, and I miss seeing her very much.

Finally settled in Melbourne

2006-06-25T16:52:00.000+12:00

We have been up all night watching the football on TV and are looking forward to another England game tonight at 2am. It is odd sitting up in a quiet and darkened house watching the games but I wouldn't miss it for the world. The World Cup is simply amazing. Both Ellen and I have caught colds and so we're looking after ourselves with porridge and soup and fruit. I will be in bed by 6pm this evening! Work is so easy it is no problem to arrive there after being up all night, as long as I go to bed as soon as I get home at 4pm and sleep until 12am. It's only for another two weeks and then the Cup is over. I am earning quite well and really hope to save some up for a rainy day, I must stop just saying so and start doing it, but so far it's been too tempting to enjoy Melbourne's great restaurants and bars!

We are living in a big house next to a park in a leafy suburb just north of the central business district. It's a four month let which is perfect to get settled in and then move in somewhere else more permanent, but if we are asked to stay we probably will - it is lovely here. I get a tram or a train into town every morning to work at the Justice Department of the Goverment of Victoria. It's very basic stuff indeed and I am already doing more than is expected of me. The rules say I can only stay in one job for three months on my current visa, so I will be moving around a lot, and that's both a good and a bad thing I suppose.

Healsville Wildlife Sanctuary

2006-06-24T18:59:00.000+12:00

The week we arrived in Melbourne our new housemate Liz was kind enough to drive us to a nearby wildlife preserve to see some of Australia's unique marsupial animals and amazing birdlife. The land which is now the State of Victoria has a lot of marsh and wetland, and it suffers cold winters and hot summers, which is reflected in the range and types of creatures found here. Ofcourse much of their habitat is now farmland and so preserves like this are vital to their survival. The preserve also has an excellent animal hospital where we saw live operations taking place.

A Wallaby and a POM

A buzzard using a stone to break a dummy Emu egg.
Apparently this is an instinctive behaviour.

A pair of Kookaburra

This guy needs no introduction!
Koala's are related to the dreaded 'ninja drop-bears'.

A Tasmanian Devil, no less.
Apparently once common on mainland Oz too.
Their name comes from the screaching noise they make when upset.

Wombats are excitable little things. This guy was running all over the pen and even trying to climb out.

Dingoes arrived with Austronesian traders around 3000BC.
They are descended from the Indian Wolf and are not marsupial.

A weekend with the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana

2006-06-18T20:43:00.000+12:00

entry three

Today, the hale hale pouhaku had to be moved from the kai to the site of the hale. Craig, the man in charge of building, placed a kapu aloha on all negative talk and distraction, so that the work would be done well and the pouhaku (stones) granted mana. We cleansed ourselves in the ocean as the sun came up before eating a good breakfast. From there we made a line on the beach, stretching from the foreshore, to pass rocks along between us hand to hand.

Ellen stayed at home and started to make a gift to give to the builders of the hale. She felt full of allergy and her eyes hurt to open. Living naturally so close to the earth and sky is not all wonder and excitement. She ate breakfast at home and only just made it out to lunch.

The line didn't quite stretch the whole way to the hale and so after an hour's work we moved the the line and ferried those same rocks the last hundred yards. There was a lot of good concentration and the mana flowed well between us, even when the people were throwing and not simply passing the stones. After lunch we worked again. Uncle Maka and Craig raised poles and braced them in the ground with our pouhaku. We made a surprisingly small dent in the need for rocks.

This afternoon the men and women separated to do their own things, as per Hawai'ian custom, and to talk story to each other. We continued to carry rocks for an hour or so, just the men, and then Kawai showed us a game called Hakoko - a type of Hawai'ian wrestling. The two men slap hands before the referee shouts "O - O - O'ie", they use open hands to grapple and unbalance their opponent. Only the soles of the feet must touch the ground and no head holds are allowed. There is a limiting perimeter with a diameter of only a man's height, and so bouts are over quickly, one way or another. Some of us were a little nervous to start but soon realised it was a very fun game. Everybody wrestled in a round-robin, starting with the low weights and the winner staying on. The game is about strength, balance and technique. I won one round and lost three. The purpose of all this appeared to be to prepare us for a fight, to sort out the pecking order, and to bond us together. We all felt happier and more like brothers after the game.

The group of us also had the opportunity to talk a little about culture. John shared with us the idea of what is pono and what is not pono, what is right to do in life and what is not. He also explained how the Kaho'olawe project is connected to the effort to promote Hawai'ian values and lifestyles alongside the American culture. John explained the process using sand on the beach to show the difference between linear western-style progression in life, and his conception of concentric circular learning in a traditional Hawai'ian way.

After our man-time we went to the hale and helped build by filling in cracks with ili'ili, little round stones to wedge between the larger ones. Each pou (pole) sits on top of a kumupouhaku to let the rain run off, and fish and leaves are placed around on which the base rocks sit. It was a good deal of effort to get the pou in line and straight whilst placing the rocks. Patience is the key!

I went bathing with the kua after that and jumped off a rock into high surf. It felt like being in a washing machine, but strangely I was comforted by the sea, held up by it. It was hardest getting out, where the wave brought you up to a rock and the idea was you just stepped up on to it. In the end Kawai literally plucked me out of the ocean to safety. Being there was a thrill and an honour, amongst these men so at ease with the land and sea.

Each evening of the trip we had spoken together after dinner and on this last night we talked about how we felt and about what we had learned on the trip. To hear the shared love and the enjoyment in people's words was a joy, and reassuring, if only to give thanks to the people whom had brought us to the island. We had developed a sense of family, although one of the biggest lessons I had learned was the value of knowing where your home is and gathering knowledge about it, as opposed to going elsewhere to discover or to study places overseas. I know both these processes have their place, and they have both certainly shaped Kaho'olawe and its people, for better or worse.

A weekend with the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana

2006-06-12T23:17:00.000+12:00

entry two

Going to bed early the first night meant I had missed an important getting-to-know-you opportunity with the group. It also meant I got more sleep than everybody else. Waking up there on the island came with a magical feeling of excitement and enchantment, which carried us, dreamlike, to the gathering place at the sound of the pu. These instruments cried to us, from across the camp, calling us to come, to get up and to get ready. There were two or three, conches you might call them, but here they are pu, and sound like flutes or miniature bugles. Certainly enough to wake you, but perhaps my enjoyment of the dawn and the sound of the pu had more to do with my straight eight hours than anything else. Certainly there were others less enchanted than I.

Before dawn we gathered to greet the sun:

E ala e!
Ka la i ka hikina
i ka moana
ka moana hohonu
Pi'i ka lewa
ka lewa nu'u
i ka hikina
aia a ka la!
E ala e!

Arise
The sun in the east!
in the ocean
the deep dark ocean
Climb into the sky
the highest level of the sky
in the east
there is the sun
Arise!

We leave then, for our full day's hike. The ground is bruised and cracked; damaged by erosion after over-grazing by domestic animals and intensive bombing by the military. Scrub lies close to the ground and in clumps, holding the earth together here and there. Kiawe trees grow in the shallow valleys on either side of us and below the ridge we climb, taking just over an hour, to the top. From here it is all downhill to pua'iwi and the bell stone where we process barefoot in accordance with ritual, meditating, and hear from the Kua about the gods and the people of the land. It is 9am. On this promontory overlooking a wide ocean and Maui to the North, sat the navigators who learned to travel by sea to neighbouring islands and to Tahiti. Here also worshipped the people speaking to the land using the bell stone which resonates when struck, a sort of a drum that would murmur on the wind.

The group splits up and I go with the onward party to the adze quarry. Strolling through the desert land in the sun, and looking left and right at the warning signs of "UXO" - unexploded ordnance, that's bombs to you and me, I think to myself. After one of the Kua trained on the ordnance safety falls ill, there is debate over whether to proceed. In the end we do go on to the quarry. This site was hard to gain a feel for, being largely eroded, though you could plainly see adze lying around everywhere. Shaped pieces do turn up occasionally, discarded by their makers as broken or inferior, but obviously quite valuable to today's Hawai'ians. Many have been taken from the site by visitors. Our guide to the quarry, Uncle Maka, wants to see the quarry returned to its original use. Currently the authorities claim it to be too dangerous. Our walk home was by a longer route to include the shrines on the North Eastern edge of the island. From the top here I saw Big Island, Maui, Moloka'i and Lana'i. It is breathtaking here, a feeling of being embraced and sheltered by the islands; a country of itself inward looking and whole. Later I recognised that feeling as lacking from Honolulu where the horizon is outward, I feel on an island there.

the erosion is shocking

That evening John took me to a special place and gave me opihi - shellfish he kicked free from the rocks and gouged from their shells, washed in the sea, and ate - saying Ellen and I were representing cousins from Aotearoa New Zealand, and what's theirs is ours. The opihi tasted wonderful.

A weekend with the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana

2006-06-05T22:48:00.000+12:00

entry one

Here's my account of our wonderful trip to the island of Koho’olawe. I was honoured to be included in this access and I am extremely grateful for the generosity shown by the Protect Koho’olawe Ohana (PKO), and for the many new friends I’ve made. This web-log entry is the most difficult one I’ve written so far; I will struggle for words to describe how I felt and what I saw, and I haven’t the ability to bring it to life for you properly. I hope the pictures and the diary excerpts will help to illustrate the journey. I am extremely happy to be able to share this with you!

170506

We are waiting on the Southern edge of Maui for our ride with the PKO – waiting to meet the Kua who will be guiding us on our trip. The weather is dark and stormy and so tomorrow’s boat ride will be choppy, if not cancelled.

180506

Awake at 4am on Uncle Bobby’s front lawn. Much anticipation in the party as the first boat leaves at 5am with the Kua and all the supplies. We wait and watch the sun come up on Kaho’olawe across the water; our bags are packed inside two large plastic bags sealed with duct tape. No one knows what to expect and we are anxious to be underway. We share jokes, we are watching turtles and eels swim by in the clear water at the end of Uncle Bobby’s garden. Kaho’olawe is dark red and green in the daybreak

The boat arrives! All the bags are carried, floating, into the water. We swim out to the waiting boat and form a human chain, treading-water, and pass items one to another into the arms of the boatmen above us.

Kaho’olawe nestles in the waters off Maui. Look on a map and find it, you will see it there on the South of Maui, and notice how its position is central to the chain. You can see more islands from here than from any other place in the State, and the trained eye can see ocean currents called Kealakahiki, which would set a canoe on its way to Tahiti. Our crossing to the island, on a boat belonging to a local fisherman (Uncle Bobby), was fine after all:

We see a dolphin beyond our prow! We have to sing a chant to be received nonto the island and we do this urgently when the ridged inflatable boat arrives to meet the fishing boat, the job of getting ashore is at hand.

He haki nu’anu’a nei kai
'O awa ana’i uka
Pehea hiki aku ai
'O ka leo
Mai pa’a o ka leo

Here the sea is rough and crashing
Echoing into the uplands
Where shall we come to you on the shore?
Don’t lose voice
Please don’t lose the voice

We disembarked the second boat about forty metres offshore and all the bags were thrown into the water. Again we ferried them by hand to the beach; it was harder this time because of the strong surf and rocky seabed. The island is barren and after a while spent rigging the kitchen area we come together to get oriented. Somebody passes around a folder containing photographic examples of some of the unexploded ordnance still on the island.

The PKO who hosted us on this access have battled to secure access to this island since The State of Hawai’i ceded it to exclusive US military control in the Fifties. The navy proceeded to use the land as a bombing range to test the gamut of world military hardware. Brave souls occupied the island whilst bombardment continued in the seventies, and lives were lost in the struggle. Now the land is broken, the water lens cracked, meaning that serious erosion occurs constantly, and no fresh water collects in aquifers now brackish since the bombings. Hawai’ian buildings were used as targets and now lie in pieces. It is hard to overstate the insensitivity and outrageousness of the use of Kaho’olawe by Europeans and Americans.

Amazingly, after a good lunch of noodle stir fry we get up and work hard on the garden. We clear around the hale and the hula pa, extending the pathways and the edge of the camp. This is an energetic, enthusiastic, ecstatic afternoon.
John takes us on a walk to bathe in the sea. The surf is high and we play. A girl gets a Portuguese Man-o-War wrapped around her body, so some of us get out of the water.

Our visit was organised through the School of Architecture, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, with Ellen arranging for me to join the group. There were about fifty including those from other University departments, many of whom had been before, most of us were students, many were Hawai’ian, more were not. On the first evening I wandered to bed straight after dinner which meant I missed the group introduction and Ellen had to speak for me. Whatever she said, it was good, and better than anything I could have said. I struggled to find a reason why I had come here, and it was a question which came to be important, but on that first night I had a very strong feeling that I ought to be at home, looking after the rest of my own family, and not here in this land across the oceans.

Arrival in Melbourne

2006-06-01T08:40:00.000+12:00

I have found a bunk bed in a hostel in Richmond here. The area is a busy suburb full of factory outlet stores, designer clothes and the like, markets and bars. Melbourne has a striking European feel to it, it's a huge contrast to Honolulu, with street trams, cafe-culture and leafy boulevards. The downtown area reminds me of London: crowds of pedestrians in business suits, news stands, tourists.

My flight passed swiftly and I achieved eight hours sleep. Our last weeks in Hawai'i were exhausting and exhilirating. I still need to make an important post here on the blog, describing our recent trip to the island of Koho'olawe.

Surfing at Ala Moana 3

2006-05-12T19:07:00.000+12:00

Yes I've done it.

After four weeks of rain the swell has finally turned and five foot waves are breaking on the shores of Ala Moana. The boards Ellen bought for $10 have proved excellent and I have finally surfed my first real wave. The feeling is excellent and I am craving to get back out there and on to the board.

Unfortunately a recent basketball game has led to a badly sprained ankle. It will be at least a week until I can make it out again. Dang.

Diamond Head is looking greener than ever after the rains and Ellen and I have been taking regular cycling trips to enjoy the scenery.

The last few days in Hawaii, Juius and I went out to surf every chance we got. We rode some pretty gnarly waves and I've definitely caught the bug now. I look forward to surfing the beaches of Melbourne! (uh-oh, Great White territory)

Today on the Laura Ingraham show

2006-05-12T18:34:00.000+12:00

Not one to court controversy by making outlandish statements, I have decided to make the very safe assertion that Dan Brown's recent bestseller "The Da Vince Code" is pure fiction. With 148 weeks at the top of the bestseller list in the US and looking to stay there, The Da Vinci Code is about to be released as a major Hollywood movie starring Tom Hanks. This mystery-thriller is wowing readers with its non-stop action, and is about to reach a whole new audience through the silver screen.

Today in the United States they are running ecumenical classes in the religious relevance of Dan Brown's plot-lines. The High Court in London has heard the case that Dan Brown took ideas from a recent historical treatise on the early church. Tom Hanks is being vilified on radio for portraying a character in a film of a book that brings into question the morality of Opus Dei and the wider Catholic Church.

Why is anyone concerned about the doings of a fictional character? Are the leaders of Opus Dei so powerful that they mean to fight a propaganda war against a pulp fiction phenomenon? Is anyone so uncertain in their Christianity that they are shaken by the thought that Jesus had sexual relationships?

Boston, Massachusetts

2006-05-05T12:53:00.000+12:00

My trip to Boston was a wonderful chance to catch up with Dave, Mum and Mike; we certainly made the most of seeing each other again and I'm not sure that Boston's service industry, or it's Guinness suppliers, will ever be quite the same again.

I am beginning to lose the enjoyable novelty of flying in aeroplanes so my 11pm five-hour stint from Honolulu to Phoenix Arizona was relatively boring. Arriving late into Phoenix and missing my connection was also quite boring, although I did get to meet a guy from Aotearoa New Zealand who accosted me on the moving walkway for wearing an All Blacks shirt. Thanks to John Andersen for giving me a passport to Kiwidom, and sorry Mum I do feel like I've let the side down a bit.

Anyway, after finally arriving in Boston I was confronted by a cold empty arrival gate and no family. It was really cold. Dave and co did finally arrive after some minutes and I got to hug Mum again which is pretty amazing after more than six months. We all agreed that going for a beer and something to eat was a good idea and so Dave took us on an epic journey across Boston using all but one of the various forms of public transport, and so we arrived at an Irish Bar (where else?) for Guinness and catch-up chat. It was really cold in Boston, but have I said that already?

While Dave worked hard in the new Frank Gehry building at MIT, we enjoyed the sights of Boston. Being here improved my understanding of America a great deal. Seeing the buildings built by the Puritan settlers, reading about Bunker Hill and about George Washington, and hearing people on the subway and in Harvard Yard talking about baseball and politics. It's great to be in America proper, not the weird melting pot of Hawai'i, which is, significantly, as far from Boston as you can get within the United States.

Dave and I did get to spend some quality time, taking a duck tour of the city (in a bizarre World War 2 amphibious truck driven by a woman dressed as a footballer), playing football and looking quite good compared to those we played, and enjoying a drink at his local "The Thirsty Scholar". Dave's new life in Boston is pretty similar to his old one ini Oxford it seems, his habait of frozen chilli and spag bol (now in industrial quantities, his freezer looks like Dr Frankenstein's vault), cycling to the lab and back, pub quizzes and weekly soccer. I guess that all these world-class scientific institutes are pretty much the same.

Mum and Mike are well, indulging in that other great American pass-time, shopping. "How many new pairs of shoes does one man need?", we ask ourselves. Then decide that at these prices, the sky's the limit. We visited Filene's basement, an institution in Boston, and yours truly came out with a fine new Calvin Klein winter coat. Thanks Mum, you rock. Only Dave managed to get burnt by the consumerist bonfire, buying an ill-advised pair of shiny red and silver sneakers, that frankly none of his protestations can justify. Again however, you can't argue with the price tag (unless you work for an NGO trying to regulate sweat shops in Asia that is).

It was very sad to leave and come back to Hawai'i but I was freezing cold, and missing Ellen an awful lot, so after my trip to Washington and back I was all prepared to get on a plane. The last few days were fun in Boston and we ate incredibly well, including a trip to a burger bar where I had an incredible Arnold Schwarzenegger burger that was truly mountainous. Thanks go to Dave for putting me up and putting up with me, and to Mum and Mike for footing the bill, majorly, and for their continued commitment to eradicating Guinness, wherever it is, and at whatever price.

Robby Mook, Annapolis, MD

2006-04-17T05:37:00.000+12:00

I am visiting with my friend Robby Mook who works here in Annapolis. We have visited both Washington DC and Baltimore to give me, as Robby says, a "real American experience". We went to a baseball game and ate hotdogs last night - it was amazing. I was impressed with the beauty and the condition of the pitch and the stadium, it all looked very new (the Baltimore Orioles are a relatively new team so that makes sense); the turf was well manicured and the building clean and tidy, except for the piles of discarded peanut shells and hot dog containers. The Orioles are a member of the American League so they play with a designated pitcher, meaning he never has to bat, wheras pitchers in the National League (including teams The Mets and The Dodgers) all have to take a turn batting. During the World Series the top team from both leagues play each other in a series of games to determine the overall winner. Sides take turns to host the games and when the game is played at a National League stadium the pitchers bat, at an American League stadium they don't. I guess Robby's ruse actually worked. Taking me to a game has got me thinking more about baseball, at least I know it's not simply rounders.

Washington DC is incredible. Citizens there protest "No taxation without representation", because the District is controlled by the Federal Government and has no State Legislature. The original DC was a 10 mile square diamond created in 1790, but the South Western area of Alexandria was retroceded to Virginia in 1846 because the District had no need of land South of the Potomac River. This location is steeped in American history and Nationalist pride. Walking the streets we certainly passed hundreds of political analysts, lobbyists and civil servants, along with thousands of tourists enjoying a beautiful Easter weekend. On Sunday we walked across Capitol Hill to see the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress and, ofcourse, the Capitol. Robby suggested that the Supreme Court looks like the Parthenon might have during its younger days, it is indeed a marvellous building. We also visited a number of bars where we met with friends of Robby from the Dean Campaign of 2003/4. A fun bunch of people, and wow, can they ever dance.

Annapolis could be a European fishing village, if it wasn't for the US Naval Academy and the State Legislature here. The narrow streets and brick-built boutique shops are straight out of a postcard from your Somerset holiday, but the midshipmen with their immaculate uniforms and perfect posture are definitely not. There is great coffee here too, and I think it's the best place I have yet visited on the American continent (OK, it's only the sixth place in total, it has to be said). We're driving to DC next, so I can take the train back to Boston.

Passing Manhattan on the train was unreal, breathtaking. I was glad I was in a train, hiding from a great city of giants who might eat me, with their iron bridges like drawbridges leading to their stony castles in the sky. I can't wait to go there!

Paradise Washed

2006-04-03T18:33:00.000+12:00

It's still raining. Raining, raining, raining. That means it's been raining for weeks. Six weeks of downpour, which makes it a record, 30 inches of rain in a month with a 3 inch average. The streets have puddled and the lawns are lakes. Every pair of trousers I own is wet. I can't remember what the sun looks like. No-one likes to admit that this can happen in Hawaii, but when conditions over the Pacific Ocean are correct, it can rain and rain and rain. It could theoretically rain forever, and at the moment, it's possible to imagine. Thunderclaps roll between us and the mountains, lightning flashes circle us like Gods, or visitors from another planet.

In the first two weeks of the deluge there were flash floods on Kaua'i killing eighteen people. Apparently a private landowner had altered state-owned dams on his land, causing fatal breaches to occur. Apparently the state had not inspected the dams in the hundred years since their construction. In this situation it is tempting to blame the disaster on God or a freak of nature, but local prosecutors are circling in search of a scapegoat, and I expect there will be charges brought before the rain stops. Elsewhere the cascading water from the mountains has dislodged boulders causing damage from landslides and falling rocks. We can see the erosion of the island's mountain chain, which has carved such impressive shapes in the past, happening before us every day.

More recently there have been breaches in the Honolulu sewerage system, reportedly causing tens of millions of gallons of untreated sewer water to spew into the Ala Wai Canal and drain into the ocean near to where we live. Local beaches aren't officially closed, but warning signs indicate a health risk, and anyone reading the local newspaper will be scared of putting even a foot into the water. Ominously the rain keeps falling, seeming to intensify just when you think it can't drum any harder. Talk of an extended ban on swimming, for up to several months, has already started.

Beaches on the windward side of the island are also contaminated by runoff from overflowing sewers. When we visited lovely Kailua during a brief break in the downpour, people were swimming and splashing even though the water was a murky brown colour. Only when I went to the bank did anyone remotely official tell me not to swim. I couldn't help thinking that the people in the ocean should have spoken to Heather at the Bank of Hawaii: "You haven't been swimming?" she asked me as I presented a cheque, a sensible question seeing as I was wearing just trunks and a T-Shirt. "It's disgusting", she said, "Lifeguards aren't permitted to place signs and the Department of Health has been slow to react. It's really gross" she added. I thanked her and left. Really gross is about right, I thought, thank God I didn't risk it.

The rain has brought sharks in to shore to feed. These murky waters full of nutrients and feeding fish are a paradise for predatory sharks such as tigers, black tip reef and hammerheads. A Canadian surfer was bitten last week as she paddled out on the North Shore. She escaped with her limbs intact, but the story spread like wildfire, a brassy Californian woman stopped us in Starbucks to relate the whole tale and did the same to the next people in the queue. It's a bit like nature has started taking over, the rain a messenger of Mother Earth.

I have brought all our shoes in from the normally sunny lanai and we have stocked up on soup. My first wintry weather in over twelve months is actually coming as something of a relief and the pouring soothes me. It is a happy accompaniment to the Beatles on the radio and to our coffee mornings reading and writing. We've bought raincoats and Ellen is working from home. So long as the floods don't reach us and I'm kept away from the shark infested waters by health warnings, I'll be happy. It's not the surfing beach life I was looking forward to, but this deluge in paradise is perfectly fitting. I can't imagine it stopping for a while yet.

Big Island Saga

2006-03-27T12:00:00.000+12:00

Leaving at 5am for our early flight to the Big Island we were blessed with a break in the rain, the clear skies meant the view from the plane was amazing, we saw volcanic fields on Maui and the green mountains of Molokai. We were on a trip to visit Hawaii's active volcano, that's Catherine, Dylan, Ellen and I. We had returned the rental car, a Buick, and taken a shuttle bus to the Island Air terminal where we waited for our delayed flight. We received individual security checks as a result of our overseas passports. American airline security is nothing if not predictable.

On landing at Hilo airport we discovered to our dismay that the bags were still in Honolulu. In a comical debacle involving clearly uninterested staff, we were informed that replacement necessities such as toothbrushes and toilet paper could be supplied, but that there was no guarantee of the bags being delivered within 24 hours. We managed to get an agreement to expedite the bags via Aloha Airlines, and took our leave to get supplies. After six frustrating hours we saw our stuff delivered through the little bays with the black rubber curtains. It felt good to have a towel and clean underwear. We were off! Signposts read, Volcano: 29 miles.

At Ellen's suggestion we booked a cabin in Volcanoes National Park so that we could be near to the action. As soon as we arrived we saw the huge caldera of Kilauea and the steam rising from its vents. Looking across the harsh blackened land was akin to seeing Mordor from Lord of the Rings, except tour parties snaked through the hanging cliffs and blistered earth, taking photo's and feeling the heat through their sneakers. After parking the car we trekked to a lava tube which measured about 15 feet across and 100 yards long. Formed by historic lava flows that cooled underground, the lava tube was a stark reminder of how powerful, and recent, Kilauea's eruptions have been.

At about 5pm we set off from our basic cabin towards Chain of Craters road, which snakes through the old lava fields down the Southern flank of Kilauea towards the site of the most recent volcanic activity. Here a part of the Eastern Rift Zone is spewing lava into the ocean. The eruption occurs inside the volcano and travels underground, occassionaly breaking the surface during peak flows, appearing at the shore about a mile from the carpark where we alighted with our torches and rain jackets. Throughout most of the journey we had been able to see the billowing stream of cloud gushing from the ocean edge where the magma hits it. Like the smoke from a burned-out car this mix of steam and hydrochloric acid wafts in the wind, towering above the land appearng to feed the cloudy sky above.

Thankfully it was dry, and the sun still shone while we trekked across the solidified lava. Black and sinuous like a spill of molasses across the road, here is a lava flow which engulfed the road and destroyed homes just a few decades ago. Now thousands of visitors appear every day to see the spectacle. Reaching a promontory opposite the spill, just as the sun set, we could see the red and yellow glow of the magma and the rolling billowing steam of the scorched ocean. We didn't go any farther out. Recently a bench of new land created by the flows collapsed, sending about 50 acres of solidified lava plunging into the sea. The water nearby is not only superheated, but is a strongly acidic solution of sulphur and chlorine. Although it was tempting to approach the flows, we contented our selves with watching and using a telescope provided by the Parks Dept to see close up the roiling, boiling creation of new land in Hawaii. This process spans thousands of centuries, an act of creativity that formed each of Hawaii's islands. The process is ongoing, with a new island being built on the sea floor several miles from the coast of the Big Island. One day, it too will emerge from beneath the waves.

Less than 24 hours in Sydney

2006-03-19T18:30:00.000+12:00

Australia is four hours from New Zealand by aeroplane. It's significantly further North and therefore warmer, and was populated by man significantly earlier, by approximately 40,000 years. Australia boasts a developed mammalian fauna, resulting in fewer flightless birds than New Zealand, the Emu is an obvious example of what's left. Animals in Australia are generally big, and occasionally scary. It was the colony of fruit bats living in downtown Sydney that impressed me the most.

I stayed in a good clean hostel called the Blue Parrot located in Kings Cross. By some brand of morphic resonance this part of town is seedy, full of bars and sex shops, with more than its fair share of tramps and drug dealers. I arrived on a Saturday morning and after checking in I stepped out to see some of the city. I walked to the ferry port and took a boat across the harbour to Manly. It is good to see the city from the water because you get an idea of the scale of development, and appreciate how and why the early settlers chose the area.

Farewell to Wellington

2006-03-14T18:27:00.000+13:00

I leave tomorrow morning for Australia, and on Sunday I fly to Hawaii to be with Ellen. Life in New Zealand has been excellent. I am on holiday, I am staying with Ellen's family, and it's summer. This has been the best start to a year one could possibly ask for, and flying to Hawaii is only going to improve upon things, so I'll be a jammy bastard then eh? Wellington is a great city for visitors. Full of intriguing shops and monuments, the National Museum is here too, and the centre of town boasts some great bars and cafes.

Although geographically it's as far from England as it's possible to get without leaving the planet, New Zealand is a piece of home. The food tastes better, the skies are bluer, most things are a lot cheaper, and the streets are less crowded; however this former colony smacks of its European ancestry at every turn. That is except for the Maori ofcourse, but some of that culture has mixed sufficiently with the colonist's way of life so as to smooth its pointier edges, and it adds magic to the place, much like the Celtic resurgence does in Cornwall, Wales, Scotland or Ireland. Funnily enough it is something of a cliche to say that New Zealand resembles all of these places, which it does, much more than the rolling hills of England. New Zealand is rough cut, fresh, and wild-looking. I think that the strength of the Maori under domination by the British, and their continuing struggle for equal representation, has and will maintain New Zealand in this vibrant natural spirit.

Today I am planning to spend the afternoon at the Basin Reserve cricket ground for the first day of teh Second Test between NZ and the West Indies. It should be a fine day. It is also St Patrick's Day so I will have a look at what the Wellingtonians do to celebrate, and I think I have guessed already.

I would like to give a warm thankyou to John, Joy and Louise for having me to stay.

Postscript

At lunch the Basin Reserve cricket ground is open to the public for games:

Pete at the OSCARS

2006-03-07T18:43:00.000+13:00

When Ellen's brother Svend invited me to join him at an OSCAR party celebrating the nomination of King Kong for The Visual Effects Award, I was pretty excited. Svend works as a contractor for WETA Digital, who produced the spectacular graphics for both King Kong and Lord of the Rings, and who are now working on further movie projects including the third X-Men movie. I thought to myself, this was going to be a party to remember!

World time meant that the ceremony in Los Angeles began at 2pm local time in Wellington so we were on to our first round of courtesy beers just after lunch time. The party was held in a temporary building on the waterfront, with a bar and lounge seats, a huge TV screen and attractive internal decor of wood inlaid with paua shell. The guests were a varied bunch. I was surprised to meet many Americans contracted at WETA, as well as a few Brits. The age was predominantly young, and everyone had turned up in relatively casual dress. No tuxedos or bow-ties in sight though, and I was vaguely disappointed by the lack of effort shown in some quarters.

King Kong won three OSCARS including the award for visual effects which means Svend is the first person in my life to have won an OSCAR. Well done Svend, you rock. The party went on with various canapes and more drinks until about 6pm. In fact it may have gone on longer but we left, so it probably died down after that. Afterwards Svend and I went to the Paramount Cinema and watched Asphalt by Joe May. It's a 1929 German silent film and I really enjoyed it - a fitting end to the greatest day in Hollywood's calendar.

P.S>
Bristol's own Nick Park from Aardman Animation was awarded the OSCAR for Best Animated Feature Film. Go Bristles!!!!

Time to tune in to . . .

2006-03-04T11:17:00.000+13:00

It is exciting to think that Ellen is a succesful radio presenter in Hawaii, even more so given the effort she has put in to her show, and the difficulty of getting her foot in the door of college radio there. Her regular 3am timeslot has not deterred her, neither have the various training and induction hoops through which she has had to jump in order to progress. Hawaiian listeners have begun to take notice, and on the eve of her move from the 3am timeslot to a more critical time, Ellen has published a website with recorded shows and playlists from her recent performances. International times for her show are currently:

London - Sunday 2pm

New York - Sunday 8am

Tokyo - Sunday 10pm

Copenhagen - Sunday 2pm

Auckland - Monday 2am

KTUH is college radio at the University of Hawaii and is available on FM and also over the internet - which means international listeners can easily tune in. The show is a mixture of New Zealand and International music tied to the theme of Lo-Fidelity production techniques. Regular artists on the show include The Shins, Sufjan Stevens, The Cocteau Twins and The National. Ellen has also produced some draft publicity designs for the radio station and I'm looking forward to seeing these as bumper stickers in the coming months, although it'll have to wait for the powers-that-be to approve them first. Adding media design and broadcasting to her already impressive portfolio, one wonders whether Ellen is in fact planning to take over the world, as it does seem increasingly feasible. The website address where you can view her handiwork is http://www.ktuh.org/lo-fi/index.htm and the recorded shows are available there too. To listen in to her show live you need to go to the KTUH website at http://www.ktuh.org/ and click on listen live.

The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

2006-02-26T16:55:00.000+13:00

Wellington City has many things. It has the usual bars and restaurants, theatres, some museums, and so on. It also has a bucket fountain (but more about that another day). What surpises me, more than any of this, is there is actually a real life dinosaur living there, albeit one that faces extinction, which lives in the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary a short drive from downtown. This dinosaur is the Tuatara. The Tuatara is a reptile, the last remaining representative of the Sphenodontia, and is affectionately known as New Zealand's 'living fossil'. How exciting, I hear you say! Well the Tuatara is no carnivorous giant let me tell you - oh no, it's about the size of an iguana and eats insects, slugs and earthworms. It is nonetheless amazing to see in the wild!

Eric and Rachel took me to the sanctuary and we had a good walk of three hours in fine weather. I saw cave weta, which are native to New Zealand, giant bugs with large antennae. You would love them. We didn't see any Kiwi however because they are mostly nocturnal. We did spot plenty of fern species and insects. The beauty of the sanctuary is protected by a predator-proof fence designed to stop rats, cats, possums and like from disturbing the fragile ecosystem. Remember, before the arrival of man in the second millenium AD there were no native ground living mammals in New Zealand, so none of the indigenous species evolved survival tactics. The fence is impressive, it goes all the way around, an impressive feat of engineering in the hilly environment. Erik can be seen modelling it for you:

Super 14 Rugby: Hurricanes vs Cats

2006-02-26T15:11:00.000+13:00

It will come as no surprise to you that the country which gave the world the All Blacks are very proud of their Rugby Union! In New Zealand there is no sport more popular than rugby. Professional players are given the same kind of attention as English footballers or American basketball players, i.e. they are household names, role models, and superstars. National Provincial Championship (NPC) games are organised into divisions, with strict eligibility criteria for players. So much so that desirable players have been bought or rented houses in particular areas so they will be allowed to play outside of their home region. The Super 14 is an elite competition for teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Like the NPC it is also regional, however the regions are larger, for example the Wellington team The Hurricanes draw players from the whole of the south of the North Island and not just Wellington city. There is a draft system in place for New Zealand Super 14 teams, which means that players not selected in their own region can be picked to play elsewhere, as a result the regional teams can be a mixed bag.

I have enjoyed watching a couple of the opening games of the Super 14 on TV so I was really excited when Ellen's sister Catherine asked if I would like to go to a game with her! The Hurricanes play at home in Wellington's WestPac stadium, nicknamed The Cake Tin, rather uninspiringly I thought, because of how it looks from the outside. The stadium holds 34,500 at capacity and has good facilities and access. The atmosphere inside is amazing, I was well reminded of games I went to in Bristol a long time ago, and the crowds were really diverse and colourful. Some lads had gone to the length of painting Hurricanes shirts onto their torsos - which I thought was particularly dedicated.

The Hurricanes won 29-12 which was really good to see. They get maximum points for the win, including bonus points for the fact they defeated the Cats by such a margin. There were a couple of great tries and some good build-up play. Unfortunately a stomping incident led to some fisty-cuffs and now two Hurricanes players have been suspended for a game. I was surprised at the showiness of the stadium entertainment; they had non-stop music belting out of the PA, with sports classics like Whoomph, There It Is, after tries and the Hurricanes theme tune playing every five minutes. They even had cheerleaders at half time! I felt a bit sorry for the visiting Cats, who had to contend with the awfully one-sided organised support in the stadium, but I suppose the Hurricanes will face the same during the three week tour of South Africa which they embark upon this week. It just didn't seem like fair play to me, but then, well, When in Rome!!

A week's work

2006-02-19T11:55:00.000+13:00

This week I have been labouring for Ellen's cousin Sean and his partner Alice, at their house in Berhampore. The rear of the house had trouble with damp because the ground level was too high so I took out the path and a lot of the soil down to below the level of the floorboards. Wellington is extremely hilly, and this house is high up with the only access a steep stair so there was a lot of toing and froing with buckets. Hard work but I felt a sense of accomplisment, and lots of good memories of previous jobs. And at least I am getting more than the ten pounds a day that Dad saw fit to pay me when I was sixteen!

Next week Sean plans to get the roof prepped and painted so I'll be doing that, and then the exterior walls. It is really good to be working outside, and when your employer leaves you chocolate muffins, and beer, you know you're on to a winner!

I am planning to fly back to Hawaii on March the 17th

A walk around the coast

2006-02-13T11:00:00.000+13:00

Brian Worboys organises walks every now and then, and his daughter Rachel is engaged to Erik, and so John Andersen, Svend and Celeste, Erik and I all went along too. There were lots of others on the walk, we took two parties with one starting from either end, and we met in the middle to eat sausages and drink wine. Magic!

The walk took us down the Kapiti coast to Plimmerton, quite a rugged coastline with hills plunging right into the sea and with just a small stretch of pebbles and driftwood to walk along. It was a blustery overcast day, but not too cold, and we all enjoyed ourselves scrambling along the track and looking at seabirds and the impressive waves
that day.

Rachel and Erik are planning to get married in January next year, in Wellington. Erik has recently finished his medical degree and is now working as a House Surgeon at hospitals in the Wellington District. Rachel is a teacher at Sacred Heart School.

Job Hunting

2006-02-09T21:53:00.000+13:00

I have spent the week applying for various things I have seen locally or on the internet. I have work tomorrow for a labour hire organisation and I expect to be carrying things all day. I have now registered with a temping agency specialising in public sector jobs and have agreed to go for a short term contract with Land Information New Zealand, a Government Dept that has a variety of roles relating to the management of Crown Land here. I await further developments. Also, I am in direct contact with the Recruitment Co-ordinator at the New Zealand Housing Corporation and I secretly have my fingers crossed they will offer me something before I go to LINZ. In any case, it's all gravy.

We took some interesting photo's of Island Bay on our walk this week, Joy, Louise and I. Here you can see that hats are a positive must in the new Zealand summer. Boy was it hot that day. Louise took her Super Scooter and we had to go quite a long way round the Esplanade before finding a suitable place to cross and make the return journey, or so Joy said, I thought I saw several convenient places to get down the curb, but I kept my mouth shut.

At the end of the Bay by the bait shed I went paddling, just to get refreshed, and here I am! Eagle-eyed readers will notice I am wearing a New Zealand rugby jersey which is a kind gift from John, given especially for the Rugby Sevens tournament last weekend. England went down to France, but then New Zealand lost to Fiji. So it isn't conclusive either way. I still think England has a better standard of Rugby though.

Postscript

After waiting for half an hour at what I thought was the pickup spot for my day's work, the railway station, and not seeing anybody to pick me up I came home. It turns out I was in the Wellington bus depot. Prat.

So I have been told there is no work for me today. Also, I have just had an email from the temping agency saying that another candidate has already been given the LINZ job. So I'm back to square one.

On the plus side I am getting on well with my story, and Ellen's Mum says there is some sanding here I can do on the stairs skirting boards, so I'll not get bored!

Photographs for Rebecca

2006-02-05T18:18:00.000+13:00

In a recent email Rebecca told me that she would like some photographs of landscapes for her artwork. Here they are Rebecca, if you click on them they will appear in a browser window large enough for you to print or do whatever you like with them:

The Otago Central Rail Trail 2

2006-01-31T13:25:00.000+13:00

Day Two - Oturehua to Daisybank

I reached the summit of the trail at 11am on day two. 618 metres above sea level and at 45 degrees South, this position commanded excellent views of the valleys either side. I was really pleased to be travelling down hill, for the rest of the day! I saw Australasian Harrier Hawks circling for prey over the Maniototo valley and attempted to capture them on film, but lamented not having a more powerful lens. The morning ride also took me through Wedderburn where the rail shed painted by Graham Sydney has been restored, something of a New Zealand icon.

It was cooler today I think and a slight breeze made the ride more pleasant. I stopped in Ranfurly for lunch and looked at the art deco buildings there. It is a quiet town but very interesting, and the train station in particular, I liked. Mid afternoon I paused in Waipiata for some food and a beer, and was surprised to find three local bowls teams enjoying the local bitter inside. Bowls is a popular sport here especially amongst the retired, and the teams looked great in their official uniforms.

At 9pm I camped on the Taieri river about 12km north of Hyde. The site was lovely, about 15 feet from the water's edge. It was another hard cycle towards the end of the day but quite worth it. The Taieri gorge is incredible to look at ans is easily my favourite part of the route so far. I came within thirty metres of a hawk grounding to catch a hare and it was quite magical. I completed about 50km today, so the pace was slower, and I was looking forward to completing the journey.

"The land is hilly, with many outcrops of rock. The scenery between Omakau and Ranfurly will be familiar to anyone who has seen Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy as the location for many of the scenes set in Rohan." - Wikipedia

Day Three - Daisybank to Middlemarch, and beyond

The last day took me 36km into Middlemarch and I had to start early, my train left at 1pm from there. With plenty of time to spare I arrived and handed my bike to the agent there before changing and boarding my train. The last section of the ride felt good as I came down from the high country and felt like I was nearing the sea, and greater development in terms of farmland and towns. In fact I had a two hour train journey still to go before reaching the ocean, and Dunedin. The train is recreational and passes down the Taieri gorge through spectacular cliffs, tunnels, and over bridges. It was an amazing ride and I was gobsmacked by the scenery. Arriving finally in Dunedin I found my accommodation and had dinner before getting an early night.

The Otago Central Rail Trail 1

2006-01-28T14:03:00.000+13:00

I heard about the Trail from a TV programme called Off the Rails which charted the journey of a New Zealand broadcaster around the many miles of used and disused NZ railway. The track looked so good I made my way down here to try it! The journey started in fruity Cromwell where I booked my hire bike and sundry transport. I stayed two nights and hit lucky when a Kiwi holidaymaker gave me a ride around lake Dunstan on his motor boat. The lake is beautiful. For those interested it is a man-made lake, caused by the building of the Clyde Dam. Historic Cromwell is now submerged beneath the lake (including the road bridge which originally towered many metres above the river here).

Day One - Clyde to Oturehua

Nine hours riding and 70km complete! It was at least 37 degrees in the shade today and I really suffered in the afternoon. The scenery is breathtaking, with high dry mountainous landscape with snowy peaks in the background. Gorges through the limestone country are crossed on wooden and iron bridges, some dating back to the turn of the last century. Two long tunnels made by blasting and brick work look fantastic and create an amazing atmosphere on the trail. Isolated farmsteads make the only human entrance on the rail trail, else it is desolate and solitary. I saw only three other riders all day.
I had to grit my teeth a few times as the legs burned and the brow sweated but I felt a great achievement in arriving at Oturehua, I had done the majority of the uphill section in just one day. The wonderful people at Chatto Creek and Oturehua who looked after me are to be congratulated on their excellent hospitality, and cooking! Also the ladies at Cromwell Information Centre who helped organise this trip are real angels. Thanks!

Punakaiki: The Inland Pack Track 2

2006-01-26T12:00:00.000+13:00

Day two down Dilemna Creek was spectacular. Again I had to navigate a path in and out of the water, as the river meandered through a precipitous limestone gorge. I was wearing boots now and not sandles (as i had the day before for crossing Fossil Creek), far better for walking in the water and not caring if they got wet.
Dilemna Creek passes through mountainous limestone bluffs, lined with palms and is a real beauty. I sang and ate dried apricots - my spirits were very high! At the foot of the creek it meets the Fox River and there is a cavern upstream called the Ballroom where many hikers camp out of the rain. I dropped my pack and swam across the Fox to investigate. It was close by but not as good as my camping spot so I was glad, the Ballroom was a little too dank and creepy. I returned to my pack and set off down the Fox. This part felt like the home stretch as it sidled the gorge on the left hand side. Waterfalls spattered and gurgled away and the forest was alive with cicadas and birds.
The track finished at State Highway 6 and i hitched a ride with no problems. I went directly to the Beach Hostel in Punakaiki where I had been staying; showered, ate and got into the hot spa pool to watch the sunset. Just the thing after such a long walk!

Punakaiki: The Inland Pack Track 1

2006-01-24T10:46:00.000+13:00

Excited and relieved to be

leaving the city of Nelson

A calm sunny morning

and the bells chime

Now where are you going

Punakaiki? asks the driver

car on car unloads

and shoppers wake the streets

Outward bound my destiny

with rucksack on my back

Goodbye you starlings

and you trout

and wading pied shag

I left the Punakaiki beach hostel at 10am, all packed and ready to go. Carrying tent , roll mat, sleeping bag and pillow, water, tins of food, knife, matches, sun lotion, insect repellant, spare clothes. A good two-hour walk through subtropical jungle on a well-beaten path. Then into beech forest after fording the Poriraro river, and here I had my first encounter with a Robin who emerged from the forest as I dried my feet. I hear da flutter of wings and there it was, right up close to me, and hopping over my belongings and trying to eat my pack. Well it had a good look at everything I own before I saddled up and left for the next section of the walk.

The path was muddier and wound through the forest and into the hills. I came out in a clearing at 1pm where there was a crossroads and here I met a Swiss lady also doing the same walk and we ate lunch. Again came a robin and this time ate scraps from my lap. Walking together for a while we passed out of the forest and into farm land around Bullock Creek. There were fields and a 4WD track with great views of the Paparoa mountains. After fording the creek the path went into bush again and passed some immense patches of flax to the left and right, before rising slowly into podocarp forest. This section of the walk was the hardest going, so muddy and up-and-down and through thick jungle. Here and there the water courses cut sink holes and waterfalls in the limestones, sometimes quite precipitously and suitably signed with hazard warnings by the Dept. of Conservation. After a further two hours or so I emerged at Fossil Creek. Here the path ends and you must push through ten feet or so of bush to meet the water, and follow it down stream. The forest here is beautiful, overhanging the creek and the banks of rounded stones left behind by higher waters. Many trees beset the way, which took me across the creek several times, and I had to duck and climb to get through.

I knew I wanted to camp at the the confluence of Fossil and Dilemna Creeks. It was tiring for the last few kilometres and I was glad to see the Dilemna gushing down the hill to my right. I went upstream and made camp on a sandbank in the creek perhaps 80 metres by 10 metres in size. After lying down i nmy tent and then making dinner in the fire I explored a little, but was in bed asleep by 8pm.

The night passed well. I awoke just before sunset and then again just after. The sky was a light blue with stars; not black or even dark blue, but light blue, I was amazed. Later the moon came up and cast great shadows across the sand bank. I awoke at about 5am to the sound of birds (maybe Kiwis! I'm not sure . . ) on the bank, and a great mist had rolled down th ecreek, making everything quite wet. I secured my tent flat and dozed to the sound of the birds until falling asleep again and waking at 9am. I tried to bathe but was put off by how cold the creek water was, so I just plastered on the insect repellant because the sand flies were everywhere and made another fire to warm myself and my baked beans. I got going again at 10am and started my way down the dilemna.

The wide blue yonder

2006-01-20T14:13:00.000+13:00

I have just arrived in Nelson from our week at the riverside community near Motueka. We have had a lovely time staying with Rachel's relatives and enjoying the countryside. We all caught our first fish together, and ate them, so passing an important rite of NZ passage. I took this photo of Tasman Bay on our ride home from Little Kaiteriteri.

Tomorrow my bus leaves for Punakaiki on the west coast. I intend to tramp inland for a day and back before moving on down the coast. I want to cycle the rail trail from central Otago to Dunedin but dont know how I will return my bike to the hire shop if I do!

I am now on my own for the first time during my adventure and it feels a little disorienting. There appears to be no-one to turn to except for myself!

New Zealand Wildlife

2006-01-12T12:20:00.000+13:00

A very brief photography of some of the animals I have seen here so far. I am yet to capture one of the common hawks here on film, but I hope to do so in the near future - they are amazing!

Stick insect of unkown genus, native to New Zealand and photographed here on John Andersen's roses!

ANOTHER stick insect, this time quite a bit harder to see. Let me know if you spot it! I took this photo in the garden at Hatepe.

Aha! A trout. Non-native to New Zealand, but abundant in rivers all over the country - and very popular with local fishermen!

Yes, you got it! Young bulls! Ellen's brother Paul lives next to Lake Wairerapa, and this is a picture of the field next door to his house. I know it's not technically wildlife but it's a good photo. Non-native breed I might add.

Again, not really wildlife but what a beautiful horse! This photo was taken north of Auckland whilst I was exploring. Horses are non-native to New Zealand.

This species of heron is native to Australia, but I spotted it fishing in the river at Hatepe. I think it is particularly striking because of the white feathers around its head.

A common duck, I don't know whether it is a native or introduced species, which I spotted feeding in the lake Rotopounamu. Don't you just love his blue feathers darling?

Lake Taupo

2006-01-06T18:00:00.000+13:00

The ancient remains of a huge crater, now filled with water! Lake Taupo and the surrounding area remains volcanically active to this day, a fact which the locals have exploited with more or less success. It is vaguely ironic that a booming economy such as this should lie atop explosive geological features. Further North in Rotorua a thriving tourist scene surrounds the hot geysers and mud pools which form the fundamental novelty attraction of the area. The city of Rotorua itself reeks of sulphur, but you get used to it after a while. Here in Taupo, a more domestic tourist centre, New Zealanders flock to enjoy watersports in the summer and skiing in the winter. The fact that the local swimming pools remain at bath-water temperature all year round (via a heat exchange with hot springs) is a major bonus to the already beautiful surroundings. South of the lake at Tokaanu a private spa and public bath exploit the thermal vents and prehistoric-looking mud pools which bubble and plop in the bush. It is all quite dramatic and invigorating.

Our tramp in the bush took place at the foothills of Tongariro National Park, a world heritage site that was gifted to the New Zealand authorities by wise Maori Tribal leaders who have prevented the land becoming sheep farm. Rotopounamu means Lake Greenstone; although there is no actual greenstone present, when calm the water reflects the colour of the surrounding bush. The walk was easy and the scenery beautiful, the area lent itself perfectly to a rudimentary botany lesson from Ellen's father. I can now identify several species of fern and native trees.

Christmas in Island Bay

2005-12-27T11:22:00.000+13:00

Christmas with the Andersen family is a wonderful experience, I was made to feel very welcome and comfortable. There are seven kids plus spouses and partners, mum and dad and grandparents, and three brothers and partners and children attendant at dinner on Christmas Eve for a traditional Danish meal. We ate duck and ham with roast vegetables and cabbage; an excellent meal for thirty seven, most of whom left that evening to go home for their own family Christmasses. On the morning of Christmas Day we attended Mass and sang along to the carols before walking home for tea and breakfast. Presents take about two and a half hours to get through since they are opened one by one, a tradition I really enjoyed because it made one appreciate the effort made in buying gifts.

Svend bought me some New Zealand wine - thankyou!

Cath and Dylan bought me a t-shirt with a Maori tiki design - thank you!

Phillip and Erina bought me a book by Max Cryer - thank you!

Ellen bought me a cricket set - thank you!

Paul and Joella gave me a hunting knife - thank you!

Erik and Rachel bought me a lovely book - thank you!

Driving across the North Island

2005-12-27T10:31:00.000+13:00

We left Auckland by car on the 22nd after completing two days of voluntary work at the Auckland Museum, cataloguing. Leaving Auckland was very exciting because of the opportunity to see more of the countryside in New Zealand. The drive took us along State Highway One to Hatepe on the first day, about a four hour drive. Cath made sure we stopped at the Haku falls so I could see this beautiful part of the landscape.

Ellen's grandparents have a place in Hatepe which gave us a pleasant rest overnight. Near to the edge of lake Taupo and surrounded by woodland, the building we stayed in is called a bach (pronounced batch) and is common amongst New Zealanders who need a place out of town for their holidays. The Andersen bach is full of books and pictures of sailing ships and furniture from the sixties and seventies. The bach has been in the family since the sixties, and the whole family use it over the summer for swimming in the lake and in the winter for skiing at the nearby volcano!

Continuing on State Highway One south from Taupo towards Wellington, on the 23rd, I was treated to a view of Mount Ruapehu and Tongariro, two of the active volcanoes in the area. Neither were erupting and both were swathed in cloud. We have determined to come back here to hike some time around the New Year. This part of New Zealand became Mordor in the film adaptation of LOTR, because it's a desert of brown grey rocks and cliffs. After several hours of driving we passed through Foxton where Ellen's Mum grew up and I had the chance to meet Uncle Basil and Uncle Russell. We only stayed for a moment because we had further to drive, on our way down to Wellington, which we reached at about six in the evening. Wellington is a harbour city, and is the capital of New Zealand.

Welcome to Aotearoa New Zealand

2005-12-15T12:05:00.000+13:00

Kia Ora!

The flight from Honolulu takes nine hours. I watched three very good films including The Island which I think Dave would really like, it reminds me so much of all that early science fiction we used to read, and boasts a new variation on the hilarious clone-kills-clone-in-identical-persons-pretending-to-be-each-other-shootout theme. I also watched Valiant which is a cartoon about carrier pigeons in WWII and Ricky Gervais is just so damn funny - even as a pigeon, it's too good to miss.

I was delighted to be met at the airport by Cath Andersen and her man Dylan with whom I am staying here in Auckland. Cath and Dylan are showing me a very good time and exercising considerable generosity while I wait for a cheque to clear into Ellen's bank account. Last night we saw Monsters of Metal play at the Kings Arms (the music is to be described as small-town stadium rock); after the band we enjoyed comedy by Neal Hamburger, who is a very very sick man.

Aotearoa lives up to it's name so far - not a hint of sunshine in sight, quite a beautiful hazy grey sky. Reminds me of Portsmouth, Hants.

Actually, Auckland city reminds me of Bristol, and to be more exact it reminds me of photographs of Bristol in the late 19th Century. There are lots of hills about, and trees and brick buildings. Shop fronts on the Kay Road appear to be original, with cast iron awnings right out onto the pavement. Auckland is a welcome change from Honolulu; I was so sick of all those Sports Utility Vehicles. So so sick.

Auckland is a fragmentary isthmus between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. We are planning to go fishing soon. Ellen arrives on Sunday and then we'll prepare to leave for Wellington which is a long drive and should present a chance to take some photography.

Some thoughts on crossing the Pacific

2005-12-07T11:34:00.000+13:00

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Passing across the sky, in some places directly over our heads, the sun draws a natural line across the sky. The line means time, change, and direction. The apparent movement of the sun is caused by the passing of time, and is ofcourse an illusory result of our Earth spinning on its axis. Sitting mid-Pacific I notice the amusing reversal of the traditional cardinal directions as conceived by Europeans. Observed from here the sun appears to rise over America in the east, and the sunset occurs in "The land of the rising sun", over China in the west. This fact underlines the anachronism of East and West.

Here in Hawaii it is noticeable how blurred are the lines between cultures, especially in the light of dominant themes such as capitalism, globalisation, and militarism. A third of the population is of asian descent. The rest are a mix of native Hawai'ian and Polynesian peoples, a minority of African-American and native American peoples, and a majority of European/American peoples. One is unable to discriminate people by the colour of their skin in this environment; for example choose an asian face from the crowd and that person is just as likely to talk to you in all-American parlance as a caucasian, the caucasian may indeed be a tourist from far afield and speak to you in an Eastern European language. That same asian face you choose at random is just as likely to belong to a person born in Hawai'i, as to a bona fide Korean national (who happened to be schooled in the Midwest, which is common). So this multiculturalism extends to all walks of life and not just accent, but to knowledge of baseball, of history, and to political and religious beliefs. You can't make any assumptions if you pick somebody truly at random.

In my view Hawai'i is a colony, and the familiar story of colonial imposition is retold in Hawai'i every day; from the disproportionate numbers of Hawai'ians on minimum wage and sleeping on the streets, by the power-brokering of the United States Marine Corps and the US Navy in Hawai'ian politics, to the elitism of large corporations running golf courses and agricultural plantations, you can tell who is in control, and it's the usual suspects. One man owns the entire island of Lana'i, the sixth largest in the Hawai'ian islands. He is a business colleague of Bill Gates, who was married there in 1993 and who was rumoured to be interested in the purchase himself. For those of you who are aspiring to be Hawai'ian kings or queens, the figure was in the region of $675 million.

The East-West Center was founded in Honolulu in cooperation with the US Government to establish cultural and technical exchange between asia and the americans, exploiting Hawaii's perfect location for such a development. After all, with so many persons of foreign descent living in one place, the opportunity to share is great (and the threat of organized opposition is even greater). Hawai'i has ofcourse been a flash point in Asian-American aggression in the past, due to its strategic location in the ocean, and will continue to be a target as long as the militarism of nations continues. Hawai'i is also a location where big business from both sides of the ocean meet to make a profit. There is certainly an economic struggle reminiscent of previous military encounters, though the line between opposing sides is not so clear. After the attack on Pearl Harbour the Japanese people living in Hawai'i (which was not part of the United States at the time, as it is important to remember) were sent to mainland America to be detained. The likely opposition in today's economic struggle are not so easily identified. Businesses span the globe and their shareholders, directors, board-members and chairmen, are taken from many nations, just as their customers and patrons live in many different countries. The development of capitalism worldwide produces billionaires and ruling capitalist elites from the unlikeliest of places, take Roman Abramovitch the Russian as an example, at the time of writing his luxury yacht is touring the Pacific, mooring in New Zealand by the way. Who knows how many of these 'self-made-men' will emerge from the markets of China or India, cruising the Pacific in search of investment opportunities?

The future certainly holds the potential for great things in Hawai'i, for both the old and the new peoples. But is this future going to consist of a military balance between colonial nations, as it has been before? Or perhaps a capitalist paradise, a fairground run by corporations that transcend national boundaries, would this kind of cooperation protect the Pacific from the recurrence of war? It is impossible to say. One thing is certain however: as per usual, the greater part of this future appears to lie beyond the influence of the Hawai'ian people themselves. Just as the sun rises over America and travels toward the great Asian continent, so the balance of power passes overhead, beyond reach. Only by fighting tooth and nail have any indigenous people ever succeeded under colonisation.

When France detonated thousand's of pounds of nuclear explosive on the tiny Bikini Atoll, the indigenous people there were manipulated, exploited, and ignored. The native people of Hawai'i are also particularly disenfranchised by the economic, ecologic, and military development of their islands by colonial nations. Not to mention the Tahitians, Samoans, Tuvaluans and Nauruans, whose home, the ocean and its islands, is under invasion. If these proud peoples are to have any influence in the running of their neighbourhood, then they must continue to organise and demonstrate, as the Tahitians have done recently by achieving the successful overthrow of the incumbent French president in elections there.

"No one takes a walk under palm-trees with impunity"
Gotthold Lessing

Hawaiian Bird Life

2005-11-24T10:00:00.000+13:00

A very brief photography of the birds living around our house on Alder Street

Introduced from India. Noisy and aggressively territorial birds, the Myna are a common sight around Honolulu. I spotted this one hanging out by the local tip.

Non-native to Hawaii. The dove is similar to the European pigeon (in size as well as behaviour). I pictured this bird from the comfort of our Lanai.

Non-native to Hawaii. About the size of a European starling. I am particularly impressed with these guys, especially the red-whiskered variety. More timid than the Myna or the dove, the bulbuls watch and wait from the comfort of telegraph wires.

Non-native to Hawaii. I can't help but think of puffins. These are the favourite birds of Ellen.

Hawaiian Aquatic Life

2005-11-24T09:00:00.000+13:00

Honu / Green Sea Turtle. Hauled up at the beach on the North Shore. Measured approx 1.1 metre by 0.6 metre. Ostensibly asleep.

Freshwater fish, ten points if you can identify a species. Teaming at the mouth of a valley stream as it joins the Ala Wai Canal, these chaps might be gulping microscopic organisms as they flush from the mouth of the stream.

Marine fish this time, again species unknown. If you look carefully you can see how they are breaching about 6 inches into the air. This is presumably due to predators below, also species unknown.

Surfing at Ala Moana 2

2005-11-11T09:00:00.000+13:00

A chronicle of my attempt to learn this most Hawaiian of sports.

Episode 3 - Catching the Wave

It's all about timing, but then again it's all about a lack of timing. It's a truism that some waves are going to take you with them, whether you are ready or not, and some waves are going to leave you alone no matter how hard you paddle. I suppose the skill is to judge which is which, and to take your board to the exact break point of the wave, and I am learning both these skills. Surfing instills patience. You can spend hours trying every single wave and you will certainly catch at least a few, or you can sit on your board and stare at the mountains in the distance and not be upset by any but the most freakish breakers. This is a contrast between being adventurous in the face of uncertainty, and being tolerant of just staying put, and the contrast occurs in every minute of every hour in which you surf.

I have been paddling around in the white water for about a week, learning to stay on the board, building up my strength, and getting used to the feeling of surfing. Today when I went out beyond the reef, there were some very large waves. Paddling out further and further towards the break, you watch the blue build and build and charge you down, and you think to yourself: "This is it". Then you see more and more waves building up behind each other. It's breathtaking. You struggle to get beyond these breakers, and you're surprised at how calm the ocean is when you manage to swim beyond them. Exhiliration reaches a peak when you know that you've passed the breakers, that you're done paddling out, and that it's time to catch a wave!

Where I'm surfing there's both a left and a right break, and the reef is cut by boat channels and storm damage so the breakers are very irregular, there are a number of spots to catch waves. They have names like Old Man's, Panic Point, and Soup Bowl. The most popular spots are obvious. I stick to the less popular ones. I'm not confident catching waves in a crowd.

You have to paddle hard to catch the wave. You have to keep your weight in the right place on the board. If you can manage to do both (at the same time!) then catching waves is no problem at all! I have been carried two hundred feet by a wave, and very quickly, it's like manning a small power boat and you can feel the ocean slap at your 'hull' just like in a speedboat. Standing up is a little trickier, and you need to take it slow at first. However if you have a long board with a width of 22" or more, it really is like standing on your dining room table, and you wonder what the fuss is about.

Episode 4 - A Board of my Own

Taking Kurt's board every day made me want to buy my own board. The thought of people coming to visit, and having a board which they could use, made me determined to get my own board. It turns out that surf boards are quite expensive so I have ended up with a less-than-perfect second-hand board, which is really very old and tired. My board is 6’9” and 21” in width with a really pointy nose, which makes it good for steering in the water. It has a lot of water damage to the foam and many cracks in the fibreglass coat. When I took the board into a store to buy fins and some repair materials I got some funny looks, and lots of people wishing me good luck from behind quirky half-pitying smiles.

Looking after the dents and scratches is fairly simple. I bought some Solarez, a fibreglass filling gel that sets in UV light and is recommended for boards. You fill the hole and stretch cling film over it, to work it and to get it flat, then you expose the repair to sunlight. In three minutes it’s done, a rock hard repair. I enjoyed working on the board and learning how to get a good finish with the Solarez, and I felt better about buying the board once I realised I could fix it.

The first time I took the board out I was glad to see that it floated. I had seriously considered that it mightn’t! Paddling around was harder on the shorter board and it was easier to fall off. However I did manage to catch a wave and the board handled well. When I got home I saw that several breaches in the resin had caused the board to take on water and that it would need to dry out and be repaired again. No more surfing for a few days!! Ellen has bought me some more resin and a paint brush so that the board can be given a whole new coat.

The 2005 Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival. Celebrating 25 Years.

2005-11-05T10:00:00.000+13:00

I have been volunteering for the Hawaii International Film Festival this week and last. The advert for the HIFF was in the local weekly entertainment guide and Ellen suggested I lend a hand. The thought of work didn’t exactly fill me with delight, but it is certainly good to have something to occupy the days, and a film festival is a new experience after all.

Volunteering might be the occupation of a crazy person. How many sane people put their hands up and volunteer for something like this? I mean to say that it’s not part of modern British culture that I know of, except when people work for charitable organisations, so I expected it to be the same in America. I was unsurprised to be one of only two or three able-bodied persons of working age attendant at the volunteers meeting. We were accompanied by pensioners, college students, and the disabled. I found myself wondering if it was really worth it, doing all this for nothing.

If I was doing paid work then I would have an alternative explanation: "I’m doing it for the money", but volunteering asks more rigorous questions of yourself and the worth of the project. I think volunteering demands that you enjoy the work for the sake of it, to make it become interesting and fun, or you very soon decide to give it up. Volunteering also demands that you adopt the goals and aims of the project as your own, that you take it to heart. That must be why it is mostly confined to charities and religious and political organisations, where the impetus for volunteering is spiritual and social, and material reward is rare. This comes close to altruism I think. I wish more of modern life was run by volunteers.

To be fair to HIFF I should mention that I was to receive free tickets to several screenings, however this seems to be an added bonus or privilege rather than actual payment. I also managed to make important new acquaintances and I met film makers from around the world.

Print Traffic - Working for HIFF

My name was picked out to join the print traffic unit; the guys in charge thought I would be helpful, largely because I was available to work everyday and partly because I was under fifty years old . Print traffic is responsible for the logistics of the film screenings. We dealt with shipment and distribution of film reels, DVDs, and videos to and from the distributors, between the islands of Hawaii, and amongst the various film festival venues. This can be summed up by the phrase: "lugging boxes in and out of vans".

My manager at the HIFF was Kevin, an extremely laid-back dude who surprised me with an interest in medieval Welsh. He tells me that if more Americans were like him then the world would be in better shape. I believed him, especially after hearing his views on Bush, Blair, the United States, and French philosophy. Surprisingly, film didn't get talked about! We were also working with Ryan who was hired as Assistant. Ryan is a recovering alcoholic and used to live as a homeless person in Hawaii after leaving the military. He proved to be an inspirational conversationalist and a life affirming-individual. His speech was full of the dialect of the AA meetings, therapeutic dogma regarding pride, trust, and hope:

"They call it the two-foot drop. From here to here", he said, indicating the distance from his head to his heart. "That's gotta happen before you ever give up".

I have agreed to meet Kevin outside of the festival and go hiking, and also to go surfing together.

Extreme Asia and Indigenous Documentary

Ellen and I saw five films together as payment for my volunteering. On the opening night of the festival we saw Shutter, and The Glamorous Life of Suchiko Hanoi. Both films were part of the Extreme Asia Programme. The former was a hideously scary Korean movie about a haunting, homicidal, dead ex-girlfriend, who inhabits photographs. The latter was a semi-surreal bizarre Japanese soft-porn love story about a prostitute catapulted to the heights of intellectual prowess by accidental brain trauma, who by a twist of fate comes to possess George W Bush's cloned finger (for detonating bombs you understand), and is subsequently chased by Korean spies. I can't do it justice by describing it here. We saw these at the Dole Cannery Cinema which is a multiplex, on the site of the pineapple company's headquarters.

The day after at the Honolulu Academy of Arts we saw Te Toa Aniwaniwa and Tuhoe, two documentaries in the Polynesian Power Programme, both by Maori film maker Robert Pouwhare. They indicate the troubles encountered by indigenous people of the Pacific Islands when dealing with the colonialists' bureaucratic legal and political systems. The first film documented the rise of Oscar Manutahi Te Maru, newly elected President of Tahiti, who overcame distinct political elitism to defeat the incumbent French representative. The second film documented the case of the Tuhoe tribe of the north island Aotearoa, New Zealand, at the Waitangi Tribunal. The tribe are aggrieved by the actions of the British settlers and are making claims to the tribunal for the return of lands and compensation for the theft and destruction of their property. This was an altogether informative afternoon and one that reaffirmed to me the disastrous nature of colonial Great Britain, France, and America in recent centuries.

The very last film we saw was shown at the Hawaii Theatre Center, built in 1922, which is a proscenium arch theatre resplendent with stalls and circle seating, a worlitzer, and art-deco facade. The building itself was worth the visit, and the film, River Queen, was a very entertaining Hollywood style chronicle of the Maori wars against the English settlers, highlighting the chaos of the frontier and the shattered family ties of people at war.

Surfing at Ala Moana 1

2005-10-25T09:00:00.000+13:00

A chronicle of my attempt to learn this most Hawaiian of sports.

Episode One - Disappointment

When the day finally arrived I was unprepared. The sun had hidden himself behind whitened clouds and the winds were up, blowing onshore in a steady breeze. Three of us walked down to the beach but only two entered the water. There was only one board between the two of us. Kurt had said we could share just one, and that he would teach me to surf.

When you’re an English city boy living in Hawaii, being close to the ocean for the first time, you have little choice but to surf. I can’t get a job because of the visa restrictions, it seems too hot to try any other sports, and ultimately surfing is expected of me. A foreigner here in the home of surfing, in this Hawaiian tropical paradise, it would disappoint everybody not to surf.

As it happens we have chosen a local boy’s favourite spot; this is no tourist Mecca, it’s the real stuff complete with offshore reef and dangerous looking waves. The most physically demanding job is to paddle your board out beyond the breakers, lying atop it and doing a mime-like front crawl with your arms (imagine a Superman pose) for about twenty minutes if the surf is a long way out. Because we only have one board I’m actually swimming. We pass over the edge of the reef, paddling in two feet of water over living coral, brain corals, and anemones, lurking amongst sandy patches which look bright, like clouds in a dark sky. The tide is in and the onshore breezes make stiff ripples to splash our faces. Further out we can see the local boys easing themselves onto the crests of six, seven foot waves, out there in the surf.

By the time the first small breakers begin to reach us I have several streaks of anemone bristle stuck in each foot. These are only slightly poisonous, less than a bee sting but uncomfortable enough. I feel as if any big waves will toss me over and dash me on the coral. I am still having fun though, because I can almost touch it now, that fabled dream, of which the Beach Boys sang so sweetly. Kurt is having trouble with the board. In fact I am a good thirty feet ahead of him now and he looks to have stopped paddling. I am beginning to roll in the surf.

I am torn between the board and the open ocean. I sense Kurt’s defeat and I realise this means we are going back. The disappointment in my heart is an ache, like a sadness, but as we paddle (swim) home I recall that the waves will persist into tomorrow. I can come out on my own tomorrow. One man, one board. The pain in my heart is joined by the strain in my shoulders, but I feel neither as I think about the future.

Episode Two - Do not underestimate the power of street knowledge

The beach is three blocks from our place. At 2pm, as I weave casually through the traffic carrying my board, I suppose I am a conspicuous version of the common Hawaiian spectacle, a haole on his way to the beach. I have my hat, a rather beaten-up straw panama I bought for ten quid on Oxford Street, which I like to think makes me look jaunty and care free. I am wearing just my swim shorts and a rash guard, with flip-flops on my feet (known locally as slippahs). The board is uncomfortable and unwieldy in my arms.

I have to cross through a park before I get to the beach. The park is a sculptured landscape; there is a man-made stream with stuccoed bridges lined with trees, there are picnic tables in wooded stretches, and there are colonnades, where old men sit to talk story. The park is built for pleasure, and it opens onto the beach. Along the last stretch of grass live the Banyan trees; great elders which hang their wispy beards on the ground. Underneath live the transients, or what I would call hobos, or tramps, on tarpaulin beds and cooking on stoves.

The beach is a sudden brightness, the sand is so white it hurts the eyes. Today is a beautiful day. It is baking as I approach the lifeguard hut, thinking of introducing myself:

“Hello” I say. “How’s it going?”.

“Alright” says the lifeguard, “You got enough wax on that thing?”, he indicates my board. I have no idea whether or not I have enough wax on it.

“Yeah I think so" I say, "this is my first time out on a board”. I reckon that by saying this I will appeal to his better nature, and prompt him to take special care of me. It works! He makes an important point straight away:

“Well it’s OK out there, you see that cone on the reef?” I look out to where he points, in the glare I am a bit lost, “There, right in front of us”, he says. I spot the cone, about 150 yards from where Kurt and I had paddled out the day before.

“Oh yes”, I say.

“That’s where you should paddle out, it’s the deepest part of the reef”, I feel a spark of realisation as he points to the left where Kurt and I had paddled out the day before, “anywhere in that direction you’ll get cut up on the coral”. OK, I think to myself, so that explains what went wrong yesterday!

“Oh yeah, and then go out to the breakers?” I suggest,

“Yeah, you see where those guys are now, there it’s a good break today. Go straight out past the reef and then go around. Yeah it looks shoulder high so it should be OK”. I make as if to leave. “I don’t know if you’re regular or goofy” admits the lifeguard “but there’s a left and a right breaker out there”. I don’t immediately know what he’s talking about, but it seems important. Then from a dim memory of a Nintendo snowboarding game I recall that goofy means left-footed.

“Oh I’m regular”, I say

“OK well you should be OK”

“Thanks” I say, “catch you later”.

Spotting another cone about twenty yards up the beach, I realise that this whole thing has been organised already. The cone here indicates where the shore is least rocky, and the cone on the reef indicates where the reef is safest to cross. I am grateful to be in such a well organised place.

Paddling out today is a surprise. I can’t stay on the board. In the end I find that my legs are the problem, but if I grip the edge of the board with my feet, I am OK. I travel pretty fast on this thing, but I don’t know how deep in the water the front of the board should be and when I experiment I fall off. Before I cross the reef I stop and practise a bit more in the relative calm of the lagoon, sitting and lying on the board, paddling, falling off and climbing on.

I don’t catch any waves all afternoon. I watch the local boys having fun and I follow their movements in the waves. I feel a sense of togetherness with another haole out there today, clearly not catching anything, and clearly jealous of the local boys. Two children on boogie boards catch huge waves and travel at amazing speeds, laughing, as I look on. They can’t be any older than twelve or thirteen.

Washing down my board and catching my breath, sitting next to the park after two hours in the sea, I am exceedingly calm and happy to be in this beautiful place. Turning to the man washing down his board I ask:

“Catch anything out there?”

“Oh yeah it’s good out there today I caught plenty. How about you?” he asks.

“Oh well it’s my first time out on a board so I didn’t do so good” I admit.

“Yeah I saw you paddling around out there. You gotta get more on your board, your whole body on the board, you’re using it more like a boogie board”

“Yeah” I agree,

“Just get used to being on the board. Stay in the white water and let the waves take you so you know how it feels. Forget the waves, stay in the white water”

“OK cheers, thanks for the advice. I’m Pete by the way”

“Jeff”, he says, and waves me chuckas.

On the way home I realise I look pretty stupid in my straw hat, but that’s OK here. Hawaiians are used to stupid haole making mistakes in the waves and living indolent lives on the islands. The spirit of aloha is still alive and Hawaii is to be shared with all comers, I realise that as I respect the locals, I in turn gain their respect and their trust. Their advice is like invaluable trinkets, gathered on my quest to become a surf bum.

The Ala Wai Canal

2005-10-18T21:00:00.000+13:00

I was excited to learn that an historic canal runs near to our apartment at Ala Moana. It is called The Ala Wai Canal and was built in the 1920’s by Walter Dillingham’s Hawaiian Dredging Company. It is an impressive stretch of water which runs from Kapahulu Street, in the shadow of Diamond Head crater, along the back of Waikiki district, until it joins the ocean near to Ala Moana, a walk of about four miles.

Water is an interesting topic in the State of Hawaii, where over 60,000 people rely directly on rainwater for most of their water needs. Honolulu is served by groundwater wells sunk into volcanic rock in the mountainous ribs of the island, sole-source aquifers which contain minimal contamination from agricultural and industrial runoff. However groundwater in the valleys contain the highest concentrations of Bromacil (a pesticide) in the whole of the United States, and stream flow carries this and other contaminants, as well as silt, into the Ala Wai Canal.

Exploring the area, I saw lots of familiar things associated with canals I have seen in Europe, including a variety of the common Mallard. However this is not a canal in the sense that The Grand Union or the Kennet and Avon is a canal. The Ala Wai was built to drain the lowlands around Waikiki, not as a mode of transportation, and it is therefore much wider than British canals, it is also completely straight, and there is no sense at all of it being a natural feature of the island.

The native Hawaiian nobles had traditionally used the area to grow taro, and to farm fish in pools built of lava rock. The canal was dug by the Americans to drain these lowland swamps, allowing intensive settlement of the area around Waikiki. It appears that the same company that dug the canal also had several laws passed requiring local landowners to use landfill. The Hawaiians were persuaded that the canal would reduce the number of mosquitoes in the area, but it is clear that its construction was an act of colonialism, not environmentalism. The offshore reef is being damaged by the effluent from the canal, and a new breed of unnaturally large mantis shrimp was recently found inhabiting it.

Despite the impurities in the water, bird and plant life does survive along the edge of the canal. I saw plovers, herons, ducks, and cardinals, whom share the paths and boulevards by the water with quite a number of homeless or down-and-out folk. Hawaii’s homeless happen to suffer less with the weather than those I have known in England, but I understand that they have less assistance from the state. They come here to the canal, like I do, because it is a haven from the city streets.

This forgotten part of Honolulu is isolated from the traffic and from the tourists and like canals in England, feels very peaceful. Just as in England when you approach a bridge from the towpath, you are often led onto a road and the peace is disturbed by the rush of everyday life. Suddenly there is no public right of way, or you are forced to wait for a huge line of traffic to pass, and getting back down to the canal is badly sign-posted. Along the edge of the canal itself are the backs of allotments, schools, and golf courses. There are few bridges over the canal, and it must be a pain for locals whom must drive around.

All this made me realise how few citizens of Hawaii know the canal as anything more than a drainage ditch. It is amazing to me, how just six feet the other side of that wall, exists another world. It is notable that the only citizens enjoying it, bar the odd runner and the outrigger canoe clubs, are the poorest and most vulnerable ones.

2005-10-11T09:00:00.000+13:00

My very first weekend here with Ellen and we enjoyed hosting our very first visitor to Alder Street. A friend of Ellen's visiting from New Zealand who was in Hawaii on holiday happened to have a few spare days to spend with us. On Saturday we made use of her hire-car, a Chrysler convertible, to explore the island. We also enjoyed her excellent CD collection, and her taste for Margueritas. So thank you Heather for coming to stay! Heather took this photo on our lazy Sunday at Ala Moana Beach Park. She has now gone back to New York to record an album with her band The Brunettes.

A day trip from Honolulu

A two-hour drive from Honolulu along the Pali Highway and over the Wai'anae Mountains brought us to the windward shores of Kailua and Waimanalo on the eastern edge of O'ahu. These beaches are long and sandy. Fringed with palm trees and with the precipitous pali of the mountains as a backdrop, this south-eastern part of the island is the most Hawaii-looking part I have seen so far.

We saw evidence of the most recent volcanic activity on this particular island. The craters are still clearly visible, and are thankfully all ex-smokers, but their great sheets of volcanic rock are still stratified along the coast and the wind has cut them down into terraces. Ofcourse the ocean is also eroding these sheets, and in places we saw the foam burst up in a great geyser through a blow hole, as waves crashed in from below.

The windward side of the island is home to some well-known danger spots such as Sandy Beach, where the surf will pick you up and dash you on the rocks. So we didn't go there. Instead we went to Kailua because I knew from my previous trip to Hawaii that it's a sheltered spot. Unfortunately the brisk East-North-Easterly trade winds made it too windy for the beach, but the excellent surf allowed us some body surfing for a while. This is where you swim along the crest of a wave and then let it take you, using your body like a board to surf down the wave. It took some practise, and I took some tumbles in the sand.

On our way home we visited the Diamond Head Grill and bought takeaway flame grilled ahi and a steak burger. I drank a soda float, which consists of a pint of coke with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. For afters we visited Leonard's bakery and bought masaladas.