Thursday, November 21, 2002
Well, it finally didn't work out - to write something every day. Anyway, I'm back home now, and in short: it was cold and wet. So much so that I found it not much fun to continue travelling. And catching a cold didn't help, of course. But I prepared a page of photographs I've taken recently, most of them on my trip. Here is my new page with black & white photographs of New Zealand (Aotearoa - the land of the long white cloud!)
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Day 5 - 7Not so much to report. There is one connecting theme: rain! Rain up at the Fox Glacier, down at Okarito and Hokitika. A sunny break when crossing the mountains into Canterbury, but there as well as Christchurch was raining. So, especially on Monday I didn't feel too well, it was cold, wet and miserable! However Tuesday looked so much better. Christchurch has a wonderful Arts Centre, just beside a wonderful and large park! So, I'm just enjoying what I can in the city, before leaving again for some more rural areas!
Sunday, November 10, 2002
Day 4Saturday. I decided to declare this a "Day of Rest"! I woke up to the sound of heavy rain dropping onto the roof. It was cool, grey, damp... What more would someone want to do than curl up somewhere before the fire. Well, I went for a hearty breakfast, and proceeded to read the newspaper. Most of the afternoon I just relaxed, watching a movie. Later the rain subsided a bit and I went for a short forest walk. I truely relaxing day!
Day 3Friday. I really intended to post some news more frequently. But that day I went up to Franz Josef, and the phonelines up there are so bad that there was just no chance to connect to the internet and do some serious work. Had to forget about the pictures, too! will post them when I can plug my own laptop back into the net, at some reasonable cost... The day started with a leisurely walk at the beach. It was rather grey. Relatively soon I drove off, South, towards the glaciers. I walked all the way up to Franz Josef, named after an Austrian Emperor. It was quite good. I went up to the very edge of the ice to take some photographs. When it started to rain, I decided to turn back. Slowly I realized how powerful the place is. To the left is spirit of the Tasman Sea, to the right the mighty mountains. Above me the glaciers, the eternal ice - and below me the fire spirits of the continental faultlines. Churning, and earthquakes waiting to happen....
Thursday, November 07, 2002
Day 2At first it looked like the day was going to be the same as the previous day. But driving out towards the lighthouse at Cape Foulwind I already saw a patch of blue. And indeed, soon the sun was out, though heavy and dark clouds were approaching from the south. After taking some photographs of a nice tree, I drove on to visit the seal colony close by. When I arrived there were already lots of people gathered there, and indeed there were dozens of seals playing and drooling around on the rocks. I started to take a couple of photographs, and then the terrible thing happened: the battery of my digital camera run out - just flashing a red text requesting a replacement. And to my horror also the replacement battery was empty! What a bummer! Well, then I just decided to drive on towards Greymouth. After a short shower the sun persisted. So, I enjoyed the coast, the breaking waves and the wild forest that reaches down to the beach. There are some quite amazing rock formations, and the pancake rocks and the blowhole at Punakaiki are just amazing. In Greymouth I was greeted as the bringer of sunshine (apparently the first one since a week at least...). Hokitika is still sunny as we speak ....
Day 1I'm on the road again, travelling the South Island of New Zealand. With my new car, I intend to see a little bit more of the country I will be spending time in. The first day started late, had to do some packing and internet communications first before I could hit the road. When I left Golden Bay, over Takaka Hill towards Motueka, the sky was getting darker and darker, and soon enough it was raining. The grey and heavy clouds stayed with me the whole way to Westport, at the west coast. Clouds, rain, and all the mountains in the interior just disappeared somewhere white....
Sunday, November 03, 2002
Yesterday I was at a tree-planting event. At a small project of riparian restoration a fairly large group of volunteers planted about 300 trees. It was an excellent occassion to also test a new product, weedcrete - basically made up of chewed up recycled paper and water. The purpose of applying weedcrete is to supress the grass around the newly planted tree to prevent it from being overgrown. 
At the same time I was also witness to a procedure which at first I found rather strange: electro-fishing. Here, electrical shocks are sent through the water, with the purpose of incapacitating the muscle functions of the fish which are in this area. The fish were caught for study purposes - mainly to show them to the many small children that were present, and then they were let go, unharmed!
Archives of older postings
|
