80 More Minutes at AMI Field - All-Blacks vs. Italy

This post is a little late in coming...apologies.

On Saturday, we went to the All-Blacks game. Christchurch Metro conveniently offered a special bus service to make it easy to get to and from the game. We took advantage of this service due to the special circumstances surrounding our vehicle. Before going to the game, I expected a certain level of fervor from the fans but unfortunately my expectations were disappointed. As the game was not expected to be a close one...no one was super pumped. Nevertheless, it was still a good time.

We dressed in black and most of us used facepaint to decorate ourselves (Some more than others). I had one great moment walking to the game, while waiting for the others to arrive at our arranged meeting point. An elderly gentleman approached me and said, "You must be a Canterbury All-Blacks fan." I guess he spotted my red & black Crusader colours scarf and black all-blacks cap. I felt very authentic...

Apparently it wasn't a very good game for the All-Blacks yet they still won 26-6. It was definitely a good time.

"Dos Gringos" At "Dux De Lux"

So, Friday night we had a Trimble New Zealand Social Club gathering ("work party") at Dux De Lux in downtown Christchurch. The advertising promised a Midwinter Mexican Festival featuring Dos Gringos and some tasty mexican food treats. Never having been at a company with more than 5 employees, I was not sure what to expect.

Arriving on time at 7:30, we were among the first to arrive (mostly because we were looking for an early crack at the free food which unfortunately did not appear until quite a bit later). After about an hour of forced conversation and not so much fun (which was not entirely worthless, but still very frustrating) Dos Gringos arrived. It was a relief to not have to try to talk to any more people that I did not know well.

Dos Gringos was definitely not what I expected, although if I'd taken a look at their website before going I might have had a better idea of what was about to happen. They promise to be "more fun than a chihuahua down your pants" which to me does not seem to be a very high bar. Turns out that Dos Gringos was a pair of middle-aged brothers from Westport NZ who wear fake moustaches, sombreros, and ill-fitting stereotypical Mexican clothing and perform a comedy act. They were uncouth, insulting, ridiculous, and hilarious. I greatly enjoyed although I was quite fearful of them choosing me to participate...

A good evening of learning about how things work at companies...

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 10: Glacial Adventures

This past weekend was a very eventful one. I think that it is best if I write one very long post detailing what happened.

This past weekend, we planned to visit the Westland, in particular Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The plan at the beginning of the weekend was to go to Fox Glacier on Saturday, and on Sunday climb up Mt. Fox, a smallish mountain (~1300m above sea level) beside the glacier.

On Friday after work we headed out on the ~5hour drive to Franz Josef from Christchurch. Everything went well and we arrived at about 11pm, got to our rooms and slept soundly until morning.


View Larger Map
The next morning we awoke bright and early to head off to Fox Glacier for the day. We had booked a day of Ice Climbing and guided walks on the glacier itself and needed to get to Fox Glacier by 8:00am. Arriving in Fox Glacier, we entered the glacier tours place, were given our gear, and started packing up for the day ahead.
Here is a list of the gear we took with us for the day

One Pair Sturdy Ice Climbing Shoes, including warm liner and plastic outer layer

One Pair Crampons, complete with all the spikiness one could want

One Pair thick leather gloves

One Ice Multi-tool, fulfilling many purposes as pick, walking stick etc.

Ropes

Anchor Pins

Many layers of clothing

Gaters

Eye Protection

Helmet

Lunch for the day

Here is a picture of my fully-packed bag for the day.

We headed out towards the glacier, first by bus up the road to the car park, and then on foot for about a 1.5 hour walk. Along the way, I learned many things about glaciers from Graham, one of two guides for our group of 8. He was very friendly, helpful, and willing to answer all of my questions about glaciation and geology in the region. He was also quite old, which made him all the more charming. I enjoyed his playful banter and his kind-hearted yet very serious warnings about the dangers of glaciers.

We equipped our crampons and wandered out onto the glacier for a lesson in walking on ice. There are two different techniques for walking on ice, the French Technique and the German Technique. We learned a little of the French technique including the "Donald Duck", the "Crab" and the "Waddle." This was probably my favourite part of the day. I now feel like I could walk around on a glacier quite successfully on my own with minimal danger. This picture shows us doing the "Donald Duck." You can see Graham on the left side.

After being comfortable on the ice in our crampons, we began to learn to climb and belay on the ice. The key part of ice climbing is to use the front spikes on your crampons to support most of your weight and push you up the cliff. The arms and ice picks are used mostly for holding your bodyweight over-top of your feet. I found ice-climbing to be quite a bit easier than rock climbing because it was possible to create a foot or pick-hold wherever one was needed. More difficult was when I attempted to climb without picks. I ended up scraping up my hands quite a bit attempting this but I did make it to the top first with one pick and then with none.

I should also mention that for this day our Group of Seven gained an eighth member. 'G' from New Jersey joined us for our ice climbing day and went out for supper with us afterwards. She was quite friendly and we had some good times.

Saturday night, we headed back to our hostel. While exploring the common area I discovered a young dutch couple playing Settlers in Dutch! It was a joyous meeting and we played a round together. To be honest, their Settlers skills were a little weak, especially in the initial placement of their first settlements. I still enjoyed the game and enjoyed meeting and talking with them. Andres and Esther are going to be living in Auckland for the next 6 months studying and working.

So ended an eventful Saturday to be followed by an even busier Sunday.

Sunday morning, we again woke up early to head out for a day of hiking at Mt Fox. We headed out on the road from Franz Josef to Fox Glacier in anticipation of a day of hard work and good times. I was driving the car.

As we were driving along the gravel road, we hit a patch of black ice and I was left helplessly twiddling the steering wheel and and pumping the brakes as we slowly slid into the hillside beside the road. It was a harrowing and frustrating experience as I knew a couple seconds before impact what was going to happen. We bounced off the cliff and ended up in the middle of the road before the car came to a stop. Thankfully, none of us were hurt and we all walked away from the accident. For this I am grateful to God. The car, our trusty Subaru, was unfortunately wrecked beyond repair. It had seen us safely through many journeys and had now seen us safely through its last journey. It was towed to Fox Glacier and will be sold to an auto wrecker.

After completing our dealings with the police, the health care workers, and the tow truck, we were left in a quandary. How were we to get home? We borrowed a cellphone from a Welshman named Daniel and texted (how is this ever considered a word) 'J' who owns our only cellphone and had not come with us on this trip. He was with 'N' & 'B' who had recently departed for home in the other car. Fortunately, they got our message and came back to Franz Josef to pick us up. This still left a problem as there is only space for 5 people in one car and there were 7 of us. 'I' and I stayed behind while 'N', 'B', 'JW', 'JC', and 'M' headed home in the vehicle. 'I' and I planned to take a bus but unfortunately the earliest bus back to Christchurch left Monday morning at 9:15. We decided to take advantage of the situation we were in and headed towards Franz Josef Glacier on foot.

After walking 4km down the road we discovered a track leading off to the left of the glacier that offered many delights. It was fairly long but we embarked in hopes of finishing before dark. The trail was wonderful, with rocks, trees, and spectacular view in abundance. It also included a few rather interesting man-made features including some swinging bridges and a staircase that was built attached to the face of a cliff. Here is a picture of 'I' on this staircase.

This hike was probably the highlight of my weekend partly because it was awesome and partly because it came right after such a depressing and frustrating moment. It was great to be able to follow it up with a long and exhausting hike. We walked back to Franz Josef and spent another entertaining night in the hostel. Sunday evening we met a sister and brother pair from St. Louis. They were great fun and we had a good time joking and chatting. Exhausted, I fell asleep until morning.

Monday morning we began the long bus trip home at 9:15 in front of the YHA in Franz Josef. By this time, we were really feeling the effects of the accident the day before and my neck was incredibly sore whenever I moved. Curiously, there was no pain until I had slept for the night. There is no bus direct from Franz Josef to Christchurch so we were forced to first travel from Franz Josef to Greymouth and then from Greymouth to Christchurch. The bus was fairly comfortable as it was mostly empty and 'I' and I were each able to take two seats at the back of the bus. The bus traveled over Arthur's Pass and there were some great views to be seen for the parts of the journey I was awake for.

From Drop Box

We arrived back in Christchurch around 5:30pm and asked the bus driver to stop as soon as we had a clear idea of where we were. From there, we walked home, got into the house and crashed hard. The weekend had absolutely sapped my reserves of energy.

Reflecting back, there were some incredible highs and lows to the weekend. I feel like I experienced a full range of emotions from joy and excitement to sadness and longing for safety and home.

Grocery Shopping

In mundane post number two I have chosen the topic (as suggested by my sister) of grocery shopping.

Grocery shopping is something I do about once a week, generally on Monday or Tuesday. I spend about 60-70 NZD each week. There are two different grocery stores that I frequent. The first, Pak'n'Save is about a 5 minute walk away at the Fairfield Mall. It's a store along the lines of a Food Basics, with little in the way of amenities. It has fairly cheap prices and it's pretty easy to find things in the store. The second option is Countdown. It's a little bigger than Pak'n'Save and has a larger selection of goods. It's also more polished and has more the feel of a Zehrs or Sobeys. I prefer to shop at Countdown when possible but it's a little further away, about 7-8 minutes drive.

When I go grocery shopping I generally try to plan my meals for the week ahead of time. I was quite religious about this at first and I have very detailed plans saved in a spreadsheet for the first four weeks. Since then, I've become a little more free-flowing and flexible in my meal-making.

Grocery stores here are much the same as in Canada with a few notable exceptions.
1. There is alcohol in vast quantities available at the grocery store.
2. Eggs are not refrigerated. This made it very difficult to find the eggs the first time I went to the grocery store.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 9: Skiing Mt Hutt

This past Saturday, we headed out to Mt Hutt for some downhill skiing. It was, in short, the best downhill skiing I've ever partaken in despite only a few of the many runs being open.

The day began driving through green fields, with trees and hedges all around, we drove towards the mountain peaks in the distance. As they approached, they slowly grew until they filled the entire horizon. We turned off the highway and up the Mt Hutt access road. This is a very steep road that winds upwards about 1300m over 15km. The speed limit is 40km/h, simply because you can't really go much faster.

Arriving at the chalet, we rented skis and snowboards and headed out onto the slopes for the day. We started at 9:30 and went straight through until the hill closed at 4:00pm. There is no night skiing as there are no lights on the hills. Taking the lift up the hill was a remarkable time. At the top, you could look out, over the snowy ski hill, down the rolling brown hills beneath to green fields at the bottom. Very different from skiing in Canada. Another incredible part was that the ski runs actually started at the very peak of the mountain.

These were by far the longest ski runs that I have ever been on. Even on my first run down the hill, my legs were quite sore by the time I reached the bottom. This was great and I'm definitely looking forward to going back when more runs are open, including the lower slopes of the hills. Some of the termini of the runs are so far from the top that there are buses rather than lifts to take you back up to the chalet.

Later in the day, clouds rolled in and we were quite literally skiing in the clouds. This would have been quite frightening if we didn't know the hill fairly well by this point. Visibility was greatly reduced and there were many people falling all over the hill. I took one quite big tumble myself, losing one ski. It was a good day.

Grace Vineyard

This Sunday evening, I went to Grace Vineyard, a church that a bunch of the guys I've been playing basketball with go to. I found this church quite challenging to my personal faith and was quite intrigued by their style of worship and teaching. The teaching was very anecdotal with a great emphasis on personal testimonial and personal experience with God. Not everything that was being said completely meshed with what I believe, but I think it was quite a worthwhile experience. I think that I will return when I am able to on Sunday evenings. Partially because it is a challenging experience, and partially because it is nice to go to a church and recognize and have people greet me.

A little more about the Vineyard Movement [Wikipedia]. Another post about this past weekend is upcoming.

Garbage Collection

So...I promised some posts about mundane things to my sister...so we will begin here, with garbage collection. And no, I'm not talking about Java or any other managed programming language. I'm talking about the kind of garbage collection that happens with a truck and is messy and dirty.

Here in Christchurch, we have a rather complicated system for sorting and removal of garbage. All household waste must be sorted into three categories. The Green category includes all organic waste, meat remains, vegetable peelings, bread, basically anything that will rot. Green garbage is collected each week and your week's green garbage must fit into a container about 3 feet by 1 foot by 1 foot. Yellow is the recycling, generally the same stuff can be recycled here as in Canada, with the noted exception that only plastics number 1 and 2 can be recycled. It is collected fortnightly and has by far the largest container. Probably 2 feet by 3 feet by 4.5 feet. Finally Red is used for anything else that is left...Red is for rubbish, and is collected fortnightly. The red container size is in between the other two.

I think it's a pretty good system, all things considered.

A Thief in the Night

But not the good kind of thief in the night. The bad kind. The kind that takes your stuff and runs off into the night.

Last night when I was sleeping, I was awoken around 5:30am by a shout of "someone stole B's wallet." Turns out that that was not the only thing that was missing. My own wallet, keys, iPod, camera and headphones had been taken by a very audacious tar (some of you may understand this reference).

Sometime between 4:30 and 5:30, a female intruder of average height with black hair broke into our house, came into my room and removed these items directly from my bedside table. She must have been within 2 feet of my head within my room. As an illustration, here is a picture. The red square indicates the location of my things that were taken while my bed is obviously where I sleep.


After coming into my room, the intruder left and went to N & B's room. Fortunately, they woke up before the thief was able to take everything from their room. They woke, and the thief scarpered. We called the police, not really expecting much, but figuring it was the thing that should be done. They came, we reported the missing items and filed a report.

I have cancelled my credit card and will notify the Canadian and Ontario governments tomorrow about the missing documents.

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires"
-- James 1:19-20

Lazing on a Sunday (and Saturday) Afternoon

Well, this was a lazy weekend indeed. We decided not to travel anywhere to give our bodies and pocketbooks (does anyone still use pocketbooks? I'm not even sure what a pocketbook is exactly?) a break. I feel it was a good choice. On Saturday, I read most of a book and played some computer games with IN. It was a good time.

I went to church this morning (Sunday) at Riccarton Baptist. I chose this church for two reasons. One, it is very close by (which I discovered through Google Maps), and two, their website actually contained useful information about when the service was. The church was a little more evangelical/pentecostal than my usual standard but it was still great to get a chance to go. I got to sing (although not hymns) and afterwards I talked to the pastor a little bit. I told him that I probably wouldn't be able to make it out on Sundays, so he said there was a small group that meets on Mondays and a music thing on Thursdays. I hope to get involved with one of those (he promised to email me details).

The other 'big' thing I did this weekend was cook. This evening for supper I made a roast chicken. It was quite excellent and will yield a wonderful soup for the week to come. I also baked bread yesterday and some muffins today.

My sister asked me to post about some more mundane aspects of life so look for that later this week.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 8: Finally Driving By Day

On Monday, we decided the best use of our time would be to actually drive through the Mountains during the day time. We had driven three times through the mountains at night before. It was a great decision! There was so much spectacular scenery I had trouble not stopping every 5 minutes to look at things. We never would have got home that way.

The most spectacular part of the drive was the section that was beside Lake Wakatipu, between Te Anau and Queenstown. The lake was a deep blue colour, with mountains rising on the opposite shore to snow-capped peaks. I was overwhelmed by the beauty.

For lunch, we stopped at a wonderful little cafe in Old Cromwell that was in an old stone grain store. They sold wonderful sandwiches including the Bacon & Egg Buttie which was loaded with bacon.

I absolutely love driving here in New Zealand during the day. It's the best way to see the country.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 7: Fiordlands - Doubtful Sound

After a hectic Saturday driving to Milford we decided to kick back and relax on Sunday with a cruise on Doubtful Sound, the less accessible, larger, and less popular sound. Driving to Manapouri from Te Anau, it was raining and sunny at the same time, and there was a powerful rainbow. It was an excellent start to the day.

Our cruise was led by Real Journeys and it was quite excellent. Starting from Manapouri, we crossed the lake on board the Fiordland Explorer ending up at the West Arm. It rained most of the way across the lake so the view was not so spectacular. Nevertheless, I spent most of the trip up on top of the boat looking around and exploring the sights. It was very cold up there so I was bundled up with my hat, gloves, toque, hoodie and all the other scraps of clothing I'd brought with me. Simultaneously, there was a middle-aged kiwi man there with his daughter/grand-daughter who was wearing shorts. This man impressed me so I snapped a picture of him...clandestinely of course.

After arriving in West Arm we boarded a bus to take us up and over the Wilmot Pass. Our bus driver's name was Alex and he had some wonderful quotations. My favourite went something like this: "Our mountains are like naked middle-aged people. Better with a few clothes on." He was referring to the fact that he liked the look of the mountains better when there were few clouds around the tips. At this point it was still quite cloudy but the weather cleared up nicely later in the day. At the top of the pass, we got our first look at Doubtful Sound.

After descending the pass, we got onto the Fiordland Explorer for our trip around Doubtful Sound. This boat had sails and engines...and only a single crew member responsible for them. The captain was able to control everything from a single piece of custom software. It was pretty awesome. Also awesome was that you could walk into the bridge and talk to the captain about where the ship was (visible by GNSS), and look at charts and maps of the Sound. There were, of course, spectacular views of the Sound for the duration of our time floating on it. Here is one representative photo that can't really capture the true beauty of the environment.

After we had turned around to head back towards Deep Cove, we encountered a pod of dolphins. This group of about 57 dolphins lives in the Sound year round. They seemed to really enjoy playing in the wake of the boat. The dolphins were definitely the highlight of my day.

On the way back to Manapouri, we stopped at the Manapouri power station. For most, this probably wasn't the most interesting experience but I found it to be incredible. This power station was built using the natural grade of the land instead of building a dam. It is inside underground chamber with a 2km long spiraling road access tunnel. Super cool.

The cruise then took as back to Manapouri and we drove back to Te Anau. We spent a quiet evening in the hostel playing games and reading.

From the Mountains to the Sky Act 6: Fiordlands - Milford Road

It was the Queen's Birthday long weekend here in New Zealand so we decided to go for a long trip to the Fiordlands minus JC and IN who had gone to Auckland for the weekend. Leaving Friday at 4:00 we arrived in Te Anau at 12:15 Saturday morning...quite a trip. The map below shows our travel for the whole weekend.


View Larger Map
In Te Anau, we stayed at the YHA Te Anau, which is by far the best hostel yet. It was spacious, clean, and filled with friendly people. Definitely worth the low price of admission.

Saturday morning, we left to drive the Milford Road. This drive is famed as one of the most beautiful highways in the world and it truly was spectacular. We stopped at all of the lookouts and natural attractions along the way including the Mirror Lakes...

Lake Gunn...

and The Chasm (no picture available).

Along the route, we also stopped to tramp up to Key Summit, a small peak only 945m above sea level...I say only but it was quite a long way up. The view from the top was gorgeous. This track was probably my favourite part of the entire weekend. I wish that the rest of the group was a little more interested in hiking (although JW seems to have caught the bug). Here is two pictures from the top of the mountain.


After Key Summit, we continued along the road, passing through the Homer Tunnel and descending towards Milford Sound. The Homer Tunnel is a 1km long unlit tunnel passing through the Homer saddle down towards the sound at a gradient of 1 in 10. Quite steep. Arriving in Milford, I was surprised to find it quite empty of people. It is supposed to be a top tourist destination. I suppose that it is wintertime here in NZ, which makes it less busy. We didn't go on a cruise in the sound, but did have a good time playing on the beach and climbing some trees.

Returning to Te Anau, we went out for dinner at the Red Stripe Cafe, recommended by Lonely Planet. This restaurant turned out to be quite upscale and we were left surrounded by a large number of wealthy middle-aged people enjoying our meals. I tried the southern delicacy of Pork Belly. It was rather curious with the skin still attached but quite tasty. Afterwards, we went to bed in preparation for a busy Sunday.

Welcome to June

So, one month has passed since my arrival here in New Zealand. I thought I would sum up the first month with some lists... [CAVEAT: These lists were created on the spot with little forethought. They will be very incomplete.]

Things I like about New Zealand

• The beauty of creation that abounds around me everywhere I go
  
• Listening to people talk
• Learning new things about living on my own (not in residence/at home)
• Cooking my own food
• Tramping (hiking)
• Tuesday night basketball (low skill, but high fun)
• Getting to know a great group of people that I work/live/travel with
  

Things I don't like about New Zealand

• Separate Faucets for hot and cold water...what a ridiculous way of doing things
• Some issues with housing
• Restrictive Internet (see line above)

Things I miss about home

• Intramural Sports
• Singing Hymns
• Singing A Capella music
• Communities of Faith
• Too many people to list...

Some posts about this weekend are upcoming...