Well, here is a proper ad for the London bash this week...get there kids!
Saturday, 12 February 2011
readings, film/video and sound
Well, here is a proper ad for the London bash this week...get there kids!
Thursday, 10 February 2011
North West South Island
Hello again,
well Neil and me headed swiftly up the west coast (dropping in at Franz Joseph overnight, where we went to say hi to the glacier briefly and dropped in for 30 mins at Punakaiki to pay our respects to the pancake rocks and the beautiful karst scenery) to Nelson...sun and heat the whole time!
In Nelson we relaxed and made plans for our Abel Tasman mission. This involved bussing up to Takaka, where we stayed at a rather chilled hostel (in a rather chilled town) and went to Pupu springs and just relaxed in the hostel talking with the various guests...all good fun. The next day we bussed to the northern end of the Abel Tasman Coast Track (Wainui Bay) and started our tramp. It was grey and had been raining and windy the previous night, but pretty soon the sun was blazing again! We pitched our tents the first night at Anapai Bay, where we had the beach pretty much for ourselves...one other fella we didn't really see and an inquistive weka. Beautiful sandy beaches all through the park were sampled frequently and seeing as I was walking in my swim shorts and sandles, any beach I came to had me in it within about 10 seconds!
Second evening was spent at Onetahuti Bay, where there were about 5 other tents. We helped some folk with their crossword and relaxed (what else is there to do!) before heading south the next day towards Te Pukatea Bay, where we spent two days. This walk was a right mission and the sea was so needed when we eventually stumbled into Anchorage. Needless to say (or maybe not), I jumped straight into the sea. Best Swim Ever!!
We then had a day to kill in the Te Pukatea and what better way to spend it by walking 12.5km to Cleopatra's Pools. I goofed about on the rocks for a bit, then we headed home to Te Pukatea to chat to a cool Dutch couple from Tilburg who were surprised I'd been to there town (and even more surprised at my tale of my mission there!). Next morning we were up early to finish the walk and arrived at Marahau and our home for the next night (Old McDonald's Farm). This was an awesome big farm which had Llamas amoungst your normal farm animals...chickens and ducks (well one) walking about and we were kindly woken up at 6 or summat by the cockerel! I also got up in the middle of the night for a bit of star gazing...not as impressive as down in Fiordland, but still milky way-tastic.
We had a slow start in the morning and wandered/wondered around Marahau before getting our bus back to Nelson. There we had a relax and chatted with some german fella before Neil's mate Frog tipped up and took us to some of Nelsons salubrious and not-so-salubrious establishments. Enough said about that.
Next day we headed to Christchurch where we are now. Neil heads home tomorrow and I'll hang out here for a couple of days before heading to Dunedin for a bit (to see Melvins/High On Fire..might of mentioned that before...). Should be fun and you'll all no doubt hear about it!.
Anyway, time for a small ad break before entrancing you all with a few more photos (mainly taken by Neil as my camera was sacrificed to the gods of Fiordland on the dusky...well, it got very wet and now works no more. arse. did I mention it already? oh well. I should get another in the coming days, so fear not, there should be photos to accompany my irritating drivel!)
Also, check out the following link for interest and especially if you are near London...
http://www.richardsides.com/who_is_the_master.html
I've not investigated it myself, but have it on good authority that you can see some films from a good buddy of mine from Sheffield....cheers! (and having just looked at the link....some readings from another good buddy. wish I was there!)
well Neil and me headed swiftly up the west coast (dropping in at Franz Joseph overnight, where we went to say hi to the glacier briefly and dropped in for 30 mins at Punakaiki to pay our respects to the pancake rocks and the beautiful karst scenery) to Nelson...sun and heat the whole time!
In Nelson we relaxed and made plans for our Abel Tasman mission. This involved bussing up to Takaka, where we stayed at a rather chilled hostel (in a rather chilled town) and went to Pupu springs and just relaxed in the hostel talking with the various guests...all good fun. The next day we bussed to the northern end of the Abel Tasman Coast Track (Wainui Bay) and started our tramp. It was grey and had been raining and windy the previous night, but pretty soon the sun was blazing again! We pitched our tents the first night at Anapai Bay, where we had the beach pretty much for ourselves...one other fella we didn't really see and an inquistive weka. Beautiful sandy beaches all through the park were sampled frequently and seeing as I was walking in my swim shorts and sandles, any beach I came to had me in it within about 10 seconds!
Second evening was spent at Onetahuti Bay, where there were about 5 other tents. We helped some folk with their crossword and relaxed (what else is there to do!) before heading south the next day towards Te Pukatea Bay, where we spent two days. This walk was a right mission and the sea was so needed when we eventually stumbled into Anchorage. Needless to say (or maybe not), I jumped straight into the sea. Best Swim Ever!!
We then had a day to kill in the Te Pukatea and what better way to spend it by walking 12.5km to Cleopatra's Pools. I goofed about on the rocks for a bit, then we headed home to Te Pukatea to chat to a cool Dutch couple from Tilburg who were surprised I'd been to there town (and even more surprised at my tale of my mission there!). Next morning we were up early to finish the walk and arrived at Marahau and our home for the next night (Old McDonald's Farm). This was an awesome big farm which had Llamas amoungst your normal farm animals...chickens and ducks (well one) walking about and we were kindly woken up at 6 or summat by the cockerel! I also got up in the middle of the night for a bit of star gazing...not as impressive as down in Fiordland, but still milky way-tastic.
We had a slow start in the morning and wandered/wondered around Marahau before getting our bus back to Nelson. There we had a relax and chatted with some german fella before Neil's mate Frog tipped up and took us to some of Nelsons salubrious and not-so-salubrious establishments. Enough said about that.
Next day we headed to Christchurch where we are now. Neil heads home tomorrow and I'll hang out here for a couple of days before heading to Dunedin for a bit (to see Melvins/High On Fire..might of mentioned that before...). Should be fun and you'll all no doubt hear about it!.
Anyway, time for a small ad break before entrancing you all with a few more photos (mainly taken by Neil as my camera was sacrificed to the gods of Fiordland on the dusky...well, it got very wet and now works no more. arse. did I mention it already? oh well. I should get another in the coming days, so fear not, there should be photos to accompany my irritating drivel!)
Also, check out the following link for interest and especially if you are near London...
http://www.richardsides.com/who_is_the_master.html
I've not investigated it myself, but have it on good authority that you can see some films from a good buddy of mine from Sheffield....cheers! (and having just looked at the link....some readings from another good buddy. wish I was there!)
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| antipodean city twitching (for Jim Clarke) |
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| on our way up the west coast of south island |
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| new zealand wood pigeon (by way of apology to Jim Clarke) |
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| franz josef glacier |
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| pancake rocks at punakaiki |
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| at abel tasman coastal track..just another beach. there's a whole lot of beaches!!! |
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| anapai bay..our home for the first night of the tramp |
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| filthy water...someone call the environment agency! |
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| te pukatea bay...our home for nights 3 and 4. pretty rubbish eh? |
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| te pukatea sunrise!! |
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| NEW SUUUUUUUN!!! (for jerry) |
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| kaikora beach |
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Dusky and beyond!
| OK, so it's been a while, but then I'm here doing stuff and not sitting in front of my computer, which is the point right?! Anyway, since my last update, I have flown down to Queenstown to spend a few days with my brother Joe, which was cool (with his sound housemates). We took a walk on the Glenorchy side of town as a brief train for the Dusky Track walk (more on that in a bit...) called the Mt Crichton loop (at least I think that's how it is spelt!). Then I hitched down to Te Anau to meet up with my good buddy Neil. We stayed there for about 3 days preparing for the Dusky with supplies, hut tickets, track transport, hiring an emergency beacon (!) and checking the weather forecasts. It was a lovely sunny time in Te Anau, but the weather needed checking, cos the Dusky Track is in Fiordland and let us just say that this area is aptly named. It (on average) rains 280 days of the year, at about 8 metres of rain in a year...one of the wettest places in the world I'm told and as such is prime rain forest. So, last monday, me, Neil and Joe (who drove down from Queenstown on Sunday) headed to the track. We met up with the trailhead transport at Clifden Corner (middle of nowhere and home to a suspension bridge built to the same specifications as the suspension bridge by the same name (or similar name..can't remember) in Bristol. It's a lot smaller mind. Anyway, that useless fact aside, here the transport to the start of the walk began and we met some fellow trampers (Kiwi term for walkers in the great outdoors...and in Germany as advised by the very knowledgable Michael from Germany!) These included a good lad from Norway that we ended up walking the track with by the name of Helge. So, after about 45 mins drive (from the middle of nowhere to the middler of nowhere) and then a 45 minute boat ride over Lake Hauroko (deepest lake in NZ at about 480 m), we were at the track head and being attacked by sandflies. These are kinda like midges and damned annoying. The Maori story is that after the land was created, it was decided the land was too perfect and so the Maori god stuck a load of sandflies there to make it less appealing to us humans. As a result the Fiordland National Park exists and is estimated as "fucking huge" by Joe and Neil and more accurately by Wikipedia as about 12, 500 km sq. Well, it was 6 days of mud essentially. We covered 3 major valley systems and 2 mountain passes and got very (understatement) tired, wet and muddy. It was sunny for the first day, the rain the rest of the time, but to be honest that was perfect (cos it's a rainforest!). The path wasn't so much a path, as an indicated direction to go through pristine rainforest, mud pits, across streams, three-wire bridges, a mountain range, insanely steep ascents and descents. Often the path was a stream, or maybe the stream was the path?? Streams had to be waded across of which the deepest was just under waist height. Mudpits (or just a very muddy path) could either be to the top of our soles, or anywhere up to our waists and we didn't know which until it was too late! At the start of the tramp we took a fair amount of photos and tried so hard to avoid the mud, but a couple of days later you realised this was far more hassle than it was worth! One spectacular night I woke everyone up to look at the stars cos it was a clear night (despite raining the previous and next day) and the stars were insane...everyone agreed it was the clearest anyone of us had seen. Helge took some great photos of the sky with a 30 second exposure which may be visible here at some point (or check out my facebook maybe....Dav Ros). We saw the milky way really clearly, as well as the large and small Magellanic Clouds (I think this is the right name) I could rant on for ages about this, and probably will to some of you when I see you, but in the meantime, the photos will have to do. We got back to Queenstown yesterday and can just about walk again (!) and tomorrow me and Neil get a coach up north to Abel Tasman National Park for some relaxing and more battle against the sandflies!!! Photos 1 to 9 are by me, the next by Neil (that wasn't even very deep!...and of course my feet were soaked by then) and the rest are Helge's...plus I'm rushing and this is my last chance to post for a few days, so labels will be put on anon and apologies for the blurry stars....gotta go eat!!!
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| clear water by Helge |
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| happy Joe by Helge |
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| backwoods hip hop style a la stockton |
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| Queenstown |
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| Lake Te Anau |
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| Lake Hauroko |
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| from Lake Hauroko |
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| on the dusky |
Sunday, 16 January 2011
heading south
Well, it's been a relaxing couple of weeks or so in Auckland. and it's been damn hot! but relaxing and lush as expected. We went up north to Goat Island last week which was super mellow. A lot of time spent reading around the campsite, which had beautiful views, as well as snorkelling in the lovely clear water (and using my bro's underwater camera which was pretty neat).
Tomorrow I am off to the South Island to hook up with my other brother and then old Neilski for some tramping. Getting excited for that and for seeing the stars down there. The stars seem clear in Auckland (for a city) and up north they were pretty damn clear, but down south it will be ridiculous!
Anyway, here's some photos and cheers for the comments and good wishes.x
Tomorrow I am off to the South Island to hook up with my other brother and then old Neilski for some tramping. Getting excited for that and for seeing the stars down there. The stars seem clear in Auckland (for a city) and up north they were pretty damn clear, but down south it will be ridiculous!
Anyway, here's some photos and cheers for the comments and good wishes.x
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| a Monarch in Auckland |
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| wow, they have street lamps in New Zealand?!...hmm. yes...Auckland |
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| view from the campsite at Goat Island |
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| Goat Island beach in an arty mood at dawn |
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| as above, but the other direction... |
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| a friend came to visit while camping... |
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| getting all arty again at the beach |
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| Goat Island itself and the lovely clear water. It is a marine reserve and as well as various unknown fish, I saw a Ray while snorkling, which I thought was pretty cool. |
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| taken by my bro, but I think it is great... |
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| using the underwater camera... |
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| and again...never used one before, but it was tricky, cos I couldn't look through the viewfinder, so I'd have to point and hope (no change there then!). These three are about as good as it got... |
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| This was the biggest Snapper I saw. It was about two foot from the shore in about a foot of water and kept circling me. The size isn't so apparant here, but it was about 12 metres lon....ok a foot and a bit long. |
Monday, 27 December 2010
Auckland and journey over
Well I am in a lovely warm (though a bit rainy) Auckland hanging out with my nephew Ben (very happy young thing), my brother and his wife...well, it's mainly me, Ben and Cat cos Jez is at work.
The journey was long and didn't involve getting stuck at Heathrow, though we did spend a fun 2 hours or so at Ho Chi Min city airport (not sure of the exact name) cos there was a fire at the air traffic control at Singapore, which shut down the local airspace round Brunei. However, it meant that there was only 10 hours to kill at Brunei and not 12, so that was something. But it was ok, cos I passed the time chatting with some fellow passengers from the plane.
All in all a long journey, but it all went fairly smoothly, so no complaints. Going to hang out in Auckland for a couple of weeks, then up to Goat Island marine reserve for a few days with the fam, before heading down south to hook up with Neil and get some hiking (or tramping as they call it over here...yes, yes, very funny) done with Neilski.
Until next time, here are some shots which don't live up to the standards set below, but hey ho...deal with it! For interest (or not) the shots of the mosque are from a moving vehicle, through glass, which will explain the less than ideal angles and the reflections (but I still quite like them) and the mosque had something like 25 domes, all of which were solid gold! Brunei is a pretty rich country (offshore oil reserves) and offers free housing to it's citizens and hospital treatment for $1, regardless of what the treatment is and very, very cheap petrol/diesel...pretty sweet. I'm sure it has some bad points though to counteract these....wikipedia it...
The journey was long and didn't involve getting stuck at Heathrow, though we did spend a fun 2 hours or so at Ho Chi Min city airport (not sure of the exact name) cos there was a fire at the air traffic control at Singapore, which shut down the local airspace round Brunei. However, it meant that there was only 10 hours to kill at Brunei and not 12, so that was something. But it was ok, cos I passed the time chatting with some fellow passengers from the plane.
All in all a long journey, but it all went fairly smoothly, so no complaints. Going to hang out in Auckland for a couple of weeks, then up to Goat Island marine reserve for a few days with the fam, before heading down south to hook up with Neil and get some hiking (or tramping as they call it over here...yes, yes, very funny) done with Neilski.
Until next time, here are some shots which don't live up to the standards set below, but hey ho...deal with it! For interest (or not) the shots of the mosque are from a moving vehicle, through glass, which will explain the less than ideal angles and the reflections (but I still quite like them) and the mosque had something like 25 domes, all of which were solid gold! Brunei is a pretty rich country (offshore oil reserves) and offers free housing to it's citizens and hospital treatment for $1, regardless of what the treatment is and very, very cheap petrol/diesel...pretty sweet. I'm sure it has some bad points though to counteract these....wikipedia it...
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| Benjamin the nephew |
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| mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan (aka BSB), Brunei |
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| mosque in BSB, Brunei II |
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| Ben the nephew again |
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