The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary

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

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

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

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

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

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: