Child of the Planet

I really like small theaters, and the BATS ( Bane and Austin Touring Society ) is a brillent little venue right in the middle of Wellington. I hear from my young cousins that local Kiwi soapy stars sometimes appear in the BATS manning the ticket counter.The entrance looks like it was originally a shop front, and is just down the road a bit from Pete Jackson's Embassy cinema (I hear that PJ stepped in to rescue the BATS when they fell onto hard times recently). The tiny theater is wonderfully shambolic includng a cozy bar where one can get a drink, and take it in with you to the theater. While it's nice to not have to empty your glass before enjoying the performance, unfortunately on the night we were there, someone lost control of an empty. The poor actors valiantly tried to ignore the bottle as it clunked about on the floor. Into the Uncanny Valley Alice in physics land This is the second time I've experienced a production at the BATS. First time...

Discovered a new cider while out in Wellington last night. Nice big bottle! Great label which ordinarily would indicate sub standard contents, but in this case the pretty wrapping was matched by a very quaff-able drink. Fruity taste with a bit of colour. kjdbrewing.co.nz Review... www.stuff.co.nz/Cider-on-comeback Other bits... its-becoming-cider-world.html politics-of-cider

Eggs laid almost on the path Saturday morning I was woken by the door to the bedroom shaking in it's frame. Gradually the vibrations spread through the whole room. I don't ever remember experiencing an earthquake before and I was struck by the noise. I thought that the 'all encompassing rumbling tone' that I've heard at the movies was an Hollywood affectation. I was lying warm and comfy under the covers thinking 'I don't want to get out of bed so I'll just see how bad it gets'. If the coffee doesn't stimulate enough! As the vibrations continued I started to formulate a plan for what I was going to do if I decided that it was worthwhile getting up. Possibly bits of plaster falling from the roof would have been a decent indicator? Makara beach is a twenty minutes from the Wellington CBD. The small village sitting on the coast is typified by it's cafe. Weathered and grey, but eventually humming with activity. Our group arr...

Summer day in Wellington and I discovered that a new diving platform has been installed in the wharfs surrounding the harbour. These are a series of photos of people enjoying the rush of air and the stinging slap of the waters surface...

I feel much safer knowing this The hike had a good start in front of the large modern sculptures in the grounds of the Parliament buildings. Then we walked through some atmospheric old cemetery's. The scenery wasn't very inspiring as we wound through the grounds of Victoria University and surrounding suburbs. The sign posting wasn't that great either. Things picked up as we entered the cities outer suburbs and headed towards the beaches. Dodgy signposting We passed by cricket fields, a golf coarse,  rabbit infested hill sides and was buzzed by a chopper which we joked was probably up there searching about for marijuana plots. A lunch stop in a featureless field  but a much more interesting short photo stop at a native stone carving . I discovered a handy Tsunami level warning, and a strange little pie shop. citytosea.pdf

The big sliding doors that open out into the courtyard are open tonight. Well they were, until some old biddies arrived and complained. Once again I'm locked in a stuffy room. As the band was being introduced, a local 'crusty ol barstad' suddenly stood up, as though it was a town hall meeting. He announced that he Didn't like 90% of music, and that he usually didn't stay for the entire show, but that he felt the Douse music should be more widely advertised! Did he feel that the community coming together was important? Our small group occupying a table up the back, included a guy who had driven up from Wellington. This is novel as it's said that the trip out of the city is much longer then the trip in. The music Jessy James and the Outlaws Ambient. No drums! Waltz timings used a bit. Thoughtful music. Dude in the band makes Guitars. At first I didn't think that this was much of a 'live band'. Not really suited to a r...

We rocked up to the beach around eight in the morning. After signing in, we were assigned a section of coastline. Some had it easy Our C.I.C was a pocket rocket pirate, and she soon had us organised into squads. Wielding spades (kindly provided by local hardware megastore ) we leaped into a abbreviated castle erecting boot camp to hone our skills. A horn blared and we were off! After a quick reconnoiter, we discovered that our patch of the beach was less sand and more tiny round stones. This patch of gravel looked like the best place to survive the incoming tide, so we mapped out our plan of attack in the sand.We ended up doing twice as much digging to get our mounds up over the height requirement. A small sand castle was jiggled out of it's mold to sit on the apex. As the morning warmed up a wind started to whip the sand about. I reckon the weight of the small stones provided a better foundation against the erosive effects of the breeze. KPMG adjudicators spent the hou...

It seems, that every hill I hike up in Wellington has a radio antenna bolted to it's peak. We started out as a small group assembled at the cable car station at the top of Wellington's pretty botanical gardens. Our posse walked down the hill through the gardens to pick up a second group of trekkers at the Sprig & Fern Tavern  (attached to a boutique brewery in Nelson) and we all headed up the hill to catch the sunset. It was an easy walk and there were some great views up there. We played a bit of Hacky-sac and finishied off the evening at the Sprig and Fern. I had a pint of house cider which was nice (still trying to find a dark strong Scrumpy somewhere on these islands). I also sampled the berry cider which wasn't too sweet but surprisingly refreshing. This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on... View Sunset Wa...

Digging up shell fish at low tide So what is there to do in Castlepoint? Ride down a hundred meter high sand bank. We saw people utilising sheets of PVC, flattened cardboard boxes, and a couple of kids from the caravan park were sliding down the forty five degree slope on skate board decks with the trucks removed. There were people attempting to surf in both the large and small bays. As I was watching the surfers, a jet ski was lowered into the water and began towing surfers into the rolling sets. Sliding down sand bank Digging pippies out of the beach when the tide has retreated is popular. We were told to leave them overnight in a pot of fresh water to force them to spit out sandy residues. Well maintained tracks encourage short hiking trips. Fishing from the beach, the lighthouse rock, or from one of the many boats that head out into the bay and pacific ocean beyond. Hike up to the lighthouse castlepoint-saterday castlepoint-sunday castlepoint...

There is a story associated with this spar of rock... About 1525 AD a young woman Te Aohuruhuru lived together with an old man who had forcefully abducted her from her husband Takaroupoko. After she had lived with the old man for a long time he turned to insulting her. One warm night her garments had slipped off while she was sleeping. He woke up his elderly friends to show the beauty of his young wife to them. While they were looking at her she awoke. Filled with shame she decided to end her life. She climbed on a certain precipitous rock where her husband and his friends could see and hear her from sea where they were fishing. She sang a song: “While I lay exposed in my sleep The fire was kindled to burn brightly and I was a laughing stock" When her song was ended she leaped from the rock to destroy herself. And to this very day we still remember the name of this rock, Te Rerenga 0 Te Aohuruhuru. Now I get that her intent was to shame the old man, but when he sa...

Sunrise The wind got pretty intense Saturday night so no one sleeping up stairs got much sleep. The frame of the beach house shook violently in the wind The constant wind blowing reminded me of sleeping on a boat out at sea. We discovered the source of the fishy smell. A centimetre of old fat was lurking in the counter top toaster oven. Each batch facing the beach seemed to have it's own seagull standing guard Turns out that a local legend speaks of a giant octopus living under the cliffs. The puffs of mist is it's breath. Parked fishing boats While hiking up to the lighthouse, I saw a young seal travelling down the coast. Poking it's head up above the waves regularly to look at the scattered anglers. Maybe the seal was the shadow we saw in the surf on Saturday? The bad weather hit as we were cleaning up to leave bands of grey cloud rose up behind the lighthouse the water turned a milky green colour. The sun re-emerged just as we were pu...

View of lighthouse rock from caravan park Castle point is a holiday village 164 km, 3 hours out of Wellington if your travelling on State Highway 2 We spent the weekend there in a hired batch (batch is Kiwi for beach house.) We drove up on Friday night, picked up the key which was sitting in a letterbox, and found our selves in an airy, two story house which pretty much sat in the middle of the surf rolling up on the beach. ground floor smelt a bit fishy so we opened up some windows, unpacked the car, found our beds, We dumped a Bakels http://www.nzbakels.co.nz/ multi grain bread mix in the machine and programmed it to start up in the morning. Better surfing to be had in sheltered bay Morning dawned bright and clear on a series of fishing boats leaving the bay at irregular intervals. There must be a cave under the lighthouse perched on a spar of rock guarding the bay. I noticed a regularly exhaled mist floating in the morning light. Best air freshener ev...

Our group sets out on the valley floor walking a decently maintained path stringing together several well constructed bridges. The track gradually cut's up into the sides of the hills and gains a bit of height, eventually becoming bit of a goat track in part which added an adventure where the track cut through the cliffs at some decent heights. Our goal is an ancient dam up in the hills. This prompted a discussion on how some many people are wrapped in cotton wool folk are these days. 'OHS this' and 'idiot proof that'. Despite it being a sunny day when we did the hike, some parts are so shaded by trees that I had to take my sunglasses off.  This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on... View Hiking Belmont Park in a larger map

I noticed the Air NZ is doing a great little deal that takes out some of the pain caused by not being able to land some of the larger planes at Wellington Airport. There are many more options to enter NZ through Auckland and Christchurch, and this makes connecting to Wellington more affordable. Air New Zealand is launching a new daily Night Rider service with every seat on the aircraft available at a fare of NZ$29, for the last flight of the day between Auckland and Wellington. Flights will depart from both Auckland and Wellington at 10pm every night Sunday-Friday. On Saturdays Night Rider will depart Auckland for Wellington at 9pm, with the return leg departing Wellington at 10:30pm. NZ$29 ‘Seat’ fares are available on every seat on the 133 seat Boeing 737 aircraft, or ‘Seat+Bag’ for NZ$39 one way. The first Night Rider services will depart on Monday, 5 November 2012. www.asiatraveltips.com/news12/2210-NightRider This deal would have been really hand back when I...

This hiking path runs an almost straight line across both Mt Victoria and Mt Albert, ending up in the wind swept Southern beaches. It's a nice walk when surrounded by the forests, but it's spoilt a bit by having to cross busy roads with little pedestrian friendly facilities. Our leader liked to follow his nose and we Detoured through a school fete and discovered a home grown Mead brewer. Once you make it to the Esplanade, there is a bus that will take you back into town and terminates at the train station.  This was a hike organised by  Adventure Wellington Meetup Group Below is a map of our hike including points of interest that you can click on...

I was on a hike over the weekend and we stumbled across the Haewai (Maori for light reflecting on water) Meadery by accident. We popped in to the homestead and participated in a tasting. They have an emphasis on using organic ingredients (including spring water sourced on the property) in their herb infused meads. These herb infused drinks are not subtle in taste and pack a bit of a wallop in the mouth. They have a strong presence in the room, and I've had a number of comments from folk who are around me when I'm drinking these brews. Less like wine, more like spirits. The infused mead have a medicinal heritage and a wag in our group quipped during the tastings that sipping the samples 'was like taking your medicine', to which other members quickly replied 'in the nicest possible way' HAEWAI MEADERY Wind Gardens 236 Houghton Bay Rd Wellington 6023 New Zealand. www.haewai.co.nz View Larger Map

We're back at the Douse for a second dose of gallery music. Entrance is free if you want to join the audience but there is a Koha bucket (Māori version of 'tip jar') which floats around while the band plays. We had the $30 pizza (from the cafe) deal that includes a large pizza and two glasses of wine. Not sure if it was good value but the chicken pesto and spiced walnut pizza was tasty. Once again, the air con failed us and the room got a bit muggy by the time the band has finished banging out their set. The music The Shot Band Guitar three piece, with the members picking up drumsticks, a banjo, and a harmonica as needed. Spine tingling harmonies, reminded me of Crowded House's Woodface album. Songs ranged from pacy light hearted (drawing chuckles from crowd), to quite soulful pieces. Always fun when kids get up and dance in front of the band. http://www.theshotband.co.nz/ 45 Laings Road Lower Hutt 5010, New Zealand (04) 570 6500 dowse.org.nz ...

Last couple of years, I've noticed that alcholic cider has started to 'take off'. The rapidly expanding range of ciders has started to dominate the refrigerated cabinets in the local bottle shops. Truly scrumpy? Cider has boomed, but its success may be too sweet to sustain... In lean times for alcohol, one drink has flourished. Consumption of alcoholic cider increased by 46% between 2002 and 2011 (see chart). The tipple is in a demographic sweet spot. A decade ago 35- to 44-year-olds were the biggest cider consumers; now 18- to 24-year-olds are. A generation reared on alcopops has taken easily to fermented apple juice. www.economist.com I started drinking cider back in the early nineties when it was pretty unfashionable in Oz. I had a mate who I worked with and sometimes at the end of the day, we would occupy a couple of stools in a 'local' and he would get gently smashed.  I didn't drink and this time. He decided that it was unacceptable behaviour...

A After five weeks, this is the result. Our penultimate loaf of Sour dough. final recipe cup of water 1  ½  Tsp dry yeast 600g  flour Tbs salt Cup of Ferment Tbs oil Tsp sugar

The skins lived in a bowl, which we sat in a warm dark spot on top of the cupboards in the kitchen. Peel twenty apples Around the eight day mark, Gary reckoned he could smell a yeasty odour. The next day I could smell it too, wafting through the house. After ten days the skins were browning and the water had a dusty look. I decanted of the liquid in to a second bowl, mixing in a couple of cups of plain white flour. The bowl returned to it's perch in the kitchen for another couple of days. First loaf Apple skins after ten days It was time to make our first loaf and ingredients were dumped into the bread maker. After four hours the resulting slice of loaf had a dense crumb, and chewy crust. Perfect for toasting. Not quite as tasty as I'm used to from Sour Dough but that could be due to the immaturity of the Forment. To feed the ferment, I mixed up a flour and water paste into the gloopy puddle by hand. It felt strange. Not like anything else I've ...

Recently Gary handed me a recipe for making sour dough bread from scratch. I'm a big fan of Sour Dough so I enthusiastically took on the project. First up, I needed the peel from twenty apples. They were 'out of season' but Gary found a bucket load for a decent price at the Saturday markets. The first problem was, what do we do with all the apple flesh, which for the first time, was a bi-product? Lots of baking was the answer! I churned out a Strudel, a pie, some sauce for pork, and we produced so many muffins we had to freeze most of them to keep them fresh. Sour dough bread from scratch : Experimentation  

Instantly apparent is that the Aviary interface is clean and modern, while Perfectly Clear looks dated and cluttered. Both have download-able features that can be purchased. Aviary's plug-ins add extra Instagram type 'looks' that are applied to photos. Perfectly Clear doesn't do 'looks' so features that are included in Aviary, such a 'teeth whitening' and 'blemish removal' cost extra. The image cleanup in Aviary might not be as good as it is in Perfectly Clear, but Aviary is much better value for money. ( Reviewed here ) Straight capture from phone camera Perfectly Clear     Aviary

I'm a regular traveler and I'm constantly on the look out for Apps that allow me to make the most of photos taken with my mobile phone. The interface for Perfectly Clear is really busy compared to something like Aviary ( comparison here ). I'm reminded of interfaces that I used to see on Amiga and Atari ST computers. There's lot's of feedback on the App workings, as pre processed images are 'peeled off' the shiny new result. I think Perfectly Clear should have included the add-on portrait functions in the base. these functions cost extra and currently the App isn't great value for money. As a technical 'aside', it's a shame that phones don't shoot in raw to give apps like this more data to work with. What I don't get, is why Adobe hasn't released a phone App (I don't have a tablet so not interested in their current series of Apps) that improves photos and or video? Google recently purchased Nik Software, makers of...

I've long thought that it was a bit 'on the nose' that Ozzies 'bag' the Americans for implementing protectionist policies, but are happy to 'stick the boot' into their cousins 'across the ditch'. Australia fights to keep out Kiwi apples, but embraces the humble cider... “Taking apples, smashing them, adding a bit of yeast and putting them in a bottle and charging 10 times as much for them, that gets a big tick,” The-juice-on-how-to-smuggle-apples-into-Oz So the moral seems to be 'that there is more then one way to skin a cat'! Anyone who says 'we need protection' is actually saying 'my product isn't good enough'. You can use disease or bugs as an excuse, but processing the raw material into something else is a way around those issues. In an earlier post ( Cider Decider ) I asked 'why there isn't more Tazzie sourced product? Instead of complaining, why haven't Tasmanian apple growers followed the same ...

The 'incline' is a decommissioned railway track that crosses the Rimutaka ranges, connecting Wellington with the Wiarapa. The tracks have been ripped up, and thanks to the requirements of rail,  there is now a pleasant hike along a gentle grade. I set off with a mate on an Sunday afternoon hike. We were dropped off on the Wellington side, and the plan was to meet up with our transport on the Wairarapa side three hours later for a fish and chip supper. The grade of the track starts out very easy, and there are regular info pillars inscribed with facts and histories. We passed a camping site on the way up and discovered a second site up at the summit. There are four tunnels on the hike so packing a light is a good idea. Once off the summit and heading down towards the Wiarapa, my hiking partner was starting to despair. The terrain is much more 'mountian like' and she was getting a bit tired and cranky with the much steeper grade. I'm glad we were walking ...