Child of the Planet

When I arrived in NZ, I decided to buy a van to travel around in. Bought a Toyota Estima from a guy in Auckland who finds campers retired from hire firms, and reconditions them for backpackers. This van started off Metallic blue, then it was converted by Spaceship rentals and repainted orange and white. Finally a layer of cream was applied. I bought this van DESPITE the high mileage, more then 300,000 km. My theory is that she's proved herself to be pretty indestructible. Close to four hundred thousand! I reckon she was born some time between Tuesday and Thursday. There is a theory that cars built on a Monday and Friday have manufacturing problems. Factory workers are depressed having to be back at work on the Monday, and they are thinking about the weekend on the Friday, so more errors in construction are made. Living in the camper is like living in a boat. I keep cracking my head on door sills. Jen (I've christened her after the girl on the IT crowd series) ...

Saw a girl using a version of this ( click here ) and decided to pick one up when I was visiting Oz. I've used this micro speaker attached to my phone while gardening or painting walls, and hooked up to my laptop lying in bed watching movies. www.moshielectronics.com

This looks so cool! BioLite CampStove www.biolitestove.com biolite campstove instruction video 1280x720 from BioLite on Vimeo .

I've had this for ages and there are better versions now. Works well and is a good battery backup. Charge the battery from the sun or from any USB source such as a computer. Can be propped up with a pen to angle the collection surface towards the sun. Older version was bundled with a bag full of connectors. Happy to say that the world seems to have standardized on a USB port. www.solio.com

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi. I've been a fan of 'convertible pants' since I discovered them in a camping store in the U.K. I particularly like the option of unzipping the lower section of leg resulting in a pair of shorts. Kuhl gear makes the best that I have found so far. These trousers also have dome clasps on the leg hem in case I need more ankle room for boots. The pockets are made out of mesh so when the pockets are unzipped, a nice draft effect is produced up the legs, and across the testicles. I liked these pants so much that I went out and bought a couple of extra, just so I didn't have to go through the hassle of looking for replacements after wearing them out. www.kuhl.com

Gopro has some released 'Gopro Studio', some free video editing software that does some nice stuff such as fish-eye removal. My main bugbear with it is that one has to 'transcode' the video from the camera into Gopro's Cineform format. The software should ether work with the raw MP4 video, or Gopro should support Cineform in the camera.

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi.  Holidays are hazardous time for delicate electronic devices like cameras. Environments such as sand, swimming pools, cocktails, vomit, and concrete can ruin lens, short out electronics, and split cases. What we need is a camera that can survive life’s hard knocks. GoPro  cameras are a lens poking out of a matchbox sized plastic case, wrapped in a protective waterproof shell that is capable of withstanding depths of up to 197 feet (60 meters). Drop the camera and the case takes the impact.

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi.  After years of lusting after a pair of Oakley Juliet's I found myself with a bit of extra cash and splashed out. There is something appealing to the idea of having ones eyes wrapped in exotic materials like titanium and polished glass. Compared to other products in the Oakley range, these were relatively understated. These are 'custom' jobs and I have my blog address etched into the glass. Custom Juliet® order contains: Frame: Carbon Lens: VR28 Black Iridium Polarized w/ Oleo Etching: DROPPEDBEAR.COM (Font: BARKTWO) Earsock: Rootbeer The coated lens cut down heaps of glare but colours are tinted Interesting! While looking up a link for these specs I found... http://www.oakley.com/custom#/sunglasses-mlb Wish I could pass on a recommendation but these glasses aren’t available any more. Did a bit of research and it looks like they have ceased producing titanium frames. What a shame! Wonder if these will b...

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi. This Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse  is an extremly modern example of an object that morphs it's shape. This is a full size mouse that snaps flat and slips into a pocket The scroll wheel is replaced with a touch sensitive strip bisecting the two standard 'click' buttons. Vibrations in the strip providing feedback as you stroke the strip. This buzzing under your finger is a bit strange at first but you get used to it. The strip is usable but never approaches the physical wheel in utility. The mouse talks to a radio enabled dongle inserted into a USB port. It's bit of a pain having this hang off the side of the laptop, and it would be nice if they had used Bluetooth instead. Miss-placing the dongle could be an issue, but it's handy having the bottom of the mouse body magnetised so the dongle sticks to it. www.microsoft.com hardware Slips into pockets when flattened Dongle adheres to magnetic base ...

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi. The Hard Candy Stylus has a great chromium stream-liner 'retro look' and it's refreshing to find a product like this made out of metal. I use it a lot and it's damn convenient being able to swap between the ball point pen and the rubber nub stylus. It has a great weighty feel to it, like an upmarket fountain pen. The ball point end has a nice feel when writing. It's iPhone all over the web site but this stylus works fine with Android... www.hardcandycases.com

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi. Nexus S I really like the curves on this phone. Phones sculpted out of flat surfaces may well be better for slotting into docks and dashboards, but this thing spends most of it's time in my pocket. Even the screen has a slight curve to it. Google Keep Currently my fav way of taking notes is Google Keep and the (recently released for every version of Android) skim-able keyboard . The new keyboard input is brilliant and I find myself writing more. The Keep App is currently pretty basic, and it is slowly growing features such as 'reminders' which were added last week. It would be nice to have folders or some system for grouping notes. I also wish I could indent items in a list. Sliding an item left and right to promote, demote, and a touch to collapse groups. During the day as I travel about I take photos with the phones camera, and jot down notes in Keep . Next morning I load up LibreOffice Writer on ...

September is 'gear' month on Yoomimoomi I'm noticing Youtube enabled Samsung TV's all over the place. Deb and Fred (previous Wwoof hosts) are visiting India this year and have planned out an expedition the curves across the top of the country. As part of their research on the conditions of road in India they have been watching other people's holiday videos. They do this in the sprawled out in the comfort of their living room as they have a Smart tele with access to YouTube. While I was there we spent an evening watching Bill Hicks on YouTube. I felt weird watching YouTube from an armchair, and it struck me that YouTube on the TV in every ones lounge room might actually take off. We didn't care bout picture quality cause the story telling and performance transcended all. Laptop hooked into TV Traditional TV, be it terrestrial broadcast or cable increasingly has little to offer so I've been watching more YouTube. Mainly items that are able to be...

boards held down with ol-world square nails There is a lot of building going on around the Timber Trail Center. The site here has five buildings. A  School house , the current Wwoofer residence, A tool shed , Pottery shed , and the church where I've been helping Steve finish off the stove installation. We replaced a couple of singed floorboards sitting in front of a replacement wood burning stove and its flu. This work has been instigated as the previous installation almost burned down the old church building. One night embers escaped the chimney and caught inside the ancient buildings roof. All Wwoofer hands were required to douse the flames. The new stove heats and we've cooked several things in it's oven.

There was supposed to be a guy coming around yesterday to kill the sheep. He didn't appear so we lined the back of Martyn's van with tarpaulins, hog-tied the two sheep, and threw them into the back of the van. Martyn has decided to get someone up in Auckland to do the slaughtering. We threw a blanket over the sheep to keep them quite. Hope the car doesn’t get pulled over by the cops for any reason, cause if the cops look under the blanket they will get a surprise. There was plenty of room for our two sheep, but I've heard stories of local Maori folk transporting live animals crammed into car boots.

There are now three of us working under the direction of 'Steve the builder'. A nineteen year old student from England, a twenty-something French tool maker, and me. We've been ripping doors out of walls, and cutting holes in other walls, and stuffing those doors into the new holes, and filling the first holes we made with new doors. During the day there was a most excellent earthquake. I felt the building shudder and thought, 'that was a big gust of wind'! Then thought, 'hang on, there isn't any wind blowing'?!?! The power went out, and we still had a couple of hours left in the working day. We were fitting a new set of French doors to one of the rooms in the Wwoofer accommodation building. We borrowed a generator from a neighbour across the road, to finish the work. During the remainder of the day we plugged into it's socket, drills, circular saws, water jugs, and mobile phones. No power means no internet, so the only info we had on the earthquak...

Quick note to highlight a great travel blog... Tierras y Aire This blog details the travels of a couple from Uruguay, Sofia and Matias as they travel the world.

Click on these links for back story... sheep-story those-damn mysterious sheep The sheep have been shorn, and are supposed to be penned up in a neighbouring public stock yard. Some how they keep getting out of the yard, and our theory is one of the disgruntled locals is releasing them from the pens deliberately. This person is then calling up the council to complain about the sheep loose in the village. We're all getting pretty tired of the sheep antics. They were just too independently minded so they have been drenched in preparation for slaughter. Since their time on this earth is limited, we've been letting them do what they want. It's now that we see the full depth of their 'self possession'. Despite being allowed to wander about the village, they have decided that they now want to be back inside the property bounds. Have they picked up on our 'don't give a fuck what you do now' vibes? A couple of times we've noticed them strolli...

I was just over in Australia and needed to get a mobile phone SIM card. My last one was on Telstra and it had a limit of six months between recharges. Bit of a hassle as I lost my phone number. My mate clued me into a SIM deal at the German supermarket chain Aldi . $5 to get started. Active for 365 days on a single recharge (Telstra is 6 months). $15 minimum recharge. Uses 3g which Telstra recently cut me out of as i was on pre-paid. Uses Telstra's network which has the best coverage in Australia. Android App for tracking data and minutes left on account. Meny travellers in Sydney stay in the eastern suburbs and there is an Aldi in Bondi Junction.

Night air is filled with the sounds of Lambs bleating. They sound like human children?!?! Brushing up against trees releases swirling clouds of pollen, building up in crusts on the edges of water puddles. Blossoms squeezed out of branches Doves ate making whoop whoop noises and chasing each other around on the roof. Everything is coated in yellow pollen The peacock is flashing at anything that looks vaguely bird like. The air is filled with buzzing bees and wasps.

Bought some new boots recently at a Kathmandu sale here in New Zealand. Reduced by three hundred bucks! Crazy! This deal was available to Kathmandu club members, so I signed up at the checkout desk. My old ones were Land Rover branded and they lasted for years.

I've noticed during my time at the Timber Trail and Awhi farm, that folk like to leave their cups behind. Someone will make themselves a cuppa, walk out into the property, empty the cup while chatting or meditating on something. balanced on top of a post common. Being as these are rural locations, fences are common. If there is a camp fire, invariably there will be a couple of mugs strewn around the circumference of the ash pile in the morning. Folk have been sipping at hot beverages, or something a bit alcoholic. These cups usually spend a decent amount of time sitting where they have been forgotten, and they become little indicators of how much rain the area has had recently.

I'm in the process of making a path out of recycled chunks of concert. This is the second tool rack I've built. The other was at Awhi farm. I helped out with the construction of a 'bush bath'. We cut the stairs down into the gully, and sat the bath on trellis made of railway sleepers.