Finishing Up Wellington

Homes Above Oriental Parade

Sailboats in Chaffers Marina

The last day in Wellington requires work, at least for Mary Ann. She has to get everything packed. For some reason she does not want me to participate. The lady may suspect I would solve the packing problems by throwing about half the stuff away. I did keep busy with the travel planning for the days at the end of the trip. Being able to book on the internet is clearly one of the greatest improvements imaginable, especially for hotel booking. After our stay in Christchurch we plan to spend a couple of days in Queenstown, and then we will transit the South Island to Picton. We again cross the Cook Strait and spend a couple of leisurely days going up the west side of the North Island along the Tasman Sea, with stays in Wanganui and New Plymouth, before ending in Auckland. The internet allowed me the opportunity to reserve hotels along the way, which greatly relieves arrival stress.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day as we take the Interislander Ferry across the Cook Strait which separates the North and South Islands. It is a huge car and passenger ferry which looks more like a cruise ship. I understand that it often can get a bit rough on the 3 ½ hour trip. I will, of course, help captain the ship. Upon our safe arrival in Picton we will drive on to Christchurch.

The chores having been completed we struck off for a rigorous 2 hour walk along the Oriental Parade. This portion of the waterfront goes southeast from the downtown. It is a wonderful walking beach with great views of the downtown and the homes hanging precariously off Mount Victoria. We had previously driven this portion of the waterfront, but had not walked it. At one of the marinas they have a very clever lift for removing sail boats out of the marina for maintenance. As we were walking by, the crew of a gorgeous 40 foot sailboat was returning it to the water after a cleaning of the hull. They removed the props, lifted the boat higher, and then the base deck rolled away so the lift could then lower the boat right into the water. A was a very ingenious system. Tonight it will be off to the One Red Dog restaurant for gourmet pizza. We sure know how to live it up!

Quirky Living Note: In our mail box today we received the Trial Evacuation Report addressed to all Wardens and Occupants. Of the several points brought to the attention of the recipients was: One of the ‘short stay’ tenants was under the impression that the oven in their own apartment had activated a local smoke detector and consequently remained in the apartment. It is essential that the apartment owner indicates, by means of adequate signage, that when the alarm sounds the tenants are required to vacate the premises.

We are happy to have contributed to compliance with the Wellington Health and Safety legislation, and to learn that when the alarm sounds, or you are instructed to evacuate, one person from each apartment is to act as a Warden for their apartment. We will hold an election I think. The great American way!

Reduced to a mere #2, uh mate?

# 2 Worldwide!

One of the more interesting (traumatic) experiences every year, on these long trips, is the need to get a haircut. After spending several days eyeballing the barbershops, I finally decided on a true real man’s barber shop. I am still recovering psychologically from going last year to the salon in El Paso that Mary Ann dragged me to. But it seems I am now reduced to a number. As I walked into the small two man barbershop the barber says to me “a #2, uh mate?” I may be a bit follicly challenged, but only #2? Is this a worldwide standard? And do I have a new name – mate? Actually, you get referred to as mate everywhere. A very local part of the language, it seams.

To make sure we were on the same page, I did suggest my hair be cut to about 3/8 of an inch and the barber said “aye, aye, aye mate, a number 2.” While cutting (shearing?) my hair I chatted with him about now knowing a lot about sheep shearing, which was similar to my hair cut. He said if I wanted, he could grab me around the neck, throw me on the floor with a knee on my chest, and then if I didn’t behave properly he would whack me a couple of times on the head. Another language quirk you hear frequently, is when there is agreement with something, the Kiwi says “aye, aye, aye” very quickly. I did survive the haircut, and as I predicted to Mary Ann it usually only takes 60 to 120 seconds!

I met Mary Ann at the i-Site, which is the visitor information center. The i-Sites are found in all the major towns of New Zealand and have turned out to be an excellent traveling resource. They not only have excellent brochures, pamphlets and maps for all the regions of the country but also can book you for tourist events. Yesterday we booked tickets on the TranzScenic train trip from Christchurch to Greymouth, which we will take next week. They were also able to give us information on changing the date of a reservation on the inter-islander ferry, which I had made weeks ago on the internet. If you are traveling in New Zealand I highly recommend the i-Site, particularly if you are driving. They are also very well signed so you can find them easily. Their website can help you find them wherever you are. http://www.newzealand.com/travel/i-sites/i-sites_home.cfm

Now that I was looking so sharp, I was ready to attend another Rotary meeting. This was an evening meeting at the Harbour City Rotary, held at a hotel on the waterfront. Being always early, it looked like I would crash their Board Meeting, but I held off giving them advice. It is a small club (22) but seem to be active. Their major service project with a couple of other clubs is raising $125,000 NZ to buy an ambulance. New Zealand is a bit unusual in the ambulance area, as you subscribe to, and pay for, an ambulance service in your area. However Wellington is the only area in New Zealand that has a free ambulance service (and it says so on the back of their ambulances).

It is amazing how many of the Rotary programs match me in some way. The speaker was Tim Harding, the CEO of Care NZ, (http://www.carenz.co.nz/) a drug treatment program. The match is with my court experience, I am not addicted to drugs! It was a very nice evening with interesting companions. One of the members reported on the three week visit of a Rotary cricket team from Ireland, who played Masters Teams throughout the island. Yikes! If they were as old as the guy making the report (who did play) it is important that they have a free ambulance service. On second thought, cricket is pretty laid back, kind of like bowling into your ‘80’s! http://www.harbour-city-rotary.wellington.net.nz/

Quirky Living Note: Today I saw a T-shirt that seemed appropriate for Mary Ann: Shopping Will Continue Until Morale Improves.

Off to the Wairarapa - Again

How do we get through?

The Dogs go to work

The Farmer and his Sheep Dogs

The Wairarapa region of the North Island is northeast of Wellington, entailing a rather rigorous drive over a very narrow, winding two lane pass. We seem to be destined to enjoy the region frequently, having passed through on our way from Napier to Wellington, and our return to Masterton on the train for the Golden Shears. The train avoids the pass with a very efficient long tunnel under the mountain range that splits the North Island. The drive from Wellington is about an hour and a half. http://www.wairarapanz.com/

The reason for our return is that we had completely missed the wine region of the Wairarapa. It is centered in the town of Martinborough. The whole valley which contains Martinbourgh, Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, and Featherston is a beautiful area very reminiscent of Central Washington and Northern California. The area has rolling dry hills, lots of agriculture, lakes, and vistas of the mountain range.

When you leave Highway #2 the roads are rural, very little traffic, and the kind that Mary Ann really likes to guide me to. The wineries of Martinborough are all very small and “estate” designated. They however have a very aggressive marketing program with many of them offering daily tasting. We had coffee in the little 130 year old village and visited the shops and wine center. http://www.martinboroughnz.com/

We then headed off on some very back roads to Masterton. Next we had a delightful experience. Orange cones started appearing on the center line with the word stock printed on them. Then around a corner we were confronted with about 200 sheep being driven on the road by a farmer on a four wheeler with his three sheep dogs. We followed for several minutes (we had no choice as the sheep covered the highway from shoulder to shoulder) and were able to enjoy watching these amazing dogs herd the sheep. Wow, are they ever fast and keep the sheep moving and prevent any wandering. The farmer knew we were enjoying the experience, as Mary Ann was out walking through the sheep droppings, while taking photos and thus he was in no rush to arrange our passage. Finally a local truck from the opposite direction just started driving through, causing the sheep to part. The farmer took pity on us and sent the dogs out to move all the sheep into one lane. I don’t know what the instructions to the dogs were, but it was amazing to watch. Check out the photos above.

On arrival in Masterton (again) we spent some time exploring the downtown and had lunch at the Ten O’clock Cookie Bakery and Café. Now this place is the 2008 winner of the Hot Cross Bun national competition. We have found as we come closer to Easter that one of the traditions is hot cross buns. Naturally we had to buy a six-pack (?) and I discovered that Mary Ann doesn’t like the raisins, so she picks them out. Her children will be delighted to hear she is human, after those growing up lessons about not picking out parts of your food. They are excellent buns, with or without raisins.

Back in Wellington, I had decided that it was time to experience kebabs. I know, how could I have gone so long ignoring this staple of life, even after having traveled to Turkey. So off we go to dinner at Abra-kebab-ra. Cute huh? We had lamb kebabs, which were very good, and laughed at our fellow diners, sitting in the faux Turkish tent, who had opted for the hot chili sauce. They had to use their napkins wiping all the sweat off their faces.

Quirky Driving Note: This is actually a good driving note. Frequently when advising drivers of the speed limit, the large sign will have the speed, such as 100 kph, written in a circle, and then to the right side it says: This is not a target, drive to the conditions.

Well, I Could Have Entered the Triathlon

Mary Ann's Idea of a Triathlon View

Finding Washington Apples in the Victoria Market

As it was Sunday, we had a choice of being in the Wellington Triathlon or returning to the Wesley Methodist Church to see how they got along with just the English congregation. The triathlon started at 7:45 a.m. so that was definitely out. Church was at 10:00 a.m. so that seemed so much more civilized. You might expect that with just one congregation, instead of four, the attendance was much lighter and the service was exactly one hour. My kind of minister!

Whether it is a visited church, or a visited service club, you always learn things about how people do things differently in other parts of the world. For starters when you are identified as a guest or newcomer at Wellington Wesley you are given a newcomers packet. It included a lot of very interesting information: the Wesley Counseling Service Brochure (are they telling me something?); a ”There’s a place for you at Wesley Wellington” guide; the Wesley@10 quarterly newsletter; a Wesley Wellington bookmark with the pastors, hours and emails (to use with a bible?); a flyer describing the Drama Christi cooperative theatre group, and a Wellington 2008 Official Visitor Guide. All this was handily packaged in a small plastic bag to make it easy to get it home.

Another interesting document included with today’s church Liturgy Guide was a small pamphlet called the Stewardship of Creation: A Thirty Day Discipline – Week Four. New Zealand is politically very green and this document was teaching you theologically how to practice personal Christian ecology. The document comes from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago who advocates, and supplies materials for becoming a Green Congregation. For this week the daily study was pests, cleaning products, You’ve Got Feet, Use “Em!, Reduce Gas Mileage, Work for Peace, Public Policy and Advocacy – National/Global, and To Whom Do You Give Money? For each day there is a Daily Scripture, a Fact paragraph, Commitment paragraph, and Daily Prayer. It is a fascinating action tool. You can find it and other materials at the website: http://www.webofcreation.org/.

Obviously, Sunday was the day for street markets in Wellington. After church we visited two very busy markets on Victoria Street and Chaffers Dock Marina. It is late summer/early fall here in New Zealand and the fresh fruit and vegetables are huge. The prices are much lower than the supermarkets so the markets were very busy. When at the marina we saw the aftermath of the triathlon so I did have a brief connection with such a strenuous event. I feel much better for that!

To overcome my guilt about the missed exercise, we went to brunch at Mac’s Brewery, just down the waterfront. I know I have talked a lot about beer, but this is really just an academic investigation for Amanda and Geoff, our daughter and son-in-law, who seem to take quite an interest in micro brews. Today I sampled Mac’s Hop Rocker. Where do they get these names? Very hoppy! Next it was time for a nap. Must be a carry over from last years Mexico training.

Quirky Living Note: Everyone will tell you there is just a bit of wind in Wellington – all the time. I had gone out for a short walk assuming Mary Ann could handle all domestic duties at the apartment (ouch, ouch, quit hitting me!). She heard a crash and when she got to the master bedroom she found that one of the interior sound proofing windows had completely blown out. It must have been quite a gust, as it had pushed the outer window to full open, and then destroyed the inner window. The management lady arrived quickly to help remove the glass. Between this incident and the fire alarms they will be glad to see us on our way.

Do You Want Single Transferable Voting (STV) or First Past the Post (FPP)?

When I saw an announcement in the paper that the Wellington City Council had appropriated $185,000 to conduct a survey on which type of election they should have, I realized that after a life time of watching elections, that there was a whole new world of voting options in New Zealand. I really needed to know what this was all about!

It turns out that STV elections are not unique to New Zealand. The system has been used in many countries around the world and is currently being used in some municipal elections in the United States. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_transferable_vote. The New Zealand Parliament authorized the STV as an option a few years ago for District Health Boards and Municipal elections. So what is the STV system? In 2004 the national government ran a campaign to educate the electorate on the meaning and procedure for voting STV. It is used when several candidates are running for more than one position on a Board or Council.

The website (http://www.stv.govt.nz/STV/index.htm) advises:
How to vote using STV
With STV, voting is easy.
Instead of ticking the candidates you want to vote for, with STV you number the candidates in order of preference. Put a "1" beside the candidate you like best, then a "2" beside your second choice, "3" by your third choice, and so on. You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you like.
So what does the numbering do?
By giving the number "1" to a candidate, you are saying that the candidate is your number one choice.
By ranking candidates in your preferred order - 1,2,3,4 and so on - you are also saying which other candidates you prefer:
If your top choice doesn't have enough support to get in or, If your top choice doesn't need all the votes they received to be elected.
How candidates are elected
In an STV election, candidates must reach a certain number of votes to get elected. This is called a quota. The quota is based on the total number of votes and the number of vacant positions.
Here's how candidates are elected:
The counting process tallies all first preference votes
If a candidate is elected, they keep only the proportion of the vote they need to reach the quota. The surplus part of each vote is transferred to the voters' second choice.
The votes are tallied again
If another candidate gets more votes than they need to be elected, the surplus part of each vote for that candidate will be transferred to the voters' third choice
If no more candidates have enough support to get elected, the lowest polling candidate is eliminated and all votes for that candidate are transferred to voters' next choices.
This process is repeated until enough candidates are elected to fill the vacant positions.
The transfer of votes is done in order of voters' preference. This means that surplus votes are not "wasted" but are available to help other candidates to get elected.

So, what about the FPP? Now this system you are familiar with, as it is how most elections in the U.S. are conducted. The definition is:
First Past the Post (FPP)
Under FPP, you place a tick next to the names of the candidate you are voting for. The candidate with the most votes wins. This is a very simple method of electing candidates and is widely used throughout the world. It was used in New Zealand for Parliamentary elections up until the introduction of MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) in the 1996 general election.
Now that should make everything perfectly clear. Wow, I don’t even want to try and tackle the understanding of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system being used for Parliamentary elections.

Quirky Living Note: As if the above wasn’t quirky enough! All the restaurants and cafés in New Zealand are very helpful. So you know what their menu is, nearly all put the menu in the front window. We routinely check these out so as to make dining plans. Today I read the following: Big Hummers Brekkie – Bacon, eggs, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, bubble and squeak.

WHO WANTS TO BE 100? Anyone who's 99

The Theatre Poster

The Circa Theatre on the Waterfront

While we have been in Wellington the 2008 International Arts Festival has been in progress. This has given us several unusual art shows, legitimate theater, fringe theater, music, and community events to attend, if we wish. The last live theater play we attended, just prior to our trip, was the Great American Trashy Trailer Park, or some name close to that. With that play of deep philosophical import, we sure should attend the local play named above. We figured we would fit in better.
With such a title the sold out crowd was certainly silver haired (oh how I wish I had some hair). The play was written by a noted New Zealand playwright, Roger Hall, who seems to be highly recognized in New Zealand. There are only seven professional theaters in New Zealand and at least three of them seem to be in Wellington. When you consider that there are only 4 million people in the country (less than Washington State), it is a tight community whatever your avocation is. By the way, Washington State has 6,395,795 citizens, less two who are temporarily in New Zealand.

The play has six actors, two who are women and cleverly play several roles each. The four old geezers are all in the Regina Rest Home and that is where we saw all their problems and adventures. It was a comedy but with a social side of the problems of the seniors with a stroke, Alzheimer’s, broken hips, uncaring staff, and the problems of the spouses who have interred their husbands into the home. Roger Hall has obviously spent some time studying retirement homes. The actors were superb and all in all it was a very worthwhile evening. For a look at the theater, previews and reviews: http://www.circa.co.nz/.

Quirky Clever Idea: The other day when I was waiting in a hotel lobby for a Rotary meeting (you know I am always the first to arrive), I was reading the coffee table advertising literature. It was about the Copthorne Christchurch Central Hotel “Suitosaurus” room. Now what is a suite-o-saurus room? The card described it as New Zealand’s first Dinosaur themed family room complete with bunk beds, complimentary milk and cookies, and toys for the kids. They say the room provides endless entertainment options with bean bags, DVD player, toys, a large chalk-board, and coloring books. The room includes a small kitchenette with washing machine, microwave and cutlery. Back in the days of those road trips with the kids, this would have been quite a draw!

A We Bit of a Road Trip

Dragon Boats practicing in Wellington Harbour

The Explorer contemplating the Tasman Sea

Must be back from the Golden Shears!

It had been a few days since we have driven the modest Mazda, so we decided to see if we could go get lost. The backside of the crescent, that is Wellington, is a rim of high hills. We thought we would go up the hills and see how the suburbs looked. You know, I really am getting good at getting turned around in people’s driveways when we obviously are heading nowhere.

The mountains are charming with a lot of homes built into the hills, and which have grand views. They are however, not ostentatious and most of the homes seem to have been built thirty or more years ago. New Zealand really is not a “show off” place. As we wound our way up and down the narrow roads, we were generally headed in a northwesterly direction towards the Cook Strait and the Tasman Sea. You soon leave the neighborhoods of Wellington and found ourselves in rugged canyons and on to farming country. Wellington, although the capital of the country since 1865, still has a population of only about 180,000 people. You can check out all of this and much more trivia about Wellington on their city government website found at http://www.wellington.govt.nz/aboutwgtn/glance/index.html.

Our wandering took us to Makara, Johnsonville, Makara Beach, Porirua (dead ended in a parking lot) and on up the coast to our destination in Waikanae Beach. We walked on the beach, ate in a nice local restaurant (avoiding MacD’s and BK) and returned to the city by about 3 p.m.

The weather in the late afternoon turned warm and sunny so a long walk was in order along the waterfront. The good weather brought out the natives, including all the rowing enthusiasts. There is a large rowing club near the Te Papa and they were all hitting the water. The photos above can give you an idea of what a wonderful evening it was. Back at the apartment Mary Ann was heating up dinner in the microwave and all of a sudden the smoke alarm went off. We could not believe it as there was no smoke! We were madly running around waving at the alarm, opening the windows, and hoping it was not directly connected to the fire department. It did eventually turn off, and a few minutes later we had a knock at the door. Two guys (local fire assistants?) wanted to know why we did not vacate the building when the alarm went off. We all had a good laugh as we did not cause the alarm, and we promised to skedaddle in the future. Whew, for awhile there I was afraid Mary Ann would never cook here again.

Quirky Living Note: On our daily walks we pass by a store that may be a very high class pawn shop. The name of the store is Cash Converter and across the front of the store are the signs: “If you love it…buy it” and “If you don’t love it…sell it.” They must be successful as a check in the phone book shows several branches around Wellington.

Home Sweet Home

Our Wellington Apartment Building - 4th Floor

In New Zealand we are living in what you might call tourist apartments. These are essentially condos in an apartment building which are owned by the tourist accommodation company and rented for a week or more. Our apartment in Wellington is the only “transit” unit in our building. The advantage of this type of arrangement is that they are larger (two bedroom) and include such amenities as you would find in a regular condo, such as full kitchen with all the appliances, huge living room, two bathrooms, dining room, washer and dryer, high speed internet, and secure covered parking. http://www.aptsinwgtn.co.nz/

Having a full kitchen we are able to have meals at home, usually breakfast and some lunches. We try to eat dinner out about every other day. This however puts a lot of meal planning on a certain significant other. Her home economics background may be beginning to fade. She seems to be falling in love with those supermarket pre-made deli dinners. Geez, we are becoming very yuppy! The item Mary Ann really loves about this living arrangement is the maid service. At least once a week the ladies arrive to clean the bathrooms, change the beds, change the towels, dust everything, and vacuum the floors. For some reason Mary Ann thinks this is the way life is supposed to be. Go figure.

The apartment instructions do say if you need to take out the garbage before the maids come and do it for you, then there are bins available and you are provided some really complicated instructions on how to find them in the bowels of the building. When we told the maid we had gotten lost trying to find the bins, she just rolled her eyes and said it is impossible to negotiate. Maybe I will try again to solve the puzzle. I can do this!

Quirky Living Note: In New Zealand they obviously do not believe in mixing animals. There are clearly understandable signs for Boarding Kennels, but also the unusual signs for Catteries. I will have to assume this is a place for boarding cats, rather some other meaning.

Blokettes? The Local Take on Intl. Womens Day

Blokettes told to behave like ladies
LANE NICHOLS and NZPA - The Dominion Post Saturday, 08 March 2008

Blokette Kiwis have taken the "girls can do anything" mantra too far and forgotten how to be ladies. That's the message from the National Council for Women, which recommends a dose of finishing school for the country's party animals. It says they act more like men behaving badly than demure females.

It is urging young women to behave themselves, go easy on the drinking and stop trying to act like men. "Politically and economically, New Zealand women are blazing across the barriers," council president Christine Low said. [But] women need to realize that empowerment does not disenfranchise them from being a woman.

"Women need to know that it is perfectly acceptable to act and behave like a woman and not a `blokette' with something to prove to their male counterparts." Ms Low's comments - which marked International Women's Day - follow a Durex Sexual Wellbeing Global Survey that found New Zealand women were the most promiscuous in the world. They had an average of 20.4 sexual partners, well above the global average of 7.3. New Zealand was the only country where women were more promiscuous than their men.

Enjoying an after-work drink last night at a Wellington bar, German-born Helene Wolf said Kiwi women drank just as much as Germans or Russians. "But for some reason there's a perspective that women's drinking is worse here than anywhere else. Maybe [New Zealand] women don't know how to behave."

(Mary Ann is keeping a close eye on me. I am not allowed out after 8:30 p.m. T.)