on march 14th my old william and mary buddy angela thrasher arrived. i hadn't actually seen her in person in about 16 years. so when a black girl came out of biosecurity that had sorta the right height and hair, i was cautious in my approach. turns out that my caution was justified, as angela was the OTHER black girl to come out of biosecurity a little later (as an aside, she counted the number of black people she saw in this country while she was here. she hit double digits the day before she left). anyway, we reconnected just fine and headed off to breakfast in auckland and a stroll through albert park before the major event of the day, the pasifika festival.
pasifika is the largest pacific islander themed festival in the world (held annually in auckland, which is the largest polynesian city in the world). it celebrates the food, culture and music of (full points if you have heard of all of these countries already; bonus points if you can give their locations more specifically than "uh, somewhere in the pacific..."; YOU ARE INELIGIBLE IF YOUR NAME IS PETER SURSI) tokelau, the maori, fiji, samoa, tuvalu, niue, the cook islands, tonga, tahiti and kiribati. each nation had a set of tents selling food and...[insert local islander word for] 'tchochkes', and a stage with cultural performances. each area was staffed with locals wearing all manner of very colorful traditional dress (note: do NOT ask the 400 pound samoan dude in the lava-lava about his 'skirt').
angela and i decided early on that we'd experience the world's cultures primarily through their food. as we walked around, we ate anything that looked good. and lots of it did. mussel fritters with sweet chili sauce, fry bread, a sorta lovo style fijian dish with meat and palusami...it was all good. lots of booths also sold ice cream in watermelon bowls, but angela refused to have one because doing so would perpetuate the stereotype.
the cultural performances were really good, too. there were a number of kapa haka groups at the maori complex, which we watched because angela had never seen one before. several of the groups were school aged kids, which was cool to see. there were individual recording artists from around the pacific performing at the venues of their country of origin. but what i liked most of all were the older kids and adults doing the traditional dances. one thing you realize very quickly in watching these is just how different the maori are from other pacific islanders. the maori have no drums in their songs, for one thing. any percussion comes from stomping and beating on their chests. but a number of islander dances are accompanied by incredibly fast drums and the full on hula skirt/hippy hippy shake kinds of dances that make westerners gawk.
we took a quick break at lunchtime to take in some of the rugby that accompanied the festival. then it was on to more souvenir stalls. then it was on to more food. how many variations on taro root are there in world cuisine, you ask? well, plenty. when it was all said and done, we made our way back to the car and headed down to hamilton, discussing the day's sights and sounds all the way.
what made it all really cool was just how foreign and different everything was. i can totally see a nearly exact copy of this kind of festival taking place in miami, with all the caribbean nations featured. but because of where i currently am in the world, i get a peek into a whole group of cultures about which i knew almost nothing previously. and now, of course, i have to go visit them in person.
Monday, April 27, 2009
dad's visit: te mata peak and tongariro crossing (aka "run to the hills")
after napier, we took a quick detour south to te mata peak near north havelock. as those of you who just followed the link know, the peak is featured as one of the 101 kiwi must do's that i've been trying to collect during my year here. one of the other ones in the region, gannet watching out at cape kidnapper's, wasn't going to fit into our schedule, so this would be the only one we'd get for this region.
the peak is very impressive and dominates the surrounding landscape. the very top is also accessible by car, which is a definite bonus when you have miles to go and you need to see new zealand's glorious splendor on a schedule. i'd love to go back, because (unlike many similar places in the US) they have a lot of mountain bike trails. i can't imagine biking with a better view.
after te mata, we were off to tongariro national park by way of taupo (dad got to try hell pizza there) so we could do the tongariro crossing, roundly considered to be the best one day hike in the country and a world heritage site (for both natural and cultural significance - score!). it turns out we were literally the only guests in the 80+ bed backpackers down by the park. the entire weekend had been rained out (so it was a good thing we had re-routed our trip) and the following morning was looking a little doubtful. the plan was to get up early, get ready to go and hope that the game time decision (made by the company that would transport us to and from the mountain) would be in our favor.
we got up the next morning, got ready and, after some deliberation on the part of the transport company, the trip was a go. the weather still kinda sucked and it ended up raining for a good portion of the hike. as a result, we didn't get to see much on the first half of the walk, but i'm told it's impressive. likewise, the high winds kept us from making either of the two side hikes up to the top of mount ngauruhoe and mount tongariro from the saddle point in the middle of the crossing. there was additional suckage in that, as we all know, mount ngauruhoe was mount doom in the lord of the rings, so i really wanted to call mike from the summit to tell him i was on mount doom and he wasn't. nevertheless, i climbed about 20-30 yards up the slopes so that i can at least say i've been on the mountain.
the one thing that the weather couldn't keep from us was the emerald lakes, which were amazing. these lakes are, not surprisingly, very green from the mineral content. there are also lots of steaming fumeroles scattered around. we decided that the lakes were a great place to stop for lunch. while there wasn't really any other place that would have been better, one thing you notice quickly about volcanic landscape is that, with no vegetation or rock formations, it provides nothing in the way of protection from the wind and rain. after our lunch of bier sticks, one square meals and snickers, we were ready to hit the trail again.
the rest of the hike was in better weather but slightly less interesting. we made it to the end with mere moments to spare before our ride back to the backpackers was going to leave, so, in reality, the side trips up to either of the peaks probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. i guess they'll have to wait for another trip.
one thing that we both noted on the excursion is the range of preparedness (or lack thereof) of the other hikers. now, dad and i are both pretty fit, and i went overboard preparing for the hike. we had plenty enough wet and cold weather gear, lots of food and enough gatorade to quench the thirst of a small third world nation. but there were people out on the highest part of the hike in the cold and wind and rain with shorts and cotton sweatshirts and so forth. i'm not sure how they managed. so, for any of you reading this who might ever consider going on this or any other major hike at altitude, DON'T BE A TOOL. DRESS PROPERLY AND BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING.
after it was all done and we'd gone back to the backpackers to shower and get all our stuff, i took dad to the chateau tongariro, a really cool old hotel at the base of mount ruapehu. he was worried that we were under dressed, but i talked him into it anyway. as we sat in front of a 10' X 20' window looking out onto mount ngauruhoe with our drinks, he allowed as to how maybe it wasn't so bad that we came in dressed all grubby.
i love it when i'm right.
the peak is very impressive and dominates the surrounding landscape. the very top is also accessible by car, which is a definite bonus when you have miles to go and you need to see new zealand's glorious splendor on a schedule. i'd love to go back, because (unlike many similar places in the US) they have a lot of mountain bike trails. i can't imagine biking with a better view.
after te mata, we were off to tongariro national park by way of taupo (dad got to try hell pizza there) so we could do the tongariro crossing, roundly considered to be the best one day hike in the country and a world heritage site (for both natural and cultural significance - score!). it turns out we were literally the only guests in the 80+ bed backpackers down by the park. the entire weekend had been rained out (so it was a good thing we had re-routed our trip) and the following morning was looking a little doubtful. the plan was to get up early, get ready to go and hope that the game time decision (made by the company that would transport us to and from the mountain) would be in our favor.
we got up the next morning, got ready and, after some deliberation on the part of the transport company, the trip was a go. the weather still kinda sucked and it ended up raining for a good portion of the hike. as a result, we didn't get to see much on the first half of the walk, but i'm told it's impressive. likewise, the high winds kept us from making either of the two side hikes up to the top of mount ngauruhoe and mount tongariro from the saddle point in the middle of the crossing. there was additional suckage in that, as we all know, mount ngauruhoe was mount doom in the lord of the rings, so i really wanted to call mike from the summit to tell him i was on mount doom and he wasn't. nevertheless, i climbed about 20-30 yards up the slopes so that i can at least say i've been on the mountain.
the one thing that the weather couldn't keep from us was the emerald lakes, which were amazing. these lakes are, not surprisingly, very green from the mineral content. there are also lots of steaming fumeroles scattered around. we decided that the lakes were a great place to stop for lunch. while there wasn't really any other place that would have been better, one thing you notice quickly about volcanic landscape is that, with no vegetation or rock formations, it provides nothing in the way of protection from the wind and rain. after our lunch of bier sticks, one square meals and snickers, we were ready to hit the trail again.
the rest of the hike was in better weather but slightly less interesting. we made it to the end with mere moments to spare before our ride back to the backpackers was going to leave, so, in reality, the side trips up to either of the peaks probably wouldn't have worked out anyway. i guess they'll have to wait for another trip.
one thing that we both noted on the excursion is the range of preparedness (or lack thereof) of the other hikers. now, dad and i are both pretty fit, and i went overboard preparing for the hike. we had plenty enough wet and cold weather gear, lots of food and enough gatorade to quench the thirst of a small third world nation. but there were people out on the highest part of the hike in the cold and wind and rain with shorts and cotton sweatshirts and so forth. i'm not sure how they managed. so, for any of you reading this who might ever consider going on this or any other major hike at altitude, DON'T BE A TOOL. DRESS PROPERLY AND BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING.
after it was all done and we'd gone back to the backpackers to shower and get all our stuff, i took dad to the chateau tongariro, a really cool old hotel at the base of mount ruapehu. he was worried that we were under dressed, but i talked him into it anyway. as we sat in front of a 10' X 20' window looking out onto mount ngauruhoe with our drinks, he allowed as to how maybe it wasn't so bad that we came in dressed all grubby.
i love it when i'm right.
dad's visit: napier
after dad and i left eastwoodhill arboretum and the gisborne area, we headed south down to napier in the hawke’s bay area. napier is known in new zealand as the ‘art deco town’. the entire place was leveled in the 1931 earthquake and, undaunted, the townspeople decided to rebuild in the style of the time. what resulted is what many who know about such things (the rest of us will just take their word for it) say is the highest concentration of the best art deco buildings anywhere in the world. the town of napier uses this to its full advantage, attracting tourists who want to take a step back in time.
i had planned to take dad to the town because of the deco tie in, his being from Miami and all, which has its own deco district. i’d also heard that there was a tour around town available where you get to ride in a 1930something de soto or some such, which i thought he’d get a kick out of. well, imagine my surprise when i found out that dad would be in NZ for the one week a year that they were hosting “art deco week” in napier. we managed to get literally the last backpacker room in town. the whole thing was completely amazing. the entire town turns out in period dress. lots of flapper outfits, lots of guys in striped sport coats and those hats that barber shop quartets wear. but what really blew us away were the cars.
as some of you know, my father is a bit of an old car buff (remember the arranged meeting with him and the guy who owns the wolsely here on campus the day he arrived). there must have been over 150 classic cars in town for the party. there were a number of old morris’s , vauxhall’s and MG’s, but mostly there were American cars: at least six packards (BEAUTFIFUL condition, and, in the words of my grandfather, "now, that's a CAH, jonathan"), lots of fords, chevy’s, buicks, a few cadillacs, studebaker’s, a couple of old dodges and even an auburn (in FANTASTIC shape). it was really trippy to see 90% of them with right hand drive (obviously they were manufactured for export). it’s kind of cool too that there are lots of car fancier clubs, like the “model T club of new zealand” or the “Chrysler restorers club of new zealand”. i got to hear from dad about who in the family had which of these old cars and how Kathleen made aunt eddie drop her off a few blocks from school because she didn’t want to be seen being dropped off in this enormous chrome covered monstrosity i was looking at.
it was also really cool to see cars that not only had i never heard of, but that dad had never heard of either. i don’t consider myself an expert on old cars, but he certainly is. we saw a singer, which looked really cool (small little british roadster) which the owner said he put back together without any real instructions, so he wasn’t 100% sure what it was supposed to look like). i asked several people after we got back and most had never heard of it either. i saw an old lancia (Italian) which i’d never heard of, but dad had (i can tell the following joke because i am part italian: i asked dad where this car came from. he said italy. i said "well, i guess the plastic seat covers (which it actually had) should have been my first clue"). there was a beautiful old reo (but not the speedwagon) with a body that looked liked like an honest to god wooden boat. there was something that i still don’t know what it is, but the hood ornament was a rooster head that lit up. in the words of that woman from napolean dynamite "i want that".
the restoration and detail was incredible. one guy with a Pontiac had what looked like an old advertisement for it (“america’s finest low priced car! $906!”). chrome was everywhere, at least on the American cars. one major difference, other than the size, between the American and English cars was looks. the English cars were mostly dull in dark colors, while the American cars were enormous, bright, shiny and with enough trunk space for the English cars to fit in.
we were truly astounded. neither of us would have guessed that there were that many classic cars in the whole country, let alone that would have made the trip to napier. the rest of the events were cool too. there was an old skool soap box derby for the kids. the designs there were great too (my favorite was the one made from an old bathtub and it had exhaust pipes down the side). heats were three cars each and the kids were pushed by an adult up to a line. then gravity took over. we agreed that choosing the twelve year old girl in sandals to push you (as one competitor did) may not be the path to victory, but hey, it’s all about having fun.
the whole deco celebration was awesome. they even had squadrons of spitfires performing aerial acrobatics over the water and there were cars that had banners on them that said “i survived the 1931 earthquake”. if you are ever in the country and you can arrange to get to napier for that weekend, i would highly recommend it. it’s a blast. just be sure to book your hotel/backpackers well in advance.
i had planned to take dad to the town because of the deco tie in, his being from Miami and all, which has its own deco district. i’d also heard that there was a tour around town available where you get to ride in a 1930something de soto or some such, which i thought he’d get a kick out of. well, imagine my surprise when i found out that dad would be in NZ for the one week a year that they were hosting “art deco week” in napier. we managed to get literally the last backpacker room in town. the whole thing was completely amazing. the entire town turns out in period dress. lots of flapper outfits, lots of guys in striped sport coats and those hats that barber shop quartets wear. but what really blew us away were the cars.
as some of you know, my father is a bit of an old car buff (remember the arranged meeting with him and the guy who owns the wolsely here on campus the day he arrived). there must have been over 150 classic cars in town for the party. there were a number of old morris’s , vauxhall’s and MG’s, but mostly there were American cars: at least six packards (BEAUTFIFUL condition, and, in the words of my grandfather, "now, that's a CAH, jonathan"), lots of fords, chevy’s, buicks, a few cadillacs, studebaker’s, a couple of old dodges and even an auburn (in FANTASTIC shape). it was really trippy to see 90% of them with right hand drive (obviously they were manufactured for export). it’s kind of cool too that there are lots of car fancier clubs, like the “model T club of new zealand” or the “Chrysler restorers club of new zealand”. i got to hear from dad about who in the family had which of these old cars and how Kathleen made aunt eddie drop her off a few blocks from school because she didn’t want to be seen being dropped off in this enormous chrome covered monstrosity i was looking at.
it was also really cool to see cars that not only had i never heard of, but that dad had never heard of either. i don’t consider myself an expert on old cars, but he certainly is. we saw a singer, which looked really cool (small little british roadster) which the owner said he put back together without any real instructions, so he wasn’t 100% sure what it was supposed to look like). i asked several people after we got back and most had never heard of it either. i saw an old lancia (Italian) which i’d never heard of, but dad had (i can tell the following joke because i am part italian: i asked dad where this car came from. he said italy. i said "well, i guess the plastic seat covers (which it actually had) should have been my first clue"). there was a beautiful old reo (but not the speedwagon) with a body that looked liked like an honest to god wooden boat. there was something that i still don’t know what it is, but the hood ornament was a rooster head that lit up. in the words of that woman from napolean dynamite "i want that".
the restoration and detail was incredible. one guy with a Pontiac had what looked like an old advertisement for it (“america’s finest low priced car! $906!”). chrome was everywhere, at least on the American cars. one major difference, other than the size, between the American and English cars was looks. the English cars were mostly dull in dark colors, while the American cars were enormous, bright, shiny and with enough trunk space for the English cars to fit in.
we were truly astounded. neither of us would have guessed that there were that many classic cars in the whole country, let alone that would have made the trip to napier. the rest of the events were cool too. there was an old skool soap box derby for the kids. the designs there were great too (my favorite was the one made from an old bathtub and it had exhaust pipes down the side). heats were three cars each and the kids were pushed by an adult up to a line. then gravity took over. we agreed that choosing the twelve year old girl in sandals to push you (as one competitor did) may not be the path to victory, but hey, it’s all about having fun.
the whole deco celebration was awesome. they even had squadrons of spitfires performing aerial acrobatics over the water and there were cars that had banners on them that said “i survived the 1931 earthquake”. if you are ever in the country and you can arrange to get to napier for that weekend, i would highly recommend it. it’s a blast. just be sure to book your hotel/backpackers well in advance.
television censorship, bizarre new zealand interpretation of
so they have recently gotten comedy central for sky tv here, which is cool. i wasn't sure how well shows like 'american dad' would translate, but they certainly are showing enough of them, so i guess we'll see.
anyway, the other day i caught part of the comedy central roast of pamela anderson. it had its moments. but what really struck me was what they didn't censor and then what they did. you got to hear every swear word in the book and vivid descriptions of nearly every sexual act and proclivity imaginable. but then we heard "courtney love would give someone a blow job for a diet *BLEEP*". this censorship of a product name might not have made such a big impression on me had i not just heard jeffrey ross proclaim what he wouldn't do involving bea arthur and andy dick's privates not five minutes before. i'd be more explicit, but we all know i try to run a family friendly show here (SEE, DAD, YOU COULD SHOW THIS ONE TO UNCLE ED AND AUNT VI. KINDA. WELL, MAYBE NOT).
so, things are a little different here, but in all, new zealand is a place 14 year old american boys would love because they will show boobies on tv after 11:00 and they don't bleep out the swear words. plus, the drinking age is only 18, so you'd only have to wait 4 more years.
anyway, the other day i caught part of the comedy central roast of pamela anderson. it had its moments. but what really struck me was what they didn't censor and then what they did. you got to hear every swear word in the book and vivid descriptions of nearly every sexual act and proclivity imaginable. but then we heard "courtney love would give someone a blow job for a diet *BLEEP*". this censorship of a product name might not have made such a big impression on me had i not just heard jeffrey ross proclaim what he wouldn't do involving bea arthur and andy dick's privates not five minutes before. i'd be more explicit, but we all know i try to run a family friendly show here (SEE, DAD, YOU COULD SHOW THIS ONE TO UNCLE ED AND AUNT VI. KINDA. WELL, MAYBE NOT).
so, things are a little different here, but in all, new zealand is a place 14 year old american boys would love because they will show boobies on tv after 11:00 and they don't bleep out the swear words. plus, the drinking age is only 18, so you'd only have to wait 4 more years.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
shortland street
so there’s this tv show here called shortland street that’s something of a NZ cultural icon. set at the fictitious shortland street hospital in Auckland, it maintains a blistering pace recounting the lives of the hospital employees, thirty minutes at a time. think “ER” without all that technical accuracy. i decided to watch to get a bit of cultural enlightenment and this is what i learned…
brooke (who looks a little like a kiwi sarah michelle geller) is surprised at home by her patient barry who is undergoing a breakdown due to the interaction of two drugs brooke prescribed him when she wasn’t paying full attention so she didn’t realize what would happen and the two paramedics (including the one token maori guy) can’t get in to help her but then barry bursts out of the door and gets on the railing of the second floor apartment walkway and threatens to kill himself but it’s okay because brooke talks him down and meanwhile this pretty but annoying blonde chick whose name i never caught is desparately trying to recruit people to go to morgan’s bridal/baby shower (which the other nurses don’t want to go to and morgan overhears this) because she’s having triplets (morgan, not the blonde, but morgan is also blonde, but i mean her and not the other blonde) and was supposed to be a surrogate mother for a couple who didn’t appear in this episode but who wanted to reduce the number of embryos from three to two to give the two a better chance for survival but morgan thinks that’s wrong so she’s reneging on the deal and is keeping the babies and is being supported by and marrying the ambiguously gay Gerald who is being taken out for his stag party on the same night as the hen party even though gerald’s boss (who is the father of one of the two paramedics from earlier but not the maori one) is trying to talk him out of the wedding because, you know, it’s like a big responsibility and stuff and fortunately brooke gets a pass on her mistake and won’t lose her medical license because one of the other doctors won’t turn her in if she treats this as a wake up call and is more careful in the future and the stag party starts off kind of lame because it’s just three guys at home playing some dice-based drinking game until the paramedics show up and the maori guy takes all their money at poker until they all go out and end up at the same bar where the hen party is but it’s kind of lame too and the guys show up at just the same time the blonde girl is judging the party game where the girls had paired off to make wedding dresses out of toilet paper and scotch tape and the pregnant girl had lactating breast pads on the outside of her ‘dress’ but they got her the recyclable kind because they all know how environmentally conscious morgan is and meanwhile TK and this woman doctor are working the emergency room and this mother and son come in from a car wreck and the son dies despite TK’s best efforts and it’s clear that he’s fed up with the way the hospital is run and how the patients aren’t treated like people but hey, it’s the nature of the job and the episode ends with Gerald (who is now pretty drunk) doing a strip tease in the bar in front of morgan who gets upset and storms off.
everybody got all that?
brooke (who looks a little like a kiwi sarah michelle geller) is surprised at home by her patient barry who is undergoing a breakdown due to the interaction of two drugs brooke prescribed him when she wasn’t paying full attention so she didn’t realize what would happen and the two paramedics (including the one token maori guy) can’t get in to help her but then barry bursts out of the door and gets on the railing of the second floor apartment walkway and threatens to kill himself but it’s okay because brooke talks him down and meanwhile this pretty but annoying blonde chick whose name i never caught is desparately trying to recruit people to go to morgan’s bridal/baby shower (which the other nurses don’t want to go to and morgan overhears this) because she’s having triplets (morgan, not the blonde, but morgan is also blonde, but i mean her and not the other blonde) and was supposed to be a surrogate mother for a couple who didn’t appear in this episode but who wanted to reduce the number of embryos from three to two to give the two a better chance for survival but morgan thinks that’s wrong so she’s reneging on the deal and is keeping the babies and is being supported by and marrying the ambiguously gay Gerald who is being taken out for his stag party on the same night as the hen party even though gerald’s boss (who is the father of one of the two paramedics from earlier but not the maori one) is trying to talk him out of the wedding because, you know, it’s like a big responsibility and stuff and fortunately brooke gets a pass on her mistake and won’t lose her medical license because one of the other doctors won’t turn her in if she treats this as a wake up call and is more careful in the future and the stag party starts off kind of lame because it’s just three guys at home playing some dice-based drinking game until the paramedics show up and the maori guy takes all their money at poker until they all go out and end up at the same bar where the hen party is but it’s kind of lame too and the guys show up at just the same time the blonde girl is judging the party game where the girls had paired off to make wedding dresses out of toilet paper and scotch tape and the pregnant girl had lactating breast pads on the outside of her ‘dress’ but they got her the recyclable kind because they all know how environmentally conscious morgan is and meanwhile TK and this woman doctor are working the emergency room and this mother and son come in from a car wreck and the son dies despite TK’s best efforts and it’s clear that he’s fed up with the way the hospital is run and how the patients aren’t treated like people but hey, it’s the nature of the job and the episode ends with Gerald (who is now pretty drunk) doing a strip tease in the bar in front of morgan who gets upset and storms off.
everybody got all that?
Thursday, April 16, 2009
chosen
so, occasionally things happen that are completely unexpected but really cool. several weeks ago, i got email from a group called schmap, who has done a photo map of auckland. they found a photo i'd taken in albert park (very nice park in auckland; looks like it belongs in miami) back when i went to visit the university there and wanted to know if they could include it in their site.
well, even though i get no money for it, i said yes. i do, however, get a photo credit (my first one!), so that's pretty cool. anyway, here is the link:
http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=auckland&sid=tours_tour1&p=55902&i=55902_45
well, even though i get no money for it, i said yes. i do, however, get a photo credit (my first one!), so that's pretty cool. anyway, here is the link:
http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=auckland&sid=tours_tour1&p=55902&i=55902_45
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
cognitive dissonance
okay, here's a quick piece of video i took at the new zealand shearing championships. it's a man named craig dayson (available for hire for corporate events, etc) as he sings "feelin' good".
the man is obviously very talented and i wish to take nothing away from him, nor to make fun of him. it's just that the whole thing is sung in front of....sheep. the song and the place just don't really synch up. as you watch the video, take note of what's in the background.
enjoy
the man is obviously very talented and i wish to take nothing away from him, nor to make fun of him. it's just that the whole thing is sung in front of....sheep. the song and the place just don't really synch up. as you watch the video, take note of what's in the background.
enjoy
Monday, April 6, 2009
eve the sheep
it's always hard being on the other side of the world from the people you care about, but sometimes it's just that much harder.
as you may remember from the 'monster at the end of this book' post a while back, i have two very special little girls in my life: isabella and liliana sursi. this morning, isabella had the latest in a series of surgeries on her leg. the surgery was a success and although the pre-surgery loopy juice they gave her didn't work very well, she came out of it okay and is recovering. she's not quite seven years old.
i talked to stephanie and peter during and after. i was around for the last two, so i have a sense of what's involved. and i know intellectually that really, there's nothing i can do, other than spend time and try to make her feel better or keep her distracted. but you never realize just how strong the need is to do even those small things until it's denied you.
ahead of time, i sent her a stuffed sheep, which she named 'eve'. she's been sleeping with it and loves it. my vain hope was that it would, in some way, be an extension of myself to reach out across the miles and give her some kind of comfort and feeling of security. i pray that it will.
get well soon, sweetheart. i love you and i miss you.
as you may remember from the 'monster at the end of this book' post a while back, i have two very special little girls in my life: isabella and liliana sursi. this morning, isabella had the latest in a series of surgeries on her leg. the surgery was a success and although the pre-surgery loopy juice they gave her didn't work very well, she came out of it okay and is recovering. she's not quite seven years old.
i talked to stephanie and peter during and after. i was around for the last two, so i have a sense of what's involved. and i know intellectually that really, there's nothing i can do, other than spend time and try to make her feel better or keep her distracted. but you never realize just how strong the need is to do even those small things until it's denied you.
ahead of time, i sent her a stuffed sheep, which she named 'eve'. she's been sleeping with it and loves it. my vain hope was that it would, in some way, be an extension of myself to reach out across the miles and give her some kind of comfort and feeling of security. i pray that it will.
get well soon, sweetheart. i love you and i miss you.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
"balloony" - nz style
each year here in hamilton there is a hot air balloon festival called 'balloons over waikato'. i'd heard about this soon after i got here and it was one of the many things that i'd been looking forward to for a while now.
the festival lasts for a few days and features over 30 hot air balloons. not quite like new mexico, but pretty good for these here parts. each morning the balloons would lift off from several different parks around town and the public was welcome to come see them as they inflated and left. there was also a parade downtown of friday night which consisted of the gondolas of the balloons being towed along victoria street as they shot flames in the air. at least one wasn't paying attention and nearly set one of the overhanging trees on fire.
i went down to innes common bright and early on saturday morning to see the spectacle. three or four of the balloons were being inflated and it's pretty cool to watch. a balloon is inflated most of the way with a large fan and then the rest of the way with the burners. once fully inflated, the passengers climb aboard (sadly, i discovered that you needed to have bought tickets well in advance) and then the balloon untethers and just...floats away. it looks cool, but you definitely get the feeling that there is nothing fast about hot air balloons.
in addition to the regular, well, balloon-shaped balloons, there were one or two specialty balloons. one was 'mr. bup', a large turtle from belgium with backwards baseball cap and shoes with droopy laces. there was also a lucy the ladybug and a giant birthday cake (this festival being the 10th birthday of the festival).
a note to all aspiring hot air balloon designers: you may want to show your plan to a 14 year old boy before actually beginning fabrication. if he laughs his ass off, reconsider your design. the reason i say this is because of the aforementioned mr. bup. he's seated like a teddy bear, with feet and arms forward. and the gondola is underneath. picture this in your mind's eye for a moment. the gondola looks like the world's largest dingleberry, which really kind of detracts from the effect. maybe this is normal in belgium.
at any rate, there were hundreds of people at the park, despite the early hour. lots of kids. my favorite comment from the announcer dude was when he was telling all the girls that, while there aren't many female balloon pilots, it's an activity that girls can do just fine at "because there's no reverse parking involved". there was also the finale of the 'cake race', which consists of balloonists who had taken off previously from other sites trying to be the first one to land in the park and grab a piece of cake off a large pole. i get the impression that there is more than just a little luck involved.
the culmination of the entire festival was the 'night glow', held saturday night on the university of waikato campus. it was really really cool. they take about 20 balloons and have them fully inflated and tethered to the ground about as close together as it's possible for twenty balloons to be. once it was completely dark out, all the balloons began firing their burners, making all the the balloons glow. the effect is very impressive. i got several pictures, which look nice but don't nearly do the experience justice. the night glow was followed by a great fireworks display.
the entire affair (except of course for balloon rides) is free to the public. it's a great festival and, judging from the number of people who were at the different events, a very popular one, too. it's also made me want to go on a hot air balloon ride even more than i did previously.
the festival lasts for a few days and features over 30 hot air balloons. not quite like new mexico, but pretty good for these here parts. each morning the balloons would lift off from several different parks around town and the public was welcome to come see them as they inflated and left. there was also a parade downtown of friday night which consisted of the gondolas of the balloons being towed along victoria street as they shot flames in the air. at least one wasn't paying attention and nearly set one of the overhanging trees on fire.
i went down to innes common bright and early on saturday morning to see the spectacle. three or four of the balloons were being inflated and it's pretty cool to watch. a balloon is inflated most of the way with a large fan and then the rest of the way with the burners. once fully inflated, the passengers climb aboard (sadly, i discovered that you needed to have bought tickets well in advance) and then the balloon untethers and just...floats away. it looks cool, but you definitely get the feeling that there is nothing fast about hot air balloons.
in addition to the regular, well, balloon-shaped balloons, there were one or two specialty balloons. one was 'mr. bup', a large turtle from belgium with backwards baseball cap and shoes with droopy laces. there was also a lucy the ladybug and a giant birthday cake (this festival being the 10th birthday of the festival).
a note to all aspiring hot air balloon designers: you may want to show your plan to a 14 year old boy before actually beginning fabrication. if he laughs his ass off, reconsider your design. the reason i say this is because of the aforementioned mr. bup. he's seated like a teddy bear, with feet and arms forward. and the gondola is underneath. picture this in your mind's eye for a moment. the gondola looks like the world's largest dingleberry, which really kind of detracts from the effect. maybe this is normal in belgium.
at any rate, there were hundreds of people at the park, despite the early hour. lots of kids. my favorite comment from the announcer dude was when he was telling all the girls that, while there aren't many female balloon pilots, it's an activity that girls can do just fine at "because there's no reverse parking involved". there was also the finale of the 'cake race', which consists of balloonists who had taken off previously from other sites trying to be the first one to land in the park and grab a piece of cake off a large pole. i get the impression that there is more than just a little luck involved.
the culmination of the entire festival was the 'night glow', held saturday night on the university of waikato campus. it was really really cool. they take about 20 balloons and have them fully inflated and tethered to the ground about as close together as it's possible for twenty balloons to be. once it was completely dark out, all the balloons began firing their burners, making all the the balloons glow. the effect is very impressive. i got several pictures, which look nice but don't nearly do the experience justice. the night glow was followed by a great fireworks display.
the entire affair (except of course for balloon rides) is free to the public. it's a great festival and, judging from the number of people who were at the different events, a very popular one, too. it's also made me want to go on a hot air balloon ride even more than i did previously.
dad's visit: opotiki to eastwoodhill arboretum
after our night at the beach house backpackers, dad and i set off (once more, in the rain) south down to gisborne. we made gisborne by lunchtime and i'm proud to report that it wasn't appreciably better the second time. i took dad by the few sites i thought were worth seeing, like the captain cook statue (the real one) and the view from the hill overlooking the town (the one with the not statue of captain cook). i did get to see one thing i didn't before: the bulmer cidery down near the waterfront. even though it only had alcoholic ciders, it was interesting to learn about and you could see down into the entire production area. i also got to learn that cider used to be given as part of the daily compensation farm workers received back in the day. like pretty much everything in life, cider has a much more interesting history than you might think.
after getting our directions to eastwoodhill at the gisborne i-site, we headed off and still managed to miss the turn. but in my own defense, the discovered empirically that the sign could only be seen when you come from the other directions. fuckers. but we made it to the arboretum in time to check in and get settled before the close of business. all we really needed to do was get there by 5, because we were staying the night on the premises.
eastwoodhill has some very nice accomodations available and you get access to a full kitchen. after hours, you pretty much have the run of the place. there are a number of marked trails around the grounds, four of which have accompanying guide books explaining the more significant trees and plants in the collection. we went off on one of the trails before dinner and dad was suitably impressed. the place truly is astounding and goes on and on. plus, the five year old in me was all kinds of excited to see that the cicadas had been to eastwoodhill in full force, leaving behind their shells all over the trees.
i'd given dad two books about the arboretum for christmas and he'd had a chance to read through them before his visit. from him i learned a bit more about the arboretum and its founder, william douglas cook. for example, cook was evidently an ardent nudist. many are the stories about how his assistant gardeners would be more than a little surprised to come upon him accidently to find him in his birthday suit. cook lived a good long time, too, so i imagine that the sight became more...memorable as time passed.
it had been another long day of travel, so after our hike and a quick dinner, we crashed for the evening so as to be ready to resume our tour the next morning.
after getting our directions to eastwoodhill at the gisborne i-site, we headed off and still managed to miss the turn. but in my own defense, the discovered empirically that the sign could only be seen when you come from the other directions. fuckers. but we made it to the arboretum in time to check in and get settled before the close of business. all we really needed to do was get there by 5, because we were staying the night on the premises.
eastwoodhill has some very nice accomodations available and you get access to a full kitchen. after hours, you pretty much have the run of the place. there are a number of marked trails around the grounds, four of which have accompanying guide books explaining the more significant trees and plants in the collection. we went off on one of the trails before dinner and dad was suitably impressed. the place truly is astounding and goes on and on. plus, the five year old in me was all kinds of excited to see that the cicadas had been to eastwoodhill in full force, leaving behind their shells all over the trees.
i'd given dad two books about the arboretum for christmas and he'd had a chance to read through them before his visit. from him i learned a bit more about the arboretum and its founder, william douglas cook. for example, cook was evidently an ardent nudist. many are the stories about how his assistant gardeners would be more than a little surprised to come upon him accidently to find him in his birthday suit. cook lived a good long time, too, so i imagine that the sight became more...memorable as time passed.
it had been another long day of travel, so after our hike and a quick dinner, we crashed for the evening so as to be ready to resume our tour the next morning.
8 seconds
this weekend i fulfilled a promise i made to myself that i made before i moved to new zealand: i surfed.
i'd tried twice before but was unsuccessful both times. any time i tried to stand up, i fell off almost immediately. overall, it was a pretty frustrating endeavor. so i signed up for another lesson, this time with the raglan surfing school, located at mount karioi near whale bay outside of raglan.
this lesson began with a much longer session on land, practicing over and over the steps to standing up smoothly. ultimately, my classmates and i (three girls from germany and two from canada) set off with our two kiwi instructors to the beach. the instructors were both very good and were much more helpful than the one i had previously. they got in the water with us and would get you on your board and push you along with the wave so you didn't have to worry about paddling to get up to speed (note for the novice: this is REALLY helpful). the board i had this time was also better than the one i had before: larger and heavier. i won't say that i got up in no time, but i was getting closer to success than i had before when one of the instructors showed me a new way of standing. this turned out to be key.
as with bull-riding, i'd decided previously that it wouldn't count as surfing unless i was able to ride for at least 8 seconds. for the first time, i was able to stand up and actually ride the board all the way in to shore, disembarking of my own free will and not because i lost my balance. it was immensely satisfying.
it's still not easy, but now i know i can do it. i'm going to try to get back out to the beach at least once more before leaving this country, because i fear that after i return home the closest i'll get to surfing will be listening to the beach boys.
i'd tried twice before but was unsuccessful both times. any time i tried to stand up, i fell off almost immediately. overall, it was a pretty frustrating endeavor. so i signed up for another lesson, this time with the raglan surfing school, located at mount karioi near whale bay outside of raglan.
this lesson began with a much longer session on land, practicing over and over the steps to standing up smoothly. ultimately, my classmates and i (three girls from germany and two from canada) set off with our two kiwi instructors to the beach. the instructors were both very good and were much more helpful than the one i had previously. they got in the water with us and would get you on your board and push you along with the wave so you didn't have to worry about paddling to get up to speed (note for the novice: this is REALLY helpful). the board i had this time was also better than the one i had before: larger and heavier. i won't say that i got up in no time, but i was getting closer to success than i had before when one of the instructors showed me a new way of standing. this turned out to be key.
as with bull-riding, i'd decided previously that it wouldn't count as surfing unless i was able to ride for at least 8 seconds. for the first time, i was able to stand up and actually ride the board all the way in to shore, disembarking of my own free will and not because i lost my balance. it was immensely satisfying.
it's still not easy, but now i know i can do it. i'm going to try to get back out to the beach at least once more before leaving this country, because i fear that after i return home the closest i'll get to surfing will be listening to the beach boys.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
reaching the pinnacles
a word of warning: if ever you should go hiking up a tall mountain on a hot day with a new zealander who is in worse shape than you, be prepared to hear a lot of muttering containing variants on the word "bugger".
a few months ago (can't believe i forgot to write about this) i set off with presto the the magic clown (aka fellow lab demonstrator and sci fi movie night guru alista fow) to hike up to the summit of the pinnacles, an impressive mountain range near the town of thames at the base of the coromandel peninsula. it's a great hike and has the distinct advantage of not being more than an hour and a half's drive from hamilton.
the hike to get to the top takes about 3 hours. the trail follows the route set up by loggers back in the 1920's who came into the area for the kauri trees. a fair portion of the trail has stone steps carved into the rock (for the packhorses carrying supplies) and there are other parts of the trail where you can see the remnants of old logging trails, where teams of bullocks would tow felled trees along logs set into the ground. a number of signs explain the whole affair and all i can say after hiking that area is that those guys must have been bad ass. the hike itself was a pain enough and i had gatorade. i can't imagine doing all that for a living. the most impressive part of all, however, is how they got the logs out of the forest. the loggers would build a series of dams along the river running down from the mountain and would put the kauri logs into the river. then they would release the dams in rapid succession as literally tons of kauri would then rocket down the mountain to the bottom. apparently, about 20% of the wood would be utterly destroyed by the time it reached the bottom (and for those of you who have seen just how large and strong kauri are, this should be all the more impressive).
after about 2 hours or so of passing probably more hikers than i've seen cumulatively in new zealand, we reached what has to be the nicest goddamn DOC hut i've ever seen. i mean seriously, this place is like a sheraton on the mountain. it can sleep about 80 and has showers and running water in the saddle of a mountain range. there are no roads that lead to it, but there is a makeshift helicopter landing pad, which is presumably how all the materials were brought up. some kind soul graciously left a telescope out on the deck, so you can look at people climbing around on the summit.
after a brief rest at the hut, i was itching to get to the summit (alista, not so much. but he came along anyway). the path to the top was an interesting challenge. there were steps (alista counted 501 of them), in addition to the two metal ladders and the multiple series of rungs set into the rocks. pretty fun, if you ignored the heat of the day. the view from the top, however, is astounding. unfortunately, the claim of being able to see both coasts of the coromandel was, sadly, not borne out, but only because clouds obscured one of the coasts. no matter. the summit itself is different from most other places i've been so far in its...verticality. usually there is a decent-sized patch of horizontal ground at a mountain summit in this country. not so in the pinnacles. but they have graciously put a wooden platform there for you and you can climb over up and over the adjoining outcrop to see the other side of the mountains. it's rough and craggy and awesome. it also seems like it doesn't take much in the way of clambering around on high peaks above a many thousand foot drop to make a kiwi and a couple of female tourists a little nervous (IT WAS ALL COMPLETELY SAFE, MOM). i got lots of great pictures.
the trip back was (not surprisingly) faster, but no less hot. more muttering from alista. but he eventually made it, though he declined to come with me down a side trail to see one of the old logging dams.
it's a great hike and is perfect for a day trip out of hamilton. and after 2-3 days of recovery, alista said that he wasn't sore anymore.
a few months ago (can't believe i forgot to write about this) i set off with presto the the magic clown (aka fellow lab demonstrator and sci fi movie night guru alista fow) to hike up to the summit of the pinnacles, an impressive mountain range near the town of thames at the base of the coromandel peninsula. it's a great hike and has the distinct advantage of not being more than an hour and a half's drive from hamilton.
the hike to get to the top takes about 3 hours. the trail follows the route set up by loggers back in the 1920's who came into the area for the kauri trees. a fair portion of the trail has stone steps carved into the rock (for the packhorses carrying supplies) and there are other parts of the trail where you can see the remnants of old logging trails, where teams of bullocks would tow felled trees along logs set into the ground. a number of signs explain the whole affair and all i can say after hiking that area is that those guys must have been bad ass. the hike itself was a pain enough and i had gatorade. i can't imagine doing all that for a living. the most impressive part of all, however, is how they got the logs out of the forest. the loggers would build a series of dams along the river running down from the mountain and would put the kauri logs into the river. then they would release the dams in rapid succession as literally tons of kauri would then rocket down the mountain to the bottom. apparently, about 20% of the wood would be utterly destroyed by the time it reached the bottom (and for those of you who have seen just how large and strong kauri are, this should be all the more impressive).
after about 2 hours or so of passing probably more hikers than i've seen cumulatively in new zealand, we reached what has to be the nicest goddamn DOC hut i've ever seen. i mean seriously, this place is like a sheraton on the mountain. it can sleep about 80 and has showers and running water in the saddle of a mountain range. there are no roads that lead to it, but there is a makeshift helicopter landing pad, which is presumably how all the materials were brought up. some kind soul graciously left a telescope out on the deck, so you can look at people climbing around on the summit.
after a brief rest at the hut, i was itching to get to the summit (alista, not so much. but he came along anyway). the path to the top was an interesting challenge. there were steps (alista counted 501 of them), in addition to the two metal ladders and the multiple series of rungs set into the rocks. pretty fun, if you ignored the heat of the day. the view from the top, however, is astounding. unfortunately, the claim of being able to see both coasts of the coromandel was, sadly, not borne out, but only because clouds obscured one of the coasts. no matter. the summit itself is different from most other places i've been so far in its...verticality. usually there is a decent-sized patch of horizontal ground at a mountain summit in this country. not so in the pinnacles. but they have graciously put a wooden platform there for you and you can climb over up and over the adjoining outcrop to see the other side of the mountains. it's rough and craggy and awesome. it also seems like it doesn't take much in the way of clambering around on high peaks above a many thousand foot drop to make a kiwi and a couple of female tourists a little nervous (IT WAS ALL COMPLETELY SAFE, MOM). i got lots of great pictures.
the trip back was (not surprisingly) faster, but no less hot. more muttering from alista. but he eventually made it, though he declined to come with me down a side trail to see one of the old logging dams.
it's a great hike and is perfect for a day trip out of hamilton. and after 2-3 days of recovery, alista said that he wasn't sore anymore.
let us all sing the praises of the kiwifruit
last weekend, while angela was on her way to white island, i headed northwest from whakatane to the town of te puke (pronounced “tee poo-kay”, not ‘puke’ as in ‘hurl’, ‘chunder’ or (my new favorite word) ‘munt’), NZ, the self-proclaimed ‘kiwifruit capital of the world’. now, as i’ve mentioned and as will be detailed in a later post, there are many locations in NZ who claim to be the whatever capital of NZ or even of the world. some of these claims may be a bit controversial, but i’m going to take it on faith that this one’s actually legit.
te puke (and the bay of plenty region of NZ in general) produces 90% of the over 240 million kiwifruit exported from NZ annually. a combination of environmental factors makes the area ideal for growing the fruit: high sunshine hours/year, moderate climate, the right amount of rain, and deep, soft volcanic soil that allows the roots to penetrate far enough to have a ready supply of water without artificial irrigation. the kiwifruit (originally called the Chinese gooseberry) was first imported to NZ in 1904 from the Yangtze valley. of the 150 varieties of kiwifruit now known, three are grown commercially here in NZ. i learned all of this (and much, much more!) at kiwi360, a combination orchard/tour/huge playground for the kiddies/massive gift shop that specializes in all things kiwifruit.
so excited was i (plus it made the schedule work better) that i showed up promptly at 9am for the first tour of the day in which i was literally the only participant. you can imagine what it looked like for me to be alone in the little tram of kiwifruit shaped cars, sitting right behind my driver and tour guide. we headed out at the breakneck speed of whole kilometers per hour into the orchard to learn about the fruit production of the area. it turns out that they have much more than just kiwifruit at kiwi360. there are also many varieties of nut trees, apples, pears, oranges, etc. the soil is good for all kinds of plants. but, as you can imagine, i was impatient to get to the ‘good stuff’.
the orchard of kiwifruit itself is impressive. for those who don’t know, kiwifruit grows on vines, like grapes on steroids. the vines are made to grow horizontally on a grid of wires (that is irritatingly just below my height) so that the fruit can hang down for easy picking. both the yellow and green kiwifruit varieties grow in the same orchard side by side (oh yeah, for those who haven’t been here yet, there is a yellow kiwifruit variety that i’ve never seen in the states. most of my visitors so far have liked it). picking season is just now beginning and lasts for about 3 months, during which time the orchard will be picked bare and the fruit subsequently sorted for shipping. a fairly sizeable fraction of the fruit won’t be sold for export (due to ugly marks, etc) and will often be sold at deep discounts to local farmers who use it to feed cows and sheep.
the orchards were cool and everything, but the intricacies of the cultivation were really interesting. as with any other crop, bees are brought in for pollination of the vines, but bees apparently don’t like them because the flowers don’t really have any nectar. so the bees are fed a special artificial nectar upon returning to the hive so they’ll be tricked into liking the flowers. seems odd, but apparently it works. also, the biggest concern for the growers is a spring frost, which will kill the flowers and thus destroy the entire year’s crop. generally, the frosts don’t last that long, so it is actually economically viable to hire a helicopter pilot to hover over your orchard and fan the vines to keep the air circulating and keep the flowers from dying. kiwi360 has gone (in ‘madness’ fashion) one step beyond and installed a series of fan towers, each powered by a diesel car engine. apparently when they are all going, it sounds like a squadron of B-17’s.
even more interesting than the orchard and cultivation, however, was the info on the kiwifruit itself. apparently, there was a study done by rutgers university about 12 years ago that declared the kiwifruit to be the WORLD’S MOST NUTRITIOUS FRUIT. that’s right, folks. and i, your journalist in the center of it all, attempted to obtain a copy of said rutgers study from…some web site that claimed they would send one if you asked, but was thwarted. evidently another incidence of the Man keeping us down. however, a summary of the results (plus other kiwifruit related info!) is given here. the upshot is that if you compare 100grams of each of the world’s 27 most popular fruits, kiwifruit comes out on top in terms of lowest calories per nutrient. it has twice as much vitamin c as an orange, as much potassium as a banana, is an unusually low-fat source of vitamin e, and is great for magnesium, fiber and other stuff. another study by oslo university (which was not mentioned at kiwi360, who is totally missing out by not mentioning it) says that eating 2-3 kiwifruit a day has the same heart health benefits as taking the recommended dosage of aspirin.
anyway, as far as kiwi360 is concerned…the whole place is awesome. i realize that i’m a complete sucker for roadside attractions. but you do actually learn a lot at kiwi360 and the kiwifruit is one of new zealand’s iconic offerings. plus they have this enormous 3 story kiwifruit with a lookout balcony from the top, which is great. the gift shop has anything kiwifruit related object you could ever want, plus a shitload more. i got a bunch of those little plastic kiwifruit spoons to give away that some visitors have coveted, plus a stainless steel one that could be used to disembowel a foe. they have kiwifruit wine (not sold anywhere else), which i’m going to assume would be ‘cloying’ in its sweetness. but the kiwifruit juice is really good, plus they had kiwiberries (remember at the top of this post i mentioned there are 3 varieties of kiwifruit grown here? well, the standard green and gold are two of them and the third are these miniature fully grown ones called kiwiberries that are very sweet, very good and very expensive).
in parting, the coolest thing i saw all day was a kiwifruit sorting machine from the ‘50s. the basic principle is that the fruit are loaded single file onto a conveyor belt that puts the fruit one at a time onto a small catapult, which throws every fruit into the air with the same force. different fruits of different weights will go different heights. there are canvas strips at different heights that catch the kiwifruit, which then roll down into different sorted boxes. for my money, this is an even better use of physics than the determination of the height of mount taranaki by boiling water at the summit. i wholeheartedly approve. a small snippet of video is provided below.
kiwi360. fun for the whole family. if you’re looking for something distinctly new zealand and your driving from tauranga to whakatane and you have some time to kill (i realize i’m describing an ever-shrinking percentage of the world population), you should totally go.
te puke (and the bay of plenty region of NZ in general) produces 90% of the over 240 million kiwifruit exported from NZ annually. a combination of environmental factors makes the area ideal for growing the fruit: high sunshine hours/year, moderate climate, the right amount of rain, and deep, soft volcanic soil that allows the roots to penetrate far enough to have a ready supply of water without artificial irrigation. the kiwifruit (originally called the Chinese gooseberry) was first imported to NZ in 1904 from the Yangtze valley. of the 150 varieties of kiwifruit now known, three are grown commercially here in NZ. i learned all of this (and much, much more!) at kiwi360, a combination orchard/tour/huge playground for the kiddies/massive gift shop that specializes in all things kiwifruit.
so excited was i (plus it made the schedule work better) that i showed up promptly at 9am for the first tour of the day in which i was literally the only participant. you can imagine what it looked like for me to be alone in the little tram of kiwifruit shaped cars, sitting right behind my driver and tour guide. we headed out at the breakneck speed of whole kilometers per hour into the orchard to learn about the fruit production of the area. it turns out that they have much more than just kiwifruit at kiwi360. there are also many varieties of nut trees, apples, pears, oranges, etc. the soil is good for all kinds of plants. but, as you can imagine, i was impatient to get to the ‘good stuff’.
the orchard of kiwifruit itself is impressive. for those who don’t know, kiwifruit grows on vines, like grapes on steroids. the vines are made to grow horizontally on a grid of wires (that is irritatingly just below my height) so that the fruit can hang down for easy picking. both the yellow and green kiwifruit varieties grow in the same orchard side by side (oh yeah, for those who haven’t been here yet, there is a yellow kiwifruit variety that i’ve never seen in the states. most of my visitors so far have liked it). picking season is just now beginning and lasts for about 3 months, during which time the orchard will be picked bare and the fruit subsequently sorted for shipping. a fairly sizeable fraction of the fruit won’t be sold for export (due to ugly marks, etc) and will often be sold at deep discounts to local farmers who use it to feed cows and sheep.
the orchards were cool and everything, but the intricacies of the cultivation were really interesting. as with any other crop, bees are brought in for pollination of the vines, but bees apparently don’t like them because the flowers don’t really have any nectar. so the bees are fed a special artificial nectar upon returning to the hive so they’ll be tricked into liking the flowers. seems odd, but apparently it works. also, the biggest concern for the growers is a spring frost, which will kill the flowers and thus destroy the entire year’s crop. generally, the frosts don’t last that long, so it is actually economically viable to hire a helicopter pilot to hover over your orchard and fan the vines to keep the air circulating and keep the flowers from dying. kiwi360 has gone (in ‘madness’ fashion) one step beyond and installed a series of fan towers, each powered by a diesel car engine. apparently when they are all going, it sounds like a squadron of B-17’s.
even more interesting than the orchard and cultivation, however, was the info on the kiwifruit itself. apparently, there was a study done by rutgers university about 12 years ago that declared the kiwifruit to be the WORLD’S MOST NUTRITIOUS FRUIT. that’s right, folks. and i, your journalist in the center of it all, attempted to obtain a copy of said rutgers study from…some web site that claimed they would send one if you asked, but was thwarted. evidently another incidence of the Man keeping us down. however, a summary of the results (plus other kiwifruit related info!) is given here. the upshot is that if you compare 100grams of each of the world’s 27 most popular fruits, kiwifruit comes out on top in terms of lowest calories per nutrient. it has twice as much vitamin c as an orange, as much potassium as a banana, is an unusually low-fat source of vitamin e, and is great for magnesium, fiber and other stuff. another study by oslo university (which was not mentioned at kiwi360, who is totally missing out by not mentioning it) says that eating 2-3 kiwifruit a day has the same heart health benefits as taking the recommended dosage of aspirin.
anyway, as far as kiwi360 is concerned…the whole place is awesome. i realize that i’m a complete sucker for roadside attractions. but you do actually learn a lot at kiwi360 and the kiwifruit is one of new zealand’s iconic offerings. plus they have this enormous 3 story kiwifruit with a lookout balcony from the top, which is great. the gift shop has anything kiwifruit related object you could ever want, plus a shitload more. i got a bunch of those little plastic kiwifruit spoons to give away that some visitors have coveted, plus a stainless steel one that could be used to disembowel a foe. they have kiwifruit wine (not sold anywhere else), which i’m going to assume would be ‘cloying’ in its sweetness. but the kiwifruit juice is really good, plus they had kiwiberries (remember at the top of this post i mentioned there are 3 varieties of kiwifruit grown here? well, the standard green and gold are two of them and the third are these miniature fully grown ones called kiwiberries that are very sweet, very good and very expensive).
in parting, the coolest thing i saw all day was a kiwifruit sorting machine from the ‘50s. the basic principle is that the fruit are loaded single file onto a conveyor belt that puts the fruit one at a time onto a small catapult, which throws every fruit into the air with the same force. different fruits of different weights will go different heights. there are canvas strips at different heights that catch the kiwifruit, which then roll down into different sorted boxes. for my money, this is an even better use of physics than the determination of the height of mount taranaki by boiling water at the summit. i wholeheartedly approve. a small snippet of video is provided below.
kiwi360. fun for the whole family. if you’re looking for something distinctly new zealand and your driving from tauranga to whakatane and you have some time to kill (i realize i’m describing an ever-shrinking percentage of the world population), you should totally go.
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