Another sterling title eh :)

So – had a call from a friend Shan whom I met sea kayaking with Dad on doubtful sound… She has returned, like all sensible people do, to New Zealand for a years visa. But one hopes she will stay :)

Also, Mum and Dad went back to Uganda to the University that they helped found. Dad was given (I believe) an honorary professorialship. I think they loved being there for the first graduations..

Then last week for Maaike’s Birthday we headed up to the Lewis Pass, and stayed in Maruia Springs – lovely place. Had lots of fun driving up (well, I did anyway) as I hadn’t told her where we were going so had lots of doubling back and wrong turnings going on to throw her off the scent. Unfortunately it would be true to say she had the last laugh as I let her drive the last part – and she refused to take the turn in and we had to continue a good 3/4 km up the road before we could turn back. Oh, and leaving the lights on too.. so we had a flat battery.. I was well and truly done!

However, revenge was sweet as Maaike lost her first game (so she says) of Mini Golf since she was 12 on the way back. Happy Brithday ;)

Unfortunately I have many wonderful friends in New Zealand.. and coupled with my intrinsic laziness, I haven’t really needed to be able to practice my navigation skills as I could (and can) just rely on them. However, some friends leave travelling, some get married and have babies and generally it’s a good thing to know.

So… I decided to try and put this to right – and signed up for a mountain skills course (for the princely sum of $100!! beat that) for a weekend. Maaike decided that she didn’t trust my navigation before or after course and ought to learn it herself too..

The main difference thing was unlearning what I had learned in Scouts. There was this catchy phrase

“From Grid to Mag add – from Mag to Grid get rid“

Now, that’s all well and good in Ireland, but in New Zealand it’s the exact opposite. Which kinda explained why when I first tested to see if my old technique worked ended up with me pointing 46 degrees away from everyone else. Sigh. Still – got it now.

Headed up on the Friday night – staying at Lake Pearson (which saved a ridiculously early start in the morning)

The next two days were spent learning how to relate a map to the real world – and understanding and taking account of where True North is, and Magnetic North – what they mean, and how to use them. Here’s a nice image of Magnetic Declination from wikipedia and how it changes over time

Every so often the poles flip.. so North becomes South… wonder what happens to birds when that happens?

Anyway – we did various exercises like navigating through thick bush following a bearing to see how accurate you could be. We were aiming for this corner – and came out about 5m from it (after 360m of going through the bush – not too bad at all)

And yes, lots of map and compass work.. All in all an excellent weekend. Now all that’s left to do is to head out and start using it. If this is my last post – it probably means I’m 44 degrees off over a cliff somewhere. And yes, I am allowed to joke about it. And no, writing it here isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference! In fact, it might make me remember better. So there.

Not a bad title for a blog post methinks…

Anyway – Spring is here.. ChCh is a really beautiful city in the spring.. we’re called the Garden City – and you can see why.

There was also a sundial in the botanics. It was an hour off due to daylight savings. Now here’s a question – did anyone invent a sundial on a turntable for daylight savings? When did daylight savings come in? When were watches invented? Sure I *could* look it up – but far more fun to wonder :)

Next it was Thor’s 30th birthday.. headed quadbiking up at Hamner Springs.. lots of fun. I was initially pretty nervous (some surprise there? ;) especially as it was a river crossing straight off.. I was hanging at the back of the pack as I really hated it when people broke down in front of me and ruined the line I’d picked.. sometimes (often) it’s easier to go faster than slower with these things. Anyway – lots and lots of fun.

Finally ChCh attempted (and failed I think) the world record for largest amount of synchronised dancing in one place. It was ‘Shot to the heart’ by Bon Jovi. We were taught by the Real Hot Bitches (RHB’s) – and actually made a pretty good attempt at it… all fun.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDRVKDcXQo]

So I had about 32 hours in Melbourne on the way home. Heather (a friend from ChCh) kindly put me up and showed me the sights. Heather also has, without any doubt, the worst doorbell in the whole world ever.

Here’s the intro:

http://static.odeo.com/flash/player_audio_embed_v2.swf

and – it has *multiple different ring tones*… another for your aural pleasure..

http://static.odeo.com/flash/player_audio_embed_v2.swf

Also managed to catch up with the Olivia – a crazy kiwi who has started her big OE.. don’t imagine we’ll see her back for many a year.

Then on the way back in the airport I heard lovely liltin’ Irish voices – and got chatting to Donna and Eve.. they were totally good value. I tried to give them a few hints of things to see and do in NZ… but one wonders if our tastes are similar enough :)

I must say – the Irish – as a race, have one of the best senses of humour I have ever come across. I met these two, and 1 minute later we were happily slagging each other as mercilessly as we could – and loving it. It really is unique – or seems so to me.