Michael Cullen

He was Scrooge McDuck for many years, and I suspect holding off the tax cuts all those years may have buffered the current recession a bit for us here. Of course its a bigger debate than that, perhaps he could have spent less too.

However, he will be missed in Parliament, one of the true legends of debating.

My favourite quote relates to him not being a lawyer yet managing to hold the post of Attorney General:

“The attorney-general does not have to be a lawyer any more than the minister of education has to be a teacher, the minister of health a doctor, or the minister of corrections a convict.”

Autumn on Fire

Stunning. The past few days have seen temps roaring up into the high 20's here in Christchurch. Its just perfect. Made for a great birthday party for the lads (some photo's from that soon, I promise!)

Meanwhile over on the West Coast some monumental rainfalls are going on. Worst of it, as usual, is in the notorious Cropp River Catchment near Hokitika, with a mammoth 987mm falling since Saturday.

Hope Fiordland dries out for the run next week...

Routeburn all go

I just got email confirmation that I am expected to run the Routeburn track 3 weeks tomorrow in the Routeburn Classic race. No longer waitlisted.

Should I:

a) Cast aside the colds, late nights working, sleepless nights parenting, and general downturn in training and take the bull by the horns and slaughter the course?

or

b)Hide behind the couch for 3 weeks cowering in fear?

This never happens at Warbirds over Wanaka!

Some say its a fake, but TV3 here in NZ played it as a true story...

I'd pay to see it for real. We mustn't forget that our blogs are here to propogate these things...I think they call it "viral".

And from Youtube....again

One of my favourate scenes in a film about tramping. From a film that could not be further removed from tramping. One of the greats... love it! Must be the Scottish in me....

The strangest story this week award goes to....

This Poor Bloke who deadset has a tree growing in his lungs. Jeepers...do not look at the link if you are in the middle of tea!

Makes me wonder though, can he apply for Carbon Credits? Innovative...now, where'd those seeds go again?

The Auckland Sandpit

I think the Auckland unification into one super-council is a great idea, and its about a hundred years late. So they have a lot of work to do.

I just hope and pray that none of the existing childish leaders get the job. Right now we have Banks calling Williams a lunatic, Harvey looking after his own image, Lee stuck in 2006 and calling Bobs ideas 'elitist bullshit'...and so the sandpit handwringing continues.

Auckland deserves a fresh face for the 'Lord Mayor' role, I just hope that for the sake of the country they get one in order to start this brave new future on the correct foot- a complete divorce from the past is required.

Afghanistani Cricket

Yes, you read that right. Your eyes do not need testing. Afghanistan have a cricket team.

And the news is good for them, they are playing bloody good cricket. Not only have they qualified for the top 8 playoffs in the World Cup Qualifiers, but they have beaten Ireland in the first game. Yes, that's the Ireland who beat Pakistan in the last big boys World Cup.

The Afghan boys have apparently learnt the game in war-torn refugee camps, using shoes for wickets and wrapping up things in cloth for a ball.

Its a truly inspirational story this- Cricinfo.com has a couple of reports here and here.

An Old Friend

I must bring you to the attention of a wonderful blog that an old tramping and drinking mate of mine is running. Many of you will know Derek well from the old days at AUTC. Derek and Liz are currently having one hell of a bikeride round the planet, and their postings and pictures are just unreal- a daily must read for me!

The site is here, I'll add it to the blogs I read list, I'm sure they won't mind the plug!

You Don't Scare Me!

Another Day Another First- First Snow

It was another one of those "mountains sing out loud" days. Fresh snow and a beautiful crisp clear day saw us heading up to Arthurs Pass for the boys first "mountaineering" expedition. They loved it. They weren't sure about the snow thing though...as the picture shows!

It was just a perfect Good Friday.

Someone Started Crawling Yesterday!

So now no remote control is safe!

Christchurch- Number One

Stuff.co.nz has confirmed that Christchurch is the safest place in NZ to live. Having lived in a few other places in NZ I have to agree. Full article here.


We have had a glorious summer to boot...as I speak its sitting on 25 degrees and its meant to be the middle of autumn, got to love that.


Posting here has been quiet lately, kids have been sick, so we've had a massive amount on at home. On top of that I think I've just got through the busiest working week of my life, with two major tenure review submissions going in. But when you are dealing with iconic landsacpes that inspire you, its really not that hard to stay motivated.


Heres one of those landscapes I've had the pleasure of working on lately- the Kirkliston Range in the Hakataramea Valley, South Canterbury.

Haha!

From The HeraldSun:

A STUDENT has some scrubbing to do after his parents discovered he'd painted an 18m penis on their roof. Rory McInnes, 18, decided to make his family home stand out after watching a documentary about Google Earth. Armed with a tin of white paint, he climbed on top of the $2 million home in Berkshire, south east England, and set to work. His artwork remained unnoticed for 12 months until a helicopter pilot spotted it and swooped down low so his passengers could take photos. Dad Andy thought it was a prank call when a British newspaper contacted him about the painting this week. "It's an April Fool's joke, right? There's no way there's a 60ft phallus on top of my house,'' Mr McInnes told The Sun. He confronted his four children, finding his answers when he reached Rory over the phone in Brazil. Part-way through gap-year travels, Rory could not hold back his laughter as he confessed: "Oh, so you've found it then.'' The image has been compared to the Cerne Abbas Giant, a 55m-high naked figure carved into the hill at Dorset which is said to attract couples seeking to have children. Mum Clare said: "We don't want any more children, so the idea of sleeping under a giant fertility symbol is rather worrying.'' Mr McInnes added: "We don't want to lie in bed at night and hear couples at it above us. "When Rory gets home he will be given a scrubbing brush and white spirit and he can go and scrub it off.''

Running in Porridge In Paradise

Lake Hawea the day before for Work

Sunset over the Crown Range for Play

Its taken a while to post this thanks to sick Mum and Dad and sick boys too, but we are all on the mend now.

Well the Motatapu race was a cracker. I had a really difficult day, feeling fit but for some reason lacking energy to really crank into top gear- like the title says I felt like I was running in porridge. Consequently I was nowhere near Madman Marvin (well run Glenn- you were on fire!) but I have to be happy that after 5 hours and 12 minutes I just felt like keeping running at the end. So the endurance was there, which augurs well for the Routeburn, hopefully. I'm sure with some good preparation and a few decent sleeps beforehand that the speed thing can be found next time.

The weather was magic, and it was fascinating to see what a few million bucks can do to a Pastoral Lease. Shania Twain and her ex hubby have got these stations in absolutely pristine condition, it really got me thinking about my Tenure Reviews while I was blatting across- what do we really want for our High County outcomes?

A few pics of the day, just magnificent. It was one of those magical autumnal days where the colours of Central Otago just explode, and the mountains sing out loud.

An honour and a privilege to be lucky enough to be there.

Razor - Marvin Trophy Clash tomorrow

Thus time tomorrow morning Madman Marvin and I will thrashing it out accross the Otago High Country on the Motatapu mountain marathon from Wanaka to Arrowtown. The race crosses three high country stations, Motatapu, Soho and Glencoe. Shania Twain is the leaseholder for the first two, although I don't imagine she'll be there given the marriage meltdown.

Can I regain the trophy? Glenn must be firing on all cylinders but training has been good the past few weeks, so as long as the dodgy knee holds together I'll give it a good shake!

Main objective otherwise is to beat Finance Minister Bill English, who's in the mountain bike sectin.

Will report back after the event...

The Epicentre of a Property Crash

In response to this Stuff.co.nz article... (clickety here)

Aucklands downtown apartment industry was a primary focus for greed and overdevelopment up to about 2 years ago. You could see the bubble starting to burst in 2006/07 but now it seems the sector is in complete freefall.

I believe this was a primary driver in the storm that has swept through the Property Sector and has now been overtaken by the Global Credit Crunch.

Once this "correction" is complete we may start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in NZ- I think this is the image of the property downturn bottoming out.

At least I certainly hope it is!

Some You Tube clips from the ChCh Maiden Gig

I still can't beleive they were here..... The Trooper and a clip from the Ryme of the Ancient Mariner

From the Stuff Website... outstanding story...if any prick tries to break in here they will feel the full force of the Razor Blade (cricket bat)

Pensioner strikes back: Intruder hit with rolling pin

Crying teen found in his boxer shorts

Stuff.co.nz Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Hamilton police are praising an elderly woman who fought off an aggressive youth with a rolling pin as he tried to break into her home.
The woman successfully managed to keep the 15-year-old at bay in the early hours of Saturday morning by repeatedly striking him on the head with the rolling pin after he smashed a back window and tried to reach around to unlock the door.
Constable Chris Mankelow said officers arrived at the woman's address to find the offender embarrassed and wearing only his boxer shorts.
"The woman who is aged in her seventies and lives on her own was awoken about 3.30am by a man swearing and banging on her door, claiming he lived there."
Despite the lady's assurances that it was her home, where she has lived for 30 years, the boy would not leave and call centre operators could hear him yelling abuse at her, police said.
"So he's stuck his head in and the victim has promptly struck him on the head with her rolling pin, she noticed he was still there so she's hit him a second and third time," Mr Mankelow said.
"When we arrived we found the offender crying. He'd had had a wee 'accident' and stripped down to his boxers and was pretty keen to be taken away."
He had been bailed to his parents' address and referred to Youth Aid.
Mr Mankelow said responding officers were impressed by the pensioner's bravery

One last thing for today....

Type your name and "needs" into Google and enjoy the results

Its a laugh and three quarters