November 27th, 2005
I went with Deidre and Rani, a friend of ours, to a place called Castlepoint, which is about a 2 hour drive northeast of Wellington. Today was a great day for photos…
We went to Martinborough first. This was a view over the valley…
Then we had brunch in a cafe, and I had to take this photo of an old piano that was there…
This is the Martinborough Hotel…
After leaving Martinborough we headed to Castlepoint. I saw a winery along the way and got this photo…
Finally, we arrived at Castlepoint! There was a surf up…
August 29th, 2005
There's been an interesting case I've discovered here in NZ that involved a boy being disciplined by his mother with a riding crop (which was turned into a horse whip by media). As a result of the discipline, the child's behaviour improved at school. This was regarded as suspicious by the school, who contacted CYFS (Children, Youth & Family Services). CYFS discovered the improvement in behavious was due to the 'corporal punishment' and removed the child from the parents' care. According to this article at the NZ Herald it went to court and a jury found the mother not guilty, which under normal circumstances would mean that the child would be returned to the parents. Not in this case, however, as CYFS ignored the court's decision and decided they didn't want the child returned to its family. Apparently the decision of a jury and a court of law was irrelevent to them.
August 12th, 2005
Yesterday a court ruling was made that forced a NZ TV station to have two political party leaders on a televised debate. The 6 highest-polling party leaders were invited onto a political debate for the upcoming election, and two political leaders who weren't invited, because they weren't up there with the polling figures, went to court in order to force the TV station to let them into the debate. In a matter of hours, the court ruled in their favour, forcing the TV station to allow them onto the debate.
August 1st, 2005
An excellent site showing summaries of the different policies with the major political parties in NZ can be found here:
http://www.policy.net.nz/
If you're in NZ, I recommend you have a look at it to see which of the parties you would prefer to vote for.
June 14th, 2004
Today is the day that I've been here in New Zealand exactly 4 years. I arrived here on June 14 2000, and it's now June 14 2004.
Happy Anniversary to me!
Happy Anniversary to me!
Happy Anniversary dear Alan…
Happy Anniversary to me!
(Sung to the tune of Happy Birthday to me!)
I think this will be a small trip down memory lane. We're going to go through each of my entries from when I arrived, at this time each year, and we're going to see how things have developed.
16th June 2000
April 2nd, 2004
Well, I got back from the road trip on the 24th March, and I hung out with Mel until the 30th, when she caught her flight to Vancouver in Canada (via Auckland - Los Angeles - Vancouver). I've been spending the past week 'coming down' from the holiday, just mellowing out and relaxing with Mel. And then when Mel had gone, I discovered I missed her a lot. It depressed me for a couple of days.
When you've been with someone 24 hours a day for 11 days, and then 16 hours a day for another week, you really notice they're gone when they're no longer around.
March 24th, 2004
I'm back home.
YAY!
The holiday was fantastic, but damn, it's good to be home.
Ok, yesterday we travelled from Taupo to Napier in Hawkes Bay. Before we left Taupo we went to a place called Huka Falls, where we saw an amazing display of the power of water. A river was channelled through a narrow rock passage, and the force of the flow was thus increased. Imagine the flow of water down a 100-foot wide river suddenly channelled into a 20-foot wide rock channel. Suddenly the peaceful river becomes a force of destruction as it rushes through the channel before exiting the other end into a larger area again. However, the force of the water has cut out a hole in the ground and so the exit has become like a waterfall, but not one you want to stand under. :blink:
Previous Posts
Then we had brunch in a cafe, and I had to take this photo of an old piano that was there…
This is the Martinborough Hotel…
After leaving Martinborough we headed to Castlepoint. I saw a winery along the way and got this photo…
Finally, we arrived at Castlepoint! There was a surf up…
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