The South Island

We just came back from a week vacationing in the South Island. It must be one of the prettiest most unspoilt places left in the world. Thankfully the New Zealand government had the good sense to make it all national parks so it will remain intact. A trip to the South Island is not complete without a trip to the Milford Sounds. However first you have to get through the Kea security trap. These alpine parrots - the only ones in the world - hang out where the tourists have to go through the Homer mountain tunnel as we head to the Milford Sounds. This cute looking bird sitting on the mirror is actually trying to figure out which part of the car to eat. Their favorite food is windscreen wipers. They work in packs to distract you. While I was leaning out the window to take this photo, one landed on the roof and started pecking at my skull.

This is a close up of one. Their colours are just beautiful.

This is a view of the Milford Sounds, which are incorrectly named as we learned. They should be called the Milford Fjiords as they were formed by glaciers not rivers. Unfortunately the camera does not capture the grandeur of this place. It is like Yosemite on Steroids, but covered in a permanent carpet of rainforest. The flora is mostly ferns, palms and native bush.

There is no shortage of water here. This is one of many waterfalls that we saw on our tour.

After leaving the Milford Fjiords, we headed back inland to Queenstown which is on Lake Wakatipu. This photo was taken from the top of the gondola ride, overlooking the town. The lake leaves Tahoe in the dust. This one (which is not the biggest by any means) stretches well beyond the horizon of the picture. Queenstown is very touristy, but still a great place to visit for a few days. If you want to scare yourself shitless this is the place to do it as they specialize in jumping off insanely high bridges (the first bunjy jump was done here).

We headed up the west coast to the Franz Josef Glacier to prove to ourselves that global warming was in fact doing its job. This glacier is retreating significantly faster than the taliban and I anticipate it will be gone long before the US leaves Afghanistan.

We had the pleasure of traveling with our friends Nick and Sue. This is a picture of Sue and me at Pancake rocks.

Nick wonders why everyone thought he as a gangster.

Once again the photo does little for the real thing. The pancake rocks are layers of granite that have formed on top of eachother. They are not sure how they formed but the sculptures in the rocks are fantastic. Spot the military dog.

The west coast is very remote and wild. This is a photo of seal rock where the New Zealand fur seals have their pups. We got to see lots of baby seals sunbathing on the rocks.

Probably the strangest thing on the west coast is the birdlife. This is a Weka. As with most New Zealand birds, they don't fly. With no native predators (prior to the british bringing them in) the birds are very tame and curious and they are obsessed with eating cars. These guys like to pick at the paint and undercarrige. The Wekas were very endangered but seem to be making a good recovery thanks to the Department of Conservation.
This is probably one of my favorite caution crossing signs ever.

The Taupo Challenge

We managed to complete the Taupo Challenge this year, one of the biggest cycle races in the world. Over 11,000 people participated in the ride/race around Lake Taupo, the Lake Tahoe of New Zealand. It is exactly 100 miles around and the record for the Taupo Challenge is 3 hours 43 minutes 27 seconds. I managed a stunning 6 hours 34 minutes and 30 seconds placing a respectable 4126th and Fred placed 4127th. Technically it was a draw as we had the same time.Not bad given that we trained for all of 4 weeks before the race. We met someone who started their "winding down" period right around when we were winding up. The hardest thing was getting the butt broken in in time for the race. It rained for much of the ride, but our spirits were high and we thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.

This is a picture of Fred and I at the start line, proudly wearing our California Triple Crown shirts (three 200 mile rides in a year)

School's Out for Summer

No pictures today, but I am happy to report that my exams are behind me. I never want to sit an exam again. I am just too old for this shit. Imagine sitting in an exam hall with a supervisor and having to ask permission to go to the toilet. It is verging on Dickensian. Enough I say, I plan never to put myself through that again. Now all I have in front of me is a thesis......piece of cake.

College Life

I just love our Masters in International Relations seminars. We get to sit around and discuss big questions like "Is China a rising power" "Is the US an Empire" from the comfort of our chairs a very long way away from any of the troubles. Unfortunately the seminars have come to an end and now we are faced with looming exam schedules....not so fun.

Anyway, here are some photos taken in the last week as we all wind down. Last Wednesday we got do discuss "Can democracy exist outside of sovereign states" which turned into a debate on whether New Zealand Syrah is better than Australia. And does France make the best brie in the world or is that just international propaganda. There are 8 different nationalities in this photo and we have tax lawyers, army colonels, a morning breakfast TV presenter and a UN chick, and an unemployed ex-high tech worker giving the finger to democracy.

This is a photo of us in the thick of debate. Normally we hold off on the drinking until after class.

My study mate Vicki who wants to save the world before she dies.

This is Ben Thirkell-White our wonderful International Political Economy lecturer. He used to be a big shot lawyer and now gets to earn one tenth of his salary lecturing.

Angela (on the left) is the most senior level female in the New Zealand Army. She also happens to be great crack, loves to drink and is discovering she is a Marxist. Sarah can be seen on Breakfast TV at 9am.

Nurse Murphy 1925-2009

The blog has been a bit lacking in updates for a while but we are back online. Sadly my mother passed away on September 24th and since then it has been bit chaotic. However I would like to celebrate my mother's life. This is a photo of her in her element - her garden.

All Ireland Football Final, Kerry 0-16 Cork 1-9

The All Ireland football final is the penultimate sporting event of the year. Think big...like The World Series, India vs Pakistan Cricket, The Superbowl, The Canadian Hockey League, Cal vs, Stanford, The Rugby Triple Crown (we won't talk about New Zealand and South African OK). It is an inter-county championship which means wherever you were born is the team you support. Border hopping is heavily frowned upon. The great rivals are Kerry vs. Dublin and Kerry vs. Cork and Kerry vs. anyone else. This is because Kerry has won the Sam Maguire cup more times than any other county by a long shot. This year it was Cork's turn to meet Kerry in the Football final. The whole county goes mad. There were green and gold banners and flags everywhere - the Kerry colours - only fitting for the county known as the Kingdom.

This is a picture of the primary school that I attended. My nieces (making Jam in the next post) now go there.The kids have decorated the school in support of the Kerry team. It turns out that this year the captain is from Glenbeigh, my local village, so the excitement was huge.

Of course mother's bed had to be decorated in the Kerry colours too.

The local policeman had the misfortune of being the only Corkman in the place. He decorated the police station in Cork colours (red and white checkers). I guess he had the law on his side so nobody was going to vandalize his handiwork.

I will spare all my Cork friends the agony of letting everyone know how Cork threw away the match (14 misses at scoring). This little fellow, who was watching the match in Jack's Pub in Cromane, is a pretty good reflection of how most Kerry people felt on Sunday afternoon.. we start them early in Kerry.

With the captain from Glenbeigh, the celebrations were something else. I don't think the village has sobered up yet and the policeman has had the good sense to stay well hidden inside his Garda Station.

Tradition has it that the team buses are met with bonfires along the road. Here is the one on the way into our village. No fire permits required here, just a pile of pallets and used car tyres and a few gallons of petrol.

Part of the tradition appears to be that the cup has to come to ever pub in Kerry. That should take it about the whole year. Here is Martha at The Red Fox pub with the Sam Maguire cup - and some very drunk minders of the cup.

Later on last night we came across the captain from Glenbeigh, Darren O'Sullivan and his father Con walking along the street in Glenbeigh with the cup. Martha and I couldn't resist the photo opportunity. I believe the team and cup were last seen in Sheahans pub in Killorglin.

Blackberry Jam

The briars are laden with blackberries this year. I don't ever remember there being so much before but it probably has to do with the fact that the Minister of the Environment has banned the trimming of hedges during the summer as it kills off the birds. It also helps that everyone in Ireland has stopped tilling the land so the briars are consuming every spare patch of soil. Anyway, after a long discussion with the nicese we decided that blackberry jam was the way to go. The deciding factor seems that it required the most sugar and had the potential to make the greatest mess.
Here are Aisling and Susanne stirring the couldron of blackberry jam

Just look at the colour of those berries

Caught stealing a taste of the jam - somebody has to be the first to try it.

The finished product - a dozen pots of homemade blackberry jam.

The recipe - blackberries, pectin, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar oh and did I mention sugar.

On The Farm

The weather has been glorious over the last few days. Summer has come late to the farm. Our big excitement was the birth of a late calf. Nomally they are born in the spring time but this cow had a late summer calf. Here is a picture of the cow just after having given birth. It is incredible to see the way she immediately started licking and cleaning the calf.

Half an hour later the calf was on his legs and jumping around the pen.

Mrs Henny Penny wasn't very happy with all the commotion going on as it was disturbing her laying time.

Damian in the milking parlour

Dooks on the Internet

Life is good! I have broadband access in Dooks and I can update my blog as much as I want. It is nice spending an extended period at home, I get to catch up with all the cousins and relatives and neighbours. Irish people complain constantly about the weather but it really is not so bad if you just get out in it. I am getting lots of long walks with my two new shadows, Rover and Jack. They follow me around the house all day until they get a walk. If I walk them too early they forget and start hounding me again by lunch time.

Here is a lovely photo taken on a walk about a few miles from my house. The model is my cousin Majella with Rover - the large grey cattle dog and Jack the Highland terrror.



Oh, in case you have not heard, Colman and Heidi got married the other week, under the Brooklyn bridge. Or as my auntie says, they jumped over the bucket.

Ireland

It has been ages since any updates to the blog, but unfortunately the Internet has not made it to Dooks yet. It as been fairly chaotic since I got here between all the cousins visiting and the daily routine of caring for mother. Allegedly I am also supposed to be writing two essays for my Masters, however I am amazed how I find distractions to keep me away from the books.

It is another incredibly wet summer - so if you guys in California are wondering why you are burning up, it is because all the rain is here in Ireland. If it keeps going at the rate it has been, I think the country is going to sink.

It really helps that my cousins are visiting so I find lots of excuses including making cups of tea.

This is me with my godfather Uncle Dan

Cousin Majella and myself enjoying sunday lunch in Jack's Pub in Cromane

We managed to sneak Jack into the bed while Kathleen was out of the house. Jack was ecstatic to be back with his Mommy.

A view across the bogs towards Glenbeigh.

Another stunning day in New Zealand, the number of beautiful days is starting to outnumber the antarctic blasts so that marks progress. This photo was taken from our house today, boat racing from Plimmerton yacht club to Mana Island.

The beautiful sunsets have also returned. This was tonight's sunset. I hope I don't ever take them for granted.

I will be heading back to Ireland this week so updates will be infrequent. We managed to find a lovely Irish couple to sub-let the house while I am away. They just took one look at the view from our living room and we had them hook, line and sinker. We omitted to tell them about the Southerlies that pound us.

Spring is in the Air

It looks like we may have survived the ravages of the winter with nothing but a few chilblains to show for it. It is positively balmy outside and I don't have icicles hanging off my nose when I wake up in the mornings. The roses are starting to bud and I saw 3 baby lambs and some daffodills on our bike ride today. I must remember to bring a camera out with me.

Mobama

OK so everyone is catching on to the Obama art thing, but you got to admit that Molly is a damn sight prettier and smarter, and she probably would have been elected just on this poster alone. I know she would just have handled the Professor Gates question much better.

PS. Thanks to Heidi for the artwork

It's &%$@ing Cold - A mid winter's whine

The Wellington winter inevitably means several months of being pounded by "the Southerlies" aargh! The wind comes roaring up from the Southern Alps, collecting lots of moisture and cold as it scurries up to its first port of call - Wellington. It is hard for anyone from California to even begin to imagine what it is like. This short video clip, taken a month ago, might help to convey the scene.

We have figured out that the only way to stay warm here is to move very briskly. It does not matter if you do this outside the house as thanks to the complete lack of insulation in houses, the temperature inside is never much more than the exterior. We have figured out that chopping up logs generates more heat than burning them. Speed walking is a faster way to warm up than waiting for the electric heater to get to temperature.

I have figured out why there is an abundance of sheep here - wool is the only material that really works against this cold.

Hiking in the eye of a storm

Snow on Mana beach - looking back toward Plimmerton

Molly 1994-2009

Our wonderful dog Molly has passed away after 14 wonderful years spent with us. We miss her very much, she was such a wonderful companion. This photo was taken at the beach, Molly's favourite place on earth.

Check out the slideshow for a collage of Molly's life

Short Visit to Ireland via the USA

First stop in California was a visit with B-o-B. He has become a devout buddist since moving in

with John. There is the occasional relapse into his former killer self, however daily meditation and an unlimited supply of Meow Mix appears to be lessening the frequency.

Next on to Nick and Sue's for some BBQ and martinis. You have no idea how nice it was to be

outside in the 100 degree sunshine. I will never complain about the heat again.

Sunday morning Brunch outside Hobee's in Cupertino with Vicki and Bernie - we really miss you Kathryn!

Another 12 hour plane ride, a 4 hour car journey and I was at the convalesence home of Our Lady of Lourdes to visit mother. She was feeling up to walking outside on the beautiful patio of

her nursing home.

We snuck in a visit from Jack, her beloved Highland Terrier and Suzanne her grandchild. Two of her favourite companions.