Auckland life rolls on. I've got a good group of friends here now, i'm in my own flat with some of those friends and work keep's busy and generally as well as literally on my toes. I continue to play 5-a-side football every Thursday mornings and have even played a few 11-a side, 90 minute games - to the utter shock of my bodily functions. Weekends are always fun, if they can be remembered and the weather is (or at least was) a perfect summer time HOT. You could say i'm settled in a routine for the first time since I left London a year and two months ago........but then - my boss Graham calls.........
A while ago I headed off to Wellington to work in the lab, rock crushing volcanic samples for age dating. That was the first step in the process. Graham was calling me about the second step. He said he wanted me to seperate particular minerals from within the samples and bag them up - those are the minerals he needs to age date the rock (and hence date the age of the volcanic eruption) when he takes them over to the USA. To seperate these minerals - you need to use a special machine called a Frantz Magnetic Seperator and the only one available in NZ is in a small GNS building in Dunedin, towards the lower end of the east coast of the countries South Island. So I caught a plane.
Graham had flown me down to Dunedin, where I would spend two weeks working in the lab. He pays for all my flights around the country but not for my accommodation. Before it wasn't an issue - I was staying in a hostel in Auckland so I could just up and leave where and when I pleased. Now though I had a flat, and rent to pay for. Luckily a good friend - Tom, said he would take my room for the time I was away and pay my share of the rent........which would certainly save me a buck or two.
I have been to Dunedin before. Darren and myself stopped off here for a couple of nights during our first month of travelling but didn't really get to do very much apart from a general wonder around the town. We had stayed in a cool little hostel called Central Backpackers. Darren particularly liked the place as it had a resident cat of which he is obsessed. I headed back there to see gizmo (that's the cat's name of course) and make a home for the next few weeks.
Dunedin is a cool city. Perhaps more of a liveable town rather than a place to visit. It's the second largest city in the South Island (behind Christchurch) but when it comes to NZ that's not really saying anything in terms of size. Dunedin has strong Scottish ties highlighted by the style of the old buildings darted around and at it's centre even has a statue of Robert Burns. Dunedin actually means Edinburgh in Celtic.
I arrived in Dunedin at a pretty coincidental time. It wasn't planned but two friend's - Rob and Kate who were off touring around the South Island were actually flying in to Dunedin as their starting point and they arrived the day before myself. I got to spend the first 3 or 4 days with them before they moved on, and when I wasn't working of course.
The two weeks flew by. I was working in the GNS building located within the University of Otago Campus and so was surrounded by students for two weeks - which was fun. My days were busy and long. I had to wash the samples using an ultrasonic bath, get the samples dry and then run them through the magnetic seperator. Each sample is different and you have to adjust the machine settings accordingly. Essentially what your trying to do is split the sample of grains into minerals that you want and those that you don't want. The seperator is a machine with a strong magnet held above a chute and you can adjust how strong the magnet is during each run. When you pass samples through the chute, some are magnetic and are pulled one way and those that are not magnetic are pulled the other, splitting the sample. It isn't quite as simple as that as you have to run the machine in paramagnetic and dimagnetic modes - where essentially your allowing the magnet to attract or repel minerals of different magnetic susceptabilities. Eventually you come out with a few grams of material that you want and which get sent to be dated. Belinda was in charge of me here as she had some experience with the Frantz although no-one has used it for the purposes that I was here for so the first few days we very slow to say the least. Belinda did a great job in helping me out over those two weeks and I am eternally grateful. Oh and by the way, if you have a pacemaker then I strongly advise you don't go near a Frantz magnetic seperator when it's on - seriously. When the machine was at full pace it would often do funny things to my mobile phone. I havn't checked yet if my bank cards have all been wiped!!!
While I was working at the GNS petrology lab there was also a Phd student working there. Originally from Scotland she does her Phd at the University of Southampton, where I went. I got chatting to her and had an incling that she went there because also in the Petrology lab was a man called Damon Teagle who I recognised as a lecturer from Southampton. She was here to collect samples for her project and Damon had come all the way over to help for a few days. I later found out that she knows quite a few people who I went to University with and was telling me all the gossip about them and most of the lecturers.
During the days that I wasn't working (which was mainly the weekend) I did get a chance to properly explore the city. I also managed to fit in time for a drinking session with many random people in my hostel and the workers at Central Backpackers who I have become good friends with. While Rob and Kate were around during those first few days, we also managed to fit in a few cool things to do. We went to an art exhibition which was actually a concept I have never heard of before. It involves an artist or whoever really - showing a series of 20 pictures on a projector and then talking about each picture but for only 20 seconds. I believe the concept started in Asia and has become pretty popular around the world. It's called Pecha Kucha which I think means chit chat. It was designed to allow artists work to be explained quickly but precisely without dragging on and boring audiences to death. I'm no art expert or even an art novice but I enjoyed the night which was apparently the first Pecha Kucha show ever held in Dunedin.
The three of us also took a walk in the Botanical Gardens and continued on, north of the city to a very famous street - Baldwin Street. Never heard of it??? I'm suprised, because it's officially (Guiness World Record) the steepest street in the world. It is located in the suburb of North East Valley, 3.5 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre and run's for 350 meters. At it's steepest part, the gradient reaches 1:2.66, although apparently that may be slightly off and in fact may be closer to 1:2.86. Whatever it is, what it essentially means is that for every 2.66 or 2.86 meters in the horizontal direction you are walking 1 meter vertically up. Forget the figures - it's steep.
Myself and Rob actually had a race up the steepest street in the world and at the top both nearly died. Actually that's not something to joke around with. Every year there is an official race up and down Baldwin Street (it takes roughly 2 minutes apparently) and each year a fraction of people (in the race or just casually strolling up it) die from having a heart attack. One kid also died when he thought it would be a good idea to get in a wheely bin and roll down it - he hit a car on the way. On a lighter note, I have also heard that on one day in the year people roll Jaffa Cakes down it........obviously.
There is a little shop all about Baldwin Street and an official sign from Guiness World Records explaining the details. Houses line the street and I found it quite amusing to see someone had put a sign on their postbox saying "No Circulars Please" - as if someone advertising is gonna climb Baldwin Street just to put junk mail in your letter box. Actually we wondered if the Postman get's paid more for delivering to this area??? We rested at the top and watched cars crawl up in first gear. Then all of a sudden a disaster. The phone that I have been travelling with for the last year and a bit was basically on it's last legs and I really needed a new one. My housemate Scott was selling his new Samsung mobile because he had another (more advanced) phone which he had just got working, so I bought the Samsung for NZ$30 about 12 pounds and was rather happy with myself. Then on Baldwin Street, of all the streets to drop your phone, muggins here does precisely that and suddenly with the phone, the battery and the back cover all neatly detaching from each other - it was like a game show with me running down the steepest street in the world trying to chase all the peices and not very successfully. Rob and Kate found it hilarious as I stuggled to catch up to anything. Eventually I got my phone back together and it luckily still works although is now scratched to smitherines - but still, when people ask how I caused my phone such cosmetic mutilation at least I have a good story to tell.
The only other thing of note to tell you during my time in Dunedin has a very good moral to it. Since I have been travelling the world, I have sent the kitchen of two hostels on fire. Small fires mind you and both put out with no damage, death or injury to anyone. However, when an Irish girl caught her pan of oil on fire in the Central Backpackers in Dunedin the last thing you want to do is pour water on it. Seeing this first hand was something to observe. Water and a pan full of flaming oil does not mix. The mixture went up in a fireball, burning the girl's hand and somehow knocking out part of the ceiling. The Fire Brigade and St. Johns Ambulance quickly arrived to put everything back to the way it should be and the girl's burn's were not too damaging in the end. Still - take note next time your noodles go up in flames.
Dunedin had been fun and a good work experience, and normally this would be the part where I would say......and then I flew back to Auckland. Only I didn't. I get paid only for the days I work so if I want some time off I can do so without giving much notice. Equally any day my boss could say - we don't want you in and that's that. Luckily the latter has never happened as yet but the former - well that's a different story. Actually my boss is quite happy for me to take some time off as he knows I'm on a holiday-working Visa. While I was in the South Island and Queenstown was only 4 hours away - it was an opportunity I just couldn't miss. My boss, Graham, had happily agreed to fly me out of Queenstown - back to Auckland after 10 days of leaving Dunedin. I couldn't wait. Not only was I heading back to one of my favourite places in the country but also my friend from home, Darren and his girlfriend Jaqui were there. They had been for 3 months and I hadn't seen them in that time. I would now get to spend 10 days with them in the chaos of Queenstown.
The weekend I left for Queenstown also happened to be Easter weekend and everyone had the Friday and following Monday off. Because of this, Harriet decided to fly down from Auckland to Dunedin on the Friday and the two of us would both get a bus to Queenstown together. The party was about start. The Queenstown madness was about to begin...............bring it on.................
Thursday 9 April 2009
Back In Dunedin (& New Zealand's South Island)
Sunday 5 April 2009
The Coromandel Peninsula
It was the weekend before Harriet's birthday and we wanted to go away somewhere. Rob was soon leaving with Kate and they were selling the car so we decided to make use of it before Harrison (that's the name of the car - don't ask) disappeared. About 4 hours drive from Auckland is the Coromandel Peninsula.
Myself, Harriet, Tom and Scott took off on Saturday morning and headed out. I drove the way there, which takes you past some pretty countryside once your out of Auckland's urban sprawl. The Coromandel Peninsula is a mountainous, forested spine, threaded with hiking trails and narrow, winding roads along attractive coastline. We first had to pick up a friend on the way. Tania, an American girl who we knew from Go Global Backpackers in Taupo was doing a trip up the North Island before getting a flight back to America (although only for a few weeks). We thought it would be a good idea to pick her up for the weekend and then drive her back to our new flat where she was going to kip for a few days. We collected her from the gold-mining town of Thames before continuing on to Whitianga, on the east coast of the Peninsula.
Over the weekend we mainly concentrated our sight-seeing efforts to two regions; Cathedral Cove and the bizarre Hot-Wtaer Beach. Both are located nearby to one another and also nearby to the town of Whitianga - which was handy. The roads to reach these places were very narrow and very windy. I had never driven on such roads before but enjoyed the challenge of keeping my concentration to a maximum. Cathedral Cove lies about 1 km north of a small town called Hahei (it's very small). The Cove is a gigantic limestone arch, cut out by the sea over geological time. To reach the cove, you take a 45 minute walk along the coast, past both Gemstone Bay and Stingray Bay (although we didn't see either gemstones or stingrays). The cove is impressive but perhaps more impressive was the small Penguin we spotted, hiding in the shrub on a beach.
We then headed to Hot-Water Beach. Most of the day, it's a normal sandy beach but two hours either side of low tide, two small sections of sandy beach are exposed. Thermal waters brew just below the sand in front of a rocky outcrop and during the right time, you join the crowds that turn up, get a spade and dig into the sand, bringing up the hot water (about 60 Degrees Celcius) up to the surface. You essentially form your own geothermal pool or spa and it was incredible just lying in the hot volcanic waters. It was so hot in parts you actually needed sea-water to cool your bath down!!! We were there a few good hours.
Inbetween our two days we camped in Whitianga as we had borrowed a huge tent from Harriet's Aunt and Uncle. There we drank the night away and camped out like scouts. Late on Sunday we headed back to Auckland and prepared ourselves for a new week. Life goes on........but the fun is just beginning.............
Moving In To A Flat In Auckland
After a year of traveling the world, finally I have a room again to call my own. No more hostels; no more being woken up in the night because a group of rowdy drunkens are stomping through the room at an unearthly hour, or being told off because I was one of the rowdy drunkens stomping through the room at an unearthly hour. No more sharing a bathroom with 15 other people or having my orange juice in the fridge suddenly disappearing without it touching my lips. I mean don't get me wrong - it's fun living in a hostel but theres a time when you just want to step into your own room and shut the door and thats that.
It took a while to sort out the flat we are currently living in, within Auckland's city centre. The main issue was numbers - we just didn't know how many people wanted to move in because no-one is ever sure what they are doing. Kate and Rob (now a couple) were off traveling the South Island and then may leave New Zealand. Tom wanted to move in but his visa runs out in a few months and thought it would probably be a lot more trouble than it's worth. In the end it ended up as Myself, Harriet and a Canadian guy called Scott who we knew from our days in Taupo and who wanted to move up to the big city. Harriet and I did the groundwork, vistiting half a dozen places or more before deciding to go with pretty much the first flat we had seen.
It's a cool little flat, a very modern place, fully furnished with all the mod-cons you could ask for, including flatscreen TV and even a dishwasher - thank god. The flat gives us free use of a gym, lap-pool and steam room within the apartment block complex, which is situated, literally by a one minute walk from the Auckland Skytower (the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere......how many people can say that???). The balcony is also a very handy feature although it doesn't boast the best view - still it isn't too bad.
The flat has been ideal now the three of us are working in the city. Volcanology at the university continues to roll on. I'm really enjoying the work that i'm doing and often get a chance to go out in the field or meet guests (specialists in their field from all over the world), and who often provide presentations or current research.
Summer really turned on the heat too. I didn't realise that NZ could become so tropical in it's climate. Living in Auckland became like living in a swimming pool - except there's no pool and you don't actually have to swim. The temperature soared but the humidity soared higher. I believe on one day - it was the hottest day in Auckland for some uncountable number of years and humidity reached pretty much 100%. Dripping is an understatement!!!
Our weeks of late have been mainly back into student life. We work during the week (although we actually do work.....unlike in my student days) and go out on the bar scene at the weekend (very much like my student days). It was also Harriet's 21st Birthday, which we celebrated by decorating the new flat and giving out presents before having a huge birthday meal and then going out for drinks. Her birthday also happens to fall on St. Patricks Day so the party went on.
We do still manage to make time for trips away. The weekend before Harriet's birthday we decided to take Rob's car out and head to the Coromandel Peninsula, where we reunited with an old friend.................
