ODT headlines

“South Island passes 1 million mark” (ODT headline) Population for the country stands at about 4.2 million. (The relatively low density of people explains why when driving in some of the remote western areas of the South Island, the driver of an approaching vehicle might give you a wave, much like what used to happen in the rural America of, say, the 1952. This is an expression of humanity on the flip side of road rage.)

Wind gusts reached 159kmh at Taiaroa Head at the entrance to Otago Harbour last Tuesday (also front page news) as Dunedin and the South Island were buffeted by high winds for three days in a row. These winds paralleled those that drove the fires in Southern California.

Spring is a fitful, inconsistent presence still. The rhododendrons in the Botanical Gardens are in full panoply. (The Rhodo festival occurred during the last week of October.) We had snow last week.

Big news for the Kiwikirks in Waikikamukau is a new self-feeding coal boiler supplying the energy for our central heating. It requires very little humanoid attention and has changed our life very much for the better. The house is now snug and drying out. [The boiler ran for three weeks before we had a day when it was not needed at all. (This tells you a bit more about ‘Spring’…) My nearest and dearest wants to name it ‘The Little Engine That Could’. I lean towards Big Bertha for a monicker.)]

Your blogger, having had a trip overseas during September, is a bit out of shape writing wise--feeling anew the great distance from the rest of the world, it seems had to restart. I have lost my ability for instance to decide which is the bigger news item, the opening of a major rainforest/butterfly addition to the Museum or the loss of the All Blacks. Their unceremonious ouster from the Rugby World Cup will be fodder for the next four years, a wound festering until the next cup tests in New Zealand. (A ‘test’ is a match, or what we would term a game…) It was a sad day for a proud, over-achieving (small) nation when the All Blacks bowed to France (or was their demise the result of terrible officiating by an raw English ref?).

“Billed as the tallest, live butterfly experience in New Zealand and the only multi-level butterfly house in Australia or New Zealand, the tropical house features a 6m waterfall, plus fish and turtle ponds। The butterfies are imported from breeders and suppliers in the Philippines (for the most part), Costa Rica and other Asian and South American destinations.” We Kiwikirks were the first of the public to enter the new facility yesterday morning. It is amazing...1000 butterflies, waterfall and swing bridge transport you to a new clime, a dream paradise well worth the price of entry. We approve!

One of today’s tasks was to buy a few fireworks for the Guy Fawkes’ celebrations tomorrow. Fireworks are not sold legally during the rest of the year but now is a feast-time for holiday noisemakers. We are almost old hands now, our second time around…Tomorrow we will go to a park of friends, taking our “Boom Box” collection (NZ$30! of which Wim kicked in 10).

Tessa had a huge concert last week, playing in 2 piano quartets (Mahler and Strauss) and 1 piano trio (Korngold) at the University. I adjudicated a competition for three scholarships awarded by the Dunedin chapter of the Independent Registered Music Teachers of NZ. This weekend Lily did three performances in the ‘Nutcracker’.

Last item: “Cans film festival tickets snapped up”“For 10 days each year, thousands of people swap a can of food for the year’s cheapest movie ticket। All cans received go to the Salvation Army Christmas food-bank appeal। Watties (an omnipresent brand, like Heinz) matches all donations can for can।”…” In Dunedin, the Salvation Army receives 1600 cans a year through the film festival।”