App-ly Named...

For something different, I thought I would do an entry reviewing my favourite apps on my iPhone. Pictured below is a selection of some of my apps (basically the icons that came out when I did a screen dump from iTunes).

Not sure if I have mentioned it, but I don't know what I did before I got an iPhone... There are so many things I can do with it, from searching the net to playing games, listening to music, checking my emails etc. I kind of wish I had it back when I lived in London, as it would have proved invaluable on my daily tube journey, almost and hour each way, not only that, would have been useful for using public transport also. Too be honest the thing my phone probably gets the least use with is texting and calls, due to the sad state of my social life. With the 5,000 free texts I get each month I'd have to be dating the entire 16yo female population of New Zealand to use them up.

Anyhow, lets proceed...

Big Bang!

This is your soundboard app - because I'm cheap I have just stuck with the free version and it's limited amount of sounds, however the few sounds it has are very useful, 3 of them are whip sounds (I looked it up after seeing it on the TV programme The Big Bang (hence the name). The other sounds include a drum roll, badaboom bish..., and a cow mooing.

Obviously I have used this in the past. It is good, but it has it's limitations, but mostly because it is always easier and more functional to create a blog on a computer than on a phone. However, it is useful when on the run/adventure (travelling) to be able to write as I am going along, on the tedious bus journeys etc.

Pocket Jake
I remember back in 2009 my mate Scott had this app when we were in Berlin, and it provided some hearty laughs. I went through a stage of thinking of using it in all sorts of inappropriate situations, such as when I used to work at Corrections, which totally would have been the wrong thing to do, and especially not the audience to encourage thinking that domestic violence is funny.

Note Pad

Useful because I can jot all sorts of lists down, and they are kept in the same place. They then can be subsequently copy and pasted into emails etc.

The Night Sky
This is a cool app, you can check out the stars - by facing the phone to the sky it shows you the names of the stars you are looking at, and also where the satellites are at that moment, including the Hubble telescope and the International Space Station. Also adding value is the fact it identifies Mars and Jupiter etc, which you would otherwise just assume were general stars.

Vodafone App
Useful to know how much data, minutes, or texts I have left, as well as how much credit - although I don't use this so much now, as we have wireless at home, and so I don't eat through my bandwidth anymore. The hardest thing is remembering to top-up my phone each month (I am on the GO-19 prepay plan, for $19 I get 5000 texts, 50minutes of calls, and 500MB of data.)

Stuff
Good for New Zealand news. Admittedly I only really use it when someone mentions "Did you see XYZ in the news?"

TNT Magazine UK
If there is one thing I miss about London, it is reading the TNT Magazine every week, and it was free. It is a travel magazine (and substantially meatier than the NZ version) Admittedly I don't look at this app much at the moment as I have plenty of other things to do, and it just reminds me of where I can't be.

The App store
Where all good (and some bad) apps can be bought on an iPhone near you!

iPod (now since I have updated to iOS6 - Music)
An MP3 player - good, but doesn't get a whole lot of use by me.

MyFitnessPal
Awesome for counting calories vs calories burnt with exercise. Even comes with a barcode scanner, so you can scan the barcode which automatically uploads the information.
The downside however, is I got a little disheartened when I saw how many calories things I thought were healthy had, e.g. Muesli. And also the barcode scanner makes you prefer eating processed foods, as it is easier to enter the data that way.

Google Maps
To be honest, since updating to iOS6 I still haven't checked out AppleMaps due to the bad reviews, and the first thing I downloaded was GoogleMaps.

Sky
Despite my love/hate relationship with Sky (i.e. some awesome documentaries vs. repeating the same crap over and over again and having Tom, Dick, & Sanjay ring me trying to sell me it) I absolutely love their app.
We don't have Sky at home (my sister and brother-in-law do, as mentioned previously) but Sky allows you to have a favourites tab  - so I have put in order all the freeview channels, and then my favourite Sky channels (UKTV, The History Channel, BBC Knowledge etc). Not only that, but you can set reminders so it tells you when something will be on shortly. I have got it down pat that I go through my TV guides each week and set reminders for myself. The only downside is Sky will only show you one week in advance, whereas the TV guide comes out a week early.

Lightsaber (sic)

I don't know about you, but I have definitely had in the past, the desire to whip out a light sabre and annihilate someone or something from the gene pool, especially after the times I have played Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast - a totally awesome game, especially when you are in the mood to cut some stormtroopers in half.

Well, now you can. Such Fun!

 

CSR Racing

This is, in the words of someone else - living The Fast and Furious. A simple concept, racing a straight 1/4 mile stretch against other cars. Addictive and free, they live in the hope you'll cave and purchase some gold to speed up the upgrading process. 

 Jetpack Joyride
Quite addictive, despite being very repetitive. A good thing about it however, is the fact it doesn't try and up sell you anything, or have ads that slow it down (and eat your data).

 Kingdom Rush
This is a neat game too, not free, but no ads, and has a bit of a challenge to it, and not repetitive.

Wikipedia

Awesome for looking anything up, without the BS.

I shall leave it there, as I have to go, and Google image search has helped limit the amount of icon pictures I could find.

My Random Bucket list

Over many years of lonely nights and long journeys, I have come up with several bucket list things I would like to do - none of them are particularly dangerous, but they are a little crazy.

To set the scene, I will tell you a story of one that I just ticked off this weekend.
- Shower myself in confetti
Back when I was a student, I had saved up hole-punchings in a plastic container. Eventually it was full, and to prevent it being opened and making a mess I sellotaped it up. Currently I am tidying my room, and I came across it, and decided it needed to be tossed out (I'm attempting to be brutal) but decided I could get the enjoyment out of it and get rid of it at the same time. So I closed the bathroom and toilet doors from the hallway (as they come off in a little alcove) to isolate the mess, and then just let it rip, and vacuumed up later.

Another one on my mind at the moment, with all the rain we have had this weekend is
- Grab a rugby ball and do huge 'Hollywood' tries in the park next door in the mud and rain. 

Related to that one is this, below.
- Dance in the rain

Another which I intend to do shortly, I have even gone so far as to buy the popcorn is:
- Make popcorn, but without the lid on the pot, so it goes everywhere, and try and catch some in my mouth
Actually I asked my sister if Jordan, her dog, whom I am baby-sitting this week, is allowed to eat popcorn, as he could help me clean up. Turns out, it might make him a little constipated.

- Drive a super car
When I was at Big Boys Toys I got a pamphlet on a company that does that at Pukekohe or Hampton Downs, or somewhere local to Auckland. Suzanne and Bevan had done a similar thing in the UK, and I was keen once I got there, but never got around to it, and wasn't ever in a flush state of economy. I could totally afford it at the moment, however have decided I will use it as an incentive/reward to/for losing 10kgs whenever that happens.

Anyhow, that's a few for now, I will add more when I'm inspired/reminded.

Vote for Me! I am not a crook!

The Summer of Singledom, Singlets, and Sunburn

So we had a few more days at the beach, but eventually had to return to work.

The following weekend I went to Auckland for Saturday night. The next morning I texted some old friends, and ended up heading to Omaha beach (north of Auckland, not in northern France) and caught up with Roz, my flatmate from when I lived at the Mainstreet Lodge in Kaitaia, who I hadn't seen since we'd hung out in London in 2009.

On the way back through Auckland I caught up with Mark, who is some of my cousins' cousin. I hadn't seen him for about 13 years, since the wedding of one of our mutual cousins. We had a great time catching up, especially as we had more than cousins in common, Mark has taught ESOL as well, and is on his way to becoming a scriptwriter.

Back at work we implemented computerised packing slips. Admittedly it had a bit more testing required than I anticipated, and for a while was more trouble than it was worth and brought back bad memories of past employments... But now it is functioning well, and almost fully operational.


The Famous Whangamomona hotel.

At the end of January was Auckland Anniversary weekend. Ages ago (such as like 2007, before i went up to Kaitaia) I remembered one of mum and dad's old employees mention the Whangamomona republic day - which is celebrated every two years. Essentially what happened was at some point they changed the province boundaries, and Whangamomona fell into a province it didn't want to be in, so it jokingly declared itself a republic. This was happening on the Saturday, so i had planned to get up early and head down there. As Iwas lying on my bed chilling out on the Friday night I got a bit bored and investigated options of heading halfway there so it would be an easier trip. At around the same time I heard from Bonz, a friend I worked with back in 1999/2000 at Canpac - we catch up at random intervals, after meeting up randomly. For example, in about 2003 we happened to both end up working tutoring excel to trainee nurses. This time we happened to meet up as she came into our shop with a vacuum to be fixed. Last time we'd caught up was just after I got back from Japan.



When you are 87kms SOUTH of Taumarunui, you really are in the middle of nowhere.

Anyhow - I decided I would travel as far as Waitomo that night, and travel the rest in the morning. Ended up Bonz was keen to do that too, and offered that we go in her car (as as we spoke, she was on her way back from Auckland). So we did just that, staying the night at the Kiwi Paka hostel in Waitomo. It was probably just as well that we did, as it was at least another good two hours onto Whangamomona. It was a nice drive (from the passenger seat at least) along the Forgotten World Highway (State Highway 43)- I had intended to, but failed to do this drive several times recently - firstly Easter last year, when I did my ancestor tracing pilgrimage to Taranaki and Wellington, but I was going from Rotorua, and wanted to visit a girl in Piopio. The second time was in November when I visited Dave and Sandra in New Plymouth, but when it came to Sunday, when I intended to do it, it was pouring with rain.

See on the right there a golf cart - they do tours along this now disused train line. When I have the money, it would be really interesting.

Anyhow, the set up there was interesting. There were a few stalls, and a decent amount of food. It was a mega hot day. There was the odd other thing to see, such as whip-cracking, a farm-made water slide (ie doing what we used to do, and using a plastic sheet, water and detergent to slide, but taking it a step further and having a landing pool) and a trough for "guess how many eels are in the trough". It was worth doing the once, maybe a bit too far to do another time.

After the long drive back to Hamilton, I went around to Suzanne and Bevan's for dinner - Bevan had smoked several different types of meats in his pizza oven (as a test run for when he would do it for his parents) and invited Ron and Rach as well (knowing that me and Ron would pretty much eat anything meaty). (For some reason I have just got a huge urge to go to the fridge, can't think why). Anyhow, fantastic feed - one of the best things was something we almost wrote off as being too charcoaled - some ribs.

In the following week, we got the McDonald family Bible back - which had been getting restored in Tauranga. We had hoped initially to have it back in time for Nana's birthday, but were told it wasn't likely. Turned out we did, and it came in cheaper than expected, and delivered as well, complete with archive gloves (think Michael Jackson) and some special sellotape for repairing page tears.



A Four generation photo of my ancestors, although Nana (standing right) should have been taking the photo, and Popa in the photo. Clockwise From bottom, Donald McDonald (sitting), his daughter (Elizabeth) Grace Pearson (nee McDonald), Nana (Marj Pearson), and mum (Anne Thomas, nee Pearson) as a baby. Recently I did a census search, and I believe Donald was born in San Jose Banda, which is apparently in Argentina - looking at his complexion it could be possible that his natural father was Latin American, although my Uncle and cousin have red hair, which we attributed to his Scottish-ness.

The event that weekend then of course was Nana's 80th birthday party. We held it at our house, and had about 50 relations come and have lunch. It was another nice hot day, and we had set up two sun shades. It was great catching up with some of the old relations, as previously I had been "a kid" whereas now I was relating to them as an adult. It was especially great from a family history perspective too, as I pass on and run past some of my theories on our ancestors and get their feedback and knowledge. One such example is the family bible - it was noticeably water damaged - I assumed because it had travelled from Opunake to Kinohaku by boat, and that in it's 116 year life it was bound to have attracted some moisture. Turns out, according to my grandfather's cousin, that it had been through a flood at Kinohaku - at the time it was on top of a piano, which the water rose to the top of, and just up part of the way up the Bible. I also managed to catch up with one of my mother's cousins who I had discussed family history matters with, and she had compiled a whole lot of things since I had talked to her last, so I got a copy of her finished product.

Yeah naturally I like this photo because I look relatively nice in it, but also because it's a nice one of me and Nana.

On the Sunday, I went and did the Hakarimata walk - something that had been on the list for a while, but without company it hadn't got done. I found I wasn't as fit as I remembered, but once we had gotten over the summit of the first bit, it wasn't too bad after that. There is a lookout tower built there as well which is quite awesome. On getting back to the bottom we picked up our cars and went and had a drink (Coca Cola) at the Waipa tavern, which I had always figured was a pretty rough place. Later in the week I made a joke on Facebook that I had come back and found my car without it's glovebox and stereo, but most people missed the second part of the joke where I said that I had previously taken them out in preparation/investigation for installing rear speakers.

In the following week I house sat for Suzanne and Bevan, as they headed up the Coromandel with Suzanne's ex-boss from the UK. The pay-off for me is walking Jordan (exercise) and using their MySky. I am addicted to watching Who Do You Think You Are? and various British documentaries, so I make good use of recording them - so much so that I come away with having recorded more than I watched. My other favourites were The Underground, Dragon's Den Profiles (of the Dragons) and Battle Castles (on various European castles, such as Conwy (which I have visited in Wales), and Malbork - (which I intend to visit - it is only about 100kms from Egiertowo (formerly known as Eggershutte) where my German ancestors came from, in modern day Poland.)) As you can probably imagine, such a diet of programmes really doesn't help me get over missing England and Europe. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I had bought a new TV late last year, which has Freeview built in. Similiarly I love the Channel Choice, as it has programmes such as Coast, and The History of Scotland.

That weekend I took Mum and Dad to the airport as they were heading to the South Island for a holiday, and ending up in Queenstown for a work conference.

After investigating my rear speaker situation, I discovered the wiring was already there in my car. I installed one of the ones I had got from the wreakers, but turns out it doesn't work, so I purchased some Pioneer ones. I had asked my mate Ron for advice, and he ended up finding me some online for a cheap price, I then went to the shop around the corner from work and they matched the price. Late last week Dad and I completed the installation. It's a bit weird now having 4 speakers, after 13 years of just the two front ones, and especially as the new ones have tweeters, so I hear more treble. The next thing on the car list is making a green suede gearstick sock.

Other than that, yesterday I did the intermediate follow-on to the cycle safety thing I did in December. I ended up being the only adult attendee ((they combined it with a family day) probably because they timed it at 4:30, and I left work early) so I got one-on-one tutoring. It was all good, but amazing how tiring the rest of the ride home was.

And there we are, caught up again. I totally intend to update this on a regular basis, and therefore make it a bit more philosophical and interesting, rather than a list of things I've done, but I seem to fail at that. I do however have several plans for future entries, so keep an eye out.

The title, in case you are wondering, is due to the fantastic weather we have had this year (especially compared to last year) and the resulting sunburn and chaffing. After being burnt for a second time, I went and purchased three bottles of sunscreen from work, and put one in my glove box, one in my toilet bag, and one in the drawer. It is been so hot, it I have been living in a singlet in the evenings, and I feel a bit bad that the weekends I have been at Suzanne's I have spent inside watching the TV in order to avoid getting burnt. Unfortunately Hamilton is an inland city, and Raglan is just that little bit too far away to go to for a swim. A couple of times Suzanne and I have taken Jordan (her dog) down to the river to play in the water and meet other dogs, and I have taken the opportunity to have a nice cooling swim (Jordan is also finding it too hot to do anything, if you walk him too early in the evening, he will sit/lie down and have a big rest, usually in such a dramatic fashion that bystanders would think he is totally been overworked) The good thing is with my encouragement Jordan has gained confidence in swimming - but when getting him to swim to me, I have to be careful not to let him try and rest on me, as generally that results in a mis-aimed claw mark down my front. The singledom bit was to make it sound better with a bit of alliteration, and because for once in my single life I am choosing not to look. Truth is I am still confused with the Adessa situation and until I get that sorted in my brain, any rejection will just set me back to the why? feelings.

 So, in the near future what is coming up? Easter - I am hoping to make the most of it, and plan to do the Coromandel, and do some snorkeling, which I have done sweet F A of in the last 5 years, except in Egypt. I have been thinking of other trips I want to do, such as Kaikoura, Melbourne etc, but that is another entry...

Straight to Summer

And so, back to reality once again, things started off slowly. The highlights being winning some free tickets to a movie -Kiwi Flyer - a New Zealand movie, aimed at kids, but entertaining enough for adults, about a trolley race in Nelson. I really enjoyed it, and think it's going to be one of those movies that will be played every Christmas on TV because it ticks all the boxes.

I also did a trip up the Coromandel with dad and one of his suppliers to deliver some toilet paper and other supplies to camp grounds up there, that was quite nice as I hadn't really been that far up, and it showed me a couple of good places to camp.

The Waikato rugby team happened to win the Ranfurly shield in about the second-to-last challenge of the year, so I decided I would go and watch the last game which was at Waikato stadium. It turned out not to be too expensive, and it wasn't packed or monitored, so when it started raining, I moved up into the covered part of the stand. My mate Dave and his dad were there too, so I ended up hanging out and catching up with them.

For the momentous occasion, I fashioned a poncho out of some PVC signs that came on a roll, that I had picked up for free at a garage sale in about 2001. Anyhow, Waikato was victorious on the day, so all in all it was a good year for Waikato rugby.

The rest of October was fairly uneventful, I did some deliveries to Morrinsville, caught up for coffee with some old classmates from tech, and renewed my gun licence. The biggest news was probably becoming an official employee of Waikato Cleaning Supplies. I am mainly doing the accounting side of things, entering invoices into the computer, but also answering email queries, the phone, and serving on the counter as required. One of the things I am going to implement in the quiet patch in January is making our packing slips computerised, essentially cutting out a whole lot of double-handling. Something I have already sorted out was the backing up process - what was happening was at 4:30 everyone had to be out of the system while someone manually backed up the server. I found it a pain because you couldn't really do anything from 4:30 then, and I figured it should be able to be done automatically. So now it's just a case of swapping a portable hard drive each morning.

November began slowly, the highlights early on being going to the CBD pub with Ron & Bevan and having all you can eat chicken wings on "Wingsday Wednesday". Part of that included a challenge if you were up for it of eating 6 really spicy wings in 3 minutes. Usually I'm not a fan of super hot things, but I was keen and wanted to challenge myself so I did it and got the free t-shirt. It's funny how proud of myself I was at winning another eating challenge (you may remember the 25oz steak in 25 minutes at chakalaka in London - which really wasn't that hard) but it's all about celebrating the small victories. Anyhow, that was the preliminary celebration of my birthday, two days later.

On my actual birthday we (mum, dad, Suzanne, Bevan, & I) went out to Keystone, as I am a loyalty card holder of their parent company, so they sent me a $50 voucher to use. For dessert we went to an Italian place, which was OK, but half the stuff on the menu wasn't available.

On the Sunday, Bevan & I went to Auckland to the Big Boys Toys expo. It was OK, a bit better than the last time I went in 2008, which I think was scaled back due to the recession, but it still wasn't as cool as how I remembered it the first time I went, but isn't that always the case.

On the 22nd mum, dad, & I went and saw Nigel Latta talk at Southwell as a fundraiser for ...... I had read two of his books last year, The Politically incorrect guide to Parenting, and ... To teenagers, which I found good books. I found his talk a little bit of a disappointment, I'm not sure what it was, whether it was too rehearsed, or whether he put too many swearwords in there, or the occasional "political" swipe at something.

The following weekend I saw there was a fun run/walk around the lake which was raising money for a charity called Dream chasers. Basically there was a boy who died of Leukaemia, they hadn't been able to match him with a suitable donor for a bone marrow transplant because of his Maori ancestry (IE a match is rarer). Anyway his parents set this charity up to raise awareness - and they were only about my age.

So, anyway, I decided to do the maximum walk - which was 3 laps. There was a couple and their mother I think that also were doing 3 laps too, so I talked to the man and had a great conversation about travel, genealogy, and all sorts. Sadly they reneged on the last lap, but I don't blame them as they were carrying a kid in a backpack as well. Anyhow I went on to finish the third lap, but I think most people had done their one or two and gone home by the time I finished. However on the upside I got a free drink and several cupcakes at the end of it. A friend of mine had organised a social walk around the lake later that day, so I walked halfway round again to where we were going to meet, and chilled out there for about an hour. When he and a few others came we did a lap, then had a milkshake and chatted.

That night my parents and I went to Monique's 30th - I grew up with Monique and her sister Christine, who if you go and look at the entries for February 2011 & 2012 respectfully, they are both mentioned as they were the brides at the weddings I attended.

On the 27th I went to a men's dinner at our church. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as it was a cricketing guy, however he talked in such away that it was actually quite good, I think it was his humour and the applicability of it, ie it wasn't all about cricket, more his life experience. Similarly I enjoyed catching up with some of the old guys from our old church at Naike, it seems cool to be able to talk to them now with so much more to relate to.

I believe on the Thursday I popped over to Matamata because there was an opening of the I-site over there, which had been re-done as a hobbit hole (Matamata is just down the road from "Hobbiton" the set location of where they filmed the shire scenes in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

At the end of the month I went down to new Plymouth to catch up with Dave and Sandra, and their kids. It was nice getting out of my world for a weekend, but I also started to appreciate that I'm not as ready for kids as I thought I was. I took Luca a book and a small torch that we sell at work - he barely let go of the torch all weekend (nor turned it off) & had the book read to him at least 3 times. On the Saturday we all went to the Egmont visitors centre, had a bit of a walk, and had some lunch there. Sunday it was pouring with rain, and they were having an open home to sell their house, so Sandra and I took the kids out for lunch while Dave played host.

Mid December I went to the Tamahere markets one Saturday - something I've never gotten around to doing. It was interesting, I bought a couple of books and a packet of tomatoes to chew at my convenience.

On the Sunday I did a cycle safety thing, that the council was putting on for free. I figured I probably knew it all already, but would probably pick something useful regardless, which I was right - particularly when turning around to check what other traffic is there I had previously found I wouldn't be able to stay straight, despite not having that issue when I was a kid. Essentially what was I doing wrong was keeping my arms straight and almost locked, where as the idea is to bend your elbows for maximum effect. At the end of it I felt good, it was like I was one with my bike again, like I would have felt as a kid (admittedly the next day I had really sore forearms from being a kid and bouncing the front suspension/attempting wheelies/jumps)

Because where we did that was just around the corner from my aunties I went and visited her and had some lunch. We had a good chat and I tried to fix her skype but didn't have any luck.

Later on I went to a gathering at a pub which was doing $5 pizzas, which was all good.

Other than that, I took Suzanne and Jordan to dog Obedience one night, then dropped Suzanne at Bevan's work do, and Jordan home.

Our work do was on the last Friday before Christmas. We finished slightly early and had a BBQ which was nice.

That night we headed to the beach with Nana. It was nice waking up the next day and already being there. I had organised that on the Sunday we would go and visit her cousin in law in Whakatane, and take the family bible back, we all went down there, but I have ended up holding onto it. The following day I took Nana to meet a distant relative of her's, someone I have been chatting with via email for a while. This lady has researched our common ancestral line well and had a bit of information, most I had gathered from previous emails but she is going to send me more of it soon, and it was in a well presented format, almost booklet profile-like, which is what I want to do in regards to some of my ancestors, so the information can easily be stored, accessed, and past on.

Christmas day was OK. For the four of us it felt almost too much like hard work. I actually enjoyed the remote control car I got in my work present the most. On the concrete in the shed you can make it do awesome skids, almost 180degrees.

On the 27 and 28th we were back at home at work, and then came back that night.

In the following few days I had a few swims and managed to fix the lock in my car.

For New Years I headed up to Auckland. What was really the highlight of the trip though was finding a set of rear speaker panels for my car at a wreckers. I had searched for ages, including several scourings of Hamilton, at least one scouring of Tauranga, and a scouring of Christchurch while I was there.

I returned to Papamoa the next day. Since then I have had a couple more swims, caught up with a few people, and today took the McDonald family bible to be rebound.

Not much planned for the next few days. Much of the same, hopefully will get a bit of exercise in there as well.

Christchurch - the Final Frontier (of my Ancestors)

(Some Christchurch humour)

Monday 17/9

Continuing from last entry, I had gotten the bus from Dunedin, got off at Hornby and picked up by Erika, my workmate from my time at Corrections. Had a good catch up that evening.

Tuesday 18/9

I spent the day doing my washing and planning the rest of my week, including organising my flight back to Auckland on Sunday morning. I booked a flight using my air points generated from the trip to London in 2009.

(This is the new mall, constructed from cargo containers)

Wednesday 19/9

I went into Christchurch with Phil, Erika's husband, on his way to work. I eventually worked out the maze that is now the CBD and got to the i-Site. I organised a red zone tour and booked a cheap rental car for Friday to go to Oxford in North Canterbury (where my ancestors had come from). From there I went to Archives New Zealand to do some research. Came back to i-Site and did the red zone tour. I had been warned that some people didn't think it was worth doing. For the price it wasn't too bad, although it certainly wasn't as dramatic as I imagined - I guess because all the images I had seen were from the day after the quakes, and of course now everything was demolished and/or cleaned up. I was feeling rundown after that so I sat about for a while, before dragging myself to the Christchurch hospital (not for medical reasons, but because it was where one of the few BNZ banks still stand in Christchurch, and I knew there would be a cafeteria. My overall impression of Christchurch in 2012 was that it reminded me a lot of Belfast, less the murals and bomb-proof trucks.

(The Christchurch Cathedral)

Thursday 20/9

Went into town again with Phil and attended a Genealogy Society meeting, I had rung them on Tuesday and mentioned my Christchurch ancestors in the hope someone may've researched them already, unfortunately no one had, but they did prepare some books for me to look at, and were helpful in general, although one lady kept giving me things that may have related but in the end were just more things to sift through - info overload.

Friday 21/9

Got a ride into town with Phil again, and went hard out around some car wreckers in the CBD looking for a particular part for my car (an internal plastic panel - I want one from a better spec car, as  they come with a rear speaker and grill) I predicted that Christchurch may be the place to find some, as it is about 3 times bigger than Hamilton, and of course had been through an earthquake, potentially writing a few more cars off.

After that I went and picked up my rental car, and headed back to Archives New Zealand to complete my research there. I had done the hard yards the night before, and got all the things I wanted sourced into a list, so I could just give it to them and they could go get them. That worked well, especially considering how much I had to look through. I had an interesting chat to someone else researching there, but in the end wished he would just let me get through what I had. At closing time, about 1pm my new friend had left, and the Archives staff said I was free to finish off looking at what I had - they just couldn't tell me that when the other guy was around as he was hard enough to get rid of at closing time most days. As it was I didn't require much more time there, and I was eager to get to Oxford.

On the way to Oxford I stopped to get some petrol. While I was in the shop paying for it there was a huge BANG. I thought it was just a truck going past, but apparently it was an earthquake.

I got to Oxford and spent about an hour at the museum before it closed at 3pm. I then had a quick look at Pearson park next door, and the cemetery down the road, where some of the Pearsons were buried. From there I decided to go and see Burnt Hill - the station where Joseph Pearson (my 3 x Great grandfather's brother) had farmed. On the way there, just off the main road I had to cross a small ford - with all the gravel I got stuck for a little bit, until a guy in a ute came the other way, and I asked him for a small push, which he humbly obliged. For a moment there I was a little worried, especially being a rental car and all.

At Burnt Hill there was this long drive, and I didn't think it right to drive down and have a look at the house - as I'm not sure how cool my story of how "My 3 x great grandfather's brother was Joseph Pearson" would be received.

From Burnt Hill I headed to View Hill - where Joseph's first house was. Unfortunately it wasn't as clear where exactly it was, I found View Hill School, but there are plenty of hills around there.

From there, I figured I may as well head north and find Lake Pearson, despite it getting late in the day. The journey took me through Springfield, pictured here with the Doughnut - given to the community when The Simpsons movie came out, as apparently they gave every town in the world called Springfield one.  This other picture shows how some cheeky person has capitalised on the landmark.

It also took me into the Southern alps, which of course looked beautiful with the sun setting.

Eventually I made it to Lake Pearson, it wasn't the easiest trip because it wasn't a location of note on my GPS, so I did have to guess a little bit to work out where it was. Unfortunately as you can see it was dark so I didn't get to appreciate it in it's full daylight splendour. Never mind, now I know where it is, and especially that you can camp there, I may very well be going back. Coming back to Christchurch was also an adventure in itself, driving in an unfamiliar car, on unfamiliar roads.

Saturday 22/9

I got up and made a quick visit to a couple of wreckers before dropping off my rental car. From there I went to the Christchurch library and went through all their genealogy card files (with the surnames of my ancestors) and photographed any that were relevant. About lunch time Erika, Phil, and the boys came and picked me up and we all went to the heritage village - a museum place with old trams and houses, set up how they would have been in Christchurch's early days. Erika had a joke by telling her kids that this place showed how things were when Phil was a boy, and the kids believed her.

Sunday 23/9

Got up and Phil took me to the airport. I flew back to Auckland and was picked up by my old school mate James. Some of James's friends were having a cook breakfast together, so we went along to that as well, which was great.

Mum and Dad then picked me up before lunch and we went to our old friends the Manson's, and had a two-family reunion, ie with all the kids and grandkids, not too hard a feet with our family (now we are all back in NZ) but the Manson's have four kids, all married, and three of them have had children. It was nice having a good catch up.

Dunedin - Edinburgh of the South

Saturday 15/9
Got up and sorted situation with room (they had put me in a room temporarily for the first night, as the person who took the booking hadn't written me in). I then went and sorted out breakfast and then sorted out my sightseeing in Dunedin, and the bus to Christchurch on Monday. My watch seems to have defaulted back to 12am 1/1/2000 - probably needs new battery. From the i-Site I went to today's sight- the Taieri railway, on the way to the train station I Saw Martin Tasker (broadcaster) and Buck Shelford (former All Black captain) within a minute of each other.

The Taieri gorge train trip was awesome - great views, and informative. Only downside was all the noisy kids in my carriage (makes me question my desire to have kids soon, but then I'm only wanting 2, and then I'm tying it off...) but the nice conductor guy allowed me and another young couple respite for the 1st half of the journey by allowing us to sit in the other part of the carriage (on the return journey those seats were taken).

After arriving back at the train station there was someone from the tour company there to meet me, and he dropped me back at my hostel. I hadn't really had lunch, so I went in pursuit of dinner on my way to the pub to watch the All Blacks play South Africa. I settled on lamb biranyi for $12. I went to the closest pub, an Irish pub - it was full inside, but it had an outside area with a screen but had to put up with annoying smokers. Bring on 2020 when NZ will be smokefree.

Sunday 16/9

Got up and was picked up from my hostel by the same tour company, and they took me out to Larnach castle. I had feared that it would be a glorified house, and in some ways I guess it was, but it was an interesting house/"castle" all the same - I enjoyed it, far more than I had enjoyed Buckingham Palace, and almost as much as I enjoyed Neuschwanstein castle. I don't know what it was, perhaps it appealed to the history I have been getting into with my family history research, or perhaps it was that for an hour or so I felt like I was back in England or Europe, minus all the B.S.

Anyhow, once we'd done Larnach castle, the driver was dropping one of the couples off at the train station (so they could go do the Taieri gorge trip), so I hopped out there too, and went and checked out the NZ Sporting Hall of Fame, which was housed in the upstairs of the train station. It was kind of interesting, spotted the odd name of sporting heroes from the time of my childhood - wasn't so much contemporary stuff naturally, as they have to have been retired for a certain amount of time, however of course, Mark Todd seems to come in and out of retirement every Olympics, and he was in there.

Just down the road was the Chinese gardens, so I had a quick look in there as well. Apparently "The Dunedin Chinese Garden is the only authentic Chinese Garden in New Zealand. It is one of only a handful outside China." according to the Dunedin council's website. I know Hamilton gardens has a Chinese garden, but certainly not of that size, from memory I believe it has a wall, and a tree... Anyhow, on first look it might seem weird to have a Chinese garden in Dunedin, a "Scotch stronghold" (Dunedin is gaellic for Edinburgh, and a whole lot of Scots came there - and hence why Otago Uni has the cross of St Andrew in its coat of arms, and the Super 15 team is the Highlanders...) but on second thoughts, a lot of Chinese came out for the Otago gold rush, and ended up staying and forming a lot of Dunedin businesses. On an aside note, recently I heard someone saying something interesting - apparently a key ingredient to assimilation is children, going to school with children from other races, however, in the case of the Chinese, back in the day, there was a poll tax and Alien laws, which prevented men from bringing over their wives and kids, and so the Chinese have missed out on several generations of assimilation for that reason.

A little later in the day I caught up with Laura, and her boyfriend Kriton, friends from my time at The Listening Company. Afterwards they dropped me off at the Forsyth Barr stadium - I wanted to have a look, as it is New Zealand's only covered in stadium.

Monday 17/9

I got up nice and early, and headed off. I wanted to check out a book I had come across mentioned in an another book, that I had discovered the Otago University had - basically it was a book of all the Brands used by run-holders in Canterbury - which of course my 3xGreat Grandfather's brother, Joseph Pearson was one. I had enough time to go and have a look, so I did, and took a photo of the relevant page, the brands of Joseph Pearson weren't anything special, one was simply "SP". I have no desire to get a tattoo, but admittedly for a fleeting moment had toyed with the idea if the brand was particularly cool. It wasn't, so there goes that hard decision.

From there I went and dropped off my big pack at the bus station, and went around the corner to CadburyWorld, where I had booked a 10am tour. The tour was OK, got a decent amount of free chocolate out of it, but wasn't particularly interesting. I was surprised however at how people-intensive it still was to make/package the chocolate.

After that I went and hopped on my bus to Christchurch.