The old bear finds some magic numbers to play with

I have always loved numbers.  Not that I can retain any of them. Nor am I particularly brilliant when it comes to adding or dividing.  I married a certain female bear for that skill - she is way ahead of me when it comes to numbers.  She can recall birthdays and equations / special dates and numerical oddities with consummate ease - which is why she is the Accountant in the family and I happily leave her to balance the books. Don't get me wrong - I can and could balance my cheque book if I had to.  Nor could I keep up with my boys once they got into algebra and numbers at school - they talked a foreign language at that point.  Nevertheless I do love numbers, and in particular statistical numbers.



There are certain numbers that just appeal - for example a 86-60-86 sequence would be great and very pleasing to look at!!



I belong to a group called ARHS - Association of Rugby Historians and Statistician and we operate a website and Facebook page.  I keep records of other certain things - like our monthly power usage and certain medal winners by state or athlete in certain sports.
For a while I kept track of every earthquake we felt in Christchurch but since the Feb shake of 3 years back gave that up.  the latest current thing is keeping track of the daily high temperatures for Christchurch / Dunedin/ Whitianga and Waiuru.  (we are comparing notes between where we live - and Pam's sister lives (Dunedin) where we would like retiring too (Whitianga) and where the boys thought they could learn how to be a soldier (Waiuru) ).   I drive my boys nuts with the insane need to get the numbers correct - and in right order.
Of course part of the fun is to draw nice graphs and such things . . . . 

So guess what - last week it dawned on me that today - yes  T O D A Y  - the 27 Feb 2014 is the exact 30 year anniversary since I touched down in New Zealand - and touchdown it was - no air-bridge in those days - you just walked down the stairs and in-between 2 yellow lines across the tarmac to the terminal!! 

30 years!!   :) 

Time to reflect. For within these 30 years a few things that have happened,  that are little anniversaries in itself.

• I have been involved as a scout-leader exactly half of my time since I been in New Zealand - some 15 years and still counting.

• I have had the same employer now for 10 years - one third of my time here

• I have been married for 96% of that time - ok ok - I can never got to 100% on that - still it is pretty good going (and next year we will celebrate 30 years of marriage)

• I have had the privilege of walking alongside my son for 25 years = thats 85% of my time here

• I have been a full time dad raising my boys for 12 years of my time here - = thats urm - adds one - looks at calculator and comes up with 40% of my time here.

•  the Millennium celebration - are sitting exactly half way between arriving and now - and who can forget all those fireworks and the y2k bug???

• I had my first jamboree in 2002 - and had 3 more since then

•  I gained 33%  (some whopping 22kg) of my original weight - yes I was a skinny rag - due to all the cycling I used to do.  Since I stopped that and stayed at home my middle has gone more sideways then I care to admit. Actually that is not a statistic I am proud to admit. Lets scrap that from the internal memory bank :)

• I have lived her 30% longer then I have in my entire life in Salzburg.

•  on average we have been back to Europe for a visit every 7.5 years

• This year will be my 10th mid winter camping trip with some scouts - to our lovely west-coast

• As a Family (counting the wife as a secretary and the boys starting keas) we are involved with scouting in various roles for the last 20 years

• We have had 14 times where someone crossed the Equator (either we made a trip or received visitor's from Europe).  It works out on average every 2.05 years .  Wohoooo who is next????

• We have had (hmm ok still have ONE) three cats - on average one every ten years.

Wohooooo - I rings Mamabear and ask her to be home early and we get a bottle of bubbles out - hmmm make that two and CELEBRATE

have fun

muller.enterprises.co.nz measures distances

We live down under.
At the end of the World.
Where penguins roam and special whales get hunted.
Where the winds can chill everything down to and below -40 degree Celsius. 
Where the Ice is and central Antarctica is been buried under yet more ice. 

 Where - according to a rumour in Europe - (which btw is completely untrue) we hang on the edge of the world by our fingernails before we fall into the abyss.
Where nothing ever happens. 
Were even the stars look different to anything most northerners know.
We know that D stands for down under  :D
We know.
We know we live down under.

We know how far it is to travel to get anywhere.

We know our next nearest neighbour is some 2000km across the Tasman sea. Actually that may not be strictly true - if you go from Cape Reinga northwards then New Caledonia would be the closest neighbouring Nation.  Fiji and Tonga may be next. When you google distances the following appear
Wellington (NZ to --)

• Sydney (Australia) 2224km
• Tonga 2381 km
• New Caledonia 2388 km
• Fiji 2594 km
• Antarctica 4996 KM - although to be fair - that pointed in the middle of it - I suspect the south pole
• Brisbane (Australia) 2549 km
• Melbourne (Australia) 2581 km

Interestingly - as an aside - if you go from Invercargill to Cape Reinga - that is a journey of 2060km.
If you go eastwards for a loooooooooong time - eventually you may hit Chile and if you go in a east/norht-ish's direction and straight past the pacific islands
e v e n t u a l l y 
you may hit Los Angeles.

So I took Sydney as our nearest neighbour and reference point.  I took a compass and measured the distance from Christchurch to Sydney and then plonked that into Vienna and measured equall distance by comparison and ended up drawing a circle.  Wohhhhhaaaaaa  - you just might make Madrid, miss landfall in most of northern Africa / go right past Cairo / miss all of Ukraine and just miss Moscow and cut right through the middle of Scandinavia and miss all of UK Ireland  BEFORE you cover the same equall distance as going from Christchurch to Sydney. In other words - our nearest neighbourly state and/or major city is further away then almost any place within 100% of Europe if you are were leaving from Vienna. 
Fudge
double fudge

So for us Kiwis - if we want to go ACROSS the border to well really - ANYWHERE in the world - we have to cover huge distances.
That is why some folks here never have a passport as they simply have no intention of doing a cross border raid.
Unlike Europe (ok before the Euro came into place) where a cross border raid was a lot easier.  Especially if you lived near the border which many did and do (like me - I could WALK to and across it from where I used to live).

So please - ponder this: how many European countries you can travel through BEFORE you hit Sydney ( as landfall in equal distance) if you start from Vienna - or Paris - or London - or Berlin??  Just mind-boggling.

Go further - for example if you want to go from New Zealand to Singapore ( - our next nearest western/rich-type major place of importance - with all due respect to the "other" nations in between)  -  it is a equivalent distance as Vienna to well  Pretoria in South Africa / or Miami in USA.
Huge distances. 
Long time travelling.
A looooong way away
A very very long way away
Not exactly a easy cross-border-raid place to live in.

Which - leads us to say that when us Kiwis do travel - we make the most of it.
Unless of course you plan to "chill out" in the Pacific Islands.
Travel anywhere else to - even Australia - and we try and make the most of it - to not do so, would be a waste of time and money spent in getting there.
We have a repudiation of being explorers.
Of inquisitive travellers. 
Why go to Naples and stay there for 4 weeks when you can also see Venice and Vienna and Paris and London and the Alps and Budapest and Stockholm and Berlin and everything else in-between and more.  And more - ok - assuming you can afford it, especially if doing a trip to Europe

Even here in New Zealand - remember the total length is 2060km from north to south?? That's almost the same distance as to Sydney.
Almost.
People make the most of it when going north - or south.  I recently met a couple from Tauranga (North Island) and they spent 3 weeks touring the South Island's major "tourist" places.

But you get my drift. Funnily enough - if you carefully hunt online you can get cheaper air-plane tickets to Australia then regular ticket's to say Christchurch to Auckland.  ^^

Hmmmm - better start saving now for our next trip to Europe.
Mamabear is starting to think of a wish-list of places and people and things to see and do . . . . 

As an aside - most of us do see us on 'top of the world' and the sooner everyone gets "with it" - urm - the better it will be :D
hmmm doesn't change the distances though.
Fudge



Have fun

Prince charming kisses the frog but does not find his princess. . .

The last day of the big journey. the weather forcast was for fine later and temperatures in high 20's.  Se we decided to make the most of it and go to Hamner for the day.  It was my last day of annual leave.  After this I have to work again until next Christmas.  Sigh.  Well enough of that - we still have one day left to enjoy ourselves. So we packed gear and headed north to Hanmer.  It was a partial re-tracing our historical steps ---->   (  Austrians in Hamner   ) and a partial last chance for a decent bath / clean up!  eeeek   ^^ Well you do come out like a wrinkled prune!!
www.hanmersprings.co.nz/thermal/pools/
The pools have now been re-developed - and cover a much greater area then when Wilfried was here last!!  Still it is a good place to sit and soak and enjoy the wildlife -urm - other bikinis walking past. However - after about 2 hours soaking and tasting all the new rock-pools and their varying temperatures / minerals - it is time to come back out - but more on that later.  First up - yes as always you have to EARN your right to go into the pools and hike up Conical hill - a short 400 meter stroll up the local hill - now fully grown with Pine trees. But before THAT - we stopped at the bridge and offered the lad a last chance and do what Doris did a few days earlier.  Wilfried still not game enough to trust his life a rubber band and a early bath did not entice him neither.  Tut tut - one day ladie - one day we will do this!!  So soon enough we were on top of the Conical Hill - and oddly enough it does look like a cone shaped hill - and admired the view = or what is left of it.  I can remember a time when you could see the whole of the old township and of course the 3 hot pools!! Now - with the trees having grown - you won't see them - just the newer parts of town.  Bummer = it made for good pictures!!  Now if you have read and followed the blog - or not - and clicked on the link above - or not - well - you would know that in an earlier life our peaceful holiday got interrupted by the young adults visiting us at the Hamner work batch and it snowed and someone was climbing the hill next to the look out - ok the teeny weeny rock next to the lookout and then you would have also seen a whitish boy GINGERLY entering the hot pools . . . . .    In any case - seeing this is in a sense retracing of earlier steps - he just had to climb the rock.  This of course had nothing to do with the lovely young female who had been there earlier (about 10 minutes earlier)  - and if memory serves was up and down as easy as a mountain goat.  I am under oath to NOT publish any further (embarrassing) images of his escapade . . .
This is not easy . . . . .
Not at all - there are a few worth showing.
0.-


Along the way - you go up this broad serpentine slope to get there and of course many young children delight in going straight up.  Us more maturer folk enjoyed the walk - slower as the young kids - still more enjoyable.   Having worked up an appetite we stopped at the local Cafe/ bakery and indulged in some good ol' kiwi tucker. 




There are no images of us in the pool from this time - you have to take our word for it.  I did not even see the young lady that normally goes round and tries to sell the tourists the 'professional' looking pictures.  Maybe two blokes together in the pool was just not attractive enough ? ? ?  hey  - I am good looking in my own right!!
Soon enough it was time to head back home - we briefly stopped over at the work batch and had a look round - they are cutting out some trees making it a lighter breezier place.  The batch itself has not changed much - not on the outside.  Kitchen and Bathroom have been upgraded and there is now a double bed instead of the two singles . . .
A further stop at the Marble Point winery (for their Riesling which is divine) and having re-stocked some wino fino - it was time to come home to what felt like a 'henkers-mahlzeit'.  Hmm was that Siebenburgen kraut?

On the way we stopped at the famous Frog Rock.  It is a natural occurring wonder - and you have to agree - it does look like a frog right out of a fairytale picture book complete with his crown.  There is a unconfirmed rumor that when the right person at the right time (meaning some stars have to align and the tide has be out and the moon has to be 5 quarters full and waning  - and - hmmm can't give away all the secrets) wears the right clothes and does this ritual dance (something about 3 times round and round a pole of fir extract set in a quadrangle of fire-bowls lit with blue-whale oil) with ribbon of red and green color and partakes in a extremely rare and special moon-shine drink - then and only then - will the Frog come alive and croak and - if your male - become for a very, very short time a princess of un-natural beauty.  So far no-one ever has seen this transformation - but local legend has it occurring in the distant past for some lucky guy.  I was tempted to stay for a bit - but the Austrian visitor would have given me an earful about planes the next day and not wanting to miss that and so forth - so we headed home after taking the obligatory pictures. 
There are a good number of folks who will try on the ritual though - which is helped by a often seen Steam engine pulling a ever hopeful crowd up the famous pass and stop there for the rituals!  In our case we saw the track maintenance train instead.  Interestingly enough - the train is going over, what is now, all private land and is a great tourist and train enthusiast attraction.   If and when Bernhard comes again we will definitively have to check the train-time-table and see if we can make the short little journey.









The next day - I had to go back to work.  Yes this bread and breakfast owner is not making any money out of visitors and needs to go and earn some cash so he can go tiki-touring - with them.  So off to work I trundled leaving the chaps at home.  It was one of those hot sunny days that we are famous for.  

 It is a hard job getting ready for a 24 hour flight when you can sit outside - fully packed - and have nothing to do - other then snacking on fresh berries.  Hah - he will soon enough be back in a cold and wet environment. Enjoy the last rays of sunshine.

We took him there (there being the local airport) and yes - just like with Cousin Doris and Martina said a teary farewell.  Then we hotfooted it back to our place - except - either his plane was very  very late leaving (seems to be a bit of a theme here - wonder what broke down this time)  O R  the winds did change and he took off towards the south in which case we will not have seen the plane actually leave.  In any case - we had the usual drink. Then dinner. Then went grocery shopping. Then reminiscent. Then fell into bed.








Thats all for now - another satisfied customer has been and now left happy.  Wonder who will be next??  We have a bet going (we being mamabear and myself) who it will be!!
The muller.enterprise.co.nz is doing ok.

have fun

Austrian visitor escapes into the wilderness

hmmmmmm
So before lunch on the 4th, we left the old boy in Dunedin  and we found our way home. While we had a rest day and also saw the Kiwi - and then dropped of Doris and Bernhard at the Airport on the 6th - the other chap with us had a few fabulous days in Dunedin.  His itinerary included a trip to Larnach castle, Penguin colony, Albatross colony, some wildlife center bush area with tall trees and lots of other shrub-greenery (sadly also with the TALLEST tree in New Zealand - some cheeky Australian gum tree at 80 meters height) where the lad kept his cool and found his way back out of the bush - and a day trip out to the Morakei Boulders with lunch in Morakei itself.  Hmmmm we did go there ourselves one day -  pity it was the wrong time for lunch for us - the fish there is famous for its taste and quality!! Snapping a few old buildings and a stop over at the Butterfly house rounded up his exciting time down there.  Then it was time to come back home. The hard way. Via a bus. Which broke down. On a steep hill. It could not get the gears going.  Some unkind person hinted it may well be the extra pounds gained from all the rich food here - but I am sure Wilfried has got THAT sorted.  So in any case while he had fun terrorizing the wild life down south with his camera - we up here - having said good bye to Cousin Doris and Bernhard - are taking life easy.  Mamabear deciding that she wanted to go to work on Friday and catch up with emails so that on Monday she has a easier run and catch up. That left me at home - alone.  I should say - yesterday was Waitangi day - a public holiday so we had a extra day of leave.  Waitangi is all about the coming together of 2 cultures - local maori who signed a binding contract with the Queen (well her local representative) in 1884 and that was the beginning of NZ - so in  away it is our National Birthday celebration! I am sure some kiwis will take issue with this view - but I can't be bothered writing a long epistle on what was or might have been or should be.  In any case it is urm was a holiday for us.  One thing is clear - we did not touch on Maori culture while our guests were here. We could have easily done a full Maori immersion type holiday - and may have seen NZ from a different perspective, and in the process may well have missed many sights - but would have gotten to know some locals better.  Hmmm may need to reflect on that for the next victim - oops visitor, visitor!!!!  :)  
In any case - Friday dawned - mamabear got up early and went to work - leaving me - home alone!!  Feels unreal!   I have the whole house to myself!!   So I did what every self serving home-alone-house-husband does - I chilled a tad and did only what I wanted to do (and that included a water change for all the fish-tanks)!  In-between I got txt updates from the Austrian we left behind in Dunedin - ahhhhh he MISSES us!!   Nope - actually he txt'd to say about the bus - and seeing I was picking him up from the bus station later in the day needed to know a arrival time - we left it that he would txt once leaving Ashburton - which would give me enough time to put on my foundation/mascara/ eyeshadow/ lipstick - nah - just brush the 5 hairs I got left and look semi decent! Mustn't forget to wear some decent clothes as well.  :)  Well he finally made it and we had the usual Friday night fare - fish and chips and some Chinese meal tossed with that.    The next day . . . .

The next day (Saturday)  - he abandoned us again!  hehehe we don't mind sharing him round - honest!!
Wilfried spend Saturday and part Sunday with Elizabeth Peach and did some interesting things with her.  ^^
I won't go  into details - leave it to you - no - them to fill in the blanks :D
It did involve some bread and ducks and blueberries and . .. 










The first decent 'selfie' I have seen since they started.  Or did some one else take this?
A dentist perhaps - hoping for some free advertising? They do look good together.






In any case the young lady has promised to return the visitor unharmed to us - ready for a afternoon of caffee and cake and  fellowship of old Durham street choir members and anyone else who remembered him.  Alistair / Roger / David came along with the Choir master himself!!  No singing ensued and we avoided making them sing for their supper, but a good many laughs where shared. We ended up having far to much food left - not that that is usually a problem with the ravenous kids we own - plus the Austrian - but yeah - dinner became a sort of Caesar Salad - supposedly light and easy. :)  hmmm did we have Pavlova for Dessert as well??










After a good nights sleep - very, very early on the Monday morning - at a time when most decent people still sleep - and avoid getting out of bed - kind Mamabear went and picked up a friend of Wilfrieds and dropped both of them of to the train station.  They are catching a - ok it is - a tourist train. Actually it is the passenger train that goes from Christchurch to Picton and then comes back down from there again. So it travels the rails only twice a day. It does mean that at the halfway point you can leave (that's in Kaikoura) and do walks and go out on the boat and watch the whales and penguins and other assorted fishie's. Then you catch the train back to Christchurch. Makes for a long day!  In any case - given the local weather at the time - they could not go out on the boat - the sea was to rough. However the local walk was rewarded with the sea-lions basking and posing for photos. We had the honor of picking them up from the train station in the evening - but surprise surprise - they were late - again.  Several txt's later - we knew that the train was late away from Picton so they will be late here - so  nooooooo problem. I don't mind smooching with the young mamabear while waiting for the transport wrecking lad to arrive!   ^.0     :)

Turns out - the reason the train was late was because one of the Ferries had a teeny weeny wee mishap with one of their lifeboats and THAT changed the sailing times and THAT meant for the train having to wait for people to disembark from the boat and catch the train to Christchurch!

Late Dinner and catch up then bed.

Have fun











PS - Wilfried - feel free to suggest edits - -  :)  

Austrian visitors get to meet a real kiwi - finally

The first dawned a bit sad - grey and overcast and cold and with drizzle.  It was almost a indoor day. Still - we had one last thing that needed to be done - not that we had no opportunity to do this either in Hokitika or in Queenstown, just that on those two locations we were far to busy to do the out-door stuff.  So we knew it could keep till we are back in Christchurch.  So after a leisurely breakfast and general laziness we rugged up and got the cold weather gear out and drove 5 minutes down to road from us - where is located a place called Willowbank.  Local school / Scout children will know this well - it is a outdoor zoo like you may not have seen before.  It is very much a wild-ish sort of place with animals caged that need to be - but other then that it is pretty much as nature had intended to be that environment.  Well - mostly.  Seeing it was cold - some 13 degrees only and drizzly - the outdoor animals were in no mood to be playful let alone entertaining the visitors. There are several feeding stations and the eels came willingly - but then they live in the water.  This little wallaby was soon going back into her mother's pouch and not much was seen of him. It must be a very stretchy pouch - or has some magic Potter type properties . . .






Next up a pair of otters. They at least were playful - but then again they half live in the water.  The keepers are hoping that one of them is soon going to be expecting baby otters.  We shall see if there is going to be the pitta-patter of otter steps

 They had about 10 or more Keas in the enclosure - noisy birds too- None performed to fly or show their undercolor - so you have to trust me - it is a fiery red!!  We have been there previously with Martina and luckily for us we timed it right that a guy came and did a tour with a group and part of that tour was a talk AND feeding of the kea's much to our amusement then.

 Ahhhh yes - finally we get to meet one of the locals.  Actually the Kiwi is a nocturnal bird - as in it sleeps during the sunsine hours and is awake at night. Given the undergrowth present at parts of the enclosure - you can book a night tour and see - or perhaps not see - them at night at their "normal" behaviour time!!  However - the staff are very understanding and have 4 Kiwis inside a building where their day has been turned upside down.  During our daytime the lights are turned of and there is a smattering of 'red' light. Silence is required in order to not to scare the birds and also absolutely NO flashlight in any shape or form!! Which makes for challenging picture taking. Bernhard tried very hard - but I already knew there was no point so - left my camera at home.
<----- can you spot the Kiwi????
It is visible - just - or more to the point his beak is just visible.  After that we had lunch - actually in the local mall down the road (where everyone had something different - and what they wanted) and then we went across town to introduce them to Raukura - my NZ daughter and her son Noah.  Friendly chat and then it was time to head back home and cook dinner for the night, and crack open a special bottle and celebrate our time together.
This was all yesterday


T O D A Y

Thursday 6th of February 2014 - is - well a sunny day but the hearts are heavy! Today is the day we say goodbye to our visitors - but not before - urm - well - no. 
There was not much to pack and they were ready to go by 9.30am - not that we had to be at the airport before 3pm.  So the rest of the day was spent with gossiping / a card game and lunch.  In hindsight it would have been better to go out in the morning - maybe re-visit Brighton Beach, or into the Botanical gardens (which we had not seen yet)!  It might have taken their minds of the upcoming 24 hr plane journey.  We rolled out the red-white-red carpet again.

They seem to have done best while we were away!














 

 The two bungy jumpers needed to record their heroic deeds and so got together and shared in the moment of madness.  You are a special breed if you have done this jump!!  Well done both of you












 
There remained only two things to do, before we could put our feet up!
One - obviously  we had to take them to the airport.  That we did. In good time. Plenty of time.

At the airport - I surprised Doris with a present that Cousin Martina will understand only to well.  This of course contributed to more tears.

Once they said their farewells the travellers are ushered into a 'holding-cell' - the international departure lounge - where you wait 'till your boarding call is announced.  For us non-travelling folks - once they go through the sliding doors - this is it. We will not see them again. Not like in the old days where you could be on the roof and see them walking across the tarmac and frantically wave.  So there is no reason to hang around the airport - so we went home.  Our home is less then 10 minutes drive from the airport and as long as there is a easterly wind - (which is on most days) the planes zip right past our place and then go wherever they need to go! In fact if you know where and what to look for you can spot our house while flying past!!

One thing that beat us home - and this is only since recently - is by the time we got home, we had already a Facebook entry / picture on our computer -   of Doris and Bernhard sitting INSIDE the 'holding pen' awaiting their boarding call.

  

As said before we have enough time to get home and pour a glass of wine and sit on the terrace and wait for the the plane engines to whine up and then . . . . . . .

 - voila - Salut - Prost -  Cheers
Doris and Bernhard - save travels!!

Thanks for all the good memories

We may see you in Vienna in 5 years time- assuming we can save enough 'til then . . . .

And yes - more tears were shed!
Just like when I took Martina to the Airport!

Here they go - I waves goodbye


:(











hmmmmmm - I think I have forgotten something - oh yeah - we still have one chap from Austria here.  :)   Better get my act together and - wait - urm - yeah  pick him up from the bus station tomorrow - he will be coming up from Dunedin via Bus - so that was when- wait were is that paper . . . .