one year ago to the day in New Zealand . . .

Racing past Benmore and Tarras, all is swell
finding Cromwell town build with fruit and gold
where two rivers meet and the water is so cold
though the sun is warming your soul which is just as well

 to be continued . . .



 

one year ago to the day in New Zealand . . .

When visiting out tallest hill named after Mr Cook

it is customary to say salut with a glass of wine
Especially when the skye is blue and sun does shine
You’re lucky to see his top when you come for a look




 to be continued


 

one year ago to the day in New Zealand . . .

At the shores of this lake is a place so amazing,

when looking out past cross, altar and the baptista
one can't help but contemplating la grande vista
even in the clear night sky the stars are blazing


 to be continued . .


 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Back across the two passes we travelled again
lunch in a remote place with some typical Kiwi Kai
a perfect golden crusted and deliciously tasty pie
didn't see much of our scenery  'cause we had torrential rain

To be continued . . . 


 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Walking amongst the very top of the trees
Seeing the ground and ferns from up high
Hearing the cameras click and many a sigh
Climbing higher to get a view as far as the eye sees

















Long ago the snow transmorphed into blue ice
to Franz Jospeh and Fox it slipp' down the valley
it didn't taste so great to Su and Sally
being just water with no sugar and spice

to be continued . . . 



 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Visiting to see some pancakes on the rocks
Taking our time because we are in no rush
leisurely strolling through the native bush
and cooling of in the river without our socks

 

 to be continued . . . . .


 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Across the flat land and across two Passes
The water coming down in great big falls
we stop for a look and hears the native calls
The birds there are cheeky, and show their asses

Going over to Hokitika on our coast
tiered from the days toil the sun was dipping
into the Tasman the red disk was slipping.
We cheered with a salut and a toast

 To be continued . . . . . .

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

 

With a Rue Jolie and many a French place’
Near Christchurch is this place so very French
There the Codfish and wine is devine for any Mensch
Even Hector - a native kiwi shows his face’

To be continued . . . . . 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Near New Zealand in the southern hemisphere
Exists a special place so very large, white and cold
A place where penguins share stories new and old
keeping warm with 7 layers of clothing you wear























To be continued . . . . 


 

one year to the day ago in New Zealand . . .

Meeting people and finding new places all terrific
across the earth they came in a big plane
due to lack of sleep not feeling very sane
thus dipping their toes into a not so warm pacific















To a special meal we were invited over
sitting down to eat with style and wine
chatting in Germ-inglish while we dine
Closing the meal with a traditional Pavlova

 To be continued . . . . .

one year to the day ago in New Zealand. . .

 
 

Travelling across the equator they came

to find a special kiwi and his soul mate

The big bird circled and they were not late

being happy to walk on terra firma again

 To be continued . . .

Why Scouting matters . . .

I arrived at work one day and found a plain envelope on my desk - with only my name on it. Wondering what might be inside I gingerly opened the letter.

To my surprise it contained copies of a letter that obviously belonged to some one else from a time ago.  The "letter" all nicely handwritten and so forth contained some stats on Scouting and why it matters.  As most people at my work know that I am still involved in scouting they obviously thought I would need - or appreciate said letter.

See below (the text and an image of the original)


Take 100 boys

In your minds eye, take a look at any 100 boys who have recently joined Scouting.
Line them up in your imagination, of that 100 boys.
Only rarely, will one ever appear before a juvenile court.
Twelve of the 100 will receive their first church contact through Scouting.
Five of the 100 will receive church onwards and one will enter the clergy.
Eighteen will develop hobbies that will give them lifelong interest.
Eight will find their future vocation through badge working and Scouting contacts.
One will use Scouting skills to save another persons life, and one will credit it with saving his own life.
Four of the 100 will reach senior rank.
Seventeen will become future Scout Leaders and will give leadership to additional thousands of boys.
You may wish to consider the above mentioned points when you next meet your eager young people. It seems to make the scouting job very much worthwhile.

-------------------------------------

The interesting part is the first and second reference (court and church)
Further - it is boys only - no girls, so obviously written a long time ago.

I am wondering if there exists a "modern" set of Scouting statistics and if we can post them here.  Should you know or have some - please do let me know!   Also wonder if anyone famous in NZ past or present was involved?   I am pretty sure Sir Edmund Hillary was a former Scout.

Cheers

have fun










PS - found this from the USA

1. 181 NASA astronauts were involved in Scouting (57.4% of astronauts). 39 are Eagle Scouts.

2. 36.4 % of the United States Military Academy (West Point) cadets were involved in Scouting as youth. 16.3 % of cadets are Eagle Scouts.

3. 22.5 %  of United States Air Force Academy cadets were involved in Scouting as youth. 11.9 % of cadets are Eagle Scouts.

4. 25 % of United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) midshipmen were involved in Scouting as youth. 11 % of midshipmen are Eagle Scouts.

5. 189 members of the 113th Congress participated in Scouting as a youth and/or adult leader. 27 are Eagle Scouts.

6. 18 current U.S. governors participated in Scouting as a youth and/or adult volunteer. Four are Eagle Scouts.

a n d

Boy Scouts in High School Statistics
Total percentage of senior class presidents that were boy scouts	89%
Total percentage of junior class presidents that were scouts	80%
Total percentage of Student Council Presidents that were scouts	85%
Total percentage of football captains that were scouts	71%
Total percentage of basketball captains that were scouts	64%
Total percentage of school newspaper editors that were scouts	88%
Accomplishment	Percentage
Total percentage of Rhodes Scholars	72%
Total percentage of FBI agents	85%

Annual Christmas Epistle - Decemer 2014

 

When is a highlight not a highlight?

So it is my turn yet again to be creative with words and stuff. It certainly has been an interesting year! First up – Reinhold had fun packing a friends van – to the rafters. We had a practice run a few days before Christmas, then celebrated the holy day here. Roger and Julie came for dinner and while the ladies cooked and chatted the boys packed. It was literally packed to the rafters. That included 6 laptops and several desktop computers and LCD screens. Yes, yours truly was responsible for setting up and running an Internet cafe during the Jamboree. So with the van packed we left the next morning bright and early and drove to Picton to catch a boat to get to the North Island. We bunked down at a friends place in
Wellington and then had a ball at the Scout Jamboree held in Feilding. 10 days later we were exhausted and had to drive back to Christchurch – we got back just after midnight having been another 12 plus hours on the road. While driving up to Feilding we tallyed up the miles we would have done together and got way past 10 000 km of sharing the road in Roger's van. My boy just dryly asked if after all this time together in a van – did we still have stuff left to discuss / say to each other?!?! You bet we did!! You may be pleased to hear that this years jamboree was mostly a dry affair – not like the last one we had there in 2005 where we had major floods to contend with.

We just caught our breath from that and then the highlight of the year hit us – yes my cousin
Doris and her lovely hubby AND a good friend of ours came for a short holiday. We took  them on a long tiki tour through the bottom half of the South Island. Naturally it has been a busy time with seeing lots of places, exhausting, exhilarating as well. We ended up, between the four of us, taking over 6000 pictures. Which to print – which to leave out???? Hokitika / Lake Tekapo / Queenstown / Te Anau / Invercargill / Catlins / Dunedin and back to Christchurch – a total of 3000km plus. We had a great time and missed them after they left for Austria again, yet we have lots of happy memories.

We sent Grandad out to a senior cooking class where they were supposed to learn about cooking for yourself a single meal. On his second time out he had a fall and we took him to the gentle people in white – or do they now wear blue uniforms?? Anyhow – they poked him – prodded him and hooked up various cables at various body parts – and long story short – at his right young age of 80 years they fitted him with a pacemaker. Supposedly he now can step out in rhythm!!

After that little episode both Reinhold and Pam had a thrill of a semi life-time – we flew up to Auckland and saw Michael (not our boy) Buble in concert!! He's such a major Babe (and as a man I am confident enough in my own being that I can say that like that)!! We had fun bobbing and rocking to his tunes! The concert by the end almost ended up like a massive Kareoke session!! Songs well known and loved – 20000 people singing in tune – awesome!! Sadly it soon came to an end and we had to go and find our place of bedding – and catch up with a dear friend!! I took us longer to get out of the car park building than to drive across Auckland City!! Actually we hit the famous Auckland traffic congestion from the Airport to the Concert venue – a trip that should have taken no more then 30 minutes at best took actually almost 80 minutes. At times walking would have been quicker.

June rolled round and the mad boy that I am – I took a group of scouts again across to the
Westcoast for the annual camp over there. We visited Steve again and carved our own Pounamu (NZ Jade). Roger and myself again acted as mules - carting all the gear in his van. It was a relaxing camp as one of the leaders took on the role of running said camp and I was just there in case things went pear-shape!! Chris did a fantastic job and he will take his group across again next year – without me – so that will be a weird feeling. I have however been conned in taking another group across – so will still be involved with Scouts then.

Arguably another highlight – every parent dreams of THAT moment – when the kids leave the nest happend. After looking for ages – Michael and 2 lady friends he gets along very well with managed to find a 4 bedroom place in town for rent and so he moved out from our home around beginning of August. Yesss!! His 'new' place is older then ours and had some earthquake damage (which has been fixed) and he is a happy chappy. One of the girls he flats with had since then had a boy of her own – so he is getting a front row lesson in early baby birthing/caring/etc!! Michael is coming every Saturday Night (bang on 5.30pm) for tea and a catch up with his family – so we tend to hear his news then!

The next (and some say – THE most important highlight) was celebrating Pam's birthday in
August, so we decided to treat ourselves and booked a few nights at our favourite South Island spot – Lake Tekapo. Part of the treat was actually being in a hotel – so no cooking was involved – even breakfast was served and of course no doing dishes – after all what would be a 51 st celebration if you have to do your own dishes!!!. Wohoo!! My waist line certainly took happily on the extra nice food on offer!! It was great to be there in the middle of winter and yours truly this time REMEMBERED to bring with him a tripod – so had two nights down by the lake frontage where the Church of the Good Shepherd is and took some night shots –
until the battery got to cold and gave up!! Regular readers of www.oldbearnews.blogspot.co.nz/ will have seen some of the night photos I took. We also had day trips – to Lake Pukaki and saw the famous Mt. Cook – where – yes – we did the traditional thing with wine and salut!! We also bought some salmon from the local Aoraki Salmon farm!! yummmm!! Lunch up at the Mt. John Observatory with sparkling clear views of Lake Tekapo!! Too soon it was time to come home again and do the mundane everyday
thing – called work!! Just as well – we need the extra cash in order to repeat these special holidays!!

Reinhold (being a good scout that he is) had the opportunity and work during the general
election for New Zealand's parliament. He ended up stationed at his place of work – issuing votes to the public – then after close of time count all the votes. The team of 6 there had one healthy person on the night and the rest at various stages of illness – so extra counters were brought in and – so the story goes –we posted the second fastest result for the night. wohooo

The next highlight – yes another child left the nest. As I type Jonathan is on his way to Canada on a years adventure. The first 5 or 6 months he is stationed in the middle of absolutely nowhere and is “employed” as a ski lift operator! After that he hopes to be able to travel around or maybe find some more work in Vancouver. He may also choose to go over to Europe for some time – so keep your eyes peeled!! Walking home from work today – I realised that I have moved from being a 'home-dad' for 25.7 years to being – just – a DAD. We wish him well and know he will have a blast!! We did put on him one condition – given the family history – that he had to give us 4 weeks notice if he intends to marry a Canadian girl (so that we can book ourselves in for his wedding – in Canada). Turns out the girls over
there adore the kiwi boys – so he is having a good chance . . . . . Michael dryly commented that he now has to ring us before he is coming round, given that the two of us are now home alone he never knows WHAT we might get up to. Ahhh his mental images – need straightning out! :D

Highlighting Christmas this year and yours truly will be away again with scouts for 7 days ( I will be running a Photography base) and then we have booked a camper van in Australia early March. This IS a treat, as we celebrate 30 years of marriage in February – so we will fly into Brisbane and have 10 days to find Sydney. Mamabear plans to spend a whole day on a Gold-Coast beach doing nothing but having her feet in the sand/surf - while reading her e-book!! ^^ We might make a detour to the Hunter Valley famous for its wino-fino and plan to catch up with a couple of people we got to know via Scouting. This is not only a treat but also a test, to see if we can survive 10 days in such an enclosed space. Ultimatley we plan to buy a large caravan and do one years worth of travel around NZ = but that highlight will have to wait until we can afford to retire.

Well – I am working on another highlight – of finishing this letter and get it printed. Should really add photos . . . . hmmmmm WHICH ones to pick????? When is a highlight not a highlight?? When you have too many and we sure had a few this year!

Merry Christmas and a decent 'rutsch' into 2015

Mamabear & Papabear