Home Improvements Part 1 - The Garage

After living in our house for over a year we decide to start making some small improvements, starting with Ted's favorite room... the garage.  Now most of you probably think that a garage is for storing your car, but that is not the case at our house.   Due to the large number of bikes we own, the total is currently sitting at 7, and the need for a repair centre... our garage contains bike and sports gear storage, a workshop, oh yeah and the laundry.

First up for the garage renos was to paint the floor and finish the walls properly with insulation and dry-wall.  One thing we have learned through our reno process is that Kiwis don't have the same standards of building as we Canadians.  For instance, there does not appear to be a standard spacing distance for 2x4 framing, as you can see in the photo below.  Also, they are not so concerned with making things straight and seem to underestimate the value of insulation. 

In the process of re-finishing the walls we ended up having to replace a few of the ceiling panels due to a minor mis-hap...

Once the floor and walls were all set Ted decided to build a work bench.  He found plans on the internet and we set about building two extremely sturdy work benches.  Now there is certainly no room for the car.

The piece de resistance is definitely the bike stand.  Ted took apart a folding bike stand that we had from Mountain Equipment Co-op and proceeded to secure it to the ceiling joists.  So, now we have a bike stand that extends down from the ceiling, and can be pushed back up when we are finished with it, very cool!

Well, that is it for this installation of Bertrand's Home Improvements, on the next session see Meg and Ted's excellent garden modifications.

Canadian Visitors

Well 2012 has started off well, with two sets of Canadian Visitors coming to New Zealand.

First, Ted's cousin Ryan and his friend John came to NZ for some road biking adventures in January.  They stopped in Wellington for a few days and we of course took them mountain biking.  Ted was even kind enough to lend them his big heavy downhill bike (hoping to slow them down a bit on the uphills).  There may have been some minor falls but overall no permanent damage.

In March, Ted's Parents came over for a month of relaxation after his dad retired.  They arrived and were immediately whisked off to the top of a hill to spend the afternoon watching a mountain bike race.  As I was the only one there (Ted was on his way back from fieldwork) and was racing, I simply pointed down the hill and said walk until you see a big jump, then just sit down and watch. Several hours later, I found them in the correct place, not bad.

The first week was spent in Wellington, visiting the museum and getting used to the public transit systems while Ted was working and I was away in New Plymouth.  On Friday, Ted and his folks left Wellington to begin a tour of the North island, with the first stop being New Plymouth, to pick me up of course.  We stayed there just long enough to catch a sunset and a sunrise. 

 Picture of sunset from the water front in New Plymouth.

After New Plymouth we drove north to visit the glowworm caves in Waitomo.  We did a tour through the same cave that was used in the BBC Planet Earth movie on Caves.  We walked into the cave a few hundred meters with headlamps and then got in a boat, turned our lamps off and sat in silence while the tour guide moved us along the river under the glowworms, it was surreal. 

Team Bertrand before entering the Cave.

After seeing the glow worms, we spent the night in Hamilton and the following day drove up to the Bay of Islands. We stayed in a really nice, quiet place just outside Pahia with a view over the Bay.  By this time it had started raining - and I mean raining - but after 9 inches came down in ~24 hours it started to let up a bit. 

View from our hotel room.

We had plans to go fishing on our first day in the Bay of Islands but had to re-arrange due to the big storm. So instead, we drove to one of the remaining sections of native rainforest to see giant Kauri trees, which are ~2000 years old and absolutely enormous. Pictures can't capture the experience of standing in front of these trees, they are that big. We saw Tane Mahuta (Lord of the forest) and Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest).

Te Matua Ngahere in the background, but the picture doesn't do it justice, the trunk of this tree is 16m wide!

We also had time to visit the Waitangi Treaty grounds, New Zealand's sort-of Charlottetown equivalent, where the country was born.  The Waitangi Treaty was a document that formalized agreements between the European and Maori peoples for land rights and sovereignty. 

Luckily, the weather cleared up enough on our last day in the Bay of Islands for us to get out fishing. We started off by catching Jack Mackerel for bait and then used those little guys to catch Kingfish, Kahawai, and Snapper.  It was a good day fishing, although the seas were a little lumpy.

First fish caught, a King Fish.

Smaller King Fish.

Kahawai.

Bigger King Fish.

Kahawai.

Another Kahawai.

Our next stop was Auckland, it was raining again when we arrived, but we were all tired from the morning fishing and driving anyways.  The next morning we awoke to sunny skies so went up the Sky Tower (tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere) to take in the 360deg views of Auckland. From the Sky Tower you can see many Volcanic cones that are scattered through the city, like Mt Eden (in the picture below) where we stopped on our way out.

Last on the tour was Rotorua where we spent a day driving to some of the nearby lakes and walking through the Whakarewarewa Redwood forest (this is a non-native forest planted with California coastal redwood trees that are ~60m tall and growing). That evening we went to a Maori cultural village (Te Puia), and experienced a good tour of Maori culture. We were welcomed into a Marae (Maori meeting house), saw some cultural performances (including a Haka) and then feasted upon food cooked underground (a Hangi). Yum Yum. We also enjoyed the natural geothermal features on the property, including Te Puia geyser that is erupting in the picture below.

Te Puia geothermal geyser.

The last week was spent visiting various Wellington attractions.  We went to Zealandia, where we saw many native birds, Tuatara (a rare native New Zealand reptile) and Weta (big insects that are older than the dinosaurs).  We also drove about 45 minutes from Wellington over the twisty, winding, narrow Rimutaka Road to the relaxing Wairarapa wine region to sample some fine local wines - best known for producing excellent Pinot Noir wines.

Enjoying a sunny lunch at the Vynfields vineyard in Martinborough. 

We also took a short boat trip into the Wellington Harbour to Matiu/Somes Island.  This island has had a long history - it was used for many years as a human quarantine site for ships with sick personnel on board, and later became used as the most advanced animal quarantine facility in the world. It also served as a strategic gun emplacement during WWII.  

Matiu-Sommes Island.

Well, that about sums up a great trip. To finish off the visit, we feasted on a leg of NZ lamb and washed it down with the spoils from our Martinborough wine trip.

So who's going to visit next?

Love Meg and Ted

Biking the Queen Charlotte Track

Once again, sorry for not posting more often but life in NZ has been rather busy.  Since our trip back to Canada in August, I have traveled to Romania, Vienna and Perth. In November, Ted was in Gisborne for 3 weeks doing fieldwork and then went to a conference in Auckland.  But, we have also managed a few adventures together; a hike in the Tararuas and a bike trip through the Marlborough Sounds.  Not to mention regular working, biking, and gardening at our home; things grow really fast here!

We mountain biked the Queen Charlotte Track in November with a friend from work.  The track is a 71 km trail (track in kiwi speak) that goes along a ridge in the Marlborough Sounds, just across the Cook Straight from Wellington.  To get there we took a Ferry from Wellington to Picton, and then a water taxi to Resolution Bay.  From Resolution Bay we biked ~ 68km to Anikiwa, where the water taxi picked us up to go back to Picton.  We did the trip over two days, 45 km on the Saturday, and then a lighter day on the Sunday.  And the water taxi transported all of our gear so we didn't have to ride with it, choice!  We managed to pick a perfect weekend for weather and didn't get a single flat tire.  Although, Ted finished the ride with only 2 of 4 bolts in his crank! 

Below are some photos...

View of Picton in the Marlborough Sounds from the Ferry, a beautiful part of the world.

It was definitely good that we had a water taxi to transport our gear, it would not have been nice to ride with that pack.

Bikes on the water taxi, ready to leave Picton.

We saw a pod of ~50 dolphins on the way to Resolution Bay. Our boat drove right over to them and a few of them were right beside the boat jumping away. Amazing!

Resolution Bay cabins, we stayed here before starting the ride.

Our lunch stop on Saturday.

One of the many fantastic view points along the ridge.

This is not a Kiwi, it is a Weka, a rather tame bird that appeared out of the bush whenever we stopped. These birds look pretty similar to Kiwi's, but have a much shorter beak.

Another nice view.

 

Almost done, 6 km of downhill left!

4 weeks of Summer and then the biggest snow storm of a generation?

Wow, it has been over 6 months since we last posted something up here, sorry! Lots has happened in that time but I will start with our recent vacation back to Canada. Over 4 weeks we managed to travel to... Vancouver, Squamish, Canmore, Vancouver, Toronto, Temagami, Bracebridge, Ottawa, Temagami, Toronto, Yorkton, Vancouver... phew! Lots of distance covered, but we were thrilled to have good visits with so many of our family and friends. Overall it was a great trip.

In Squamish we stayed with and mountain biked with friends of ours that we met in Edmonton. It was an awesome way to start - I'm still trying to decide which trail I like best, Cheshire Cat or Angry Midget. We will definitely have to go back and ride there again.


Next we drove to Canmore to spend a few days with the Yorkton Paynes. Despite a little rain, we spent a nice day visiting Lake Louise and had a memorable canoe excursion on Moraine Lake.


While in Canmore we also participated in a 24 hr mountain bike race, the same race that we've done in the past. The race went well, we had a sweet set up this year with RVs, a bit of an improvement over the tents we've used in the past. We especially enjoyed the pre-race dinner of steak, sausage and scallops, paired with good wine and lots of beer, perhaps too much beer...


The day after the race we drove back to Vancouver and spent a couple of days with Ted's cousin Shirley (and Ryan) and also saw the Victoria Paynes. Luke enjoyed riding high on Uncle Ted's shoulders.


Our next stop was the Bertrand's cottage in Northern Ontario. The lake was a perfect temperature so we spent most of our time relaxing on the dock, swim, dry off, swim, dry off, beer, water ski, swim, dry off, beer, repeat! While in Ontario we also attended a party for Ted's cousin Jeremy's wedding and the annual Norton family picnic. It was great that we could see so much of our family in such a short time!



Finally, we flew to Yorkton, Saskatchewan along with the Windsor Paynes. It was a good week that included a game of Mission Impossible, multiple trips to the beach, several games of take 2 and ended with a big game of road hockey !

It was a great trip back!

Flying back to Wellington we were hoping that we might have missed the worst of winter... WRONG!


We arrived back to the biggest winter storm in decades. It snowed in downtown Wellington, which is very rare. Up on our hill we had a few centimeters on the ground. In some ways we're glad we got to experience the snow, but we could have easily missed the cold weather that came with it. Fortunately, it was short lived and the weather has returned to normal, 15 C today, leaving us with a nice view of the snow capped Tararua's (mountain range we can see from our place).

Christmas Trees and Coppertone

Happy New Year! I can't believe it is already 2011 and I have been living in New Zealand for 11 months. It seems like yesterday that we were trying to decide whether to make the big move.

Well... Christmas in the summer was a different experience but it was still Christmas. Rather than some of the shortest days in the year, we were having the longest days of the year and temperatures were in the 20s rather than -20s. This means we were less inclined to eat heavy, hearty meals, and we saved money on electricity by not having the Christmas tree lights on all the time and by not putting up any outdoor Christmas lights (not much point since you can only turn them on after 9 pm). The commercial aspects of the holiday are not as in your face down here and overall, the holiday takes a bit more relaxed tone than it did in Canada. Despite these differences, we put up our tree, watched a few Christmas movies, made Christmas cookies and quick chip squares and of course Santa knew we had moved, so it still felt like Christmas, except we definitely missed being with our family and friends.

Christmas morning started as it normally would, waking up early to see what Santa brought. However, the sun was up almost as early as Ted (and stayed out all day to make a great summer day). After opening our presents, and catching up with some of our family on Skype, we went to a collegue's house from my work, and enjoyed a Kiwi Christmas brunch in their backyard. We had cold ham, quiche, baked goods and fresh fruit, oh yeah and beer and champagne. After brunch we headed out on our bikes, Santa had brought Ted a big downhill bike that of course had to be test driven off a few jumps. After that we partook in another Kiwi tradition and went to the beach, we even managed to go swimming. To top the day off we had "Shrimps on the Barbie" along with steak and a few veggies and garlic bread, not quite the turkey feast with all the trimmings; but we didn't have the stomach ache either.

So... all in all a pretty good Christmas Day (other than missing our family that is).

The day after Christmas Ted flew to Christchurch to start the journey to Antarctica. He flew to the ultimate down under the following day and has spent over a week now at McMurdo station in Antarctica, waiting to head to a temporary field camp near the trans Antarctic mountains. He is hopefully heading into the field camp as I write. I won't give away anymore details as I am sure he will tell a better story when he gets back at the end of January.

For New Years I headed to Rotorua with some of our friends to mountain bike. Rotorua truly stinks, it smells like Sulphur due to the number of hot spots in the area, which also means there are lots of hot springs. We spent most of the three days riding our bikes which was awesome. The trails were great, passing amongst huge pine trees and cool fern trees. There was even a shuttle bus to drag our lazy butts up the hill so we could ride back down, we did ride most of the way up a few times though. I don't have any photos but I am heading back in a few weeks and will hopefully remember to bring the camera this time.

Update from Wellington

Again, it has been too long since I last posted something. Sorry. I will try to get on here more frequently but we seem to be rather busy lately.

The rest of my trip to Europe was good. I really enjoyed Vienna, lots of cafes and good places to eat and the streets seemed full of people all of the time, which I kind of like, it makes it feel vibrant I guess. Romania was, well ..... interesting. First off the driving was surprisingly awful, and I expected it to be pretty bad. During my first hour (of a 3 hour drive to the black seas coast) I saw an 18 wheeler truck backing up in the wrong direction on the highway, past several uncontrolled highway intersections (no stop signs for anyone, so people try to cross the highway in front of the cars driving at highway speeds, which was >130 km/h) in which a digger tried to cross in front of us (I am glad that my driver knew what he was doing!!), and a horse and buggy driving on the highway, not to mention the limited use of seatbelts, ridiculous speeds and impatience.

I spent two days on the black sea coast. One day I traveled to an OMV offshore facility and the other day I just visited the main onshore office. The drive up to the heliport was like a scene from a horror movie, where the people are driving up to what looks like an abandoned school or something, a long, deteriorating road with long yellow grass and very few trees, a sign archway that is falling apart so you no longer know what it was. As we drove up this road I started to get nervous since I was going to have to fly in a helicopter from this place, we passed an army base being patrolled by armed guards and then pulled into the parking lot, which was a field (this really didn't help build my confidence) and beside it were old broken down helicopters. Luckily, as we walked out of the parking lot I looked up to see a brand new building, phew. The trip offshore ended up being perfectly fine.

I also spent a few days in Bucharest. It is hard to explain what it was like. I guess in the early 1900s it was called the "Paris of the East", and some of the old buildings from that time are still there, however, many have been left empty and without repair and are now falling down. Then, during the communist reign, the leader decided to build tons of concrete apartment buildings, demolishing many of the old Parisian style buildings. Now, since the fall of the communists there has been some slow rebuilding going on. So, as you walk down the main city streets you see restored Parisian style buildings, then big concrete apartment block, then a building falling down. Overall, Romania was a nice country to visit but I am not sure I would do it on my own again.

Ted returned from field work just a few days after I got back from Europe. Since then we have basically just stayed around Wellington, together! It has been nice to spend some time in our place together. We have spent most of our time either riding our bikes or trying to get our garden fixed up, it hadn't been weeded for over 4 months so it needed lots of work. Next time I will put up some pictures of the garden.

Time for bed, hopefully you are not totally snowed in and freezing (it was 20 C here today!).

Travel Socks and Sauerkraut!

Well, here I am sitting in a hotel room in Vienna. It took me 4 flights totalling more than 24 hrs in the air to get here from New Zealand. Normally, after flying for more than say 4 hrs my feet and legs swell up and it is just uncomfortable, but not this time. I bought these fantastic compression socks just before leaving Auckland and they were a miracle. I wore them on both long flights and had no problems. Not that I wasn't restless and tired of being on a plane at the end as usual, but my feet fit into my shoes. I would highly recommend a pair to anyone going on a long flight.

Ok, enough about the socks. I am currently travelling on an "OMV business familiarization tour", or at least that is what I call it. The head office of OMV is in Vienna so they flew me over here to meet some of the HSE experts who work at the head office. Since I came this far they thought I should also tour a couple of our other facilities to get an idea of what they are like. I spent last week touring around the country side near Vienna, checking out a bunch of well sites that are run by our Austrian branch. I even got to see a well being drilled, which was kind of cool, although it would get boring pretty fast. This week I head to Romania to visit another offshore facility. On the weekend I start my trip home but will stop in Singapore for a few days before finally getting back to New Zealand and the Spring.

This weekend I decided to head to the Austrian Alps and took the train to a city called Innsbruck. It kind of reminded me of Canmore in terms of location within the mountains but was much bigger. November in the mountains here is similar to November in the mountains in Canada, not enough snow to ski but too much to really hike. I was able to do some hiking on the lower section of the mountain though.

One of the common things in the Alps, both in Switzerland and Austria at least, is that there are these mountain lodges all over the place. They are basically farms which also run a small cafe and possibly a guest house as well, high up on the mountain. I decided to make my way up to one that was about two thirds of the way up the mountain, which turned out to be just into the snow, it took 2 hrs to reach it. I guess I wasn't the only one with this lodge in mind as it was already packed when I arrived so I had to sit outside, which really wasn't that bad considering I had a view down into the valley where the town was, although it was a bit chilly. The menu was only in German and the only words I recognized were for cured meat and kraut, don't ask, I am not sure why those are words I recognized either. I picked the one item on the menu that had both of those words, as well as a nice big wheat beer. It turns out I had ordered dumplings with cured meat and sauerkraut which luckily tasted pretty good.

I took a different route when I headed back down, and ended up taking a route that was maybe not the most direct. I knew that if I just kept walking downhill I would eventually make it back to the town, which I did eventually, but I had to do some back tracking. Someone might want to put some more signs up on the hiking trails though.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Fall.
Meg