California and Canada

Hello there, Steve here. It's been a couple weeks since my trip home, but thought I would post a couple pictures. Figure it's better late than never!

For those who don't know, I flew to San Diego at the end of June for a week-long conference on astronomical instrumentation. It was a huge, overwhelming affair with hundreds of attendees from all over the world. One of my advisors was also there, and with talks during each morning and afternoon, a poster session in the evening - and then usually a late dinner - it was a full-on affair, and half-way through I admit I was ready for it to be over. But overall it was a great experience, and my advisor introduced me to many of the people in the field working on similar projects to mine.

An unexpected treat was that the conference organized bus trips to Palomar Mountain for a tour of the 200-inch telescope there. This telescope, when it was completed in 1949, was the largest telescope in the world (and stayed that way for about 25 years.)
It is a very impressive instrument, with a design that combines high precision with the look of elegant simplicity. In the days when astronomers used photographic plates, the astronomer using the telescope would actually sit inside the white-looking tube at the top of the telescope, and ride around with the telescope as it was pointed at different areas of the sky.

After the conference I caught a flight to Ontario to visit with family and friends. It's funny to me that I now consider California 'close to home', being only a 'short' 5 hour flight away. When I arrived, Southern Ontario was in the middle of the first heat wave of the summer - something I didn't mind too much at all coming from winter in the Southern Hemisphere!

After a few days at home, I was back in the air, flying Toronto-Vancouver, Vancouver-Auckland, and then Auckland-Wellington. Just over 24 hours of travel time later, I was back at our home in Wellington, and presented AK with a huge bag of Canadian candy. This was much appreciated - even though it was the cause of several tummy-aches over the next few days until it was all gone.

Weekend in Dunedin

Last weekend Steve attended a conference in Dunedin, one of the larger cities on the south end of the South Island. I went along and we made a little trip out of it, arriving early Friday and staying until Monday evening. We saw many flooded fields and roads as we flew over the southern countryside and when we landed in Dunedin, it was pouring rain. Our taxi driver into town promptly told us that not only had he woken up to snow that morning, but it had been raining for the last 21 years! So we had some very wet and cold walks around the city on Friday and Saturday, but fortunately the sun came out on Sunday and Monday.

While Steve was at the conference, I explored the city streets, read in cafes, went to the botanic gardens, admired the beautiful architecture, and wondered what it is that makes Kiwis so resilient to the cold dampness of their country. I saw so many people in shorts and jandals (flip flops) that if it weren't for being bundled up myself I might have forgotten it was winter. After the conference was over on Sunday, we rented a car - a model of Nissan called the "Sunny SuperSaloon" - and explored the Otago Peninsula and also a bit of the Caitlins, just south of Dunedin.

We also stopped to walk up the steepest street in the world - an impressive little side street that faces fields of sheep and green pastures.

Back in Wellington, the temperature is slowly dropping and the moisture is constantly high. We've been wiping mold off the windowsills and strategizing how to dry our laundry. Steve will have a taste of North American summer at the end of June when he heads to California. He'll be away for two weeks, attending a conference in San Diego and visiting family and friends in Ontario. I'll hold down our southern igloo, and try to pick up some extra shifts - at least the hospital is always warm.

Mandarins in May

Living in the southern hemisphere is taking some getting used to. Little events that I have always associated with certain seasons are all of a sudden happening at the wrong time of the year. In my mind, the year is marked with things like flowers and fresh buds in April, weddings and long days in July, crisp colouful days in September, Mandarin oranges, fires, and Christmas trees in December, and my birthday in the heart of winter, or February. Now, all of a sudden, I saw Mandarin oranges in the stores yesterday, people had their weddings in February, and I had a summer birthday! The crisp days are happening now, and the leaves on the ground and dew on the inside of the windows are daily reminders that we are definitely heading into winter even though I just got my work schedule for June. I'm sure over time I will get used to the new seasons, but I don't think it will ever create the same feeling of comfort and warmth as cozy fires and mandarins in the toe of my Christmas stocking.

Ahhh, the dewy windows of impending winter. Lately, each morning the insides of our windows are dripping in dew - something we haven't seen since we left Nelson last winter. The lack of insulation continues to appall us and yesterday I had to convince my 12-year-old patient that I am much colder in New Zealand than I ever was in Canada.

Leaves cover our backyard, but thankfully we still get some sunny days to hang the washing out. Having no dryer is going to be interesting this winter, considering it is too damp and cold inside for things to hang dry.

Mandarin oranges and golden kiwifruit, both grown in New Zealand and absolutely delicious.

Tongariro National Park

Since we both worked through Easter weekend, we decided to make this past weekend extra long and fun. We drove 4.5 hours north to Tongariro National Park to hike the Tongariro Northern Circuit. Below is a view of Mt Ruapehu as we approached the park.

The park is the site of three volcanoes, one of which is now well-known for being "Mt Doom" in The Lord of the Rings. We set out on the 50km hike on the day we drove up, starting with a gentle 3 hour walk to the first hut and campsite. We set up our tent just after sunset, and could see Mt Taranaki in the distance (this was the mountain we hiked around last year, when the sole of my boot exploded!)

The second day we got up at sunrise and were on the trail by 8am, hoping to miss the hordes of dayhikers making the trip. This stretch of the trail is called the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, and is so well-advertised in Lonely Planet and beyond that it succeeds in attracting hundreds of dayhikers on any summer day.

It is a beautiful trail that climbs up rocky volcanic slopes for magnificent views of Mt Ngauruhoe (pronounced something like Now-roo-ho-ee, aka Mt Doom) and the Emerald Lakes. Needless to say, being one amongst 30 people at any given point on the trail, and having loud groups of British teenagers in Converse sneakers all around you, takes away slightly from the beauty of the mountains. However, the campsite that night was nestled on golden tussock slopes overlooking Lake Taupo, and after all the dayhikers left there were just a handful of hikers continuing on the next day.

In the morning we woke to a cloud-filled valley, and re-traced our steps for an hour to meet up with the trail that continued around the mountains. We had a chance to see the red rocks, steam vents, and green lakes again without all the crowds. The rest of the day was like walking through a moonscape or desert - long exposed stretches of sand and volcanic boulders with little life except for soft lichens and energetic grasshoppers.

During the sunset that evening, we could see clouds moving in over Mt Ruapehu, in the direction of the next day's trail. Although we woke to a frosty tent and ground, we were glad to see relatively clear skies. The trail wound between the mountains, over undulating and exposed terrain. We stopped for lunch at Lower Tama Lake, formed by a crater, and made it back to the car just as dark clouds rolled overhead.

We had shared the trail with two other solo trampers - an older French woman from Paris and a young Quebecois guy from Montreal. We gave them a ride to the nearby backpacker's and then continued on our way home to Wellington. We arrived home with sun-kissed faces, sock tans, and aching muscles, and were glad to spend the windy, stormy night inside.

For more pictures of our hike, click on the picture below and it will take you to another photo album online. Once there, you can click on "slideshow" near the top left to see bigger versions of the pictures.

Tongariro Northern Circuit

Happy Easter from New Zealand!

We explored the Botanic Gardens last week with our friends visiting from Vancouver. This weekend is Easter and both Friday and Monday are public holidays. It makes for a lot of traffic on the roads and we haven't decided yet whether we will head off hiking and camping, or if we will stick around home and go hiking next week.

Humphrey

Most people probably don't know that I once played piano. I took lessons from the age of 6 or 7 and played until I got sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the age of 12. I was too weak to hold my hands up to the keys, and when I was finally well again at the age of 16, my priorities were school and friends. But, for many years now I have wanted to learn to play again. So, I scoured the TradeMe site for used pianos, and gathered all my birthday money, and bought this lovely Humphrey.

I bought it from a young Mum who had used it for exactly what I am doing. Since having a couple kids, she had not had as much time to play, and they are shifting houses and won't have room for it. I got it tuned today and the piano tuner told me it was likely about 100 years old. A previous tuner wrote on the inside "tuned to concert pitch, 1941", but today I was told it will never get to concert pitch again. I assured the tuner that I wouldn't get to concert level and so Humphrey and I are a good match.

Abel Tasman Coastal Track

Last weekend we flew to Nelson and met up with A and M - good friends from our time in Montreal who have come to NZ for a few weeks. Steve and I flew with SoundsAir - a little charter company that only flies between Wellington and the Nelson-Marlborough region. I had never flown in a little plane before, and loved sitting in the seats just behind the pilot, watching all the dials and controls and scenery below.

The Marlborough Sounds sit at the top of the South Island and we passed over them about halfway through the 35 minute flight.
Once we met up, we grabbed some lunch at the Nelson market, got some groceries for the next few days, and took a shuttle to the Abel Tasman National Park. It is one of the most popular parks in NZ and the Coastal Track is a 3-5 day hike through the park. Each day we hiked for 2-5 hours and each night we set up our tents alongside golden sandy beaches and listened to the waves.
The trail is relatively gentle with the occasional climb over a ridge, and has a wonderful variety of lush forests, long sandy beaches, and vast estuaries.

We swam in the clear ocean waters, collected shells and explored sea life on shoreline rocks.

On our second-last day, just as we were at the peak of feeling our sore muscles and craving food other than pasta and trailmix, we saw signs for "Awaroa Cafe and Lodge". We couldn't resist the temptation of a cold drink and fresh bread, so we took the path to the cafe and found a little oasis of civilisation in the middle of the park.

Our last night was spent at Mutton Cove - a beautiful bay with a long beach, and clear waters. We explored the beach and nearby rocks, and steamed fresh mussels for dessert.

We shuttled back to Nelson on the 17th and enjoyed a meal surrounded by St. Patty's Day festivities. That evening, Steve and I flew back to Wellington and our friends continued on to explore the rest of the South Island.