Africa

I recently went to South Africa for a conference and after the conference had the opportunity to visit some of the most amazing landscapes and wildlife the African continent had to offer.

My journey started from Johannesburg to the world famous Kruger National Park. We spent 2 nights at Kruger doing a night safari and a whole day safari at the park itself. We saw 4 of the big 5 famed animals and a host of other animals and birdlife at the park. The journey then took me across to Botswana into the Chobe National Park. Another amazing park with heaps of wildlife along the Chobe River. Finally crossing Botswana into Zambia to the awesome, breathtaking Victoria Falls, a World Heritage Site.

Here are some of the thousands of photos I took. Instead of uploading to many sites, I have added some here but the bulk of it is in my Facebook album. Link on the sidebar.

Ellerslie International Flower Show

I had a morning to kill while I was in Christchurch so I decided to take in the much talked about Ellerslie International Flower Show. After spending a few years in Auckland, this is the first time the flower show made it to Christchurch. What a success it turned out to be. The first 2 days brought in over 10,000 visitors a day. This was despite the gloomy and cold weather. From a cold 6c it warmed up to a nice 18c which was great for me.

Due to thw show, much of the roads around Hagley Park was off bounds to cars and some parts of the city was closed to parking. Right underneath the sign that clearly said "Keep Clear", I saw these two bikes nicely parked and locked! I wonder how they will be towed away.



With the warm weather and a clear day, the crowd was even bigger. By 10am when the gates were open, queues were at least 500m long and growing. After getting into the grounds, the queues were no shorter. While most of the exibits were outdoors, some were indoors and the queues were pretty darn long. The wearable arts exibition had fixed times and I was there at 10am but was apparently queueing for the 3pm show!



However, another queue was shorter, althought it still meant a wait of about 30 minutes. This was an indoor exhibition that won a gold award replicating an underwater garden. Truly amazing!



Among the many outdoor exibitions, this attracted a huge crowd. I found out why, when I was nearer.



Of course, like any other show, you have loads of free samples to sample. I brought with me a few fruits for lunch but with the amount of food given away, my fruits were safely left in my backpack.

Seaweek 2009

Last week was Seaweek. We were supposed to go on a boat to Kapiti Island to experience the Marine Reserve. While the sun shone and the sky was clear, there was a fair amount of wind - which caused the sea to be pretty choppy. And the boat ride called off.

Since we were all out to go to sea, we decided to see what else there was. A short Google showed some other interesting things including a kids snorkeling experience in Island Bay. So we headed out to Island Bay and our two brand spanking new snorkelers had an experience of a lifetime.











Here are some of the marine creatures they got to see. These are just 50 meters from the shore at Island Bay.

Cuba Carnival

We went down to Wellington for the Cuba Carnival today and it reminded me of life back in Asia where you see people everywhere!



There were over 1,000 Harley Davidsons of all shapes, sizes and colour. Some even brought in from across the Tasman for this event.







While the bikers took a break, there were bands playing in all corners.



We took a walk down Cubal Street where the height of all the foot action was and it was a mad house!



When you put all of Wellington and a cruise ship together, this is what you get.



And this reminded me so much of "Petaling Street" with all that flags tied across the street.



To get the best view of all these three people had the best seat of all - away from the maddening crowd below.

Humid Northland

As the name suggests, it is the north of the North Island of New Zealand. While it is probably close to east of Central Queensland, the weather felt like closer to Malaysia or Singapore. It was hot and humid. Thankfully the hotel I was staying in had air conditioning but you can feel the heat just blowing into your face as you open the door. My walk to the office in the early morning which took 15 minutes had my clothes soaked in sweat. Quite unlike Wellington.

While I was in Northland, I got a call from my colleague up there that a Kiwi just hatched and if I wanted to see it. Why would I miss an opportunity like that? So I went along to witness the arrival of an endangered New Zealand native bird. It was still wet from the sack yolk but still an amazing little creature to watch.



A day after it hatched, it was all ready to be "processed" and sent off to the wild. A protected island off Whangarei where there are no predators. It was like a baby being delivered. I followed the ranger to pick up the chick from the bird recovery centre and he was flooded by phone calls from the press and local tribes. Had ceremonies lined up to be named. I was surprised to hear that we have records of who his parents were, where they came from and their complete history. With a microchip implanted, we can track exactly where they are in the forest as well.



And I certainly could not pass an opportunity to hold one.



I also had the opportunity to visit a bird sanctuary near Ocean Beach. It is beautiful part of Whangarei where surfers flock to catch the waves. Being so close to Auckland (2 hours drive) with its 1.5 million population, I was surprised to see how deserted the beaches were. Especially on the day I was there when the temperatures soared to 32C. Then again, that's how New Zealand beaches are, in general.













I can't name these birds except for the black one standing on a rock below is an Oyster Catcher. But I can assure you they are all native birds.

My trip to Haast

The year 2009 looks like a year of travels for me. As far as work is concerned, I have travels scheduled across the country at least once a month and in some cases, more than once a month. I will be heading off to South Africa middle of the year, then there is the trip to the Pacific Islands and Australia after that. If all goes according to plan, might even be heading back to Malaysia later in the year.

As soon as we came back from our holidays in the South Island, I was off to Tauranga for a field visit. From one end of the country, I went to the other end, Haast. Not exactly the end but it is literally almost at the end of the road as far as the West Coast of the South Island is concerned.

I was taken aback when I arrived at Haast, a township with a population of under 300 people and not so many sheep either. The town has no cell phone coverage, so if your car broke down in the middle of the road you will not be able to call AA for help. The town is not on the main power grid so electricity is at best as good as it gets. There are several backpackers and campsites but one hotel, one restaurant and bar, one minimarket, one petrol station and that’s it! No banks, no ATM machines. A stroll down the minimarket aisles, I found no fresh vegetable or meat. So I asked a local how do you get fresh produce. The answer was rather simple – either grow it, hunt it or trade it.

One evening I went down to the beach and found myself sitting all alone for hours. Not a soul for miles and miles either way. You could literally be washed out to sea or fall dead and no one would have noticed. This is the perfect place to run away to. There is no cell phone coverage, newspapers arrive after lunch, there is only one radio station and sometimes you can hardly even tune into it. If you can't wind down here, there is no where else you could do it.

Despite the isolation or perhaps due to the isolation, the environment is pristine. The landscape is stunning. Nature at its best. There is a sanctuary a few kilometres south of Haast and if you wait patiently and don’t mind the constant stinging of the sandflies, you are bound to see at least several native birds. Take a drive down to Jackson Bay, where the road suddenly comes to an abrupt end, you are more than likely to catch a glimpse of the Crested Penguins that call this part of the country home.

Here are some photos I took while in Haast.







































This is just the beginning. There are still many parts of the country I have yet to see and am looking forward to seeing.

I am off to Northland on Monday.

Fruits of my labour

Not only fruits but also vegetables of my labour. The vege garden is growing well although the birds are also having a feast out of it.

This is our black grapes. Only one just turning black and we only manage to get three vines. It is only the first season and hoping more will fruit next season.



Then there is the lemon tree which is growing all the time but the fruits taking forever.



The mandarin oranges never survived the Wellington wind. We had lots of flowers but with every wind they went flying. Now all we have are leaves and we can only hope for better luck next time.

The blueberries started flowering but a branch broke off due to the wind and now its recuperating. Hopefully it survives.

The apples had a lot of flower at the begining of spring and everytime the wind blew, some of the flowers would drop off. Thankfully some survived.



Our vege plot made up of several varieties of tomato plants. Some we planted and some just appeared, possibly brought in by the birds.







We had a least 3 bags of them already harvested and more growing.

Apart from tomatoes, we have cucumbers.



And gerkins.



Two varieties of chillies, the long large ones and the small super extra hot ones.





And finally the herb garden which is made up of rosemary (not pictured), mint.



Coriander.



Spring onions.



And finally serai or lemon grass.