Tag Archives: New Zealand

Weekly Photo Challenge: Mountains

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Mt Ruapehu from the Waiouru Officers mess dining room around 2006...

Over the shoulder shot of the other side of Mt Ruapehu, early 2010...

One of Carmen's pix - Mt Taranaki, early 2007...

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge…Mountains…which are kinda scarce in the North Island: there is Ruapehu, referred to simply as The Mountain , with its smaller consorts Tongariro (better known in MiddleEarth circles as Mt Doom) and Ngauruhoe; the Mount in Tuaranga which is just a hill; and Mt Taranaki overlooking, funnily enough, the province of Taranaki…in the South Island, there are so many mountains they are all just lumped in under the Southern Alps, which of course, begs the question “Where are the Northern Alps?”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Broken

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Uh-oh...

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge…what happens when you get an unseasonal southerly…a little like the Big Bad Wolf: one huff and  a puff and there goes the top of the water tank imploded….

The magnificent seven ride again…

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…through the streets of Wellington…

…but we looked a lot better than these guys…yes, really…

A group of us who had all been young (and in some cases, not so young) officers together, concentrated in Wellington last night for a bit of a get-together, in some cases we had not seen each other for a good seven or more years…apart from a grey hair or two, we were all as slim and sharp as we’d been back then…

Josh from CDSS and I drove down together yesterday afternoon and the drive both ways gave us a good opportunity to discuss a bunch of current affairs topics – we stayed at the Halswell Lodge in Kent Terrace: as Josh said, we really want to be focussing about where we want to end up and less about where we’re starting from. A very good point as my thought had been to stay at someplace like the James Cook but the natural progression of a staff ride through night-time Wellington is invariably towards the bottom end of Courtney Place i.e. just round the corner from the Halswell Lodge…

It’s a good lesson and one that obviously links directly into the Princess Leia Doctrine  – before you come in, have a plan for getting out!! Somewhat topical in a week where the US recognises the rebel “government” in Libya, just as France states that it can see a path where Ghaddafi stay in power…as some have said, a clear application of two of the three stages of the France Doctrine:

– Start war.

– Surrender.

– Claim all glory.

It’s not actually clear who or what the US has actually recognised or what the mid- to long-term results will be when that “government” comes to power – almost assurably there will be a number of score-settling activities to ensure that any and all Ghaddafists are dealt to as well as anyone else that the new “government” feels they need to square away as part of their consolidation of power…It is pretty certain that one of the big lessons of Iraq, that existing governance and other structures should be kept in place as much as possible during transitional phases, will be learned again should this “government” come to power…

It’s interesting to note as well that NATO’s appetite for social and moral justice has yet to extend to Syria where protest and suppression continue unchecked; and that hardline Islamic elements may be gaining the whip hand in Egypt…will the call be made “Hey, Hosni! Holiday’s over, dude! Get back in there and sort your country out again!” ?

Anyway, back to the Seven…we’d hoped a few more might come out of the woodwork but it was a crappy Wellington winter night and there’s a rematch tonight but we could only do the one night…so very good to catch up again with some of those who helped make me who I am now (Yes, guys, it’s all your fault!!) and to have a night out in NZ – normally any big nights I have out are ‘post-dinner networking’ activities while I am working overseas. Very impressed to see that there are still pubs in NZ that not only serve beer in jugs but big glass jugs as well – good effort, the Green Man Pub – great pizzas and fries too!! Of course, we almost didn’t get to the Green Man after leaving St Johns in Cable Street as our SOF rep ‘led’ us in the opposite direction!! “Yeah, I know where I’m going…trust me…” Never a Tui billboard around when you need one…

I think we finished up around 2-30ish after a fun few hours in Boogie Wonderland, a retro disco-era bar (“Don’t touch the glitter balls – puhleeeease!!” Well, don’t put them in arm’s reach then!). Post-pizza I’d had a top-up pie along the way but Josh hadn’t and we grabbed some horrible Chinese food from someplace at the bottom end of Courtney Place – the sole redeeming thing about that was that I bought a bottle of Coke that was well sited for post-crash out dries this morning…

So bit jaded this evening with an early start to get back to the Lodge before it gets snowed in – probably our first snow there this year…watching the reports coming out of Norway…just one nutjob…as one tweet stated ‘Oklahoma City, not 911’…a brutal reminder than in this environment of complexity, you can’t predict and interdict all ‘the people’…sometimes the measure of success is how well you respond…

Better start building then, I guess….

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Scale Models Wellington IPMS is pleased to be able to invite the modeling public to participate in the 2011 Scale Models Expo Model.

The event is to be held in the centre of Lower Hutt (approx 15minutes drive north of Wellington, New Zealand) in the Horticultural Hall adjoining the Town Hall in the civic centre. The expo will also feature a separate competition for the IPMS Nationals which will gather some of the countries top modelers as they battle it out for top honours.

In addition to the competitions we have lined up some interesting displays and a full complement of trade stands from the regions leading retailers and manufacturers.

Entries must be delivered and registered between 9am – 11am Saturday 20 August in the foyer of the Lower Hutt Horticultural Hall. Please remember to bring your completed entry form to speed up registration. Spare forms will be available on the day. Late entries will be at the sole discretion of the Contest Chairman.

There is no entry fee for models and modelers may enter as many eligible models as they wish.

Previous place getting models in the Wellington Scale Models Expo (ie 1st, 2nd or 3rd) are not eligible to re-enter the Scale Models Expo competition but may enter the IPMS Nationals if eligible. Similarly previous place getters in an IPMS Nationals (ie 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Gold, Silver or Bronze) are not eligible to re-enter the Nationals but may enter the Scale models Expo if eligible.

Entries may be comprised of any generally accepted modeling material (ie plastic, resins, wood, metal). All models must have been built and painted by the entrant.

Final class and category placement of models is at the discretion of the Contest Chairman.

Junior class entrants must be under the age of 17 (ie not reached their 17th birthday) at the time of the competition

Any entries that are considered offensive to generally held standards of taste and acceptability may be excluded at the discretion of the Contest Chairman.

Entries may not be removed from the tables until 4pm Sunday at the earliest unless prior consent is given by the Contest Chairman.

All entrants in the competition shall receive a free pass to the venue for the duration of the event.

Prize giving for the competition will be 4pm Sunday. Competitors must be present to accept any awards or prizes. Awards will be made for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and Highly Commended ( as applicable) in each of the categories along with overall best in Class.

To be eligible for “Best NZ Subject” the model must be entered in the appropriate NZ section. The only exceptions to this will be NZ subjects in Diorama, Ships Sci Fi/Miscellaneous and Junior classes.

Models will be judged by Scale Models Wellington IPMS appointed judges. Entries shall be judged according to Scale Models Wellington IPMS judging criteria. All judges decisions are final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Scale Models Expo/ IPMS Nationals Classes 2011 Unless stated all categories refer to all scales.

Class A: Aircraft
A1 NZ Aircraft
A2 Aircraft smaller than 1/48 – prop
A3 Aircraft smaller than 1/48 – Jet
A4 Aircraft 1/48 – prop, single engine
A5 Aircraft 1/48 – prop, multi engine
A6 Aircraft 1/48 – jet
A7 Aircraft larger than 1/48 – prop
A8 Aircraft larger than 1/48 – jet
A9 Helicopters
A10 Box Stock

Class B: Military Vehicles
B1 NZ military vehicles
B2 Smaller than 1/48 – military vehicles and equipment
B3 1/48 – military vehicles and equipment
B4 1/35 and larger armoured vehicles – WW2 and earlier
B5 1/35 and larger armoured vehicles – Post WW2
B6 1/35 and larger softskin vehicles
B7 Towed artillery and misc military equipment
B8 Box Stock

Class C: Civilian Vehicles
C1 NZ vehicles
C2 Vehicles – Open wheel competition
C3 Vehicles – factory stock
C4 Vehicles – modified (custom/hotrod/tuner)
C5 Vehicles – closed wheel competition
C6 Motorcycles
C7 Box Stock
C8 Trucks/Commercials

Class D:Dioramas
D1 Diorama – All types

Class E: Ships
E1 1/500 and smaller
E2 Larger than 1/500
E3 Submarines

Class F: Figures
F1 NZ Figures
F2 Under 120mm (1/16)
F3 120mm (1/16) and larger
F4 Busts

Class G: Science, Sci Fi and Misc
G1 Fictional craft, real spacecraft, missiles and vehicles
G2 Any subject not covered elsewhere
G3 Collections

Class J: Junior
J1 Aircraft
J2 Military
J3 Civilian vehicles
J4 Figures
J5 Ships
J6 Sci Fi & Misc
J7 Diorama

Collections will consist of 5 or more closely related items (eg five different WW2 fighters would not be a collection but five Spitfires would). Past place getters may be entered as part of a collection but must not constitute more than 40% of the group. The collection must be the sole work of the entrant.

Bases are allowed in all categories. They will not be considered in the judging except in the diorama classes or where 2 models are tied for a placing. Any models entered on bases must be securely fixed to the base.

A diorama shall generally be vehicles or figures on a single scenic base depicting a scene. Note a single figure, vehicle or aircraft displayed on a base with ground cover will not usually constitute a diorama.

Box stock classes are intended to recognize excellent models produced from the materials provided in the box from the manufacturer. For those entering Box Stock please note the following:
– Original instructions must be supplied with your entry.
– Alternative decals may be used.
– No aftermarket or scratch built detailing allowed.
– The modeler may fill gaps and seams, sand off rivets, drill out gun ports, exhausts pipes or other appropriate openings; thin to scale such parts as trailing edges, flaps and doors; and add rigging and antennas
– Panel lines may be repaired if damaged during construction. Extensive rescribing of panel lines is not permitted.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Old Fashioned

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An old fashioned method of getting...

...from here...

...to here...

...to get these...

The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is ‘Old Fashioned’…there photos were taken at Purakanui. on the Otago Peninsula between Waitati and Port Chalmers, just north of Dunedin…it’s a lovely little settlement at the end of a winding no-exit road. We stayed in the cottage in the ‘from’ picture for a couple of nights. The channel runs right by the veranda and it has an external bathroom – at night one has to counts one’s steps very carefully lest one step once too many and goes for a swim! In the morning you can wake up and see the tide racing in or out through the channel and get the impression that the cottage itself is moving – very cool!!

Edit: Oh, yes…there were enough cockles there for a bowl of soup each…

Later on that day we saw restauranteurs from the city come out and hoover up dozens of cockles for commercial use – the limit per person per day is only about forty – this abuse should be banned!!

A teaspoon of cement

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Hmmm…I’ve just finished watching Fair Go which had a story about some young dairy farmer whose name-brand wet weather gear couldn’t cut the mustard. I haven’t named the company because I think they got a bit of a raw deal whereas young Matt the dairy farmer probably needs to take a teaspoon of cement with his Weetbix each morning and harden up.

It’s not well known that there are two competing technologies in the breathable wet weather world. The first and most well-known is Goretex; the reason that Goretex is the most well-known is not so much that it is better but that Goretex globally has a marketing machine that leaves the tobacco and alcohol industries for dead. Goretex uses what is known as microporous technology with zillions of very small holes (pores) in the material through which water vapour warmed by the body can pass out.

The other technology is osmotic where moisture on the inside passes chemically through the waterproof membrane to the outside of the garment. Milair is the proper name for this material although most people would more likely recognise it under its marketing name, Reflex.

Being largely plastic-based, both Goretex and Reflex are prone to damage by fuels and oils and neither performs that well when the outer layer is covered by anything like the masses of cow poo that young Matt was carrying around. Both respond well to regular washing and Goretex also responds well to gentle heat to shrink back any pores that may have stretched. Goretex is less prone to function as advertised in environments where there is a lot of dust (which fills and blocks the pores)  and where there are not the facilities to wash it.

There is another osmotic material that might be better for young Matt – when we trialed it, it was called Flexothane and was static-safe (great for fuels handlers), and FOL(fuels)-resistant. It was also quite stretchy and rolled up into a very small bundle. While not as good at pure breathability as Goretex or Reflex, it was great for dirty work environment and more likely a better product for young Matt.

Then again, I come from farming stock on both sides of the family and nary was ever a bit of Goretex spotted in the homestead. Sometimes, the cool Gucci stuff is not the best way to go. Sometimes the best way to go is the good old fashioned oilskin or rubberised slicker…or just take a teaspoon of cement each day and harden up…

Breaking Silence

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In Get Smart, this was funny…

The zone of silence put up by the Kahui and King families around the deaths of the three-month old Kahui twins in 2006 is not.

Debate has raged this week over the proposed publication of a book, Breaking Silence, based on the recollections of the twins’ mother, Macsyna King, and authored by locally well-known conspiracy theorist and wannabe whistle-blower Ian Wishart, described in one contemporary blog item as

…writing investigative books about spaceships piloted by lock ness monsters that are really demons disguised by Satan to implement global control via global warming legislation because global warming is a hoax created by the Free Masons told what to do by a Greenpeace lesbian Trans Gendered Queen who secretly runs the world…

He’s probably not that bad but having read a few of his Investigate magazine articles, there is some substance to the description. That notwithstanding, he fronted up and presented very well on RadioLive this afternoon with Willie Jackson (JT opted out due to previous ‘issues’ with Wishart – what a woossy).

The catalyst for this debate is a Facebook page Boycott the Macsyna King Book that seeks to ensure that

“…Somebody like this should not be allowed to profit from preaching her perverted view of the horrific events which led to the deaths of the only two children who hadn’t already been taken from her by CYF’s…“

At the time of my writing 45,911 people have ‘liked’ it on, although I do note that in the last couple of minutes at least one of my friends who had ‘liked’ it had dropped off the list…common sense starting to break out perhaps? To my mind, that means that there are at least 45, 911 Facebook members who are a guilty as the King/Kahui family of sustaining that wall of silence around the deaths of these children.

Now let’s get some facts down-range…

No one has been convicted of any crime relating to the deaths of the twins. I have no doubt that someone should be convicted not just for the deaths but also for the neglect of the babies prior to their admission to Starship Hospital and for obstructing justice after their deaths.

It is a big step from 45, 911 morons ‘knowing’ that Macsyna King is directly responsible for the deaths of the twins i.e. she ‘did it’, to having the evidence to prove that beyond reasonable doubt in court. Last time I looked, the mob DIDN’t rule in this country…

While it is illegal for anyone in this country to profit directly from their offence e.g. by publishing a book on it (although Steven Anderson managed to get a couple of grand out of North and South for ‘his’ story on why it wasn’t his fault he killed six people in a shooting rampage in 1997 but N&S is hardly Newsweek…), it is not illegal for anyone, especially before any court proceedings are completed, to comment on that issue in any way they please, including blogs and books, especially if they do not promote or incite hate or violence (I note that Facebook doesn’t appear overly concerned about the threats and intimidatory statements and attacks on the Boycott the Macsyna King Book page).

Pressuring book retailers to not stock the book only reinforces the wall of silence obstructing any ongoing Police investigation of the deaths – yes, that’s right you, 45, 911 plonkers, you’re just as bad, if not worse because the height of your moral bandwagons would indicate that you know better, than the original Gang of Twelve family members that cowered behind their right to silence in 2006 and throughout the investigation.

PaperPlus and Warehouse need to grow a set and stock the book on their shelves lest they become as tainted as the Stoopid 45, 911 – this is a topic of national interest that deserved as much coverage from all quarters so that interest does not die like those babies.

The guy who claimed on RadioLive on Wednesday night, Chris-not-his-real-name, to have set up the page, also claims to have set up the Facebook page for the KFC DoubleDown burger (a work of art in my opinion – the burger not the FB page) that saw national stock of the DoubleDown burger run out in less than two days. This means that he is a. a spin doctor and/or b. a meddling dickhead who has no personal stake in this debate i.e he’s just doing it for shits and giggles. That he lacks the mortal courage to front up under his own name is a fairly good combat indicator to his own personality.

A lady rang RadioLive this afternoon and challenged all the 45, 911 pitchfork and torch crew to donate a small amount to Women’s Refuge or a similar organisation that stands against family violence – if they feel so strongly on this issue. Hey, guess, what? None of those organisations will see the slightest spike in their donations this month.

I don’t buy into or support Macsyna King’s lifestyle up to and possibly past the death of the twins – Ian Wishart says that she has now turned herself around – she has exactly the same right as anyone else in this country to state her case in any legal media she chooses to. She even has the same right to earn money stating her case if people are prepared to part with it. She has not been convicted of any crime, regardless of the 45, 911 loony-toons who just ‘know’that she is guilty – and who would be the first to bleat if their own civil liberties were attacked in this manner.

John Tamihere is playing fast and loose with the law when he incites people to buy a copy of the book, scan it and distribute it online…dumb-arse, going into detail on exactly how people should not do this is incitement…what a hypocrite as he bleated on yesterday about how Ian Wishart had employed equally dubious (but not illegal) journalistic tricks to secure an interview with him (“...but it was off the record...”) – can I call you a dumb-arse twice in the same paragraph?).

Will I buy the book? Probably not, I have no doubt that it will be sold somewhere because there is money involved but it’s not really the sort of book I buy and I’m also kinda ‘off’ buying books at the moment because a. I have such a massive backlog of stuff to read, b. Scale Model Expo is at the end of August and I need to focus, and c. I’m attracted to this EPUB format once local retailers stopping screwing us by selling e-books for the same price (but considerably reduced overheads) and normal hard copy books.

Will I read it if I come across a copy? Certainly I’ll have a browse and see where I go from there…

And a final parting shot to the 45, 911 – you all strike me as the sorts that need to be told things more than once before they sink – if this crime remains unsolved, you need to stand up and accept some responsibility for that…you are nothing more than the sad flotsam of the information age, what Paul Henry described on Tuesday afternoon (yes, he’s back!!) as “…those who are so desperate to be outraged…”

Be ashamed…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Refreshing

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Devil Dog says there's nothing more refreshing than the wind in your face on a cool morning...

Raurimu, New Zealand…her half-brother will be drooling out the other side

Weekly Photo Challenge: Worn

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Worn out, our water tank liner finally gives up the ghost...

A bit of a struggle to find something this week for the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge…the top of the tank blew in during a storm last year and when we went to replace it we found that the liner was toast as well. ..these little things mean so much when you depend on rain water for your sole source of fresh water…

It’s been a long wet weekend and I have to admit that motivation at such times tends to zero…got quite a bit done today when the sun came out and hope to do some more ‘real ‘ writing soon…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Morning

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A spaniel wake-up…a wet nose and a sloppy kiss…

This is Pepe in 2006 at our holiday house from hell at Te Waitere, telling me it’s time for some more “…up and at ’em…” or, at the very least, could I open the door so he could go chase rabbits…

This wasn’t the picture I planned on for this week…I’d seen the challenge posted just before I flew out from LAX and tried to get some shots through the window as we caught up with the Pacific dawn…they were OK but didn’t really say much ‘morning-ish’, certainly not as much as this did…how many times was I woken up by a wagging tail and wet nose pushing under the blankets…?