AS I SEE IT (27 Nov)

Posted on 1 December 2015 by SJPONeill

Unfortunately over the years soil erosion has seen the backfield cricket ground slowly disappear, with cricket at the school now being played on Milner Park and Don Field. (c) http://www.noca.co.nz

By Terry O’Neill.

Waitaki Boy’s High School’s back field was an early venue for North Otago representative cricket and groundsman, the late Stan Bremner, produced a playing surface renowned throughout New Zealand.

A 1924 North Otago adversary was the touring New South Wales side brimming with talent. It included players of the ilk of Arthur Mailey with his reputation from the 1921 Australian tour of England where he took 141 wickets, and against Gloucestershire, 10 for 66; and fine batsman Allan Kippax, who by the 1936 season, had scored 12,762 runs at an average of 50.

North Otago batting first made 216 with Percy Hargreaves (54) and Bill Uttley (48) the best of the batsmen while Mailey took six for 89. New South Wales with the bat replied with 493 for five for a first innings win; North Otago, in its second innings, made 111 for nine.Included in the North Otago side was a 17-year-old Waitakian Denis Blundell.

Nineteen twenty eight saw North Otago lined up against a full Australian side with players like Kippax, Bill Ponsford and Ron Oxenham. North Otago batting first made 118 and Australia replied with 448 with Oxenham (169) and Kippax (76). At stumps on the final day North Otago was 268 for six with Carl Zimmerman on 117 not out (including five sixes and fifteen fours), and he brought up his century against Australia in only 46 minutes. Zimmerman also played for Otago.

The 1956 North Otago team faced the touring West Indies with players like Garfield Sobers, John Goddard, Alf Valentine and Bruce Pairiaudeau. North Otago made 108 in its first innings with best batsmen Dave Malloch (36), John Reid (28) and Harold Balk (24) while Tom Dewdney took seven for 35. West Indies replied with 282 scored in 162 minutes with Ron Hannam, the pick of local bowlers, taking four for 57 including the wickets of Pairiaudeau, Anthony Atkins, “Collie” Smith and Sobers as well as running out one of the other batsmen. The West Indies team had nine test players, and in this series New Zealand registered its first win in a test match .West Indies obviously was softened up by North Otago!

In 1968 the touring Fijian side played North Otago. Fiji batting first made 311 with Tony Cartwright taking four for 32. North Otago in reply made 261 for nine declared with Brian Papps unbeaten on 136. Harry Apted led the way in Fiji’s second innings of 190 for seven with 96 not out, Russell Payne taking four for 67. North Otago in its second innings made 174 for five. Keith Murray top-scored with 38. One of the highlights of North Otago’s innings was Papps and Bob Mason scoring 68 runs in the 15 minutes before lunch.

ENDS

Ridge Track, Whakapapa Village

Posted on 22 November 2015 by SJPONeill

The Ridge Track is a nice short – about twenty minutes/1.2km each way – walk right in Whakapapa Village…great for a quick leg stretch at lunchtime…

DSCF8850

It starts here at the public shelter, just up the road from the DOC Visitor Centre, and opposite the Whakapapa Holiday Park. The trail itself is just up from the shelter , where you can see the DOC sign on the right of the picture…

DSCF8849

The trail winds behind the shelter…

DSCF8848

…across the bridge and into the forest…

DSCF8847

…past a nice resting spot about halfway up (the forested part)…

DSCF8846

…before you break out into the open and continue up through the tussock.

DSCF8845

Not all of the trail is in tiptop condition and sections like this can be a little more challenging, especially after a good downpour…

DSCF8843

…and your’re there…

DSCF8844

No one is quite sure why there is a big table here but there is…be nice ofr a picnic, better if there were seats…

DSCF8838

Further up the ridge line, on a clearish day, you can often see the very top of Mount Ruapehu…

DSCF8839

…to the north, there are often great views of Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro…

DSCF8841

…and below, The Chateau and Whakapapa Village, with SH48 winding back down towards SH47 and civilisation…

Tea and Pikelets at Waihohonu

Posted on 19 November 2015 by SJPONeill

A change is as good as a holiday, so they say…and I leapt at the chance to get out of the office to check on internet connections in the huts on the Northern Circuit.

My day didn’t get off to the smoothest of starts…

Naughty Meindls

…my trusty Meindls tossing a lace…already running a tad late, I grabbed…

Good Meindls

…my spare never-before worn pair…the beauty of Meindls being that you really can wear them right out of the box…

Looking east towards Red Crater, Mount Ngauruhoe on the right

It doesn’t look like the cheeriest of days but it was actually a great day for walking, a nice westerly to take the edge off and keep us cool, and just enough sun to be pleasant without being scorching…

DSCF9321

First stop was Mangatepopo, only about twenty minutes walk in from the car park…a nice cuppa with the ranger there…

DSCF9324

…before some comparative performance testing on laptops, tablets and phones…

DSCF9330

Lured by the promise of pikelets for smoko, we headed off for the other side of Mount Ngauruhoe and Waihohonu Hut…Parking up at the Waihohonu Road End park we made good time into the hut. The surface is mostly sandy, firm enough to walk on but not so compacted as to be uncomfortable…

DSCF9326

While we did our techo-geeky stuff…

DSCF9329

…the chef started on smoko…

DSCF9325

Who says you can’t have the comforts of home in a back country hut..?

DSCF9328

As you can guess from the pix, Waihohonu is quite new and very comfortable…

DSCF9330

Seeing the cloud spilling over Ngauruhoe, we decided on a more cracking pace back to the park, completing the last klick or so at an enjoyable jog…

I’m regretting not filling the spa a couple of weeks ago as a nice soak would go down pretty well at the moment…I suspect that I may be a little stiff in the morning…a most excellent day and one I hope to repeat next week as Oturere still needs testing….

Notebook next to the bed

Posted on 4 November 2015 by SJPONeill

Bonus assignment: do you keep a notebook next to your bed? Good. Tomorrow morning, jot down the first thought you have upon waking, whether or not it’s coherent.

Inspires such confidence,

Rare as a huia .

I had seen this design when friend posted hers online. The huia now sadly extinct – or perhaps roaming with the moa in deepest darkest Fiordland – enshrined on the New Zealand sixpence, now also rare. Here, painstaking cut from the coin and mounted on pounamu, New Zealand greenstone…combined with other thoughts, things on my mind, sleep-addled? @ 0448 this morning…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change

Quote

Posted on 26 September 2015 by SJPONeill

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Change.”

The Smithsonian opens: peace to pulse…

Koru: winter to spring…

Upper Hutt: boarded to bustling

Autobahn: sedate to seductive…

Does New Zealand’s legal system favour some ahead of the rest of us?

Posted on 9 February 2015 by SJPONeill

As I See It By Terry O’Neill.

Does New Zealand’s legal system favour some ahead of the rest of us?

2014 Junior World Cup promising rugby star Tevita Li (19) was caught drink-driving in Auckland last May. Last week the Blues-contracted player was discharged without conviction by Judge Gus Andree Wiltens as long as he paid $210, the costs to establish his blood alcohol level. Judge Wiltens took into account that Li completed The Right Track programme and alcohol counselling, and justified his decision because, “A conviction would prove to be a real impediment to what so far has been a stellar career. All indications are that you can go a long way in rugby.”

A conviction possibly would restrict Li’s international rugby travel, and if he pursued a career overseas, teams may overlook him because of that black mark against his name. After his rugby days a clean record would keep the door open for his intention to follow his father into a police career. Another Blues player, George Moala, recently found guilty of assault with intent to injure, appears for sentencing in May, and will apply for a discharge without conviction. Try telling an ordinary 19 year old club rugby player that’d be a fair deal.

Recently I commented on former Olympic triathlete Kris Gemmell. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled Gemmell a 15 month ban after Drug-Free Sport NZ had appealed the NZ Sports Tribunal’s decision not to impose a sanction on him for missing a drug test in August, 2012. Last week the Tribunal cut his ban to 12 months stating his conduct would not be a violation under the new rules confirmed January 2015. Gemmell, basically vindicated, lost his International Triathlons Unions athletes’ committee role plus his position as its Global Head of Partnerships for the world triathlon series. He retired from international competition after the World Cup in 2012 but remained on the drug testing programme because he intended to involve himself in long distance racing.

Who had the self-righteous knife out at Drug-Free Sport NZ? Another graceless Tall Poppy blitz.

The Cricket World Cup kicks off next week amidst concerns for security during the tournament. If visitors seek easy access to NZ over the tournament period, visa-free entry is permitted provided an individual’s cricket interest is proved with, say, game tickets. This visa-free entry is primarily to allow ease of movement for cricket fans between NZ and Australia. Many “cricket supporters” from countries for which visas are usually required to enter NZ, have apparently used the “loophole” for easy entry. By last week 94 people had travelled here under the arrangement and others were prevented from boarding flights to NZ. Several Chinese passengers emphasised their intention to attend games and produced Cricket World Cup tickets as evidence but, ironically, those games were scheduled after their NZ departure dates.

And what a temptation to anyone “terroristically” inclined.

ENDS

Note: this version differs from that published in The North Otago Times.

Islands in the Mist

Posted on 2 August 2014 by SJPONeill

This was ~~yesterday’s~~ a ~~recent~~ challenge in WordPress’ Writing 101 workshop a month or so ago (how time flies when you have work): “…today is a free writing day. Write at least four-hundred words, and once you start typing, don’t stop. No self-editing, no trash-talking, and no second guessing: just go. Bonus points if you tackle an idea you’ve been playing with but think is too silly to post about…”

One of the reasons that I like living here so much is that it can feel so isolated from the world and its issues…some times this can be a jungle moon of Endor, or a secluded part of Pandora’s Hallelujah Mountains…

The mist deadens sounds of the world and creates our own little world…free to imagine and wonder… DSCF8561

Last night when I came home, just on sundown it was like this…

OK, so the actual challenge was to write 400 words but doesn’t each picture speak a thousand? And it’s Friday night and we need to get fed before Coro…and I am also looking forward to ending Phase I of my retro TV groove, with the final episode of UFO already lined up in Plex. Phase II arrived in the mail tonight so the Space 1999 marathon will start tomorrow…

I always thought that Space 1999 was so much cornier than UFO which was the first grown-ups programme I was allowed to watch on a regular basis…type faster, type faster…no typos, no typos, I can already hear Jim Hickey making up the weather for tomorrow…looks like rain and lots of it…only 30 minutes now to get dinner ready…no pressure…but type faster, no typos…

Phew! Can smell dog poo on my boots…poo patrol on Monday I guess…so between UFO and Space 1999, maybe I already grew up enough to start to lose my suspension of disbelief…already between ten and twelve…? But I still like the purple wigs and tinfoil body suits – did they scratch? – and, as always with Gerry Anderson, the ~~toys~~ machines rule…UHU02 has made the SHADO Interceptor: is Sky 1 on the cards.. although I still have the Imai one of variable scale in the works…Probably not, I think the next Interceptor he will design will below to the Angels…

And speaking of Angels, PRIME TV, where is our Doctor fix now that the fez-wearing ‘custard and fish fingers’ idiot is gone…? And speaking of idiots, I can hear Seven Sharp prattling now…Dad, Dad, we want dinner…OK, OK, coming, coming…”let’s feed the dogs” (words never spoken out loud in jest) and there we go: 400-ish words and the challenge done…

Writing 101, Day Nineteen: Don’t Stop the Rockin’ | The Daily Post.

Room | The Daily Post

Posted on 9 June 2014 by SJPONeill

The Daily Post: Room

Like a few other English words, Room means two contradictory things. It can be the four walls that enclose us, giving us shelter and comfort but also limiting our movement. It’s also the limitless space into which we can wander and which we can fill — or try to (think about that expression, “room to grow”).

In this week’s photo challenge, share your take on the idea of room — it could be an actual room in your house, a favorite gallery in your local museum, a cubicle at work. You could also take this challenge in a more abstract direction, and show us where you feel like you have room — or lack it.

A tidy room…

…and, hmmmm…

…and this guy thinks he needs more room…

…but outside he has all this to play in…

Scale Model Expo 2014

Posted on 7 June 2014 by SJPONeill

The last Scale Model Expo in Wellington was in 2011. It’s a Biennial event i.e. once every two years, but was slipped until this year to re-align it with its traditional April time slot.Even with this extended period between shows, I still had nothing finished!! In my defence though, I would like to claim points for consistency…

I overnighted in Palmerston North and set off at zero dark thirty on the Saturday morning for Wellington. It’s only about a 90 minute drive but I was catching up with friends on the way…Even then, I still arrived in Upper Hutt (a suburb of Wellington) an easy hour before the show opened. I scored a coup here as my aimless wandering while I waited for the doors to open took me into the local Noel Leemings where they had 4 terabyte hard drives for almost half price…snapped one of them up immediately for the enhanced home theatre project!!!

This year was the first time that the show has been in Upper Hutt. In previous years it has been in either Lower Hutt or the Wellington CBD. I was impressed with the new venue. It is much larger than the old one in Upper Hutt, is right in the middle of town and has a great little cafe right beside the doors. My only minor gripe is that the Upper Hutt City Council could invest a little more in signage for parking as I was unable to find any parks for more than 120 minutes and parked a little further away in a side street. Once I got to the show, I learned that there is free parking and lots of it by the train station about two minutes walk away…still, a little walking never hurt any one…BTW, the same council could also invest a little more in rubbish bins around the CDB as it is quite a trek to find one to dump (in a legal manner) one coffee cup and sandwich wrappings…

The show was well-attended and well supported…some material was repeated from previous years (not necessarily a bad thing) but there was a lot of new build work as well…below is a random selection of images from the first day of the Show…unfortunately I was unable to stay for the second day as much as I may have wanted to. I have loaded more pictures into Photobucket for anyone who may wish to see more…

A Kiwi take on Noah’s Ark…

A whiffed (What-iffed) exercise in imagination…

The Juniors section – this club has been a strong supporter of junior modellers for years…

The Rex Crawford Collection

Rex Crawford was a long-standing and very active member of the Scale Models Wellington club. His ambition was to build one of every aircraft ever operated by the Royal Air Force – as you can see here, he came very close to it. When he passed away a couple of years ago, there was a very real risk that his collection may have been lost however a collaborative effort by the club with Rex’s family has seen this collection preserved and placed in storage in Wellington.

Personally, I would like to see this collection eventually displayed in the RNZAF Museum in Wigram. While the RNZAF may not have operated nearly as many aircraft types as the RAF, the RAF remains the air force that we most closely identify with. In addition, not only have many Kiwis over the decades operated these aircraft types while serving in the RAF but there are also now many former members of the RAF now serving in New Zealand that did fly some of the later types (and I am including the Vulcan and Victor here as ‘later types’).

The large scale train set-up always attracts many viewers…

DSCF8174

DSCF8175

DSCF8177

Wingnut Models are Sir Peter Jackson’s very own model company and they specialise in a range of exceptionally high quality models of WW1 aircraft in 1/32 scale. The first day of this year’s show they unveiled their latest release, the Roland C.II, an aircraft type that will have bring back fond memories for many modellers of the old Airfix 1/72 Roland that dates back to some time in the 1960s… DSCF8229

Of course, the normal purveyors of temptation were there and I felt somewhat compelled to support local businesses.

When I left Upper Hutt in 2004, it was in a state of decline. A decade later it has managed to reinvent itself: it now has a flourishing town centre and is a great little life support centre for those living and working up the top end of the Hutt Valley.

Tongariro by air

Posted on 10 April 2014 by SJPONeill

One of the really great things about working for DOC on Mount Ruapehu is that opportunities arise to participate in some of the activities available around the Park. Last month, my planned trip to the rim of the crater lake on Mt Ruapehu was foiled by poor weather so when Mountain Air called to say they had a spare seat if anyone was interested, I was on the road immediately…

Even by midday this bank of cloud was still sitting just short of the base of the Mountain and more importantly for the day’s unplanned activity, just short of the end of the Chateau Airport runway.
DSCF7899 Our destination… DSCF7900

Our chariot…

The Mangatepopo car park in the lower right, the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing…

The other side of the Alpine Crossing on the long descent from the Blue Lake to the Ketetahi Carpark which is the finish point of the Crossing…

A small patch of cloud mingling with steam from one of the volcanic vents on the north side of Mt Tongariro…

A closer look down on those steam vents…

Looking west over the Blue Lake which is a bout the halfway point on the Crossing walk…

The Blue Lake with the Emerald Lakes on the lower left and the majestic bulk of Mt Tongariro in the background…

Looking closer at the Emerald Lakes with the Crossing track running from top right to lower left…Looking over the Emerald lakes and Red Crater towards Mt Ngauruhoe (aka Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy). Just to the right of Red Crater, you can just make out the Crossing track: Red Crater marks the highest point on the Crossing at around 1780 metres, a good half kilometre above the 1200 metre start point at Mangetepopo…

Mt Ngauruhoe …you can’t see them but on a good day like this, there were dozens of ambitious visitors clambering their way to the summit – they said that they waved but I didn’t see them. The journey to the summit of Mt Ngauruhoe is probably the most challenging of the three peaks in summer as the slopes are very steep (a constant 30 degrees), covered in loose material so that you may spend as much time sliding back as you do pushing forward, and there is always a risk of getting clocked by a rock or stone dislodged by climbers ahead of you….

Between Mts Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu lies Whakapapa Village, home of the Chateau Tongariro the main DOC base for administering the Park. The light coloured roofs on this side of the Village are the Skotel accommodation complex, and the tracks to the north of it run to Tama Lakes and Taranaki Falls…

Last but not least the splendour of Mt Ruapehu, with a glimpse of the Crater Lake. In a few months this will be covered in metres of snow but at the moment it is still relatively easy to trek up to the crater rim as a day trip form the Village.

Just after taking this picture, i switch my camera to video mode and recorded the remainder of the flight back around all three mountains and back to the airfield. I meant to convert it to MP$ and upload it to Youtube before I came away this week but I am afraid that you will have to wait until the weekend for me to get that down…

I’d really like to thank the lads at Mountain Air for taking me up. I’ve been in and out of aircraft of all sizes over the last three decades and i would have to say that their presentation and performance was as good as any other top-line aviation activity that I have been involved with. If you visit us on a nice day (and most of them are), Mountain Air offers a great way to see the Park and its attractions in a way that a ground based perspective simply cannot match…