Category: Travel

Of all the brewpubs in all the towns in all the world, I walked into hers

That’s me and Mavis at the Fork and Brewer in Wellington, where she works behind the bar.

I was in town for a conference, and went out with the gang for an(other) drink after the big dinner, as you do.

Regular readers will recognize Mavis as the former keyboards player for the Snaz, who played a memorable concert on my deck back in Brattleboro after we helped them raise money to get to SXSW a few years ago.

Wow!!!

She didn’t really remember me for myself (a friend once told me, when we were both a lot younger than I am now, that the most obvious consequence of hitting whatever age milestone was that he had become utterly invisible to teenage girls), but we had a nice chat anyway.

Small world… or is it? In this case, we wouldn’t have even seen each other except that my waitress was also American and so the “where you from” conversation uncovered the Vermont connection. But if this amazing coincidence happened, then how many times have I actually been just as close to someone I know without ever finding out?

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Leggo my LEGO

We saw the traveling exhibit of LEGO models at the Auckland Museum on its final day last weekend. Amazing details and craftsmanship.

The models all had explanatory cards: a few thousand pieces, a few hundred hours of work, tricky color or shape design puzzles to solve.

Most of the models were as expected… the ancient and modern wonders of the world, depicted LEGO-realistically, but there were some moments of levity… a little Indiana Jones vignette under the hanging gardens of Babylon, spies loitering around the onion domes of St. Basils. And this…

It was a photographic inspiration…

and hopefully inspired some young engineers at the same time.

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Brisbane again

I got to go to a conference in Brisbane last week… what a great city to visit! Public art everywhere, parks and paths, an awesome outdoor swimming pool, fairy lights in the banyans at night, bats and birds… the list goes on.

Here’s a few pics:

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There’s a fine line

between being a famous architect and being an eccentric crank. But apparently Friedensreich Hundertwasser stayed on the right side. His gift to Kawakawa, where he spent a lot of his adult life, was this fancy public restroom.

If a bunch of other architects looked at the plans before it was built, would that be a pee review?

I’m relieved to have this moving attraction wiped off my bucket list. The tiles sometimes reminded me of a fast-flowing stream. Some people might poo-poo the significance of this installation, but i wash my hands of such critics. If you plumb its full depth you’ll find Hundertwasser to be #1 or #2 in his field.

Hmmm, I suppose that last might be a little close to the line that separates respectful tourism from snark. You be the judge…

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Flagstaff Hill

On our way out of Russell, we stopped off at Flagstaff Hill.

In 1840, the first Union Jack in New Zealand was flown from this very spot. But a Maori chief cut it down in protest. The Brits put up another, the Maori guy chopped it down. Three times, and then they started really fighting. The town was sacked.

Supposedly some of the original timber is still inside the heavy iron standard that now only flies the flag on ceremonial days.

We also got to see a whole family of weka, who were pretty cool. Although in point of fact the feral chickens we have complained about on Caribbean islands are more colorful and make more interesting noises. Go figure.

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Far from the madding crowds

After our day on the water, we had a really nice dinner on the waterfront. It did fill up eventually, but you don’t come to Russell for wild street parties any more. Apparently back in the day, like the 1850s, things were quite different… Nantucket whalers, British colonists, and even some of the locals got together to make this “the hellhole of the Pacific.”

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To crew or to cruise

Two ways to spend a day on the Bay of Islands… we chose the one with air conditioning and a nice snack bar.

It was a lot of fun… a little history, a lot of views, an obliging pod of dolphins, a fun adventure being dragged through the water on a boom net…

It’s a lot harder than it looks to get one of those cutesy shots… especially when the shutterbug you’ve recruited doesn’t quite get the concept. So just imagine this next one from a slightly different angle…

All in all a great day!

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Won’t you let me take you on a sea cruise?

Frank and Monique arrived from Texas on Saturday and by Sunday we trundled them North for a few days of quiet Kiwi life on the Bay of Islands.

After a long drive made longer by a landslip (we slip here rather than sliding), we made it to the Opua vehicle ferry, next stop Russell, our home for the next few days.

The ferry itself was pretty cool… the ends winch up and down and you just drive on. Easy peasy.

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