After the hottest november in 150 years in Sydney, it has got VERY cold the last few day…

“Sydney has shivered through its coldest June day in 27 years, with the mercury plummeting to 4.7 degrees in the city.

Not since 1983 has a colder June temperature been recorded according to the Bureau of Meteorology.”

Rest of report here.

We braved a snorkle for some exercise and I actually thought the water wasnt too bad…turns out it was 16 degrees, a good 8-10 degrees warmer than the air temperature!

The southern hemisphere winter snow season has begun this weekend at resorts in Australia and New Zealand, with both having pretty good opening days… We are planning a trip down to the Aussie resorts although I dont have high expectations as the resorts are not very high and apparently get VERY busy…they have also had the highest average lift prices in the world for the last few years…

This was opening day 2009 – View from the top of Cardrona looking towards Wanaka:

I’m a little late on this as it was released in 2008 but just watched this profoundly important movie.
I imagine one of the reasons I had never heard of it is that it was probably denied publicity by pressure from the likes of Monsanto and other vested interests…

It is quite graphic at times, but it is hugely important to gain awareness of where our food comes from…

One of the biggest impressions I was left with was the massive centralisation of power and control in the food industry and the ineffectiveness of the bodies charged with regulating it. It seems that this process is systematic in many of the industries (banking comes to mind!) in the US in particular but also elsewhere in the world.

Just watched this documentary – an interesting look at different people around the world who have come together under the Breathe umbrella in Costa Rica to widen consciousness of the world around us and our responsibility to respect and protect it…

I’ve been reading Bill Brysons “In a sunburned country” – its a well researched travel book full of quirky facts about this country, so here’s a couple of nuggets he discovered:

“Acclimatization was one of the most foolish and dangerous ideas ever to infect the thinking of nineteenth century men” Tim Low

In 1859, a man named Thomas Austin imported 24 wild rabbits in to Australia (a country that had not produced any creatures like a rabbit in its entire existence), and released them in to the bush on his land as sport. As we all know, rabbits are not shy when it comes to reproduction, and as a result today there are in excess of 300 million inhabiting much of the eastern part of Australia.

In the 1920′s, camels were brought in to Australia and used to build the railroad from Adelaide to Alice Springs, but were set free when the work was completed. Today over 100,000 camels roam the central and western deserts of the country, the only place in the world where the one humped dromedaries exist in the wild.

The lesson? Perhaps to leave a country as it is…? A lesson that has been continuously ignored ever since…

I just watched this documentary, and frankly it is one of the most interesting and harrowing films I have watched in a long time.

“The movie follows former dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry’s quest to document the dolphin hunting operations in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. In the 1960s, O’Barry captured and trained the five wild dolphins who would play the role of “Flipper” in the hit television series of the same name. This pop-culture phenomenon fueled widespread public adoration of dolphins.

It was when one of the dolphins committed a form of suicide in his arms, closing her blowhole voluntarily in order to suffocate, that O’Barry came to see it as a curse not a blessing. Days later, he found himself off the island of Bimini, attempting to cut a hole in the sea pen in order to set free a captured dolphin. Since then O’Barry has worked tirelessly as an advocate on behalf of dolphins around the world.”

The film claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed for profit in Japan every year.

Whether the number is correct, the film shows that the killings are clearly taking place and in a primitive method that is far from the quick and humane way that the Japanese claim they use.

Just another example of my fellow humans raping this planet of its resources.

Go here for more info on the movie and to get involved.

We had a great veggie patch going in Wanaka but sadly had to give it up. So we have just started again with what space we have on our balcony.

7 Reasons why you should grow your own food:

• There is nothing more local than food grown in your own backyard, your windowsills, or on patio containers.
• Growing your own fruits and vegetables means that you know exactly what does and does not go into your food and exactly where it comes from.
• You will get healthier in a number of ways. Not only will you end up eating more fruits and vegetables, but you will be getting added exercise. Did you know that you can burn as many calories in 45 minutes of gardening as you can in 30 minutes of aerobics? And, working in the garden reduces stress.
• You will get a bigger variety of your favorite fruits and vegetables because you can choose from hundreds of different varieties and you can grow the things you like the best.
• A survey done by the American Gardening Association found that the main reason given for increasing or maintaining edible gardening last year was to supplement household food supply — to help them save money on food. That alone is a very powerful reason.
• You can teach your children or grandchildren where their food actually comes from and that it doesn’t come from the supermarket but from the soil, the earth that we all depend on.

Damn I love Dolphins. What would I come back as? Dolphins rate pretty highly.

They can certainly surf better than me too…

I have dived with them a few times but pods riding the surf and catching air is something pretty special…

A few more photos here.

Editted enroute to the airport, uploaded at the bar by the gate waiting to leave, travelling with ALL our belongings…life is pretty mobile these days, hoping Sydney will bring a little more permanence……

It has been 10 days of excess in Cali: food, booze, dollars, driving, and zero exercise……but fun times with the family…

No time to really sort photos so random selection…

Sydney here we come…!

1st post since arriving back in civilization, albeit of the Californian variety…

Bula, Cyclones, cancellations, sunburn, lost baggage, way too many queues, “Fiji Time”, hammocks, timeless beauty, Bula, sand, more sand, where did THAT sand come from?, beasties, bites, Bula, slow days, WIND, fast days, destruction, a very delayed wedding, mindless chainsawing, FISH, boats, saltiness,Vinaka…all sorts of highs and lows; it has been one crazy week……

Some wedding photos here

We are on to the next adventure, which hasnt slowed down at all after our 36 hour travel to the US as Clara and Joe have just arrived, but after copious celebrations I just got a little time to post some photos from the trip.

UPDATE>>>

On the 14^th December 2009, tropical cyclone Mick passed close to the west of the Yasawa islands in Fiji. It was the first time in 17 years that a cyclone had come so close to the islands and coincided with the day I was due to get married.

The 14^th began for me at around 3.15am when I woke to the howling winds around our Bure (small beach hut accommodation). Flo was already awake and we lay listening to the angry gusts, trying to convince ourselves that the Bure was strongly built and the roof was not likely to come off. I drifted in and out of sleep, attempting to ignore the paranoia I felt that the storm surge would send the crashing surf up the short beach and straight through our front windows.

At 6am we had given up on sleep and were nervously stuffing gear into bags in case we needed to evacuate.

At breakfast in the main building, the wind was whipping through the open sided structure while the local women attempted to secure a large tarp over the gaping space. A solitary male sauntered in wearing full wet weather gear and was immediately handed the hammer amid a torrent of Fijian abuse.

A huge gust slapped through, pulling most of the tarp down and Laili, one of the hosts, burst in to a huge cackle.  A picture flew 20 ft off the wall and shattered in to hundreds of pieces. At that point we decided to head back to our hut.

For the next few hours we watched the carnage out the window. The water was a moody muddy angry brown as it chopped and rolled its way back and forwards around the bay. A small black and white bird landed about 10 feet from our door and stayed there for the next hour, hunckered down in the erratic gusts that were attempting to blast it away. The trees that framed the bay were a mixture of pine and palms and the palms began to show their hardiness, with only the weakest losing fronds. In contrast the pines began one by one to succumb to the wind, splitting or ripped themselves into pieces. Coconuts roared through the air at various heights above the ground, colliding with anything and everything in their paths. After a few loud bangs on the glass and the sound of the water drum on the roof starting to rip itself away, we elected to pack our essentials and valuables and move back to the main building.

When we got there we found the locals in a state of total excitement. After their Cava ceremony the night before (which they insisted would ward off the hurricane) I thought they would be a little slow this morning, but instead they were embracing the raw nature with massive enthusiasm. Some rushed around with swimming masks on their faces (to avoid the flying sand) while others cavorted in the water. While we were taking that in another Fijian rushed past with a huge grin and a Kayak, and proceeded to try to surf the storm surge in the bay.  A huge 100ft pine tree beside the building crashed down in a tangle of branches and dirt and the small thatched sun shelter by the beach ripped itself off the ground and whistled away down the beach.

At this point we retreated to the bar to wait it out.

12 hours later the storm had rumbled on to savage the mainland, while on our small island the clean up began…

Despite the destruction, plenty of life did survive while the regeneration will bring many others in to existence…

Beasties and Creatures from the island…