ANZAC day post

It's been a long time since my last post here, partly because I've been busy looking for work and other things to do, but partly because I've begun to feel settled here and the time has been flying past! Today is ANZAC day - a dawn ceremony in all major towns and cities has been conducted to commemorate the war-dead. Ellen attended one in Auckland that broke all records for attendance, and I listened on the radio from the relative safety of bed.

I'm now working two separate jobs; one in a steel factory which is very new to me, and one processing applications in a Government department which is really familiar. I am working in the mornings for New Zealand Steel & Tube, in the reinforcing section here in Dunedin. My main responsibility is ordering and processing new jobs on the computer, but I've also spent some time in the workshop using a steel shear to cut reid bar. Not bad work! I'm not used to the strong impetus of having customers demanding a product, or to working in a heavy industry environment, but it's quite good.

Our football team is not doing quite so well, with two resounding defeats in the first two games. Partly because I'm yet to play a full game ofcourse! However we are improving on our game and remain optimistic. Off the field, it has been great getting to know new friends and seeing more of Dunedin. Ellen has even been training with the womens' team, and so it's become an almost daily part of our lives.

Our little house gets quite cold when the wind blows and we are investing in our heavy curtain to seal our lounge from the draftier kitchen area. The worm farm is getting up to capacity and the little wormies are munching through ca. 250g a day. Our pea plants are slowly working their way across an improvised trellis. The soil is quite poor and I will have to thin them out soon to keep them alive.

Parakuihi

parakuihi: breakfast. As in, kua whakareri tōku wahine i te parakuihi or my wife has prepared breakfast.


Dunedin continues to be an exciting and promising place to live. The last few weeks have seen some glorious weather, and we took a lovely trip to St Kilda to visit the ocean there. It is only a short bus ride away and promises some awesome surfing opportunities despite the threat of sharks (including white pointers, or "porkers" as Quint calls them, Hooper would say: "It's a Carcharadon carcarias, it's a Great white"). But Jaws quotes aside, the risk has got to be low, right?




The worm farm is slow to start as the little wormies chomp through the coconut husk bedding they were provided with and shun the relatively unpalatable kitchen scraps. I hope to wean them off the coconut within the next few weeks so we can start putting most of our green waste in there, rather than ini the straightforward compost heap. Whether you like it or not, I will keep you posted! We have also planted peas and spinach and have a healthy coriander plant growing. That's really exciting because it is supposedly quite hard to grow in colder climes.

Ellen has been very busy at work and has been enjoying fitting our new place with furniture and bits and pieces of kitchenware etc. It is all looking very good and we hope to be buying a nice couch soon so we can enjoy the winter evenings in front of our open fire. Both of us are thinking of the wedding nect year and how awesome it is going to be to have friends and family all together. Also, we happy many of the travellers from overseas will be able to stay with us here in Dunedin as part of their trip and to enjoy some of Otago's famous attractions.

I have joined a football team called Mornington and hope to get into the first team this season. It is a small side and not expected to do well. Come on the underdogs!

whakairi(a)

whakairi(a): to hang, as in e whakairia ana ngā kākahu horoi e taku wahine.
The washing is being hung by my wife.

We took a drive out to Taieroa head this week. There was an official welcome for Ellen and so her managers from Wellington were in Dunedin, it was the perfect opportunity to do some sight-seeing!

There is a stone embankment all the way around the peninsula which was originally built by convicts from the Parihaka settlement of Maori in the North Island. These Maori used passive resistance against the encroachment of Europeans, and were essentially enslaved after a bloody attack by men on horseback and were then transported around New Zealand. Many ended up down here breaking rocks and building the roadway.

At the end of the peninsula there are the remains of a pa, which were Maori hill forts, which was built to defend the area when successive waves of Maori were moving South from the North Island. There is also a British-built cannon underneath the hill which was installed to protect Dunedin from invasion by the Russians (?!) Repeated clearing of the native bush on Taieroa head has produced a habitat suitable for nesting of the Royal Albatross and there is now protection of the site for these magnificent birds. On the rocks below the head we saw sea lions and a yellow-eyed penguin, one of the world's rarest. Awesome!



At the bottom of our street is St Joseph's Cathedral (above) which is one of Dunedin's most magnificent buildings. The original plans inicluded a 60 metre spire but repeated attempts to complete that section have met problems, with insufficient foundation work being the current bug-bear.

Ellen and I often joke that we wish we lived further down the hill so that we could look out on St Joseph's, rather than the local high-school gymnasium, a monolith of concrete, which is our main vista from the living room.

Our front balcony does get a nice view of the harbour if you crane your neck. It is now home to my first worm farm which is a good alaternative to composting that I am trying out.

Taonga

taonga meaning treasure or thing of importance

view down the hill from our front door

I am spending my days shopping for bits and pieces that we need around the home, and doing research for a job application which is coming up. Our house is tidy, and quite pleasant. We are looking forward to bulking up with some furniture for upstairs and some dining room chairs. We are sitting on garden chairs at the moment!

I have been in touch with a local builder who is converting a Dominican Priory into a Motel. We think he is working for the same people who run the Brother's hotel here in Dunedin, which was also a monastery prior to its current use. Ellen is a fan of the Brother's and so I might see if I can get some experience working on the restoration of the priory. It sounds like an interesting job. Currently I am hoping to get an interview with the local council for a job.

We have decided on February 9th of next year for our wedding. This means that the weather will be reasonably better than January. More settled at least. We are hoping to confirm the venues over the next week or so. It is all quite exciting.

Matua

Matua meaning uncle (literally, "older man"), as in he matua ahau - or I am an uncle!

Here is a picture of me with Noah James Andersen, my first ever nephew:


Noah is Paul (Ellen's brother) and Joella's first child. He was born at Masterton hospital in the Wairarapa on February 16th at 12:15pm.. He weighed 5lb11oz.

pungawerewere

Pungawerewere meaning spider,

as in e huna ana te pūngāwerewere i roto i te māra, or the spider is hiding in the garden.


The fair weather continues, allowing me to finish the ornamental paving! The part of the garden shown in the above photo is the herb garden, at the back and to the right is the beginning of the long bed at the rear of the garden. We have increased the size of the lawn, reseeding it, and making it easier to manage the garden maintenance. Here is the veggie patch:

We have pak choi, peas, lettuces and celery. The pak choi grew very well indeed and the lettuces are just becoming ready about now!

Last night I went out to an open-air production of As You Like It. It rained, and the actors enjoyed ad-libbing to the crowd about the misery of ill-weather &c &c. The show was very enjoyable, it was great to go to the theatre after a long time away from it. Upon returning home I found England were 170 for 3 against Australia and the chance turned into a win - an exciting win!

whakatipu

Whakatipu meaning to grow. Whaka is a common prefix in Maori which means to make. In this case making growing, as in whakatipu ana te hua rakau or, the fruit tree grows!

Svend's garden in Kilbirnie has been doing lots of growing and is looking absolutely lovely. Today I planted a couple of feijoa trees and a small hebe. The lettuces and peas are really coming along! Some ornamental edging has gone in and all that is left is some finishing touches. Good timing, as we are moving to Dunedin in a matter of weeks. I will miss being in the garden! It is great to be working outside and enjoying the sun. Today it was so hot I had to take the extreme measure of swimming in the ocean after work - an adventure that surprised Ellen and her family as the water here is somewhat cold. However, it felt great to be back in the sea after too long as a land-lubber!

Tomorrow is Waitangi day, commemorating the signing of the famous treaty. The treaty of Waitangi was written in 1840 on behalf of the British Crown, and was signed by some of the chiefs of the tribes of the New Zealand Maori, in order to bring a settlement between them and the Europeans, and found a nation state and government in New Zealand. It is seen as the birth certificate of the New Zealand nation, and duly celebrated. However disagreements over the meaning of the treaty continue to this day, and there is no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides regarding the rights of Maori over their own sovereignty, and the rights of the New Zealand Government to legislate for all. Waitangi day is also Bob Marley's birthday, and many Wellingtonians choose to celebrate this instead.