The adventures of DnA

Happy St David's Day

2012-03-01T13:37:00.000+13:00

Another painting done.

2012-02-24T20:56:00.000+13:00

This painting has taken me since August, It's a painting of Lake Ohau in the south island.

When I say it's taken since August, I have actually only spent about 4 days on it in total. I'm very pleased with it and think it's the best I've done since being in New Zealand. May be it's finally getting that art studio up and running, having a good environment to work is a must. It's an acrylic painting and is approximately 200 by 50cm .

This painting is of the south coast of wellington, I'm fairly pleased with this painting. I little extra work could have been done on the horizon, I feel the perspective could have been better. I Could not finish it off because it was for our neighbors who were moving to New Plymouth the next day.

A colleague asked about my art work! So I've decided to upload the following photos. Some of these paintings date back 18 years, ouch I'm sounding old. They're in no particular order.

My Surf poses

2012-01-30T20:22:00.005+13:00

The above picture looks like the start to a cool surf session, a little on the small side, but it could belong in a surf magazine. But just wait a minute...

Now you're wondering if it's paralympic surfing games on a small wave day...

This contender has stiff arm-itus and hunch back syndrome -- a terrible affliction!

The final test in the surfing paralympics is the alphabet competition and Aled Evans for Wales is doing a great rendition of the 'X' -- amazing for a dyslexic!

Gold...

Anyhow... point being is that I never really thought I pulled such bizarre poses and facial expressions while surfing over the last 20 years. Thanks to all of you who were kind enough not to point it out over the years...

Nadolig Llawen or Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:35:00.002+13:00

Diane bought me a new surfboard for Christmas -- I haven't been this excited for years -- unfortunately there's no surf for a week!

We went for a early morning paddle at our local beach!

Notices how flat the sea is... booh!

Above -- photos of our Christmas meal, fantastic weather, great food and great company.

It's been a while since the last post so here's the catch up post

2011-12-04T13:27:00.031+13:00

A number of people have complained that I don't bother posting to this blog any more. The reason for this is firstly I've been really busy at work for the past 10 months and secondly and probably most importantly is that my blog assistant ;-) has now got here own blog called American In Exile. I will forgive her eventually, which is very good of me considering the punishment for desertion.

I've decided to sum things up in a collage of photos with some comments, so here goes...

The British invasion (February - March 2011)

My parents arrived in early February after Ceri and Angela left (that was my last post in January!). It was great to see my parents and catch up on all the gossip from Wales! At the time I was totally submersed in work and now wish I hadn't been. It's funny when you look back and realize that your short term priorities should not have been a priority at all! The very notion of short term priorities means it's difficult to appreciate the bigger picture. So in short we should all spend more time with the people that really matter!

Yikes a little deep I think, but that´s what I thought!

My favorite pictures are the picture of my mum and me doing yoga, she supposedly has hip issues! Diane and the Welsh cake, my parents and Diane on the deck and last but not least Dad and Diane playing croquet (how Victorian of them).

The American invasion (March 2011)

Not long after my parents left we had Karen (Diane's sis) visiting with her boyfriend Anthony. Had a great time with them but it was a little short. The lucky ducks went zooming down to the South Island and saw some amazing sites. The top left photo really shows Anthony´s appreciation of tea and the regrettable incident of 1776.

Apology accepted.. :-)

Kaikoura Easter break (April 2011)

What an amazing place Kaikoura is! I visited back in 2003 and was impressed back then! Seems to tick all the out door boxes: surf, mountains and wildlife. Will have to visit again some time and hike up 2800 meters to the top of the Kaikoura Ranges.

If there were more jobs there I'd consider living there...

Mt. Ruapehu (April 2011)

Mt. Ruapehu has turned into a yearly pilgrimage for us. Never ceases to amaze me how beautiful this place is. World class views with little effort. We caught the first of the autumn snow and it was surprisingly deep in places.

Some random photos (April - June 2011)

The social occasion (ie photos with people in them) was the Royal Wedding. Despite it not being my cup of tea I was astonished at the enthusiasm, see Pagan center bottom!

Meanwhile I had been arranging Diane's lunch (photo at the bottom left) in various happy faces for at least a year, but it wasn't until May that she finally realized. Quite a triumph for me!

To the bottom right there is a photo of Wellington in full winter glory!

Diane finally managed to bake the perfect Pavlova and we also found a new secret hike in Wellington (a rare find for us!!) up to some old WWII gun turrets now covered in graffiti.

Snow boarding near Queenstown (July 2011)

What a great holiday! We stayed at a super gold miners cottage and had the best snow of the winter. Diane was improving her snowboarding techniques as always -- she's got good balance and is a natural. I seem to snowboard as if I was still in my twenties, nothing broken so far despite my best efforts ;-). The large mountain at the bottom is NZ highest peak Mt Cook. I also managed to do some gold panning... always wanted to try it...!

Rugby World Cup / Phil's visit (September - October 2011)

We really enjoyed the Rugby World Cup! Two months of socializing and drinking (may be a little too much). My honorary Welsh lady (Diane) really played the part. Brought back good memories of Cardiff! Wales had a blinding attempt at the cup and deserved to go further. It´s certainly a bright future for Welsh rugby!

Just as the World Cup kicked off, a university friend of mine Phil paid us a visit with his wife Janice -- was good to see them and looking forward to seeing them again in the future in Perth, Australia, where they live.

Finally the arrival of Spring (September - November 2011)

After Phil and Janice left, we had some house mates move in. They were Tomas and Feli from Argentina and were awesome people to have living with us. Will be good to catch up with them on their turf one of these days.

Visiting the Northerners (November 2011)

I had organised a birthday present for Diane back in September to go to the Coromandel at the end of November but as it got closer we decided to change the plans and visit the Northerners up in Whangarei instead because we haven't seen them for ages and they've got a new addition! We were also running out of time to take a trip up there as we'll be visiting the Northern Hemisphere next year so it was a good time to go.

It was great to catch up with them and to see Osian and little Cerys. Osian is growing up fast and reminds me of myself when I was younger. Thanks Gwyn for ensuring my lineage continues! Weather was also gorgeous -- it certainly is another world up there in comparison to Wellington.

So that's all from me for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wales vs. South Africa

2011-09-17T19:50:00.000+12:00

Aled and I were at the Wales vs. South Africa match last Sunday!

For more pics, check out the American in Exile blog! Go Wales!

Angela and Ceri's visit

2011-01-22T12:30:00.010+13:00

My brother Ceri and his wife Angela visited New Zealand. They started off up North and stayed with my brother and family for a little while -- looks like they had an amazing time up there! Then they went traveling south and rendezvous-ed with us at Castlepoint.

After showing them some awesome sites like the Pinnacles, we headed to the vineyards in Martinborough. The next day we went on our own wine tour by walking between each vineyard and gradually getting sloshed! All good fun! Early next morning we went back to Wellington to show them our new house and the city. Had a good night out and a fun day around wellington the next day. It was great to catch up and we're looking forward to seeing them again.

My garden

2010-12-26T12:12:00.007+13:00

My parents having been asking to see photos of my garden for a while! So here they are! not much to look at in comparison with theirs. Most of the vegetables have been grown from seeds that Nicole my sister in law has kindly given me, Thank you Nicole!
My veg patch has taken on the Hong Kong philosophy in regards to population; I have more vegetables per square meter than anywhere in the known universe, which sounds impressive but when it's only covering 3 square meters it loses its Wow factor.

Christmas BBQ

2010-12-25T11:33:00.000+13:00

Happy Christmas/Nadolig llawen to every one. We decided to have a southern hemisphere Christmas feast this year! The Wellington weather was perfect, sunny and warm! This is our first Christmas in Wellington after over three years in New Zealand. Normally we would go for a trip or visit my brother's family up in Whangarei, but this year we decided to stay put and enjoy Xmas in our first house.

Diane was awake at 6:40 eagerly awaiting the presents, she could have been 10 years old (see photo)! We had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then a Christmas BBQ feast that we and our friends had prepared. Diane made eggnog -- what an odd drink but despite the raw egg I actually really enjoyed it.

Thanks to every one for bringing food to the BBQ (and themselves of course), and thanks to family and friends for all the good presents.

The Coming of the Martians

2010-09-20T21:55:00.000+12:00

One would think I'm talking about the ¨The War of the Worlds¨ by H.G. Wells but no, I'm talking about the recent visit of Uncle Martin.

It was good to see him! I hadn't seen him for 2 years and he hadn't aged a day, which I'm sure he will be delighted to read. But don't get too carried away, it's only 2 years after all. We had planned a whole range activities for him: Te Papa, the botanical gardens tram, Parliament tour, Salt (the movie), no pepper, Somes Island.

Every thing went to plan and we managed to have a very active weekend. Martin left us on Monday morning to head north to Whangarei with his friends, Philip and Marion.

Lake Tekapo

2010-09-12T12:29:00.003+12:00

We spent a week on the South Island and it was awesome! Snowboarding, hikes, gorgeous lakes and mountains, penguins -- what more can you ask for? For more pics and the whole story, check out the American in Exile blog.

Road to Mt. Cook

Lake Ohau

Lake Ohau ski field

Moeraki boulders

Visiting the northerners

2010-08-01T18:15:00.000+12:00

On the way back from Tonga we went up to visit Gwyn, Nicole and Osian, just in time for Osh's third birthday. Nicole made an awesome tractor cake for Osh, complete with spirulina icing and licorice edges. As you can see, Osh is already supporting the right rugby team.

We also got out for some nice walks around Whangarei Heads and Ocean Beach.

Out and about in Vava'u

2010-07-26T15:19:00.007+12:00

We stayed in a "self-contained apartment" outside of Neiafu called the Island Explorer. We would highly recommend NOT staying in this accommodation (read: slum) if you ever visit Vava'u. Sadly, it was pretty overpriced for the "quality" and nowhere near a beach!

That said, I would only recommend visiting Vava'u if you really REALLY want to swim with the humpbacks and/or you are exploring the islands by boat (preferably luxury yacht!). From what we experienced, Tonga is pretty basic when it comes to tourism, which can be seen both as a positive and a negative. While there were no crowds or queues anywhere, it was mind-bogglingly difficult to get to a beach. The restaurants were also relatively disappointing, with the exception of the Tropicana Cafe in Neiafu which did good burgers and tropical smoothies. The Laughing Rooster must have been cackling as it massacred my "lobster curry" and then ran away with my 40 pa'anga...

In any case, the whales and the diving made up for the accommodation and dining disappointments almost completely, and we did manage to get out to a beach and do some snorkeling on a partly sunny day, so it was all good. Another day we hiked up Mt. Talau, the highest point on the island for some nice views of the harbor.

As for the Tongans, they seemed to be permanently laughing. The cynical side of me wonders if it's because they make a killing on the tourists but I prefer to think it was genuine. After all most of the businesses are run by expats. The place is known as the Friendly Islands and we did find the Tongans amiable.

And then it was time to fly back to Tongatapu, where we spent another night at the recommendable Keleti Resort. The fish dishes for dinner were the best of the entire trip.

View of the old harbor, Neiafu

View of Neiafu harbor from the Giggling Whale

View from Mt. Talau

Church outside Neiafu

Future bacon candidates -- adorable

Neighbors

Whales and diving

2010-07-25T14:53:00.008+12:00

For most of our trip to Tonga, we were on the island of Vava'u, the largest island in the northern island group. The main reason we went to Vava'u was to get the opportunity to go swimming with humpback whales, which come to the warm waters of Tonga to birth their calves.

By luck, on our first day out, we found two sleeping whales. In we went, as quiet as we could, to wait for them to come up for air. In the distance below us, we could see the outlines of two massive creatures. I have no idea how one of them slept hanging upside down!

Finally, the female needed to come up for air, and turned skyward with one swoop of her side fins (the ones that look like they should be arms) and then I think she realized she was being stalked by five snorkellers. Slowly, she turned to look at us. I saw the barnacles on her face, her gigantic eyeball, and the characteristic stripes on her gigantic belly. By then she was only about 10 feet away from us and I suddenly thought, "oh my gosh, what if this whale keeps swimming towards us??" And then I think she remembered what her great-grand-dad used to say about those terrible humans and with one kick of her tail she turned and left us for the deep.

Incredible! And sadly we have no photos because we didn't want to be distracted for the whole event, so you'll just have to imagine that one. Google humpback whales and I'm sure you'll find plenty of images online.

The diving around Vava'u was also pretty spectacular. With plenty of limestone islets around the harbor, we explored some impressive caverns and swim-throughs. We saw some of the usual suspects: little reef fish, eels, a white tip reef shark, and even a sea snake. We also caught a glimpse of a turtle (my favorite!) from the boat during a surface interval. Visibility was not too shabby; water temperature was about 26C -- just perfect as far as I'm concerned.

Tonga

2010-07-22T14:28:00.004+12:00

We headed to Tonga for a much needed break, landing on the southernmost large island called Tongatapu. Because we were flying to another island group the next day, we stayed at a place relatively close to the airport called the Keleti Resort. Its secluded beach was situated very close to some small blow holes.

All finished!

2010-07-08T14:26:00.000+12:00

This is what the living room now looks like:

Nice floor eh??

99% done

2010-06-07T09:25:00.000+12:00

All closed up except one tiny corner where we are investigating possible condensation issues whilst waiting for the plasterer! Thank goodness for three day weekends.

The last seven feet...

2010-06-05T09:18:00.000+12:00

After re-arranging our furniture for what we hope to be the last time, we started on the last seven feet of uninsulated wall in the dining room.

More insulation...

2010-05-30T08:59:00.000+12:00

This is the eastern wall of the house. You can see all the various layers in this photo: the black damp-proof paper, the sliver foil to reflect heat back in, and the insulation. Yay!

Aled's birthday

2010-05-29T09:07:00.003+12:00

Aled's turned 36! On his birthday we went to Martin Bosley's here in Wellington and enjoyed a fancy-schmancy 6 course "degustation". The venison was out of this world!! As were most of the other dishes, but the venison was my favorite. Aled's favorite was some fish with a bone marrow sauce of some sort. Something about the sauce turned me off a little...

But we also had a cake at Una and Travis's house the night before. It was some chocolate raspberry non-egg vegan cake from Moore Wilson's. Despite my skepticism at all the key missing ingredients, the cake was surprisingly very very tasty.

The final frontier

2010-05-17T18:59:00.002+12:00

This past weekend we started work on the last un-insulated room(s) -- the living and dining rooms. They run into each other so we've hung a plastic sheet to keep the dust out of the dining room and kitchen. This room went surprisingly fast given how large it is.

How can you tell if winter is coming??

2010-05-13T18:57:00.000+12:00

So we've got to hurry up with the insulation...

More insulation

2010-05-09T18:52:00.002+12:00

Hold onto your hats, these posts are getting more exciting by the week...

We are turning into Speedy Gonzales's in terms of insulation and did the one wall in our bedroom in just two days! Wow! Next week it will get double-glazed!!!!

Bedroom #2

2010-05-04T20:28:00.000+12:00

Insulated and painted whether it likes it or not!

View from the deck

2010-05-02T20:19:00.000+12:00

I love rainbows...