Outdoor Wednesday: Fishing

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It was cold, it was wet, but nothing is stopping the man from his solitude.

My world Tue/Outdoor Wednesday: Red and Black in New Zealand.

Today is the first anniversary of the earthquake that struck New Zealand at 12.51 pm, and killed 185 people.

We join our Canterbury/Christchurch family by wearing red and black, their colour. The children had to give a gold coin donation to the Christchurch Relief Fund.

Here our children play on our newest equipment, the eagle's nest.





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outdoor wednesday: cart in Papua New Guinea

a cart similar to the one in Sarawak in Papua New Guinea





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Green Peace, No deep sea oil drilling

My No deep sea Oil Drilling sign was ripped away by an idiot. I happened to be nearby with my camera. I wanted to snap her photo and confront her. On second thoughts, I decided as a friend of Green Peace, I was too gentleman to be engaged in a scuffle. It won't be good if I appeared on National TV for breaking the peace.



This Green peace member stands at a street corner educating about protecting the earth. Sometimes, he is subjected to abuse like the person who ripped away my sign. But he always smiles.


Rena photo courtesy The NZ Herald.


Salvage crews have removed four containers of dangerous goods from the bow of the broken ship Rena.

Maritime New Zealand said the containers removed yesterday held empty tanks that were formerly used to store hydrogen peroxide.

Most of the chemical had escaped from the tanks - though residual traces remained, MNZ said.

Cargo recovery company Braemer Howells would use special procedures to process the dangerous goods when they were brought ashore.

Salvors have now recovered 43 containers from the Rena since it broke in two earlier this month.

About 400 containers are still in the mostly submerged stern section of the ship.

Here's an email from Green Peace.

Dear Ann,

A child's spade in the spilled oil2012 is a critical year for New Zealand’s coastlines.

As the Rena finally breaks up and Bay of Plenty residents brace themselves for more oil on local beaches, international oil giants see only the ‘opportunity’ of deep sea oil drilling around New Zealand’s coast lines.

An estimated 20,000 birds died after the shipwrecked Rena spilled 350 tonnes of oil into the Bay of Plenty. The death toll amongst other wildlife, like whales, seals and fish, will likely never be known.

A team from Greenpeace was there to help with the clean up but we never want to see oil on NZ beaches again.

A spill from a deep sea oil rig could be more than a thousand times worse than that seen from the Rena. A blowout similar to that experienced by the deep-water horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico would overwhelm New Zealand. Our beaches, marine life, tourism and fisheries industries are all at risk of devastation.

This year will be crucial to stopping the oil giants coming to our shores. To stop them we need your help.

Please make a real difference and join Greenpeace today.

Your donation will support our work to reverse the government’s policy of opening NZ waters to deep sea oil drilling.

Thank you again,

Calendar Cover Image- Maeve Doherty and the whole crew at Greenpeace

PS When you start a monthly donation of $30 or more, you will receive as a special welcome, a 2012 Greenpeace calendar with your first donation.




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Outdoors Wednesday: Windsurfing

It's been a wet wet holiday, and my son was hoping to have a fine day for his wind surfing lesson. When I woke up, it rained. But in the afternoon we got glorious sun.

We only had to walk 5 minutes to the beach where the surf lesson is. He had lessons from Pete Smith WNZ Master Instructor.http://www.aucklandwindsurfing.co.nz/

While Sam had his wind surfing lessons, others were doing paddle surfing. Sam enjoyed himself, and kept persuading me to, after all, we live on 5 minutes from the beach. The school is located just ten minutes from the city at Raymond St Reserve Pt Chev






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Outdoor Wednesday: Preserving natural habitat

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/us-landowners-in-canada-now-able-to-donate-property-for-conservation-136130673.html

Naughton and Nelson have been determined for years to donate a substantial chunk of a Georgian Bay island, Ingersoll Island, to Canadian conservation authorities. They wanted to keep the pristine land out of the hands of big developers as real estate prices soared in the area.

My friend King highlighted this article and asked if I would blog about it. She said, "We can't find such generous souls in our present society. These American set a very good example."

This makes me think seriously of "Paradise lost" my grand parents and my parents home had become. I show a photo of a creek in Auckland which I visited today. It is not unlike a creek I once grew up with. My grandparents and parents had rubber garden holdings, and fruit trees, and free range chicken and ducks. We used to swim in the creek, do our washing, collect water for our cooking.

Our fondest memory was how brave our oldest Sister Rose was when she saved my brother Charles from drowning. Alas, sadly, the properties do not belong to us now. The government ordered force block sale back to the government at a much lower price. Gone were our roots.





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Give the gift of sight

What a wonderful gift to give the gift of sight. These puppies are trained to help the seeing impaired. They, seeing-eye dogs cost a lot of money to train.

When I was young and growing up in Sarawak, Borneo, my Muslim neighbours told me that dogs are unclean. They refues to touch our dogs. I was in Nanyang University in Singapore, some Muslim staff made a big hooha about dog owners letting their dogs drink from water fountains.

As was a self appointed busy body of the campus and I asked some educated Muslim Professors how to deal with this situation. They, more moderate Muslims told me that they do have dogs in their home country, but they make sure that the dogs and humans do not eat and drink from the same utensils. They do however, protested that dog owners should not let their dogs drink from a drinking fountain.

I put my head on the chopping board a wrote a post suggesting that dog owners should not let their dogs drink from a human drinking fountain. I personally didn't want to drink from the fountain where a dog had licked on it.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_dog

Because Islam considers dogs in general to be unclean,[6] many Muslim taxi drivers and store owners have refused to accommodate customers who have guide dogs.[7][8][9] However, in 2003 the Sharia Council, based in the United Kingdom, ruled that the ban on dogs does not apply to those used for guide work.[10]

Despite that ruling, many Muslims continue to refuse access and see the pressure to allow the dogs as a restraint upon religious liberty.[citation needed] Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain has argued strongly that Sharia does not preclude working with guide dogs, and it is actually a duty under Sharia for a Muslim to help the blind.[citation needed]
[edit]

What do you think? When in Rome, do what the Romans do!





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Cars

Cars are very expensive in Singapore, when we bought our brand new Hyundai Sonata, with the same money, my brother Joseph joked that we could buy a merc in Australia.
What was worst, we barely had it for less than 5 years when we left, and we scrapped it for a fraction of the price we paid for it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_in_Singaporehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) in Singapore implemented an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) scheme to deter traffic congestion during peak hours at various roads. The ERP scheme requires electronic gantries to be placed over the road at designated locations and that cars be equipped with an In-Vehicle Unit (IU), a rectangular device pasted on the inside bottom right of the front windscreen from the driver's view, which will deduct the toll price from a CashCard. The CashCard must be inserted into the device, and to fail to do so is in violation of law. There is no charge for entering the area during certain non-peak times.
[edit] Parking

The cost of parking in many upgraded car parks can be deducted from the CashCard inserted in the IU of the vehicle, thus eliminating the need for the car park to have an attendant.



This rental car reminds me of the message to drive less, use public transport. The trouble with Auckland and her history of quarter acre houses meant that the city is spread out very widely. Compounded with our public transport of buses and trains are not very efficient. The water engineer and I work in different directions and at different times, so it hardly makes sense to use the public transport.

We did our bit of driving less not because we were greenies, but because it made economical sense.

New car buyers are required to buy a Certificate of Entitlement. The term "bidding" is often used but, in practice, new car dealers assist in the process. The fee of each successfully obtained COE is added on the costs of a new car based on engine size (usually lower for cars with 1600cc engine or smaller, and higher vice versa). The COE is valid for 10 years. There are provisions for a rebate of the COE if the car is scrapped before 10 years.

The COE costs have increased in recent years. The October 2011 COE for Category B (1601 cc engine and larger) was S$63,600.[9]
[edit]
Back before S was born, we drove a "weekend" car. The car registration plate was red, and by paying less money to the Government, we could drive our car only from Saturday afternoon to Monday before dawn. For the rest of the days, you need a twenty dollar coupon to use the car. It worked out quite well when we car-pooled with our friends driving the two girls in two separate schools. We would drive two days and I did my shopping on those days. Then D went to another school where we could not car pool, and we paid a lot of money to have it converted back to a normal car.

Here in Auckland, we are stuck between a shopping centre and a shopping mall. If I do not need to buy a lot of things, I trust my worthy bus NO 11. (my two pair of legs.)



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outdoor wednesday: Christmas in the Park.

http://vimeo.chttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifom/26659854

Christmas in Rocket Park is another Mt Albert Baptist community event where we raise funds for a local charity. In 2011 it will once again be Mt Albert Plunket.




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It is summer here in New Zealand. This Sunday, the Mt Albert Baptist church is organising her 3rd Christmas in Rocket Park. See you there.

Surf Boards

This photo is taken at Pt Chevalier Sailing Club. This is taken for J Barr. He posted his photo of a flag staff the same day I saw mine. I went back yesterday to take a better photo. The sailing club was closed and there was no flags.
http://sydney-city.blogspot.com/2011/10/millers-point-sydney-observatory_14.html




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http://www.3news.co.nz/Surf-designer-looking-to-win-accolades/tabid/412/articleID/206331/Default.aspx
A Kiwi student's in with a shout of grabbing what's known as an Oscar of design in New York.

New Zealand AUT Student Mike Grobelny is a finalist in the post-grad section of the international design excellence awards, with an eco-friendly surfboard hewn from locally-sourced sustainable wood. Paulownia is a fast growing, locally available wood.

Mike Grobelny's twin passions for surfing and sustainability pushed him to design his eco-conscious board from paulonia wood and bamboo. It eliminates the use of polyurethane foam, fibre glass and polyester resin.

“Surfers are conscious of the fact that what we ride or the materials we use to make products do affect the environment that we are in, and you know surfers are in touch with the environment a whole lot more obviously, being in the water a lot,” he says.

Veering away from the traditional materials of foam and fibreglass is all very well, but it still has to carve through waves.

So 3 News handed Mike's board to one of New Zealand's hottest surfers, winner of the Raglan super 16, Luke Hughes.

“You've got to fine tune your equipment before it gets out there, but I think no, definitely there's a place in the marketplace for this type of product, good mate,” he says.

Luke's dad Craig has seen it all before - he's been making boards for more than 40 years - but even he sees potential.

“I'm intrigued by the weight, but certainly the durability you know, we make a lot of very light high-performance surfboards but they wouldn't have the longevity that this board obviously has,” he says.

In recent years thousands of cheap Chinese plastic boards have flooded the market, but there could be potential for beautiful wooden boards that are both durable and ecologically sustainable.

The design innovation is the honeycombed interior. And it's easily copied because it's cut by computer, pointing the way for New Zealand to rule the waves in sustainable surfboards.

Win or lose at the design Oscars, Grobelny wants to develop his board and make one for Hughes too.

http://youtu.be/iq3Bww1w_ms

Warmer weather is coming up, it will be great if more surfers will use surf boards that are not made in a toxic environment.

'Worst ever environmental disaster' in New Zealand

Pictureque coast shore in Tauranga likened to this one at Pt Chevalier in Auckland is facing an environmental disaster.






Photo from Green peace.




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Today, I received an email from Green peace.
Hi Ann,

You've no doubt been watching in horror as the container ship Rena has continued to leak oil off the beautiful and fragile Bay of Plenty coastline.

Oiled seabirds have already been found dead close to the Rena, and there are grave fears for many of the area's marine species and sensitive ecology.

As I write this, reports have come in that the oil has already reached the shore.

Only a fraction of the oil on board the Rena has been released into the sea so far, and it's already caused a toxic 5 km slick. Bad weather is now approaching so the situation could get much worse.

The response so far has been slow and indecisive consisting mainly of spraying chemicals on the oil from a helicopter. The chemical "dispersant" being used, Corexit 9500, was used in the Gulf of Mexico last year and is known to be toxic to wildlife and humans. The fact is dispersants like Corexit don't clean up an oil spill, nothing can. They only put it out of sight and often add to the harm by increasing the overall toxic load that marine life is exposed to.

Despite the best efforts of those on the front line, New Zealand is simply not prepared for a disaster like this.

It should be seen as a bright red warning as John key's Government opens up new frontiers of oil drilling in New Zealand waters. Drilling at depths similar to the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico could begin as soon as next summer.

But if we can't control the spill from the Rena, then we have no chance at all of containing a deep water oil drilling disaster.

It's time to draw a line in the sand and say no to deep sea oil drilling.

80,000 people have already signed our 'No Deep Sea Oil Petition - Help push that up to 100.000 before the election. Share it on Facebook, email your friends and family, download a copy for work or school.

Nick Young and the whole crew at Greenpeace

PS. Greenpeace has offered our boats, boat drivers and volunteers to the Maritime Safety Authority, which is co-ordinating the response to the spill. For anyone in the area wanting to help, Maritime New Zealand is advising people not to try and work independently, but to call 0800 645 774, or 0800 333 771 to report oiled wildlife. The oil is highly toxic so should be avoided.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10758195

A massive oil spill from the stricken cargo ship off the coast of Tauranga has become New Zealand's worst ever maritime environmental disaster, the Government says.

Environment Minister Nick Smith this afternoon said oil had been pouring out of the Rena at "fivefold" the rate it had in the days after the ship grounded on Astrolabe Reef.

He said significant amounts of oil would start washing up on beaches around Mt Maunganui from tomorrow and into the coming weeks.

Environmental response coordinator Nick Quinn said oil spills arriving from tomorrow would be much more significant than the clumps that washed ashore earlier this week.

He warned residents to prepare for weeks of cleanup work on beaches in the area around Tauranga.

The "tragic" spill was inevitable since the Rena grounded carrying 1700 tonnes of oil at 2:20am last Wednesday, said Mr Smith.

He promised the Government would hold those who were responsible for the grounding to account.

Transport Minister Stephen Joyce said the cost of the Rena cleanup had already risen to millions of dollars.

Much of that cost would be borne by the vessel owners under maritime law, but there would be a cost to the New Zealand Government, he said.

He added that it was a high risk situation.