Since we’ve arrived in New Zealand, we have been conscientious about conservation and environmental issues here. While we do many things at home as well (solar water heating and heater on a timer, recycling, etc.), it is easy to see how government policy here in NZ also works to benefit the environment. As I have mentioned in a previous post, in order to have your refuse picked up on the side of the street, it must be in a bag that is approved by the Dunedin City Council. They run $6-8 per bag depending on size, and also have a…
Heat Wave, New Zealand-Style
It looks like what everyone has been telling us is true – that the weather has been spectacular by Aotearoa standards. Daily New Zealand News reports that it’s been been the best stretch of summer weather here since 1998-1999. To us it’s been like everyday weather back in Hilo. One drawback to our flat at this time is that there are only very small windows that can open in each room, and they don’t bring much relief from the stuffiness of the day. I’m sure that will be of little consequence when the weather turns cooler. DNZN also reports that…
Tourist Friday: Dunedin Peninsula
We spent an enjoyable afteroon on a tour of the Dunedin Peninsula, including a visit to Lanarch Castle (see pictures linked to the graphic at right), and Nature’s Wonders. Nature’s Wonders takes you on an ATV vehicle ride to see New Zealand Furry Seals basking in the sun along the shorline, as well as a view of some yellow-eyed penguins, which are apparently the rarest penguins of the 18 known species. Supposedly there are only about 400 left, and none in captivity as they reportedly do not fare well under those circumstances. We watched a few of them come up…
Is A Hawaiian Language Social Network Possible? It Seems So
Mahalo to Conn for pointing out the localizability of Ning. I’ve been searching for a platform on which to develop a Hawaiian language social network, and Ning just might do the trick. Ning is a social networking site co-founded by Mark Andreeson (of Netscape fame) and Gina Bianchini. It looks to have enough functionality to be attractive to our students who are using MySpace extensively, and includes enough interoperability with other services (Google Video, YouTube and Flickr) to be very useful. You can also directly upload videos (up to 100Mg each), photos (up to 10Mg each), have a blog and…
“Everywhere” = “USA Only” In AppleSpeak
Apparently “everywhere” in Apple parlance means “anywhere in the USA.” I tried accessing the new iTunes movie rentals here in New Zealand, and iTunes only shows movies available for purchase. While it doesn’t explain this fact on Apple’s website, it was mentioned on another site that the rentals are available in the US only, and that your credit card music have a US mailing address. Apparently you can’t rent movies overseas even if you have a US credit card and a US iTunes account. DVD purchases and rentals are expensive here, and this would have been a perfect option for…
First Week Has Flown By
It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Dunedin a week now (well, in about 10 hours). Having thoroughly explored the city center and areas to the south of our flat and the university, we headed out to a short strip on St. King Street to the north of us. There we found a McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Domino’s Pizza as well as a number of bars and a big liquor store. Must be the end of town the university students frequent on evenings (drinking age here is 18). There are some some McDonald’s and Subway Sandwiches and a…
First Saturday In Dunedin: More Walking
Marie and I headed out to the Dunedin train station near the city center today as they hold the Otogo Farmers’ Market there every Saturday. It’s about the same size or perhaps slightly smaller than the farmer’s market in Hilo, minus all of the new age, incense and crystal-type vendors you find there. The train station is about a 20 minute walk from our flat. The fruits and produce were nice, perhaps a bit more expensive than what we are used to. Cherries, apricots and berries are plentiful and expensive, but delicious. Sorry there are no pics, but we knew…
Network, Sweet Network!
We finally got wireless broadband at our flat today, so life is sweet. Just in time for the weekend. I’ve posted some pics of Dunedin and our place on my Flickr account. We also caught a performance of Rarotonga song and dance in the Octagon in the Dunedin City Center. I need to catch up on some office work this weekend, so we’ll probably do less exploring this weekend than we did during the week, but who knows.
Days Of Adjustment
Days two and three of our Dunedin adventure were very smooth. I spent some time in the International Student Office filing some paperwork, got our lease signed and paid for, and had a chance to meet with Dan Bendrups to talk about their department and what I’ll be doing for the next six months. After a grand tour of the facilities we got spent an hour talking about my Ph.d. proposal, and the possibility of changing the topic to something more related to my interest – Hawaiian language and its significance to Hawaiian music. While my proposal was to research…
Kia Ora and Aloha From Dunedin!
Greetings to all denizens of the Northern Hemisphere from as close to Antarctica as I ever hope to be! My apologies to everyone for not being in contact sooner. Things were quite hectic as we visited with some friends for our last few hours while in Honolulu on Friday evening. With a very early Saturday morning flight we had no time to read or send emails, and boarded our Auckland-bound flight. We arrived safely in Auckland on Sunday evening (Saturday for you folks on the correct side of the International Date Line) and encountered absolutely no issues with immigration or…