So it seems I'm really getting behind at this - and No, not just because I'm lazy.... Spring's over, the Boog's been burnt, avalanches have stopped thundering in the valleys, the Alpe meadows are covered in flowers, and the Limmat River in Zurich is up to 23deg, perfect for a post-work dip. Looking back it seems i've been pretty busy, it feels like I've been busy. I guess that's the bright side of a limited contract - I really feel I can't take anything for granted... which on the downside means my boss really has got 150% out of me, I [View Full Entry]

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I've managed to fit a bit of snowboarding around a lot of working since I've been back. at the moment I'm sitting on a train to Zurich, full from dinner, and feeling pretty well worn after joining a few other ex-T&Ters for a weekend on the slopes of Lenzerheide. It's pretty good, but I'm still without a solid source of funding for work, so despite the full stomach and tired legs I'm still a bit stressed. You can only do so much though. Of the 6 weeks i've been back I've spent 2.5weekends working (a conference, and a huge EU proposal), [View Full Entry]

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One of the best things about travelling is knowing that you have a beautiful country to come home to any time you need... even if it is on the other side of the globe :) The chance to be a tour guide at home was brilliant! Especially given the opportunity to hang out/stay with so many friends - Asia was very impresed. Apologies to those we missed seeing.. with highlights such as the Canty Uni Geology Dept., a paddock in Inangahua, the patch of grass behind the Granity pub, and a crowded Lyall Bay flat - you might consider this as [View Full Entry]

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Autumn has just flown by. A little over a month ago I was wandering round a tiny mountain village "perspiring" in a t-shirt and shorts. However, a week later things really started to cool off. Anja and I went up to her family's mountain place in Breil for the weekend. Kidding (as you do), while walking through the five or six streets that made up the village, the cool (but not cold) mountain air suggested there was no way we were going to be snowed in for the weekend. It looked a whole lot more likely when we woke up and [View Full Entry]

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An e-mail arrived in my inbox this week suggesting a trip to visit a mountain landslide with another PhD student in the weekend… “sounds good” It went on to say the circumstances of the trip will require us to use a helicopter for access.. “yeah, sure, that’s fine” (“ha ha.. sweet!!! how can I sleep for the rest of the week?!”) So on Friday I took the train down to Wallis and grabbed dinner and a few beers with Freddy (the PhD student). Then on Saturday we got up early, took a quick train up to Randa, wandered to an old [View Full Entry]

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Hey, big news this time... I've got somewhere to live!!! And it's pretty cool, a ground floor apartment with a couple of Swiss girls (who have a taste for red wine and understand a Kiwi accent). It's great, i've got a room - stoked! The girls are pretty relaxed, and fully subscribe to the Swiss tradition of filling the house with plants - the kitchen's covered in creepers, and their rooms resemble micro jungles. I was dreading having to get used to an upper floor apartment disassociated in all but noise from the outside world, but this area's really green, and [View Full Entry]

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Buy the ticket, take the ride Dr H.S. Thompson With ticket in hand, I suddenly see a paradox in Hunter's statement.. How much of the ride is what you make of it? How often is the ticket just the licence to get started? This time my "ride" is with the Eng. Geologists here at ETH, and it's going to last for (probably) the next 3 years. I have a seat (with a table), a card to get me cheap(ish) food at the cafeteria, and a guarantee of money that should cover everything else - I hope! I was kinda homesick last [View Full Entry]

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Once back on the more normal tourist trail, we spent a couple of days eating in Olomouc and then the better part of a week eating, sleeping, and drinking in Prague. We tried to offset the aforementioned activities by high intensity sightseeing activities (climbing church towers and the like). Unfortunately the beautiful narrow, disorienting Old Town streets of the two cities cleverly hide a plethora of cool little bars & restaurants, and it was difficult to build up enough momentum between stops to burn off the previous meal. It was probably Asia & my last week together before we fly to [View Full Entry]

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We spent slightly over 24 hours in Ostrava, enough to say we’d “been” but little more. Actually we wouldn’t have spent any time there if it weren’t for the relevant stars coming into alignment at the right time. Concord Dawn, one of NZ’s DnB production legends, was to be playing in the city around the same time we were to be travelling past. It would’ve been rude not to stop really ;) Walking the wide, empty streets of Ostrava felt like a totally different world after our experience in Zywiec. The two destinations are almost exact polar opposites. While Zywiec has [View Full Entry]

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Ask a Pole, and disappointingly they’ll tell you it’s pronounced “cheshin”, not “cheese-in”.. and there isn’t any special cheese to be found :/ It’s a small border town divided by a shallow river, half in the Czech Republic, and half in Poland. These new EU id cards are a blessing for the border guards who work the bridges over the river. A quick look at photos and they can just wave everyone past - everyone that is, except us unfortunates from “other” places. Then they have to decide who’s turn it is, who’s got the keys to the office, who last [View Full Entry]

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