On 24 May 2009 a grass roots organization arrange for a massing of protesters to demand that the NZ Transit Agency provide a pedestrian/bike lane on the Auckland Harbour Bridge - the bridge that connects the southern and northern halves of Auckland and currently the only way for pedestrians and cyclist to cross the bridge is by ferry. The protest just so happened to be the 50th anniversary of the opening of the bridge and the last time pedestrians could walk over the bridge. The organiser’s goal was to have the protestors walk across the bridge (closing the outside two lanes of the four north bound lanes). They had attempted to negotiate this with the transit agency and police. The police were willing to assist with the lane closures but the transit agency said “no way”. ... read more

The last great holiday break for new zealand until November is Easter weekend (easter friday and monday) or four full days. Since my last trip through this region I decided that I must return during autumn to see the spectacular colours of eastwoodhill arboretum. One of my biggest complaints about NZ is that we don't have proper north american falls. The colour here at this time of year is a dull green... none of the reds, oranges, yellows, pumkins, falling leaves brisk mornings and crisp evenings.... but 30 minutes drive outside Gisborne an idividual had a dream that he couldreproduce what he saw during WWI in england here in NZ on his farm.... 90 odd years later we have eastwoodhill - the southern hemisphere's large collection of norther hemisphere trees. http://www.eastwoodhill.org.nz/ I've kept the post short ... read more

A group of us made our way to Lisette's family batch.... read more

This is part one of two parts documenting my recent holiday in Tonga. I'll let the photos tell the story - so you'll need to open the photo - sorry - also note that there is more than one page of photos... so to see them all you'll need to go to page two. We left auckland on Saturday afternoon for Tongatapu Island for a two night stay, howerver had no reservations for accomodation on the island. We hadn't wanted to stay so long on the main island but had no choice as on Sundays nearly everything including the airports. We arrived on Tongatapu and put our faith in the hands of a doggy looking cab driver that promised us accomodation, we just had to get in his van and take a ride into town.... so ... read more

Delightful weekend that included a relaxed bar hoping and sky tower visit on Friday night, foosball competition (and might I add win) and then pizza making on Sunday. Marcos and I had been looking forward to the foos competition for the last few weeks. Two hours before the compeition M and I went to Foxes in the Viaduct - the only public location that I know of with a foos table and practiced. In the end it payed off... we won the 16 team compeitition. I guess going out to bars and playing foos does eventually pay off. Catch you all later. For some reason my new nickname is the Loud American - I can't imagine I'm anything like that....... read more