We have a new blog to chronicle this adventure: http://pulledalongbylunch.wordpress.com.

I won’t be updating this blog about the trip.

Andrew

Photos below stolen from Kirsten.

The value of this top-tier conservation land should nto be measured in dollar terms. The land, the trees, the rivers, the wildlife, all have some intrinsic value of being there. To say that this part of the Corramandel is worth this much, or the Western Paparoa ranges that much to the clean and green image, is incorrect. If we as a country keep our parks soley and cynically to make our export prices better, we’ll be found out very fast and will fail at it very quickly. There have already been articles in The Guardian and The Economist pointing out the degree of greenwash in Tourism New Zealand’s 100% pure branding, and this negative publicity will only continue as we continue not to practise what we preach with regards to our environmental purity. Especially if we view whatever environmental purity is left as having only a pure dollar value.

The problem for the conservation movements is that they started using the value of NZ’s clean and green image when trying to convince the rest of the country not to “develop” X, or to conserve Y. This is now being used by the government against them; the Prime Minister has just said essentially that we can get away with the recently-announced mining without excessive damage to our image. The value of the mining land is not in its part in New Zealand’s faux-greeen image, and it is a mistake from the conservationists to use this argument. It only encourages the current government and others to use it against them.

First is Deborah from Glendowie:

Processes are put in place for all users of the road to avoid risk. Cyclists need to be reminded that when riding on the road they need to follow the road code as any other motorist.

So they should have known the car would have run the stop sign and stopped for it?

Then SMR from Central Auckland, much less symapthetic:

If they think their arogance will win against a 2 tonne car, good luck to them.

Unless one of the new road rules is that might is right? Fritz from Auckland:

Make them sit a license test, like all other road users – maybe then they can pretend that it’s their “right” to ride on the roads.

Though presumably the driver had a license and that doesn’t seem to’ve helped much… Then Forrest from Remuera who admits the driver was wrong, just this time, but still doesn’t care:

This accident appears to be due to driver mishap but I have little sympathy for cyclists and their requests for more respect from motorists.

I cycle to work almost every day, and other times around town, and I think this is scary. This graffiti that used to be near my house (it has gone now) sums up a happy answer for everyone:

]]> http://cantplayguitar.wordpress.com/2009/09/27/where-is-our-cycle-lane/feed/ 9 Andrew Roxburgh cyclelane http://cantplayguitar.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/destroy-to-save/ http://cantplayguitar.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/destroy-to-save/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:37:00 +0000 Andrew Roxburgh http://cantplayguitar.wordpress.com/?p=202 ]]> I just read of how a hydro scheme on the lower Waitaki is going to benefit the local ecology because part of the project is going to do some habitat restoration. (Read here on Voxy). Habitat restoration = good. But it is flawed logic to say that hydro scheme = good because it happens to come with habitat restoration, no?  If I give you a kick in the teeth and throw in a free lollipop, it doesn’t make the kick in the teeth good.

Similar free lollipop promises have been made in the Mokihinui river damning project applications. Read Meridian here – the dam is not just a dam, it comes with 16km of new tramping track free! Green Party and Forest and Bird appear unconvinced.

I understand that the economics don’t really match in my silly metaphor – a kick in the teeth can’t fund a lollipop like electricity generation can fund good stuff – but surely those damn projects shouldn’t get approved because they promise some relatively minor sweeteners.

Arg, feeling even less eloequent than usual now but I’m sure you understand what I’m trying to say.

Mokihinui at sunset, as seen from flickr

If you’re not from Wellington, my aplogies. I’ll write a real post later instead of just sneakily putting someone else’s awesomeness online and claiming some credit for making you aware of it. Briefly the background is that the council are going to make the pedestrian hangout of 16 year olds who can’t quite get into pubs, Manners Mall, into a new bus lane. There was some dissent, culminating in a facebook group called Wellington Heart Manners Mall and lots of these posters round town. Council is going ahead with bus lane nonetheless.

The song gets extra points from me for calling my suburb, Newtown, “ghetto”, thereby giving me extra gentrification hardcore points.  Speaking of which, the other day one of my couchsurfers Thomas went to buy some shoes down the road and asked them if they had something fancy and American (the brand escapes me, but let’s pretend it was Teva) and the shop worker sneered at him and said “this is Newtown“. Extra points again, oh yeah.

I’m in Tauranga (zero ghetto points) for work these days and decided to celebrate a rare spare few hours this evening by going to see Elegy. It was an excellent way to pass a Sunday evening, being shown the loneliness that pretentiousness can only hide for so long once (conciousness of) mortality starts to kick in, and Penélope Cruz’s boobs.

Team Awesome and the mountain

y miserable. The Naki was no exception, but walking through blizzards provides a good reminder that you are alive. And it makes the hut that much more welcome at the end of the days… and luckily the Pouakai Circuit is straightforward and short enough that the end of the day was usually only a couple of hours after the beginning.

Don’t have many photos from the first two days as the weather wasn’t encouraging to get cameras out, so all these are from the Monday, which was clear, calm, and perfect. The mountain was proud and snowy and, again, perfect all day, the sun shone through the trees and onto the snow, the birds came out to play, and it was magic. I’ve spent only a few days over the years in the Taranaki but not seen the mountain through the clouds for more than a few minutes at a time, so to see it all day and in all its glory was fantastic. It’s perfectly formed but with all sorts of different detail standing out and I can’t wait to go back and walk round it or up it (the original plans for this weekend) one day soon.

Oh, the fun we had

Curling on a frozen tarn en route

God save the Queen.

For Dan’s coverage (and some of the same photos) read his blog here.

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you to advocate for the formation of Marine National Parks in New Zealand.

As you may be aware today June 8 is World Oceans Day. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the fact that though much of our land in New Zealand is officially protected in various ways, little of our sea is. I – and indeed most New Zealanders – take great pride in the degree to which we protect large portions of our land from development and human pressures, but am concerned with how little we do with our sea areas. I am sure that you are aware as the Minister for the Environment of the very real threats to many sea creatures that live within New Zealand’s waters. The creation of National Parks or equivalents in our oceans would be an important step towards protecting them. Given the huge area of New Zealand’s oceans I do not believe that setting significant portions of it aside for conservation purposes would have a detrimental economic affect, and I am sure that in the long term it would only have economic benefits, as well as the environmental.

Yours sincerely.

I’m not exactly sure if that’s the format or tone you’re meant to use when writing to a minister, and I’m doubtless missing some honourable sirs or other appelations, but luckily he’s meant to listen anyway. Didn’t get a response last time I emailed Mr Smith but I’ll let you know if I do here.

The Guardian has an interesting British-Euro centric article on oceans and fisheries here.

Frogblog an NZ perspective here.

Also on the local literary front, Patricia Grace’s Tu was also excellent. It’s about a soldier in the 28th (Māori) Battalion in WW2, fighting through North Africa and Italy, and about life back home, New Zealand, Māoridom, and Wellington in the ’40s, and various family and personal drama. Somehow mixing all those things into quite a short novel seems to fit and it is of personal interest since my grandfather fought in the same battles described in the book, and I’ve even visited some of the places. The sacrifices and struggles of Māori fighting in a very foriegn war on behalf of British New Zealanders – who still treat them badly at home – in the hope of acceptance is one of the novel’s themes, and an important one.

Completing my trifecta of good New Zealand novels lately was Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. (For the record I also read some books I don’t like so much, but don’t feel so inclined to write of them now.) It’s not really a New Zealand novel in that it has little to do with New Zealand, except for a surprise guest appearance of Wellington for about two pages, but it’s written by a kiwi so it counts here. It’s won some prizes and is about a teacher who reads Great Expectations to his class on a Bougainville during a civil war in the ’90s. Again a mix of themes, about love, and childhood, and the escapism of storytelling, and other stuff besides. Interestingly Jones narrates the story from Matilda, one of the student’s, points of views… while the teacher character Mt Watts, the only white man, who he could know best, remains largely unknown. But it works, and seeing both Dicken’s London and the developing civil war through the innocent child’s eyes is mysterious and enthralling.

On a separate front, I finally showed me the Monet the other day by visiting the Impressionists exhibition at Te Papa. Seems like the rest of NZ decided to too because there was a big queue from opening time and apparently it’s been like that every weekend for weeks. People even came from other cities to see it. Worth the wait for me, it was excellent. I’ve seen a few other Monet paintings around and about but to see a whole stack of them together here was cool, even having to fight through the elbows to see each one. I also restarted French lessons a few weeks ago, so I’ll be able to raise this blog to whole new levels of pretentiousness starting soon. Everyone knows that if you want to be cool and write in English you use as many French words as possible. Watch this space.

The forecast storms arrived on Sunday and we avoided walking in the hail but there was nowhere to hide from the rain. Doesn’t matter so much though when you’re walking out, towards to cosmopolitan delights of SH2 Wairarapa towns.

Then last weekend was one to stay in Wellington. You know what that means: getting drunk at night and going out for brunch in the daytime. To celebrate a few birthdays and an unwarmed flat we had a little bit of a party, attracting a world record 19 guests on facebook. It’s hard to believe, but you can actually get 19 people in one appartment at one time, but, well, just wait till they start drinking. But be warned: people talk to strangers, don’t wear shoes, sleep on the couch at 930pm, and assorted other madness ensues. Party aside I spent an inordinate amount of time around upper Cuba St with my hipster weekend guests, and it was fun.