AS: Life downunder

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  • SarasaSarasa Shipmate
    Huia wrote: »
    Did a quick virtual visit to Kew - stupendous! I hope they have some Kauri trees growing there in the Arboretum - they aren't doing so well here. :cry:

    I don't know about Kauri trees, but there was a lot of stuff about rescuing plants from extinction by firstly doing some Boy's Own Aventure stuff absailing down inaccessable cliff or struggling through dense forest to find the last remain specimen of something and secondly doing amazing things in the lab. They got one tree back from extinction when all they had was a few cells.
  • APWAPW Shipmate Posts: 46
    Huia, our young kauri is doing really well. A spectacularly odd decision of the first owners of the house, since most of its relatives are at the other end of the North Island. Likewise our very fine young totara. But on the other hand we're a long way from the disease area, so it might be quite positive.
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Kew is one of my favourite places to hang out (along with Chelsea Physick Garden) in London. I was involved at one point with producing texts on the Global Plants Initiative -- Kew herbariums have more than 7-million specimens, and for anyone interested in rare plants from wild and lonely places, Kew is where to get a wider and deeper understanding of plant diversity. Plants have irresistible stories and new plants are being discovered every years in the Cameroons, Mozambique or Brazil.

    The other day, I saw that a Kew botanist, an FB contact, had posted an image of a tiny aquatic plant named Isoetes eludens that survives in seasonal rock pools and is 'eludens' because it is so hard to track down. It is also known as the quillwort that began life in the Namib desert more than 150-million years ago. The hollow spiked leaves or quills produce spores and so it is one of our most ancient ferns.
  • Fascinating, MaryLouise, even if it is hard to find and elusive.
  • I have coffee and a toasted sandwich in McDs downstairs while` apartment is open for inspection. I usually read something light and fluffy on Kindle while wait for 90 minutes. It can be noisy and distracting there. Today I forgot to check what was left that I had not read. Nothing, so I opened A Splash of Words by Mark Oakley. It had been recommended by a Shipmate but I cannot remember which one. Thank you, whoever you are. I am thoroughly enjoying it, both what he has to say and his manner of saying it.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    A friend of mine has a kauri growing in Christchurch too. I guess one advantage of trees planted outside of their region is that there will be stocks for breeding if a disease decimates their native area. I think of kaka beak which I read are rare in their area, but more common in gardens around NZ. I saw a lovely one on the Kew website.
  • ClimacusClimacus Shipmate
    They look beautiful, Huia. Lovely bird, too.

    Happy read Loth! It's grey, rainy and miserable here so its perfect inside activity weather. I'm practising my piano skills, though skill is not a word I'd use yet. Thankfully I have a patient teacher.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Yes, and it's great that Zealandia, the Karori wildlife sanctuary mentioned in the Wiki article, along with Wellington Zoo have such a successful breeding programme going. Like other parrots their beaks are really strong and can rip into trees, which I have read makes then less that popular with some people.

    Climacus your piano playing sounds like a brilliant inside activity. I need to get back to my needlework as I think being creative, even when it's a bit frustrating, is a brilliant antidote to the black slug.
  • Sure thing re needlework, Huiua. I am looking forward to meeting my knitting again. I was not careful when lots of things were packed and away it went into storage.
  • Huia wrote: »
    I need to get back to my needlework as I think being creative, even when it's a bit frustrating...

    Me too. My vision isn't what it used to be, but I have lots of projects that I need to get out of the closet and see about starting.
  • APWAPW Shipmate Posts: 46
    We have kaka in our garden at the moment - they're here, like all the birds, for the kohekohe blossom. Talk about dawn chorus, its more like dawn mega rock concert.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    We're getting a fair bit of avian rock-concert too - especially from a baby grackle who's learning to feed and sits on the deck squawking "feed me"* until mummy and daddy grackle come and give him some of the seeds they've chucked around from our bird-feeder.

    * well, I assume that's what he's saying - I'm not exactly fluent in grackle ... :smiley:
  • adampateradampater Shipmate Posts: 15
    I found my Cookie Monster avatar!!

    Hullo Yay... how are you? Are you all senior professional now??
  • LothlorienLothlorien Glory
    edited June 2018
    We have bees as well as chooks when move happens. Possibly permanent. At least till well into spring. It is years since I had three hives on kitchen roof in Sydney suburbia. No equipment around now. Happy to have them if only as boarders.

    Here is street view. It starts three house blocks down and moves up to driveway at right. Almost parklike and house can be just seen through trees

    https://www.instantstreetview.com/@-33.673129,150.608107,149.59h,-11.95p,1.59z
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    I don't feel so bad about my weather whinging. Apparently Christchurch has averaged less than one hour of sun per day so far in June. If it continues we will have an all time record (not the kind I want to have again).

    I put some towels out to dry, but they came in almost as damp. :anguished:
  • Horrible feeling, wet towels. I was lucky, picked the only fine day in days to do washing.wet again. I don’t complain about rain, but find working washing and getting it dry outside of inspections is hard. Would not worry me normall, but agent wants nothing hanging around. Even handsoap in bathroom has to be put away.
  • Lots of YayLots of Yay Shipmate Posts: 45
    Hey AP!

    I’m more senior than I was but still plugging through training.

    One day....
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Loth, that spaciousness is lovely.
  • One criterion was spacious with room for each of us Space not a room.
  • "Parklike" is the perfect description - lucky you!
  • Well, having told Lothlorien (near Sydney), Mr Curly (ditto) and Rowen (far east end of Victoria) that I might turn up in their neighbourhoods, the Uniting Church in its wisdom has appointed me to Kirwan, Townsville, North Queensland, at the top (and hot) end of the continent. First service a week on Sunday, 1 July. Wanna come up? Lovely weather this time of year.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    Call the Midwife!!
    Jacinda, PM and Clarke are at the hospital!!
    Push, push, push....
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Which means our longest serving MP is now the acting PM for the next 6 weeks while Jacinda is on parental leave.

    In other political news, David Seymour, Leader of the Act Party has gathered more votes on Dancing With the Stars than he did in the General Election. Maybe an alternative career option :wink:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Good luck in your new post, FD!
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    Best wishes FD.
  • Well FD, that is a bit far away for you to drop in for Sunday lunch. Will Yanni(??) be doing FIFO with you? Best wishes for you all.
  • Well, having told Lothlorien (near Sydney), Mr Curly (ditto) and Rowen (far east end of Victoria) that I might turn up in their neighbourhoods, the Uniting Church in its wisdom has appointed me to Kirwan, Townsville, North Queensland, at the top (and hot) end of the continent.
    I'm reminded of a time in my young life: Having just completed a jungle warfare course, I was straightaway posted to the desert.

  • Lothlorien wrote: »
    One criterion was spacious with room for each of us Space not a room.

    All the best for the move. We spent 20 happy years in Blackheath but was also happy to move away for the my retirement years. Winmalle is not as cold as the upper mts but it is much warmer than the upper mts but ever so slightly cooler than the 'Riff"!!

  • Winmalee to Faulconbridge, perhaps Woodford has a climate mentioned on council website as best in world, neither too hot nor too cold. Of course that is a subjective judgment. I too would prefer to be higher but several requirements prevent that. One especially being able fort DIL on call to be at Westmead children’s hospital within an hour.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    💛🎆Jacinda Ardern and Clark Gayford have a baby girl🎈😎.
  • Huia, you beat me to it. No name yet. Congratulations to them.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    See all that lovely wool and handknitting in the picture!
    And on the Solstice too!
    Congrats Aotearoa-New Zealand ...
  • APWAPW Shipmate Posts: 46
    Feeling very warm and fuzzy for them. Yay for babies.
  • Gee DGee D Shipmate
    And prayers that the little girl can have a reasonably normal life (whatever that may mean) free from the glare of publicity.
  • Galilit wrote: »
    See all that lovely wool and handknitting in the picture!
    And on the Solstice too!
    Congrats Aotearoa-New Zealand ...

    As a knitter. I too noted that.

  • Yay! Congrats and best wishes to them as they begin this most amazing adventure!
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Absolutely! :smiley:
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    There has been a "knit for Jacinda and Clark's baby" campaign with the products being given to hospitals and such organisations to be given out to babies in need. I think it was a brilliant idea.

    Frosty morning here, but the sun is out. YaY!
  • That’s a geat idea Huia. I have generally found that most crafters are very generous people.
  • sionisaissionisais Shipmate
    Our young(ish) preacher person started his sermon by asking us the "Most successful sports team of all time". It didn't take long for "The All Blacks" to be mentioned. There aren't many teams for which a) the sport and b) the country don't need to be named.

    He then asked for the top five players, so I named Colin Meads, to be sure of at least one. Nope, not even in the top ten he had! What is going on I thought? OK, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw were very good but I thought New Zealanders grew up on stories of Pinetree and co. Heck, even Michael Jones didn't get a mention.

    History is dead. That or I have an over romanticized view of applied violence. Oh, did I mention that our preacher person was from New Zealand?
  • RowenRowen Shipmate Posts: 15
    Goodness, I am cold.
    Worked in Bright a few days this week.
    I can now competently drive in wheel chains and deep snow.
    Back to my own warm bed last night.
    Goodness, it’s cold!!!
  • ClimacusClimacus Shipmate
    It's cool enough for me down here so I can only guess how cool it is up there! With the solstice past, summer is on its way...

    Best wishes FD!

    Looks lovely Loth.

    Congratulations Jacinda.

    I know nought about NZ rugby; though I did wish Dan Carter for a husband at some stage. :smile:
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    sionisais wrote: »

    History is dead. That or I have an over romanticized view of applied violence. Oh, did I mention that our preacher person was from New Zealand?

    Ask him if he believes that Bob Deans scored that try in 1905!

  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    When my brother moved to Christchurch he was silly enough to say in a pub that he didn't know who Robbie Deans was (a relation of Bob Deans mentioned above) he just about caused a riot, and it was only when he said that Mum had been born in Christchurch that he saved himself from being classed as a Jafa (Just another f Aucklander) and thus worthy of being abused.
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    Jacinda and Clark's baby has been named Neve Te Aroha Arden Gayford. Neve is an anglicised spelling of Niamh, Te Aroha means Love, but is also the name of the place Jacinda's family come from.
  • i wondered about the Neve, if it came from Niamh.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    It's also Italian for "snow" which is nice for Matariki, Solstice, and winter in general (even if not that far north!). Though I don't think the Italians use it as a name
  • I think I prefer Neve to Shyvonne which was given to one poor girl I once knew.
  • GalilitGalilit Shipmate
    I think she (J.A., PM) explained the spelling rather well ... speaking as someone who has to repeat and spell out my name A LOT
  • jedijudyjedijudy Heaven Host, 8th Day Host
    Rescuing a stray post from Heaven!
    Lothlorien wrote: »
    My friend with dementia managed to get to Church Parade for St John Ambulance today. Held at St Pauls Burwood as usual since Cathedral in Sydney turned them down many years ago. He is not a fan of anglicanism , goes to uniting church down here, Described St Pauls Burwood down here as stratospherically high. I saicd not really. He was quite uppity about it. There will be those on the boards who know what I mean. Certainly not a usual Sydney Anglican service.
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