You know its Summer...

... when the lilliums are flowering! :P
Here is a selection from my garden this year :)

Orchids at Kaitoke

I took Fenn up to Kaitoke again today. It must be said that it was nice to spend some time with Fenn and not have to have a wet Jake with us in the car too!

It was pretty hot up there, but without a blue sky I wasn't quite tempted enough to go for a swim in the river...

We also found a rock that was covered in native orchids which was pretty cool! I've just done some research and they are Easter Orchids. They've only just started flowering so I'll have to go back in a few weeks and see them when they are looking flashest!

Round the table

What is the best thing about going to a Chinese restaurant?!
You can put your camera on the bit in the middle and spin it round to see everyone!
(well, that and the good food... errr I ate too much...)

First steps to a new tank...

I've decided that I want to set up a filterless planted tank, with only a few wee fish and enough plants to support them naturally - meaning I don't need a filter...
When I'm finished it'll look something like this:

Unfortunately I can't get another tank, so it means I need to sell of my frontosa and use that one. I've got the fish up on Trade Me, and I've started getting things sorted out for the new tank.

These include deciding how I'm going to maintain water circulation (even without a filter, it's important that the water can move around the tank) and getting what will the the centre piece of the tank - a nice bit of bog wood!

To collect some wood I drove up to a peat bog I know about on the coast, and took the dogs with me for a trip. Unfortunately I forgot that Jake (my flatties dog) is unable to resist the call of water, and as soon as he saw water today he jumped into it... The water he jumped into was a farm ditch, and as soon as he broke the surface, the smell erupted and I knew it was going to be bad! To make things worse he couldn't get out himself as it has steep sides, so I had to pull him out :S Needless to say he's had a bath now!

So here is the wood!

I've just washed it out and it's now soaking in lime for a bit to leach out the worst of the tannins (otherwise it'll make the water in my tank look like tea). I think you'll agree its a pretty flash piece!

I got a few extra bits too which I can sell on Trade Me to pay for the petrol (and a bit extra) woop woop!

The future of fish farms??!

Wow, I've just read a very cool article!
For those who don't want to read it, the gist it that;

a: fish have a memory that spans months NOT 3 seconds! (Yes I have been telling you all that for years, but it has once again been proven)

b: fish can be trained to come when called, therefore meaning that they could be trained, then released into the wild and called back for periodic feeding and harvesting.

This means that fish farms could operate without cages, and the problems associated with them (concentrated pollution from one point, transfer of disease in confined spaces etc)
Pretty cool ehh??!
This means fish farming could go from looking like this:

To this:

This is pretty exciting! Although I'm sure issues of the 'ownership' of the fish, especially if they are out in the sea, could be a problem... Its a pretty cool idea though, especially if the farm is in a semi-contained place like the lochs in Scotland...

Bring on the future!!

Yet another thesis trip

I went and did another sampling trip for my thesis today. For those who haven't been there, when I talk about having to bash through heaps of Raupo, this is what it looks like when you stand on top of my car - it's over 2m high and hard work!
Today I found some nice wee frogs, which made it more interesting!

I also found one in my gumboot, but after an hour of walking it wasn't such a pretty picture! :S

On the way home I also got a crack in my windscreen from a stone, which isn't so exciting... Lets see how long it takes them to find a replacement for my car!

The movie that you SHOULD NOT see this year...

Well I just got home from my weekly movie with EJ... unfortunately this week it really was a bad one, so bad in fact that I thought I'd warn you all...

DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, go and see The Spirit... It is TOTAL crap!
Not even if its free
Or even if someone pays you to go - don't do it!

We thought, from the shorts we saw last week, that it looked at least remotely interesting, with some cool visual effects and some eye candy kicking ass to boot - which is never a bad thing...

However, this was not the case. The story was totally non existent, The lead, although hot, was an absolute douche who completely failed to build an interesting character. The fact that every woman swooned at him could have been amusing, but just came across as being very sad... Basically I think it was the worse movie I've ever seen, and that's saying something!

Don't go there, for Gods sake!

Lab work

I've been doing a bit of lab work this week (for my thesis) and now I'm all caught up - HORAY!
this is one of the creatures I've found - it's the larvae of NZ's largest Diving Beetle, Onychohydrus hookeri, and it's massive!

This is the smallest one I found - you can tell its going to get huge from the size of its head - very disproportional like baby humans (and some adults humans, but this isn't a freak show so I'm not going there...)

And here is a big boy - when I caught this I was, at the time, paddling in its pond in nothing but shorts, and suddenly had the sensation that something (or things) were biting my feet and legs... Needless to say I exited as quickly as I could!

It was this big! *Tom holds his hands far apart* and to prove it, here is a photo I took with it and Fenn together - so you can see how big it is against her...

See!!!

Such a brave dog is little Fenn...

WARNING - slightly PG ;)

I heard this song for the first time last night at party...

Its by a band called The Lonely Island, who are pretty much the US answer to the kiwi legends Flight of the Concords...

Fireman Tom

This is Sky. She's a cat who comes to visit the garden centre when she's a bit lonely...
Normally she sits by the till and knocks things off the counter - which we don't mind cause she is pretty cute.

However, yesterday she decided to go for a walk up some of the shelving the the shop and got stuck! Awww!

As you can see she did have a good view of the shop!

However couldn't get down herself, so I had to help her. According to Matt that makes me very fireman-like, which I don't mind!

Next time you need a fireman in training, let me know (although I don't do calenders sorry!)

Its not every day...

that you get to have a ride in an Aston Martin db9!! I think my car was a bit jealous, and fair enough cause it was SMOKIN!

Thanks MD, you are a legend ;)

Summers day in Petone

Fenn is being lazy after 20 mins, but Jake still wants to play!

The Nevisport bag and the age of the wheel

I was on my way to work today, when I saw the newest advert by the airport in Welly. Seeing it suddenly reminded me that I'd forgotten to tell you all a story from my trip to the UK... So here you go you lucky things...

Here is the add:

Now I hear you ask... What does this sign have to do with your trip to the UK? or a Nevisport bag?! Let alone the age of the wheel... Well! Its a fairly long story if I tell it properly, but there are photos to make it interesting so don't lose hope!

You'll notice that the last 'Innovation in travel' on the sign is suitcase wheels - invented in 1972 (I never realised that it was that early - that's over a decade before I was born, wow!). So I saw this sign, and it made me realise that I'd forgotten to tell you about how (and why) I have now joined the 21st century, and have luggage with wheels! (well, it turns out everyone else has since the '70's, but I'm nothing if not a bit old fashioned...) Thinking back there are a few such wee tales from my trip that I haven't put on here yet - so watch out for more epic accounts!!

So why have I only just got luggage with wheels?
WELL!

It all goes back to the fact that I inherited (or basically claimed) a very cool Nevisport bag, back when I moved back to Scotland after primary school. The bag had been in the family for a few years, and today I managed to track down photographic evidence for those who don't believe me!


Mum is carrying the bag on a trip to the Farm!!

And this is me the next day - so you get an idea of how long ago it was! I think I was about 9...

So you can see this bag has been around for a while, and I used it for many holidays, to move to Scotland, as well as trips to the US, South Africa and a few others, as well as of course moving to NZ... So it's very dear to me! Apart from its awesome retro blue colour, the bag is also, of course, a Nevisport bag. Nevisport is a company set up by a family friend in Fort William, so it's got significance because of that too...

So anyway, fast forward 16 years, and Thomas goes on holiday back to the UK. Of course he takes his trusty Nevisport bag... (and yes, I was the Dr's companion for a time, we did naughty things... Don't tell Rose!)

Unfortunately I did too much shopping (as you can see from the extra bags I was carrying in that photo) and I tried to put too much weight into the trusty old bag... and this happened...

So now, I was on the other side of the world from home, and my need to buy pretty things had endangered the life of my trusty bag! What to do what to do??! Well of course, I was in Scotland, so the clear answer was go to Nevisport and buy a new one (and maybe one that isn't retro blue too - although there is nothing wrong with retro blue...)

So when I got to Fort William, I went and had a look in Nevisport... Unfortunately the Nevisport brand has been going through the eye of the needle recently - and most of the shops had been bought out - only the original one in Fort William still carries the name, and because of this, Nevisport branded bags are as rare as hens teeth. The only one they had left in the shop was this one... which opens at the top like a doctors bag, is very ugly and no where near big enough!

And so we get to the resolution of my problem, and story. I couldn't buy a Nevisport bag... I did buy a bag from Nevisport though, and it is a very cool Salomon bag (who did make my old one too) which isn't retro blue but modern and red, and even has WHEELS! Wow, I now own a bag with wheels, I feel so modern! (and a bit lazy I guess...)

And flash wheels too!

I did manage to fit my old bag inside my new one and bring it home too, so I'm sure she'll give me many more years of service, I just have to make sure I don't over work her again!


So that's the end of my story really... The sign I saw today made me remember several things: That I was WAY behind the times when I didn't have a bag with wheels... that I broke my bag that didn't have wheels... and that I now have a bag with wheels which is very nice!

However, just for the record, I do have friends and get out - in fact I went out with a friend tonight - I just thought I'd share this interesting (sort of) story with you...

Also I'm not bag obsessed... and the fact that I've got a picture of a bag from 1994 only goes to show that my old bag has been in my life a lot, and that I take WAY too many photos... which you should already know...
OK I'm finished now :)

Welcome to my office...

A few pics from work today - I love my job!
This is a Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) flower in the sun...

And this is the remains of a skink which I think a bird has spewed up!
Kind of gross I know, but very cool - you can even see his wee teeth...
Cute!!

Car bling

I decided to add a classy touch to my car, and the even classier part is that you can't see it until I drive fast!!
When my spoiler goes up (over 75k's) the sticker is revealed!

I had to cut it down a bit so it fitted where I wanted it and was hidden when the spoiler is down...

very cool ;)

I guess I just have to hope that the other drivers have better eyesight than me so they can see it... :P