What is going on in 2012?

Year 2011 is coming to an end in a couple of days.The year 2011 definitely has its ups and downs. I finished my Masters, started diving more consistently in NZ, learned how to mend our own drysuit and service my own regulators. There were definitely frustrations - immigration NZ, the university's poor administrative structure. Also, there is a constant struggling with finances - there are so many financial commitments, but there is never enough income!

Year 2012 brings new challenges  -

• PhD study. Challenges with the research for my PhD is to find the perfect  and yet affordable  location for field and lab research. There are a couple of professors lined up but it is hard to finalize which professors to collaborate more closely. I will have to seek our more research funding and scholarship opportunities.
• Diving. In the year 2012, Hannah and I are going for our long-awaited Trimix class. This class will open up more opportunities for our diving. We will be more involved in the TechDive NZ cave exploration - Blue Creek resurgence. 
• Tutorship. I will start teaching in the BIOSCI lab after 2 years of demonstrating. I am definitely looking forward to it. 
• Fitness. Wow... age is a horrible thing!... I used to be able to go through weeks without much sleep, and can bounce back easily from a illness...now I can barely keep myself awake after 11pm! And when I fall sick, I FALL SICK! This year, I have to be more diligent keeping myself fit.
• Family.. the Chinese have a great saying which I never really appreciate until now. When you are young, you can't wait to leave home. When you are adult, you want to have a home. When you are old, you just want to go home. In 2012, I am going to be in closer contacts with my family (both old and new family members :) )

and goals -

1. Finish and publish the two papers I have been working on for the past 3 months.
2. Portions of the PhD research to be done : location recce, collaborators negotiation, literature review, experimental design.
3. Publish at least one paper from my PhD research before end of 2012.
4. Pass our GUE fundamentals and Rec 3 (Trimix).
5. Conduct at least one exploration dive on the Blue Creek resurgence with TechDive NZ.
6. Clock a total of at least 40 recreational dives and 10 technical dives. 
7. Teach 2 labs per week (this will help with the monthly finances as well :) )
8. Stick to a strict exercise regime ( I already have a regime, but sticking to it is another story :P)
9. Run the Auckland Marathon.
10. Call home (Singapore) at least once every fortnight.
11. Go home (Singapore) at least one time in year 2012 (not counting the wedding date!).
12. Go back to Iron Mountain.

Happy new year.

Road to the Russian - Day 3

The morning of Day 3 dawned rainy and windy. We were excited however, because we had managed to find a picnic area in Kaitoke Regional Park that included stoves and a sheltered area. So we cooked a REAL breakfast of eggs and fried lunchmeat, and just as we were sitting down, the sun came out.

Life doesn't get much better than this...

After our morning meal we set out to do that thing that enticed me to (have Sonny) drive all the way out here . . . VISIT RIVENDELL!!!

The weather went back to crappy, but still. RIVENDELL!

Now the actual Rivendell in the movie was mostly cg, but this is where the took the forests and the trees in the close ups from, and let me assure you, you can tell. This was a very old forest, and I'm sure on a sunnier day it would have been even more apparent. As it was though, we went on a very nice short tramp and I may have squealed several times. At things like this:

Or the amazing trees everywhere, especially the ones I could get inside! Like this:

We even found a hobbit hole, though neither one of us could be persuaded to venture inside for a photo. It was just too dark and scary looking.

Finally, my favorite thing of the place had to be the swing bridge on which I irked Sonny by jumping up and down on repeatedly.

Eventually though, we had to leave this elvish wonderland and embark on the next leg of our journey, the voyage to the South Island. This was accomplished on the biggest boat I have ever boarded, the Interislander ferry. Their tag line is something about the journey being the destination, and after i completed the sailing, its easy to see why. It truly is a gorgeous ride. First however, we had to wait in line for about an hour to board the boat. While we were waiting we looked over to see an elderly couple in the RV next to us making tea and re-heating pizza. Not to be out-done we whipped out our stove and made ramen. Pretty sure they were jealous.

Eventually the boat arrived (about an hour late) and we were allowed to board, which actually entailed driving on this very high ramp and then maneuvering around the semis. It was an exciting experience. We then had to get out of the car and head upstairs to the passenger lounge deck, which was huge and included a restaurant, a cafeteria, a bar and at least 8 different rooms to sit in, as well as a movie theater, a store and a children's playground.

Big ol boat

 We spent the journey touring the entire thing and taking photos of the pretty. Well I did. Sonny slept, cause thats what he does on ferries. Three hours later, we finally reached . . . 

The South Island!

We had no plans whatsoever when it came to the South Island, and unfortunately my go-to help, the i-site was closed. So we found a road, Queen Charlotte's Drive that had "scenic route" in parentheses and off we set. And it was scenic, let me tell you,  but also terrifying and curvy. About an 2 hours and maybe 30 km later we stumbled upon this:

Yeah thats Fawkes, making his debut

Apparently the Marlborough Sounds is the Green-lipped Mussell capital of the world, and this little restaurant is THE place to eat them. So we had our biggest splurge of the trip and eat the mussel platter for two paired with some sauvignon blanc from the nearby Marlborough vineyards. Local food at its best.

Nummy

After dinner, we ambled on down the road some more, happy and full. We were hoping to find a campground that had showers and other amenities as it had been a few days and we needed to wash both ourselves and the dishes properly. We succeeded and found an adorable DOC site at a place called Pelorus Bridge, located on the Pelorus River. More on that tomorrow.

Money saving tip

 Instead of throwing away your spring onion, put them in water (provided the roots are still there). New shoots will grow. Be careful to just have enough water to cover the roots and not soak the whole bottom part in water as it may cause the plant to rot. Depending on your usage, you may end up with a month's supply! I left the spring onions sitting in a jar of water and imagine how happy I was when I found this when we got back from the road trip.

New shoot growing from "chopped" 

spring onions