We set out in our new car to New Zealand's Northland. We stopped for an afternoon in Devonport, just across Torpedo Bay from Auckland, where we had a terrific view of the Auckland skyline.

Our first trip out into the country also gave us our first of what will surely be many sightings of New Zealand sheep. They were somehow not as excited to see us as we were to see them.

From Devonport we drove north along the east coast. The scenery in Northland is spectacular. We camped in a park on Hauriki Bay, where we were awakened before dawn by a multitude of bird calls that sounded really unnatural. The park is the site of a project to reintroduce native fauna to the area, so they were probably denser there than anywhere else on the island. So much for sleeping in!

We went on a hike from our campsite to a hilltop with a magnificent view of Hauriki Bay and then down to the beach, where there were a bunch of pohutukawa trees, some of the most bizarre-looking trees we've encountered yet.

Heading up the west coast of the North Island along the Tasman Sea, we drove through the Waipoua Forest, home to the world's oldest and largest living Kauri trees. We had to stop for about an hour to wait out a rainstorm, which was fitting for this rainforest. The vegetation was incredibly thick and was the most surprising combinations of evergreens, desert-like brush, and palms. The tallest and oldest single kauri tree, called Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest in Maori), scrapes the sky at over 50m tall and a whopping 14m wide.

Sadly, the camera battery died before we were able to capture the breathtaking views from the northern end of the park, looking out over a small valley filled with lush greenery. The sun, just coming out after a spell of rain, added even more to the scene. We stayed in a hostel not far from there, overlooking the Hokianga harbor, where as we watched the sun set that night, a seal was playing in the surf.

Only this time, their own citizens are the target! On 1st July, the French government decreed a new spy database, called Edvige, be set up. The decree spells out that the aim of the database is:

to centralize and analyze data on people aged 13 or above who are active in politics or labour unions, who play a significant institutional, economic, social or religious role, or who are "likely to breach public order."

Lovely! I'm sure NZ's domestic SIS and GCSB spy agencies are salivating at the thought of a database network to spy on their own citizens. Oh wait, they already share one with the US, UK, Canada and Australia - it's called Echelon, and includes the spy satellite dish at Waihopai (near Blenheim) that had it's direction-obscuring balloon deflated (see also my earlier post) a little while back by Catholic Worker peace activists. I bet they made the database already!

Time to junk these Keystone Cops spys. Save NZ $80m a year. The French government should ditch their Edvige before it bites them too.

Probably only funny if you have heard New Zealander's speak, funniest thing I have seen in ages.

The New Zealand economy is being hit by a salvo of negative factors and is in recession , the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research said today.

In its quarterly predictions report the NZIER said gross domestic product was likely to decline for three consecutive quarters. A decline in growth for two consecutive quarters is defined as a recession.

In the March 2008 quarter GDP declined by 0.3 per cent.

The NZIER cited its Quarterly Survey of Business Opinion as evidence that the economy would decline in both the June and September quarters.

But it went on to say "we believe the bottom of the cycle has been reached".

The current recession was unusual in that it was spread across the consumption, investment and external sectors of the economy.

Read more

We checked into our hotel where we would stay for the first two days and started planning our next moves in detail – then took a long and well-deserved nap.

We set out to see Auckland the next morning, starting off in beautiful Albert Park. The trees are amazing, and we got a good view of the Auckland skyline, including the Sky Tower. The spirit of adventure in NZ is so strong that people regularly jump off this building (okay, with wire harnesses, but still).

We were frustrated yet again by an art museum being remodeled (it’s not funny anymore, guys), so we had a delicious breakfast at a cute little cafe and checked out some of the shops and other neighborhood sights. We couldn’t resist going into a bar we found which was entirely made of ice, right down to the glasses our drinks were served in. It was wittily called Minus 5 (that's 23 in American degrees!). They suited us up in parkas, gloves and boots for our half hour in the freezer.

We walked down to Prince's Wharf and enjoyed looking out on the harbor of the City of Sails. It's windy and a little cold here, where spring is just beginning.

For those of you still drinking 'lager' you are missing out on a whole world out there that doesn't revolve around fizzy canned crap.

Macs don't put any preservatives in their beer, preservative 202 being a sulphate that some people (including me) get an allergic reaction to that blocks up the sinuses. This leads to nasty headaches the next day and comments about not being able to handle a few drinks. Why beer and wine brewers (the Aussies seem to think this ingredient is compulsory) put preservatives in their alcohol is beyond me. It perhaps shows lack of confidence in the level of consumption of their product - if it isn't going to be drunk in six months then surely they have a serious problem with the markets attitude to their product?

Being able to have a couple of beers with dinner without having a cracking headache and blocked nose the next day would be nice, and it is a relatively common complaint. Beer never used to have preservatives in it, it didn't need to have a shelf life of three years. Finally some companies are waking up to this, Macs being one of them.

If you have never tried 'Witbier' or White Beer -then here's a chance to try something that isn't lager. Wheat beer is brewed in the bottle and so there is a little bit of sediment in the bottom that you need to swirl around and pour into the glass. Wheat Beer is light, clean and refreshing, slightly sweeter than Lager although that is probably the wrong description and it shouldn't put you off. Neither should the 'tasting notes' on the back of the bottle which are obviously a bit of a piss take, but which some people might take seriously and Macs might just be a bit too clever here with their marketing - it doesn't taste like bubblegum!

The only downside is the bottle and a bit small, because this beer is so easy to drink you'll find one isn't enough. This beer doesn't have to be chugged back with blackened BBQ, it goes well with white meat dishes and isn't too bad with curry although that kills the taste a bit.

It's a nice one after you've spent the afternoon in the garden, poured into a chilled glass with some bread and cheese and things like those massive olives from Australia, it goes down a treat!

Most supermarkets have it at about $14-15 a half dozen, although every week there seem to be promos on so you can pick it up cheaper. It's as good as any of the the native German wheat beers which are about twice the price.

Now I admit I had been resisting Jimbo's because of their excruciating radio advertising, it took me a while to work out actually what they were advertising, I mean what was all that shit with people tooting their car horns? This is pet food folks, and the connection with Aucklanders stuck in traffic is???? Then again maybe they think there is a connection, was it meant to be funny? was there innuendo in there? WTF, I couldn't work it out, I was confused and irritated so I stayed away from it. 

It might have been better if I had stayed away, because it's turned one of our cats (the one training to be a Sumo Wrestler) into an annoying beast. 

It is now dawning on us what Jimbo's mean by 'irresitable', this stuff is like the cat world equivalent to crack cocaine. Any time anyone heads for the fridge there's the drumming of little feet as he comes charging across the kitchen... Christ mate, it's 2am, I'm going for a pee not coming out to feed your face!

If one of the local horses is found ripped to shreds we will have Jimbo's to blame because basically this cat food is just pure meat, and the one we've been getting is horse meat. Possibly it brings out the Big Cat buried deep within our 'festively plump' feline, and he pictures himself charging across the velt in pursuit of a wildebeest. At the moment the only charging he is doing is across the kitchen and under our feet, head butting out ankles and making plaintive mewing noises like we haven't been feeding him for... a few hours.

Anyway, if your cat more likely to think of themselves as a big game hunter rather than chasing a pressed chunk of meat flavoured cereal by product around, then ditch the TVP (textured vegetable protein - Soy in plain language) cereal fillers and all the other odd stuff that seems to get put into cat food, I suspect that a lot of pet food is in fact marketed towards the owners, stupid little bits of something spongy in gravy, cats wouldn't eat silly stuff like that is the wild. Grab a little punnet of Jimbo's at the supermarket, you'll be harassed every time you get near the kitchen, but your cat will thank you and apparently raw meat is better for their teeth. 

On the house front there is still no news - I guess the solicitors are busy beavering away sorting out the paperwork, fingers and toes still crossed and we have tentatively started to look at what is on the market over here again. House prices are apparently set to level out here as we go into spring and summer. There is likely to be a bit of a boost to prices in this area as people try to get their children into Hillcrest High School. The Primary school is also going to be zoned so people selling houses just round us will be able to command a higher price than elsewhere. It may well be worth us waiting another six months before we buy - but who knows? It's all a bit of a lottery isn't it? We are also quite tempted with being out of town a bit as we can get more land and possibly a bigger house for less money. But set that against having to drive everywhere, possibly having to have two cars and less independence for Lachlan in terms of being able to get around town with his friends. However, we haven't seen anything yet that shouts out to be bought and we have the advantage of not needing to rush into anything. We are quite happy where we are despite it feeling a bit small, but summer is on the way and we will be able to spend more time outside and less time cooped up indoors!

We managed to get out and about a bit this weekend - Aonghas is running in his school cross-country race on Friday in Hamilton Gardens so he took us to see the route he will have to run. The tree are really beautiful at the moment - I have never seen so many Magnolia trees in bloom. And so many different varieties too, I definitely want to get some for my garden when I have one! The Camellias are also lovely

though have suffered from the rain - their blooms seem quite delicate and many of them have rotted in the wet. They seem to bud but then get hit by the rain and don't quite get to open fully so the ground is just carpeted with fallen petals and whole flowers. The "Mighty Waikato" is still high and Aonghas was quite tickled by the picnic bench and trees up to their knees in water!

The sound of the birds is also amazing - as the mornings get lighter the birdsong is louder and more varied. We went to Rotoroa yesterday for a look around and were just blown away by the noise and number of water birds by the lake. We had a lovely day out but it was quite chilly over there though I spent a pleasant half hour dangling my feet in a hot pool wile the boys played on the playground. (I was trying not to see Lachlan with his broken arm hanging on the climbing frame!) We treated ourselves to lunch in the Mad Dog (or was it Fat Dog, can't remember) to celebrate 6 months over here. It was a good feed and definitely a place to recommend!

He's had the privilege of playing on some great teams, including winning a title in 2005 with the Spurs. The last couple of years he's played for the Suns. And now he's going to play with the Hornets. Some might say with career stats of 3.1ppg and 2 rpg a game that he doesn't deserve to be there. But I read an interview with him once where he talked about how his role with teams is as a big body to bang with in practise. He might not play much but he's now a 9 year vet and that's a pretty good milestone.

Here we go- faranji wistfully waving an Ethiopian flag, looking in the distance for a sign that says that she can move. This faranji is me- a brunette fat girl with a bung eye and a strange disposition, living in the shadow of numerous other people, just waiting for my chance to shine patiently.

I never used to like Ethiopia that much- I used to be scared to say 'Ethiopia' so I would say 'Abyssinia.' Now I have conqured my emotions and am ready to put my plans into action. Well, I plan on-the-go, which is why.

The reason why I did not like Ethiopia was I was brought up in a strict Christian upbringing, and all I heard about Ethiopia was the World Vision stuff and it made me feel sad and very annoyed. And we used to do those sympathy excersizes which I could never do because of my bad coordination at a young age. But I was only getting half the picture (probably because I don't have a full range of vision or my brain is demented) but now I have learned the sunnier side (all thirteen months of the year) of Ethiopia and I am now fully into it! I also keep an interest of Italy to remain upon the fence.

Right now I am emailing 2 Ethiopians from Addis Ababa and they have been involved in the same university. It is good to get some real news after all.

Back to the picture, the background is purple, because I like purple. I brought my Ethiopian Amharic Phrasebook from Lonely Planet and it was also purple. But now they've changed it to green. Must be a runner theme. Not very good for the unfortunate little fat girl who always struggled to complete the cross-country, coming last but at least finishing. I prefer purple... of course! That is no obvious runner's colour yet is general, but someone called it the 'gay colour' and we all know Ethiopia is a traditionalist country where homosexuality is illegal! I don't agree with it but I don't throw homosexuals in prison because they can be great people to know.

ps. My sister's coming home today. I'm gonna look bad if I don't drink enough coffee

Well, that's all from me today.

Have a good one :)

But that doesn't mean our compassion should only be directed towards the woman, and that's where I start to get antsy. When word of the Veitch allegations broke, people commenting publicly on the issue tended to end up (whether they liked it or not) in one of two camps - you either flat-out condemned him, or you were a fellow lady basher. Is it really so black and white though? Can you (should you be able to) sympathise with an alleged abuser, offer him some degree of compassion and understanding, without you both being tarred and feathered? Apparently not, which is how we ended up with a witch hunt.

A little background...

When I was 19 years old I began a relationship with a woman I'd met at work. She was older than me, pretty close to my height, and while she definitely wasn't 'man-ish', had been a gym-fanatic for many years so was very muscular. She was also a redhead, so I probably should have seen it coming. As relationships often do in one's late teens, things were great to start with but waned over time. After about ten months I ended the relationship (or so I thought) and moved on (or so I thought). It started with her phoning me out of the blue ('Hi, just wondering what you are you are up to'), progressed to her turning up on my door step at odd hours ('Hi, just passing by and thought I'd pop in'), and ended up with her sitting in her car outside my work most nights (we were no longer working together) , watching me finish up in case - God forbid - I went home with a waitress. I tried to be the nice guy, tried to understand that she had had her heart broken and do whatever it took to help her, but after a while it became unbearable. I asked her to leave me alone, without success. I stopped going to my old haunts and hanging out with mutual friends (formerly my friends), I asked the police to intervene, but was dismissed out of hand. Nothing worked - I was being stalked and there was nothing I could do about it. I can honestly say I feared for my life.

One night about four months after the stalking started I went out after work and arrived home with *a guest* at about 1am. I didn't see her car, but apparently she'd been waiting outside my house for hours. I'd been in bed for maybe five minutes when the front door of my house was kicked in, followed immediately by my bedroom door. The lights came on and there she was - screaming ('Time to go, bitch!), kicking, and dragging my guest out of the bed by her hair. I jumped up, ran for the door, broke the hold she had on my guest's hair, and knocked her to the floor with a right-hook.

Next day. Phone rings. All day. Highlights include nearly all of our mutual friends (now her friends) calling to tell me what a scumbag I was. Most of these people have never spoken to me since. I also vividly remember her calling to say she'd laid a complaint with the police (thankfully this turned out to be bullshit) and that I would soon be arrested. She also dropped by that afternoon to show off the black eye I'd given her, just to make sure I knew what she'd shown the cops. I was fucked. The only thing that kept me sane was the fact that the first person to hear about all this was my mother. I had called her in tears, right after the incident, racked with guilt and unable to comprehend how I had managed to do something so totally contrary to the way I had been brought up. Mum's response?

Next time you see that bitch, smack her again and tell her I said hi!

(Mums are awesome)

Why am I telling you this? Because, as much as I'm not sure I wanted to learn it this way, here's what it taught me:

• There are always at least two sides to every story; and
• In some circumstances it's ok to hit a woman
  
  (The latter point still doesn't sit well with me, but that doesn't mean it's not true)

Turn your clocks forward a couple of years. I'm now 22, back at varsity and totally loving my life. I start dating a woman I'm working with (a little advice for you, don't ever dip your pen in the company ink), and we end up living together - we didn't 'move in together' a such, I just ended up spending pretty much every night at her house. We both worked nights (but not the same nights), we both had friends (but not the same friends)... pretty soon we started to drift apart and one of us (her) realised it but the other one (me) didn't.

To this day I don't know if this was something I'd subconsciously picked up from my previous relationship (with the stalker) or just a latent trait kicking in when the going got rough, but I didn't handle the deteriorating relationship well. The more time we spent apart, the more I tried to be with her. Every mention or inference of another man drove me crazy. We argued all the time, said the most hurtful things to each other, and - despite the fact that she started staying out till all hours (I was convinced that this was because of me, as opposed to her simply wanting to spend time with her friends) - I continued to spend every night at her house.

One night things came to a head. We both had the night off work, but when I got home from varsity she wasn't there. Her mobile was on but went unanswered all night. I sat there waiting by the door until her key hit the lock a little after 3am. All my months of suspicion and insecurity boiled over. On a conscious level I was venting, but on a subconscious level I think I wanted her to feel all the hurt and insecurity I'd been harboring for so long. We argued. We cried. We broke up and I stormed out. But I wasn't done. When I reached the letterbox I turned on my heel and, when I found the front door locked, kicked it open. I don't remember what I had to say that was so important, but I said it. And while she was trying - rightfully so - to usher me out of her house I shoved her backwards and into a wall - not very hard, and without causing injury, but how much damage do you have to do for it to be a fucking stupid thing to do? I'll spare you the details of the aftermath, suffice to say that it turns out this woman had a much kinder soul than I'd given her credit for, and the Student Health counseling services are worth every penny of the extortionate U of A fees I paid borrowed for over the years.

This was a horrible experience and, again, I wish I could have come by the insight some other way. But nobody's perfect - hell, we're supposed to make mistakes, provided we learn from them. So here's one of the things I learned:

• Sometimes good people do bad things

There, it's done - I've just openly confessed my two darkest secrets. We all have skeletons in our closets, and I have many more - but none worse than these. I've shared them with you for a couple of reasons. First of all, I'm no longer ashamed of them. While I'm far from proud of my actions, if I could go back and undo what I did I'm not sure I would. I actually quite like the man I've become, and who am I but the product of my (good and bad) experiences?

Second, I'd like to challenge you all to attempt a similar introspection. All you fine upstanding folks who cried out for Tony Veitch's head when the rumors first surfaced - have you ever done anything you're ashamed of? No? In my opinion, anyone who's never crossed the line between right and wrong most likely has no idea where it is. Do you think Hilter had a guilty conscience? What about Osama Bin Laden? The rest of us sinners hopefully learn one or both of the following from our transgressions:

• How not to make the same mistake in future; and
• Other people are just as capable of fucking up as we are

So I was really vocal in supporting Veitchy when the rumors surfaced, and I still am. And it's not because I'm 'a fucking man too', or 'a lady basher like him' - it's because, regardless of how it came to be, I am a better person than those that wouldn't.

I called Vodafone yesterday, and got a "sorry, we are experiencing high call volume. Please call back" message. And then it hung up! No queue, no way to set up a call from Vodafone back to me to help. Just hanging up on me.

Today, I go to the Vodafone website (because it appears that their DNS servers are dead; thank goodness for OpenDNS) and I get:

If an ISP can't handle serving up their own homepage, are they really a good choice? If you're a business, would you even consider talking to them at this point?

The NZ government sets up a dubious immigration scheme to bring in foreign (mostly Pacific) seasonal workers to help farmers get staff at wages Kiwis won't work for (because they can't live on what the farmers want to pay).

A dodgy farmer boss hires 70+ Kiribati workers, but crams them in 20 to a house, and charges them for the privilege. From what were already low wages. Basically, after all the 'deductions' by the boss, the staff have to fly back to their home (having borrowed to fly here in the first place) without their wages.

And the Dept of Labour - generous souls that they are - think the Kiwi taxpayer should pay these Kiribati workers their wages BECAUSE THE DODGY BOSS WON'T!!! Why the heck can't the Labour Dept. pay the wages in the interim, and sue the living cr*p out of this filthy boss?

The victims here are the Kiribati workers, and they should be helped. But giving a gift to the shonky boss just makes NZ taxpayers victims too. Shameful, Dept of Labour. Truly shameful.

Listen to (or download) Colin's show (but note that Radio NZ have edited out Doug's "strong language" in the interview):
[audio=http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20080828-1107-New_Technology_with_Colin_Jackson_edited-048.mp3]

UPDATE: The more I think about this the more gobsmacking it is.   Does she mean she never put two and two together (to make $100,000), ie this and the Dail Jones story when he said NZ First had a deposit through its bank account of $100,000 but he didn't know where it came from?

I prefer my prime ministers to be competent and/or truthful.  Preferably both.  Just saying.

Exhibit A: "good parental correction", as in “Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offense in New Zealand?” Because, you know, that's a totally objective standard, contains no inherent assumptions, and will totally yield an accurate account of to what extent New Zealanders support beating kids.

Oh wait, no, see, what I did there was probably "twist other people's words" or "condemn all smacking as violence", which ... well, no apologies, 'cause it fucking is.**

Unless you're Exhibit B: "I smacked my children, but I’ve never hit them." Which is fine if a) you're a former rugby player and thus get an automatic hall pass on anything you do, and b) if you honestly think the only definition of "hit" is "hit really hard and not in a manner I thought was justified at the time".

Sorry, who's messing around with language now?

Oh, right, it's our naughty, naughty Government, which, in Exhibit C, is refusing "to acknowledge any sex." Because an evil lesbian conspiracy* has decided to change official court language: "Foreperson" instead of "Foreman" of a jury. Now, sure, there's a bit of life in the idea that we could just use Foreman or Forewoman as appropriate (I really don't want to be the one to try to tell Bob Jones about the fluidity of gender), but even putting aside identity issues, I can't wait to see Rodney Hide get bitchy about the amount of money it'd cost to print two versions of every single pertinent document.

...

Going off the topic, and others have already said it, but this really does appear to need repeating:

TWELVE-YEAR-OLDS CANNOT CONSENT TO SEX YOU FUCKING ASSHAT.

*I so wish I was making that up.

**But that's a post for another day, or several posts, since we apparently have to have a fucking referendum on this now.

NZ Police Commissioner Howard Broad should be sacked! After his taser trial report came out at the start of the year - just after the $8m bungled police hounding of Tuhoe activists in the terrorist Operation Eight - Broad did not want to ask for more lethal weapons, so he sat on the report.

Seeing an opportunity, Broad waited until the start of the scheduled 2008 election campaign to release the report, knowing that no political party wants to look soft on law and order in an election. And Broad tops it off with his sham 'consultation' with MPs, that lasts about 12 hours and just involves Broad listening to one parliamentary debate, without even waiting for MPs to give him written submissions.

Broad even says "I was not asking for the minister's approval, I wasn't asking for a serious piece of advice, ..." How shameful is that?

And who said an unelected, unaccountable police commissioner should decide what weapons he and his chums get to use on the public? 'By convention...' please!!!! This deranged 'convention' must be changed immediately. The new Policing Bill before parliament should include specific limitation on police, so they can only use weapons specified by full parliamentary approval in law. No more back-door sham consults by a police, who want the power of kings.

Which brings us to Greg O'Connor, the ranting, frothing Police Association head, who says:

Putting the decision to Parliament was a further erosion of the convention of the commissioner's operational independence of Parliament.

"What if Parliament had said no? What would he have done then?"

Mr O'Connor said it set a dangerous precedent if Parliament changed its mind on the Taser in the future, or if other controversial decisions would now be expected to be put to MPs.

What more can you say - 'Rant' O'Connor wants police to be above the law, able to choose their own weapons without oversight or approval by elected representatives of the people he wishes to inflict those weapons on. A monster.

Ironically, NZ First's Ron Mark put it best when he said:

he was "baffled" by the commissioner's eight months of hesitancy over what was a "no-brainer"

A no-brainer indeed! Any MP who lets cops have tasers shows no brains, any MP who lets cops decide what weapons they get has no brains, and anyone who tries to portray police as at risk (they're not - they are well down the ACC list of hazardous professions) has no brains. It is the NZ public who are at risk from increasingly well-armed and thuggish police. Not surprising, given their union head and commissioner, is it?

Update: The Mental Health Foundation has called on the police to not introduce tasers without first properly consulting them, as mental health sufferers are far more likely to suffer from police tasering. Will Howard Broad run another 12 hour 'consultation'?

Update 2: Oh my stars! It just gets worse. The NZ police 'study' they used to justify introducing tasers includes the gem that 39% of cops can't think of any downside to tasers. Hint to mindless cops - 300 deaths in the USA from taser use!

The report said 39 per cent of officers surveyed could identify no risks or disadvantages to having a Taser available to police officers. Some thought that the Taser posed no more risk than other tactical options.

The potential risks identified were that subjects may gain control of the Taser and use it to incapacitate officers, misuse of the device, and that some officers may become over reliant on Tasers, electing to use them when firearms should be used.

And the dangers the rest of these cops identified were all about dangers to them - nothing about dangers to the public or 'suspects' - the people these electro-shock weapons are aimed at. Frightening. Not one cop identified any risk to the people they use 50,000 volt guns on.

Update 3: Stunning!!! Police commissioner Howard Broad doesn't want to get tasered, even though he is happy to inflict this on every police officer who trains to use the taser, and he is happy for tasers to electro-shock any member of the public; old, young, mentally ill, unfit, heart conditions... Can anyone spell dangerous hypocrite? If Howard Broad won't front to get tasered live on 6pm TV news, then MPs should immediately ban tasers. Only fair.

Conversely I think if I was very likely to lose my job as an electorate MP and never realise my dream of being Prime Minister, to which I actually got a lot closer than most people, and sink into the ignominy I so despise, I might lie to the House too.  Well actually no I wouldn't.