Fortrose NZ

Keynote speech in NZ Parliament

2011-12-27T00:10:00.001-08:00

It looks as if the Green Party's time has come - NZ has 13 or 14 MPs
in a House of 120.. this is a heartfelt speech from the co-leader :
http://www.greens.org.nz/speeches/address-reply-speech-21-december-2011

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Rhino River Lodge by Meru National Park 27 Nov 2010

2011-11-26T19:42:00.001-08:00

27 Nov 2010
Can it really be Saturday? Another early start after a cuppa on a
tray, off we went into the park with Raphael and Joel about five hours
– wow.. highlights were hippos – two out of the water – and one hippo
and croc as we breakfasted by picnic. Oh we came across a lost lion
cub and told the park people about it. It was skinny. I’d have left it
alone: ‘survival of the fittest’.

Yes I have had enough driving for a while but am full of thoughts and
tunes and in some ways have the emotions of my younger self - so many
landscapes, scenes, people, animals in the last few days. Carolyn is a
peachy companion, so cheerful and responsive, smiley and genuinely
charming. She’s a bit quieter today. We had a swim and lunch and I’m
enjoying the pool and waterfall below me, sunlight through the palms
and other trees, the sound of Kindani river and crickets.
The highlight of the day was still to come; at 4pm we set off in
picnic mood with Joel and Raphael, out of the compound and through
some km of shambas on an unbelievable little track, horrendous deep
stream crossing, black cotton soil, fortunately much drier now. Round
and round, up and down past lots of corn and beans and trees and huts
and people. Most stared, but smiled and waved as soon as we did. It
was incredibly picturesque. Raphael had to stay with the vehicle 1hr
45min while we went at a slow and pleasant pace walking up the hill
and round the curving rim. We had water and cashews at the top – there
was beer in Joel’s bag but we didn’t think it wise on a very bumpy
non-track, all lava with grass and ?beans? growing wild. Joel said
the community had burned the hill to stop the Boran invading with
their cattle, as they do when it gets dry in the north. The view was
superb. The hill is Kilimakaero, means White Hill in Meru, and he says
it’s sacred. Joel, b. 1974, has three children, 13 down to 3, and they
live in Nyahururu so he only sees them when on leave. He’s been with
Andrea Maggi for some years and moved with him to Rhino River Lodge
when it opened ~ a year ago. The evening shadows made the landscape
glow and then we heard drums way below (practising for church next
day?)! Range upon range of hills away to the west, open all the way
around. This outing was a highlight for both of us. Back to the lodge
for wine and chat with the two German women, dinner and a quiet night.
28 November, Sunday

A swim first thing – ten lengths, shower, lovely tea, and pack, then
cooked breakfast and off at 0930 – with a passenger Christine and her
toddler Prudence who is to get ears seen to in Nairobi. Gorgeous
child, dimpled, smiley, no complaints all the way – home 4.30pm – last
hour or two particularly horrid traffic. One thing atrocious road
behaviour at 50kph, another level of scariness on dual carriageway at
100kph. The first half of the day was again most picturesque with
people in their Sunday frocks and sometimes we heard blaring from the
zillions of churches. Up and down – good quality road – I asked so
many questions - discussed religion, Mugabe, house deposits and
mortgages, domestic violence (not acceptable here now either). I
persuaded Christine to sing a couple of times, Raphael too. CA slept a
lot of the way. Great to get home to welcome from Maggie, tea, shower
and Musa (home last night from the Hajj). Dog peed on our luggage left
at the door!

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Safari from Samburu to Sweetwaters (Ol Pejeta) 25/26 Nov 2010 with Carolyn

2011-11-25T20:20:00.001-08:00

25 Nov Thursday
A very early walk for me, followed by a very young, very short person
in big boots, a security lad, on a circuit back to the concrete path
– how embarrassing for me in my nightie with a wrap. Early swim,
breakfast and we left at 0900, we did a meander out to Archer’s Post –
had company of a sweet-faced fellow in ranger uniform, heading home to
Meru – he was to hand in his uniform at Archer’s Post. Raphael said ‘
I think that is a good man’.
I picked up a couple of quartz pebbles from the road. Sigh!
Enjoyable drive on great tarseal to Timau where it’s back to potholes.
We saw the mountain as we hit the highest point. Just love those green
acres stretching into the distance. But soon back to shambas and
townships and into Nanyuki; we were anxious to get Kshs for park fees
and to buy water. Raphael went to fill up while we had a latte and I
talked to a man from Lewa Downs, recently made famous as where Prince
William and Kate Middleton just got engaged. He described himself as a
3rd generation Kenyan but sounded South African to my ears. He had not
heard of Rhino River Camp in Meru NP.
Straight after Nanyuki at Equator sign turn west to Ol Pejeta
Conservancy and “Sweetwaters’ which is a Serena lodge. Animals
everywhere, huge plain - warthog, giraffe, buffalo, zebra, antelope,
and rhino. We drove and drove…….. stopped at Morani rhino place for
late picnic lunch with superb starlings and a guide to see Baraka a
blind black rhino. Lovely bones of all the big animals, also horn and
dung examples, and exposee of community interaction. They have cattle
grazing integrated with wildlife, and also support individual youth.
Next stop was the chimp sanctuary – 41 – every one rescued from
captivity – and from all over, eg Sudan, Rwanda, etc. Each story told
individually. Two lots kept separate and contraception practised. We
mixed with a huge mob of gorgeous schoolchildren and a big truck with
American ‘volunteers’. Exhausted arriving at Sweetwaters but thrilled
with its appearance. Lovely open public rooms, lawns smooth, long
semi-circle of permanent tents – ours was no 16. Animals already at
waterhole but - ‘we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet’! Carolyn and I had a beer
and a sit down – it was quite chilly. As we wandered toward the lodge
we saw seats to observe the waterhole and boy was it technicolour
super! Zebra, buffalo, a rhino, waterbuck, and birds catching lit-up
insects. Our own dinner was another spectacular treat – every style
you could think of . We didn’t even get to the choose-your-own-stirfry
queue there was so much else.

26 November Friday.
Carolyn had a game drive on her own with Raphael. They saw cheetah and
hippo. I had a long lie until 0730, met her at breakfast, another
fantastical spread. Altogether we are delighted with Sweetwaters.
Back through Nanyuki – by the way the road into Ol Pejeta is
excruciating; the ditch is sometimes smoother. It’s all farmed, fenced
off into small blocks. Back over the shoulder of the mountain to the
turnoff for Meru. CA bought a batik of antelope. Very picturesque
shamba country, many hills, all green and lush. Busy busy busy,. Some
townships had gatherings of men; Raphael said they were waiting to
sell qat (or khat, = miraa) a leaf chewed particularly by the Somalis.
It rained a bit and became heavy as we entered the park. There were
100s of people heading on foot towards some marquees. President Kibaki
was due to arrive to open an extension of rhino sanctuary + declare
the area free of rinderpest.
Well we got into the park and it was a mudhole! Black cotton soil. We
went sideways straight away but that was the only time..driver only
used 4wd when absolutely necessary, saving fuel. He’s extremely good
and never put a foot wrong. It was a long drive though. We stopped for
a picnic lunch along the very high long fence between the rhino
sanctuary and the outside world. It’s all bushes so we didn’t see
anything much, just the muddy tracks.. We got a bit of a shock to see
our camp, it’s in deep shade by a stream. Tented bandas – lovely but
seemed dark and closed-in. One very large bed which they changed for
two almost double-sized beds. Carolyn was keen to get the nets down!
Andrea Maggi is the owner, he is from Italy and has been many years in
Meru Park – this camp is just a year old. So we had a cuppa and –
blimey – climbed in the truck for a game drive;…. taking Joel the
camp’s guide.- another splendid young chap. Saw ~ 8 rhino incl a pair
spattered with egret dung – ('white rhino' :~)) the animals here are
relatively shy to vehicles. Only other guests, two German ladies one
owns a Nairobi restaurant Rustique, the other her schoolfriend whom
she tracked down on GPS. Andrea chatted to us over dinner.. Slept
well until 0300.

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Kenya diary - a year ago today 24 Nov 2010

2011-11-23T12:51:00.001-08:00

24 Nov Wed. at Sopa Lodge in Samburu.
Up early with a concrete walk to end of bandas, reflecting on the
value of going to a National Park, where you can’t get out of a
vehicle or walk on the red earth! Mt Kenya was clear, if distant.
Early morning so gorgeous. We had a three-hour game drive and saw not
much – warthogs, dikdiks, a lone buffalo. Carolyn kept the enthusiasm
up – she does it brilliantly. She’s really a splendid traveller. We
stopped at Samburu Lodge by the river – this is the place I remember
so well – crocodiles still lying close by on the bank waiting to be
fed in the evening. I gazed into the soul of the nearest one, his
clear green eye looked back. I said Hello from his cousin the tuatara
Henry in Invercargill.
So------ swimming pol – brrr after hot skin – delicious. Not too many
observers, just as well. I tried out the sun-lounge under the shade of
the intriguing Calotropis procera or French cotton tree – it has huge
leaves, huge gourd-like ball, small flower umbel, is not endemic.
Carolyn defied my advice again and sunbathed in full sun! We had a
very good lunch and sat quietly, a shower passing away in the west,
and I can smell a good smell of African earth. There are dikdiks
everywhere, all the animals are completely unfazed by humans and
trucks.
Our evening drive was memorable for finding a leopard posing in a dead
tree: small leopard, small tree, and the sunset feeling as we stood in
the open back quietly winding home up the hill to Sopa, in no hurry.
Silhouette of acacia with weaver nests hanging. Timeless!

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Diary: start of first safari with Carolyn a year ago today.

2011-11-22T16:19:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

23 Nov 2010 Tuesday
A great start, with driver at Maggie's by 0620, we drove and drove
and drove it seemed endlessly, through people and cars en route to
work. I asked to stop at Thika Falls, the Blue Posts hotel, we had a
coffee and walk – two falls, one changed by cement, the other natural,
water a thick red pool.

Next stop was at a curio place, then Naro Moru
River Lodge which looks wonderful. Blue petals on grass, a conference
on ‘Child Protection’ burbling stream,. And ??? my memories of several
stays there. Pronounce it quickly: ‘Naro Moru River Lodge’!

Next stop Trout Tree, a trout farm with restaurant. Fortunately too
early for lunch, we had a cold beer. I didn’t like it that much, tho'
Carolyn did.. Past the equator sign (I bought a blue kikoi from a girl
with desperation in her eyes). On to Nanyuki, my choice Sportsman’s
Arms, Raphael said it was, yes, the main place in town. It wasn’t very
good! We were very happy though and had another beer.

Our last stop was another curio shop, donation for toilet and CA
bought two necklaces. Long trail (road very good from about Timau) to
Isiolo then Archer’s Post and into park at last. They took my money
usd240 and gave it back! Said no receipt book. Almost at once we saw
gerenuk! And one performed, vertical on hind legs. Oryx, Grevy’s
zebra, reticulated giraffes crossed the road. Elephant! Lots. In
water, and walking between two trucks, including a very young baby,
ignoring us absolutely. Impala, Grant’s gazelle, lilac breasted
roller, vulturine guinea fowl, helmeted guines fowl, African ----- and
small hornbill and finally two lions romping with a warthog carcass.
Not close.

Very tired by arrival at Sopa Lodge but good shower and buffet dinner
after two good wines – they said no insects so we sat outdoors – it
was splendid. I have to admit it is a relief to get away from the
pressure of humanity. The slopes of Timau in one part still look the
same – wonderful large spreads of crops. Green and healthy. Mountain
was clouded. Timau township pretty bad.

Kenya_(186).AVI Watch on Posterous

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awful subject -- needs your consideration

2011-11-20T23:11:00.001-08:00

http://www.good.is/post/the-silicon-valley-of-shit-nairobi-is-ground-zero-for...
my comment is 'It's not only third world that needs new solutions to
human waste - it's a horrible waste of the world's fresh water to be
flushing our lovely white western toilets a zillion times a day.'

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a picture for you

2011-10-26T13:58:00.001-07:00

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Day 1 Flight 1 from latest Africa trip

2011-10-22T02:20:00.001-07:00

2011 09 13 africa trip3 sound.wma Listen on Posterous

attaching a sound file, as experiment.

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Whales in South Africa

2011-09-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

Spring is stirring up the southern right whales in the Cape, they are
schooling in Hermanus area, showing off to each other and to us the
admirers, right close into shore. The scenery on that drive is
terrific, mountains down to the Ocean.

Yesterday on the western coast we saw bontebok, some bat-eared foxes,
many eland, a voracious swarm of hairy scary tiger-striped
caterpillars, and masses of wild flowers of all description, shape and
colour.

So far I have caught up with:- my very earliest playmate with whom I
started school at age four, a classmate from Fortrose Academy, two
friends from Edinburgh University.. and fittingly I get to meet a
classmate from Strathclyde Uni tomorrow.. 1967-8!! Some live here and
some are visiting, like me.

South Africa roads at least around the two biggest cities appear to be
fast and efficient. Beautiful surfaces, Eat yr heart out Kenya.

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Sunshine in Johannesburg

2011-09-16T00:21:00.001-07:00

Day One in JNB way above expectation. Sue is fantastic company. Two
lifetimes to compare, coming from similar background (we were at
Fortrose Academy together). We visited 'Norah's Preschool' which feeds
and loves 200 pre schoolers each day. Healthy beautiful faces, sunny
bright rooms, huge pots of rice and yummy stews for lunch, then they
rest top to toe, top to toe, but not before they sang to us and we
sang back, 'Flower of Scotland', I wonder what they thought! It runs
on the smell of an oily rag but looks really great.
BTW SO FAR, the traffic here though hectic is many degrees above
Nairobi's astonishing road behaviour!

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To Africa - just one more time!

2011-09-01T04:10:00.001-07:00

13th Sept Invercargill - Christchurch - Johannesburg arrive 14th dead beat

18th Sept arrive Cape Town

28th Sept arrive Lusaka

4th Oct arrive Entebbe

15th Oct arrive Dar

18th Oct set off home from Dar

20th October stagger home to Invercargill

Pity I couldn't try the ferry up Lake Tanganyika ...........next trip??

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What's Carolyn up to???

2011-08-27T17:47:00.001-07:00

carolyn.pdf Download this file

a local article about Carolyn in Kalgoorlie....

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Henning Mankell - I just came across him!

2011-08-08T03:01:00.001-07:00

I saw him on Hard Talk - world famous author but I hadn't come across
him - he writes powerfully about Africa. His own site is
http://www.henningmankell.com/

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Magnus would have been 100 in October 2011. He wouldn't have liked a decrepit old age!

2011-07-29T15:44:00.001-07:00

He is in this pic., greeting the Duchess of Gloucester at a Cromarty
Lifeboat launch, about 1960. The pic comes from cromartylive website
which has a wonderful library of photos.

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'All About Love' by Lisa Appignanesi; pub. 2011 Virago press

2011-07-29T14:21:00.001-07:00

Recommending this new book subtitled 'Anatomy of an Unruly Emotion' -
scholarly yet very readable and pushes lots of buttons.

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kilties at slope point

2011-07-18T21:59:00.001-07:00

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testing w pics

2011-07-11T13:45:00.001-07:00

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testing w pics

2011-07-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

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Snowy Sunday in Fortrose NZ - still gotta feed them cows!

2011-07-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Heading home to the farm

2011-06-22T03:41:00.001-07:00

Thanks to all the friends and family who helped me to see
and do all the things I dreamed of and much more on my quick
trip to Kenya and Britain. I think we did about 3000km in
Kenya and 2500 in UK. Worth it for all the experiences and
hellos. Now for 40 hours plus of patience - hoping ash
clouds have dissipated from over Australia/New Zealand.

take notice of the vibrant spirit of Africa!

2011-05-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2011/0510/1224296594177.html May 11 2011

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Micheline

2011-04-22T13:13:00.001-07:00

She sang the songs of Jacques Brel in Wanaka at their Festival of Colour.
She is a master of dramatic expression! What a treat.
http://www.michelinemusic.com/

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a special week

2011-03-26T00:24:00.001-07:00

What made it special? Some great one-on-one chats with ol' pals.. incl a NI
friend hardly seen since 1989... continued the conversation without a pause,
how cool is that? Love and appreciate my Southland friends too. Thanks!

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Nine lively cyclists from Auckland

2011-03-14T19:37:00.001-07:00

Good company last evening - stalwart cyclists on their way to Stewart Island
- some can boast of past high achievements in sport, eg former world champ
life-saver, former national mountain bike champ, former national triathlon
champ. Weather for them this a.m. was extreme! High winds, driving rain.
They joke: "Pain is just Fear leaving the body"!

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NZ public debt: GDP ratio in 2008; and the public sector as % of GDP: almost lowest of all nations. A good result from H Clark govt

2011-03-12T19:41:00.001-08:00

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2011-03-06T00:07:00.000-08:00

1975 - Aswan - Margaret with three Czech mountaineers OTOKAR VOJTISEK, Jaroslav and Bernard. They had been in Ruwenzori, climbing. We had come overland from Juba with Finn Anderson of LWF, to Khartoum and thence by train to Lake Nasser and on to a brand new ferry.

Margaret settled in Nairobi, Bernard died in his own beloved mountains a few years later, Jaroslav is in Germany and Oto in Czech republic, travelling every year to Africa still - it's great to be in touch with you Oto!

Fortrose in Scotland: echoes of Black Isle beauty spots - the lovely place where I grew up

2011-03-04T14:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.igougo.com/journal-j75094-Fortrose-Magic_light_and_breathtaking_v
iews.html

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4 C's 'conquered' the Routeburn Track.....

2011-03-03T01:05:00.001-08:00

..No, The Routeburn Track 'allowed' us to pass through and over. Colin,
Christine, with Colin and Carolyn Campbell - yes two sticks each, needed
every step of the way.. it's not really a track, it's a boulder-strewn
stream bed with massive ups, downs and across shoulders of mountains. There
were dozens of people on the way, all cheerful as can be, remarkable
considering the full-on Fiordland rain. We had great company, excellent
tucker and comfy beds which kind of helped!

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two sticks each!

2011-02-25T03:06:00.001-08:00

We had a three-hour tramp (Waipohatu Wilderness Track) to practise two poles
each for the Routeburn Track - helpful for older knees, especially on
downhill slopes! The Lions had been working there again so we could step
downwards gracefully to the waterfalls instead of mud-slithering. A
wonderful forest afternoon, enjoying the company of long time friends from
faraway.

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all our sympathies to Christchurch people

2011-02-24T02:59:00.001-08:00

love and sympathy to all in Christchurch - how strong you are - you will
rebuild - we stand with you.

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ifweranthe world.com

2011-02-13T00:25:00.001-08:00

paste into yr website and dream on!

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watch Uganda Election next week

2011-02-12T19:41:00.001-08:00

How patient are the people of Uganda? Is their election result really a
foregone conclusion? There ARE alternative leaders eager to get the country
out of poverty. (but hey what do I know - it's the Ugandan people who must
stand strong - my thoughts go with them)

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'Bye January and hello Feb!

2011-01-31T12:45:00.001-08:00

2011 has started off warmly in deep south NZ, with great summer days and a
major family reunion. Wonderful visitors in The Garden House, and to cap off
the month a beautiful wedding in Queenstown. In between we have had a bumper
grass harvest, concreted two more silage bunkers, made progress towards
further farming ventures, have Carolyn, Thomas, Dee and James within our
daily horizon.. feeling pretty happy with all that. Best wishes to all
friends on Facebook and elsewhere!

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I got into the sinky sand

2011-01-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

All my NZ life I've avoided the quicksand on the beach below our farm - it's where a small river runs to sea.. well today I tried to cross the river at full tide and found myself up to the knees in deep sand - could pull myself out but proceeded on all fours very gingerly - no problem but I'm damn glad the earth didn't quake right then.

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Colin's Farewell from Greenbush

2011-01-16T22:36:00.001-08:00

Farewell from Greenbush

Greenbush reunion is over
They came from far and wide
All the people young and old have gone

In the garden of Greenbush
You could hear the sound of laughing
Stories of Greenbush were told
Cathy cut the Cake
Ann and Donald stood strong
All weekend long
Lachlan was our MC
He made the night
The only thing
He did not sing

That night the history
Of Greenbush was told
And of the two people
Who made Greenbush begin

Now from the garden
All the people
And the sound of laughing has gone
Now Greenbush waits
For the day when they all come again

You are all part of Greenbush
So please come back again

Greenbush

Colin McKenzie
McKenzie Reunion
January 2011

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My stone story for the McKenzie Cairn

2011-01-10T16:34:00.001-08:00

Everybody is invited to contribute a stone for a family cairn, and to write
up a story around what the stone means to them.

Here is mine:

This small piece of quartz is from the gravel road leading out of Samburu
National Park towards the community of Archer's Post, in the northern part
of Kenya. I picked it up on November 25, 2010.

It is special to me because it commemorates a holiday which was magical in
so many ways. First, I was with our daughter Carolyn, who was the best companion one could
wish for. She was fun, lively, always charming to - and interested in -
everyone around her; she was enthusiastic about her first time in Africa and
all the animals - and like me, very taken with the people we met.

Second, I was returning to a place where I had been extremely happy in my
younger days, from 1973-5. So for those three weeks I did my best to be a
25-year-old again. Even on the plane from Dubai, I suddenly gave in to the
need to dance down the aisle 'I'm going to Kenya'. I sang aloud (ouch), I danced to the music in my head, I laughed a lot and
asked a lot of questions of people, oh and I told Carolyn some stories.

My former housemate from the early days, Margaret Butt, and her husband
Manny were our hosts in Nairobi. Manny was the city mortician when I first
knew him. He embalmed Jomo Kenyatta. He started an exhaust-manufacturing
business 'Silentflow', and is now slowing down towards retirement, but still
exactly the same Manny. They live in a palatial home on a lake to the north
side of Nairobi, with very noisy peacocks, dogs and geese.

Margaret and I had shared an adventure overland through Sudan, Egypt,
Greece, Lebanon, Turkey and Europe, in 1975. Our four Sundays in Nairobi
gave us much enjoyment as we reminisced about the trip.

Our safaris included Samburu - still my favourite - partly because of the
views as one drives north round the shoulder of Mt Kenya.. green stretches
of wheatlands towards the mountain, as vast desert starts to unfold ahead.
Then Samburu has the gerenuk, the Grevys zebra, reticulated giraffe, and
other special animals. The gerenuk is an antelope with a very long neck that
can stand vertically on its hind legs to browse. We stayed also at Ol Pejeta Conservancy which has a policy to integrate
wildlife with cattle production.. it has sanctuary places for white rhinos
and chimpanzees, neither indigenous. Sweetwaters Camp was an absolute
delight. Then back over the Timau road to Meru National Park and a camp in
the shade by a river. Black cotton soil after rain has to be seen to be
believed. We slithered for two days.

Four days at a large coastal resort south of Mombasa was followed by another
six days on safari, to Maasai Mara and Nakuru, and finally to a farm near
Njoro to see the Nightingales who have farmed there for 100+ years. Geoff
and Cathie have a keen interest in sustainability and ecology, Geoff having
built wildlife corridors across the farm and used no-till methods for his
rotation of about six crops. An elderly employee came up and shook me by the hand, asking in Swahili
'Where is your husband?' I could kid myself that he remembered Colin and me
visiting there on honeymoon in 1977, but more likely he was put up to it. I
had to tell him that Colin was at home working so that we could enjoy our
holiday in Kenya. Thank you Colin! Christine Jane Mckenzie 1 Jan 2011

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Dappled sun through the tree ferns

2011-01-01T23:26:00.001-08:00

A true piece of NZ - it couldn't be anywhere else - the Waipohatu Wilderness
Track today - two waterfalls, some gigantic old rimu, mosses, young
seedlings everywhere. Colin went through like a klipspringer! Must write
those surgeons in Dunedin who did that amazing heart stuff last year.

This is the species list from Brian Rance: 45 ferns alone...

Waipohatu short walk - Plant species list

S Short track
L Long track
R Road/open areas

Ferns
Asplenium bulbiferum hen & chicken fern S
L
Asplenium flaccidum hanging spleenwort S
L
Asplenium terrestre a spleenwort S
Blechnum chambersii a fern S
L
Blechnum colensoi a fern
L
Blechnum discolor crown fern S
L
Blechnum fluviatile a fern S
L
Blechnum membranaceum a fern S
L
Blechnum novae-zelandiae (=B. capense) kiokio S
L
Blechnum procerum hard fern S
L
Ctenopteris heterophylla a fern
S L
Cyathea smithii soft tree fern S
L
Dicksonia fibrosa fibrous treefern
S
Dicksonia squarrosa hard treefern S
L
Grammitis billardierii a fern S
L
Histeopteris incisa water fern S
L R
Hymenophyllum bivalve a filmy fern S
Hymenophyllum demissum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum dilatatum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum ferrugineum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum flabellatum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum multifidum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum rarum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum revolutum a filmy fern S L
Hymenophyllum sanguinolentum a filmy fern S
L
Hymenophyllum scabrum a filmy fern S
L
Hypolepis distans? a fern S
L
Leptolepia novae-zelandiae a fern S
Leptopteris hymenophylloides crape fern S
L
Leptopteris superba Prince of Wales fern S
L
Lycopodium scariosum a clubmoss S
Lycopodium varium a clubmoss
L
Lycopodium volubile a clubmoss S
Paesia scaberula pig fern
R
Phymatasorus diversifolius hounds tongue fern
S L
Polystichum vestitum prickly shield fern
S L
Pteridium esculentum bracken
R
Rumohra adiantiformis plastic fern S
L
Tmesipteris elongata? a chain fern S
Tmesipteris tannensis a chain fern S
L
Trichomannes venosum a filmy fern S
L

Podocarps
Dacrydium cupressinum rimu/red pine S
L
Podocarpus hallii halls totara
S
Prumnopitys ferruginea miro S
L
Prumnopitys taxifolia matai/black pine
S

Trees & shrubs
Arisotelia serrata wineberry
S L
Carpodetus serratus marbleleaf S
L
Coprosma aerolata a coprosma S
L
Coprosma colensoi a coprosma S
L
Coprosma foetidismia stinkwood S
L
Coprosma lucida glossy karamu S
L
Coprosma tayloriae (=C. sp. aff. parviflora) a coprosma
S R
Coprosma propinqua mingimingi S
R
Coprosma rhamnoides a coprosma S
L
Coprosma rigida a coprosma S
Coprosma rotundifolia a coprosma S
L
Elaeocarpus hookerianus pokaka S
Fuchsia excorticata tree fuchsia S
L
Gaultheria antipoda false beech S
Griselinia littoralis broadleaf S
L
Hebe salicifolia koromiko
R
Leptospermum scoparium manuka
R
Melicytus lanceolatus narrow-leaved mahoe S
L
Myrsine australis red mapou
S L
Neomrytus pedunculata rohutu S
L
Olearia ilicifolia mountain holly
L
Pennantia corymbosa kaikomako/ducksfoot S
L
Pittosporum eugenoides lemonwood S
L
Pittosporum tenuifolium black mapou S
L
Pseudopanax colensoi three finger S
L
Pseudopanax crassifolius lancewood
S L
Pseudowintera colorata peppertree S
L
Raukaua edgerleyii (= Pseudopanax edgerleyii) a tree S
L
Raukaua simplex (= Pseudopanax simplex) haumukoroa S
L
Schefflera digitata pate/seven finger
S L
*Ulex europaeus gorse
R
Weinmania racemosa kamahi S
L

Climbers & vines
Clematis paniculata white flowered clematis S
L
Metrosideros diffusa climbing rata S
L
Muehlenbeckia australis pouhuehue S
Parsonsia heterophila a native jasmine
S
Rubus australis a lawyer vine S
L
Rubus cissoides a lawyer vine S
L
*Rubus fruticosus blackberry
R

Herbs
Acaena anserinifolia a biddibid S
L
Cardamine debilis agg. a bittercress S
L
Centella uniflora a herb
R
*Cirsium vulgare Scotch thistle
R
Gnaphalium limosum? a herb
R
Gonocarpus micranthus a herb
R
Hydrocotyle heteromera a pennywort S
L
Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae var. Montana a pennywort
R
Lagenifera petiolata a daisy
R
Nertera depressa a creeping herb
S L
Nertera setulosa a slender herb
R
Nertera villosa a creeping herb S
L
Ranunculus membranifolius a buttercup
R
*Senecio jacobaea ragwort
R
Senecio minimus fireweed
S L
Stellaria parviflora a native chickweed S
L
Viola filicaulis a native violet
S L

Monocots
Grasses
Microlaena avenacea bush rice grass S
L
Rytidosperma gracile a native grass
R

Sedges
Carex dissita a sedge S
Carex flaviformis? a sedge
R
Carex geminata a sedge
R
Carex secta pedicelled sedge
R
Isolepis habra a slender sedge S
Uncinia ferruginea a hook grass S
Uncinia uncinata a hook grass
S L
Uncinia sp. a hook grass S

Orchids
Earina autumnalis Easter orchid
S L
Earina mucronata bamboo orchid
S L
Microtus unifolia onion orchid
R
Pterostylis montana? a hooded orchid S

Other monocots
Astelia fragrans bush lily
S L
Cordyline australis cabbage tree
R
Juncus gregiflorus a native rush
R
Juncus planifolius a native rush
R
*Juncus procerus a giant rush
R
Phormium tenax lowland flax
R
Ripogonum scandens supplejack S
L

Brian Rance 14/7/1998, 10/2/2001, 22/7/2008

The waterfalls are Punehu and Pouriwai - more later.
Barack Obama's school in Hawaii was Punahou. Close (Maori and Hawaiian)!

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New Year's Honours in NZ

2010-12-30T13:28:00.001-08:00

Congratulations to Alison Broad, honoured for the second time, today made a
Member of the NZ Order of Merit. Alison has been a leading Southland thinker
and do-er all her professional life, and has contributed at a
national/international level in many aspects of community development.
Alison you are a taonga!

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Christine's daily diary of Kenya trip - first episode: getting there -

2010-12-28T21:35:00.001-08:00

Christine's daily diary: Kenya trip 2010

18 Nov Thursday
Colin and I went to say a Hello to Dee, TM and baby James, two weeks old.
He's peaceful after yelling all night. We were in good time for the plane. I am pretty negative about the
discomforts ahead - 19 Nov
- and indeed feeling them in Dubai airport 29 hours later. 4 hours in Chch
and 3 in Sydney and 14 hours in an airbus across Australia and Indian Ocean.
Altogether so fantastic that we can do this. I couldn't cope with a middle
seat and found an aisle one. Packed plane - 480 passengers?
I'm watching a bank of five wide lifts go up and down. It's cool and tiled
and not too noisy in Arrivals Hall. My flight has gone, all the people have
gone through. ......
.......

Carolyn finally arrived nearly 0730 and almost skipped past me.. thank
goodness we met after all the waiting. She's come from Oslo via Heathrow.
Everything's fine now, even better when we sat down at Pearl Apartments and
could relax- the room was fine - plain but OK - and it was great to shower
and stretch out in bed. I dozed, Carolyn slept pretty well.

We had a brief walk round the block and ate local food at another apartment
hotel. It was 31 C not too bad because of breezes from the highrises. There
is a pool at the top of ours but no time to use it as we booked to take a
desert drive - had to wait an hour in hotel lobby. Carolyn got front seat which was great as she asked good questions. It was
quite a drive out of town, endlessly expanding miles of pylons and new
developments. Palm farms, a deer herd, palace fences that went for
kilometres with concrete walls 2.5m high.

Osman the driver did his stuff over the dunes, Carolyn thought it fun for a
start. I just gritted my teeth and put up with it. The two Cape Town Indian
ladies screamed a bit, as did the Indian lady in the back. He was fairly
safe I thought but I hated the episode. Well! We got discharged from the vehicle and told he'd come for us at
9.30pm. 9.30! It was barely 5pm. The main attraction was three camels giving
rides - in a ring at most 20m diameter! Poor things were up and down every
three minutes. Carolyn got on one for the sake of it, even though it was
groaning each time it had to sit and stand.. They were wearing quite tight
muzzles. So I waited at the tea and coffee stand, the boy was boiling up, he
indicated Just a minute, so I waited and waited and there was finally no
coffee just boiling water, and a teabag. Tea and I and Carolyn climbed the
nearest sand dune and sat down to watch the sunset. No moment of glancing up
at the sky was empty of a big jet lumbering in or out. ~15 ATVs roared round
and round a small arena, 2 aboard each, women screaming, bounce, bounce. In
the enclosure crowds were gathering as the Toyotas disgorged more
passengers. We were both completely disgusted at the noisy, dusty scene and hung around
as the vehicles came in, asking if we could get back to town. (Excuse for
party-pooping- both been travelling for days!) No way, unless by taxi from
the bus dropoff.

OK so we decided to join in - I felt much better as we realised it was a
special party night Eid al-Adha after the Hajj. We sat on benches over
carpets on the sand with heavy pillows for bottoms and feet.
People danced freely under the stars - a lot of men with men, a surprise for
Carolyn. We were well-entertained. One cameo was a tent where men tried on
traditional garb and posed for a photo. Another was henna-painting of hands
and feet. There was a circle of hubble-bubble pipes - anyone could take a
turn but I don't think it was a women's thing.

The event of the night for us was a whirler with several coloured skirts -
it was his stamina that got us - he whirled fast for ? 15 minutes? his
skirts lit up brightly as a highlight. The final event was a single belly
dancer. We queued to leave, but no good, we had to wait until they had
ferried all the others back to buses - finally safe home, driver Osman
chatting Carolyn up quietly.

20 Nov
Mum (Effie)'s 96th birthday. She died on 17 Nov 1992.

I was up about 6 and tested out the roof pool but it was all locked up. We
had relaxed b'fast and drive to airport, walked the length of the very long
terminal 3, gently. Lovely hazlenut latte and couch right by our gate.
Feeling very well after a zopiclone sleep. Somewhat giggly now and then,
dancing down the plane 'I'm going to Kenya'. Last evening's outing was a
good start to breaking us into novelty.

Sitting beside Carolyn on the plane is so different from the long journey to
get here, when I just had to grin and bear it, wait for the time to pass.
Now I'm enjoying every minute! She has seven weeks of travel to tell me
about, she's seen all the rellies and lots of friends. Great excitement at Nairobi airport. A big change from the gleaming spaces
of Dubai. Manny astonishingly youthful looking. Traffic very tight, hectic.
A big road into town, all built up tho' we saw giraffe and zebra on left
through a big fence. The main impression was the amazing traffic and people
walking across the road. We even saw a cyclist heading the wrong way down
the fast lane of a 4-lane divided highway - be prepared for simply anything
if you drive here! It was thrilling to be driven with skill and local
knowledge. The house is four storeys, with magnificent furniture and Musa's carvings
everywhere. He does wood and also taxidermied fish in imaginative settings.
CA and I especially like a brown wooden varnished fish with copper reeds
floating over it. Wonderful persian rugs everywhere. All overlooking the
lake - 3 or 4 terraces of immaculate hedging and noisy peacocks and geese
and two dogs. A full moon arose over the lake; I was entranced - sat in my
corner bedroom awhile and watched.

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Brother Tom is on the move!

2010-12-27T18:57:00.001-08:00

http://www.curtis.com/sitecontent.cfm?pageid=8&itemid=21 My distinguished brother Tom Mackay is about to leave the world of London
commuting and practise his law from a new log cabin at the bottom of his
garden. I imagine it is a bit like jumping off a cliff, the parachute being the
three gorgeous girls in his life, and all his friends and colleagues.

Tom we wish you lots and lots of happy clients and some very busy but more
relaxed years to come!

Love from your sis in NZ

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injuries while active!

2010-12-27T18:33:00.001-08:00

Just wondrin' if I should stay in my lazy chair as two - no - three friends
have sore bits after strenuously active Christmases!

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Boxing Day has come and gone

2010-12-26T01:03:00.001-08:00

Perfect evening fun with Thomas, Dee and baby James and Carolyn all here, and neighbours David and Barbara, Amy, Mike and baby Jessica. .. Amy and Carolyn on the trampoline as thousands of times before, over the thirty years they have played together - the difference being Jessica bouncing between them, yes the next generation is here!

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yet another pic attempt

2010-12-22T01:50:00.001-08:00

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can't get pics posted! trying again

2010-12-20T23:54:00.001-08:00

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to get a picture attached..

2010-12-20T01:56:00.001-08:00

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Picture from Maralal 1975

2010-12-18T20:55:00.001-08:00

This is Liena and Paavo Farm, Finn Anderson, Margaret Hampson, and another
LWF worker --- Margaret and I were heading from Juba to Khartoum with Finn
and his driver. That was quite a journey....

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When you are travelling in Kenya...

2010-12-14T13:05:00.001-08:00

My note to http://kenya.phoenix-safaris.com
says it all..

Carolyn and I are safely home in New Zealand from magic three weeks'
travelling with Phoenix. Would like to congratulate you on the teamwork we
have seen - from agent Dipa to drivers Raphael and Evans, to staff at Siria
Camp, to the extra effort made to replace vehicles as we broke them (!).

We had not come across Phoenix in our internet searches but couldn't be more
pleased that we did find you on our first day on the ground in Nairobi.

We feel very happy to have sampled a variety of Kenya's delights with
Phoenix Safaris, and will spend the next weeks singing the praises of the
country and your company team.

Thanks again to all your special people.

Christine McKenzie

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safari itinerary

2010-11-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

23 and 24 nov Samburu Sopa Lodge
25 Nov Sweetwaters
26 and 27 Nov Rhino River camp
28 back to Nairobi to Maggie and Manny.
29 Nbi
30 Nov fly to coast, stay Leopard Beach to 4th, fly back to Nbi evening.
5th Nbi
6 dec to Masaia Mara stay siria lodge
7th Sioria
8Dec Chui Lodge (Naivasha)
9 and 10th Kembu Cottages near Njoro - see Nightingale family
11 dec nbi
12 dec depart for NZ late evening.
14 dec in Invercargill!

Thomas and Dee announce safe arrival of a new McKenzie

2010-11-04T14:42:00.001-07:00

We have a boy! loooooooooooong labour, but Mother and Baby are fine.

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NZ Government interactive websites make me see RED

2010-10-24T22:26:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to get into the Emissions Trading Scheme - am speechless at
the waste of my precious time on computer - won't try to describe the
process - just too many IT wonks in Wellie who have no idea of efficiency.
Had the same frustrating madness on the charities website. I've registered as a user, got a holding account, filled in 11 page pdf and
faxed it off.. and am not even at the starting gate.. all I want to do is
exempt our small forest from the silly scheme.

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Big storm over all NZ forecast. Here it is sunny, breezy at present.

2010-09-16T15:47:00.001-07:00

We have some ancestor-hunters in the Garden House - Granny grew up in
Fortrose. They are making good use of Joan Macintosh's book 'A History of
Fortrose', have toured the cemetery and are meeting Ruth at Waikawa Museum
today. We enjoyed their company at dinner - Australians doing interesting
things.

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Fortrose Academy has another interesting exchange of pupils - this time with Nunavut in wildest Canada

2010-08-28T15:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1890911?UserKey=

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Brocken spectre near Lake Hauroko

2010-08-08T15:12:00.001-07:00

Always felt that Lake Hauroko was a bit spooky! The pic is a poor copy of
a good image by Lloyd Esler on a recent field club trip. Below is a Scottish example from the web.

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Saltire: Flag raising with Tom.JPG

2010-08-04T19:48:00.001-07:00

2007: Tom, Margaret, came to NZ for five days for TM and D's wedding

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Sunny day at FortroseNZ: posting on posterous

2010-07-30T15:24:00.001-07:00

(posterous) blissful kayaking on Fortrose estuary this avo - hiked across
the spit to the open ocean - back to still water, late afternoon sun,
nothing to hear but seabirds, sandhills gradually turning pink, tide taking
us back to the beach - -- have to grab the good days!

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The Catlins - another passer-by shares his story

2010-07-19T00:14:00.001-07:00

http://thebigtrip.posterous.com/invercargill-the-catlins good visitor story about The Catlins

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posting a sound file

2010-07-06T17:17:00.001-07:00

30 second sound advert from Carolyn - just testing posterous.com! .

Download now or listen on posterous

SW CAROLYN1.mp3 (475 KB)

30 second sound advert from Carolyn - just testing posterous.com! .

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local landscape South Catlins New Zealand

2010-07-01T14:41:00.001-07:00

Testing Posterous posting abilities!

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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On Waipohatu Track, South Catlins, Southland, NZ but is it Pouriwai or Punehu Falls ?????

2010-06-25T00:33:00.000-07:00

GDP as a tool to set economic policy - time for change:

2010-06-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

I'm so puzzled why we still use GDP as the main tool to measure 'progress': here is a 42 year old quote from Robert F. Kennedy, speech at the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

GDP measures everything “…except that which makes life worthwhile.”
“Our Gross National Product…counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances
to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the
people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural
wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored
cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities..., and the television programs which glorify
violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the Gross National Product does not allow
for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not
include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public
debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage,
neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country,
it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us
everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”
Robert F. Kennedy, speech at the University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

found on http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/6/42613423.pdf page 12

1 June 2010

2010-05-31T15:04:00.001-07:00

Blazing June - the first soleil d'or is just about out. The roof is on the new shed and our darling Dee is in Shanghai on the way to UK.

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Pavlova competition tonight!

2010-05-28T23:51:00.001-07:00

Last year a bloke won it! At Stirling Tides, Fortrose, pot luck supper - start time is now - 6.30pm

Christine & Colin McKenzie
476 Fortrose-Otara Road
RD5 Invercargill NZ 9875
Ph/Fx 0064 3 246 9526

www.seafarmer.blogspot.com

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tag: fortrose, linking

2010-05-28T20:27:00.001-07:00

Now posting from Posterous to all sites

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2010-03-07T00:38:00.000-08:00

Two fishing boats anchored side by side last evening in the twilight, as the ocean calmed after a brilliantly hot sunny day. The air was still enough for us to light birthday candles on the pavlova - I wonder if the boat skippers trained their glasses on us as we did on them. We had four vehicles and a caravan on top of the cliff, they couldn't miss us. They made a memorable silhouette as we finally turned for home and our cosy beds.

Magnus with dogs and horse and helper in front of woolshed

2010-03-06T19:51:00.001-08:00

Magnus with dogs and horse and helper in front of woolshed, originally uploaded by seafarmer.

My dad went from Bettyhill to Tierra del Fuego at age 18, in 1930... he settled very well, worked at Estancia Sara (Argentina) for some years then went to the Chilean mainland to Estancia Rospentek. He left to join the RAF in 1942 -ish., and never returned. I did though - I visited in 1976 and met a few folk who had known him.

With Christine

2010-02-16T16:57:00.001-08:00

With Christine, originally uploaded by Diamond Lil2007.

The party was Lili, Michael, CJ and Ray - plus Colin and me, as the wind shook the caravan, and the rain spat on the windows.

They were on Day Four of a six-week circumcycling tour of New Zealand

They had had a very tough day from McLean Falls but got here in good time for hot showers and a car trip to see a couple of sealions at Waipapa Point. Then we had drinkies on the clifftop. The wind and rain didn't matter by then.

Next day looked pretty windy too but they all got going in high spirits. I'm following their progress with interest, and no envy whatsoever!

Nana's 100th Birthday

2010-01-30T00:07:00.000-08:00

We are going to have a little celebration even though she left us at 93. She lives on in our memories! We'll have a few glasses of wine down at the beach, some photos and stories. Bonfire if it isn't too darn cold. We'll take the new, old caravan down with us.

The family are working all daylight hours - till 10pm, carting baleage today. It's Burns Night down at Niagara Hall, such fun, hate to miss it.

Maybe tomorrow - Bluegrass festival at Niagara Falls cafe. Yay!

sunshine at last

2010-01-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

Four days of sunshine - just as promised by weather gurus.. sea never looked so blue - sky too.. after months of El Nino. We had pancakes - a touch of fresh lime juice adds magic to taste of maple syrup and butter.

The beef cattle are fat, shiny and ready for market.

I put up Michelin maps of Africa, on the wall, yes old-fashioned paper ones - they still have a charm.

A family called Howard from South Africa booked into the Garden House, but they haven't arrived.

We admired the view from a newly-concreted silage floor away out on the sandhills - all done in two days by Thomas, Colin, and Dee who wore out two rakes. So far nearly 300m2, enough for a house and you should see the outlook!

Two exemplary lives, as quoted by Colin James 26 12 09

2009-12-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Colin James's column for the Press for 26 December 2009

Making a Christmas meaning of life

While most big-name magazines have been contracting and even going out of print under the internet's assault, The Economist has been expanding.

The Economist is a distinctively English -- Oxbridge -- institution, a weekly established in 1843 to spread the word about free markets. From the 1970s it has pushed into the United States, Asia -- everywhere.

An Atlantic Monthly article in July forecast that it would soon overtake Newsweek in circulation in the United States. "Virtually alone among magazines, The Economist saw its advertising revenue increase last year by 25 per cent. Newsweek's and Time's dropped 27 per cent and 14 per cent respectively," Michael Hirschorn wrote.

Hirschorn ascribed this success to its being a "general-interest magazine for an ever-increasing audience, the self-styled global elite". And in fact its compact analyses of economies and politics and technology and much else, from drugs to the arts to climate change to (this week) the future of "progress", are challenging and engaging. It can be insufferably superior and opinionated and even shallow and wrong. But it is on the whole a quality read -- an apostasy in a world of shallow, slick marketers who bend and degrade everything from pork to politicians.

Tucked at the back of each week's Economist is an obituary. There you come across the rich and famous and also people you have never heard of who have made a mark that caught the editor's eye, a conservationist or anthropologist or "gambler and gangster".

Princess Di was there, "famous for being famous". So, in the edition of August 31 2006, was our Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, bearer of "the mana of a born chief" and (quoting Sir Tipene O'Regan) a "symbol of graciousness" in a society that "doesn't do grace very well".

This year two of those obituaries tell, when put together, a Christmas story.

One was of Marek Edelman, previously unknown to me, a "deputy commander of 220 untrained 'boys' with pistols and home-made explosives" in the Warsaw ghetto in 1943 who survived to become a heart specialist, be a Solidarity supporter and stay resolutely Polish despite waves of anti-Semitism, one of which drove his wife and daughter abroad. He lived to 90.

The other was of Christopher Nolan, an Irish poet of whom I first read 30 years ago, who, deprived of oxygen at birth, could not control his limbs or his voice but nevertheless found a way to speak his genius. He lived to 43.

Each had spirit. And each knew the power of love.

Edelman, the Economist wrote, saw amidst the pervasive death and disease of the ghetto a "terrible apathy" in which people no longer saw or believed the random horrors around them. He "tried to rouse them" by making newspapers and then by fighting: the "most important thing was just to be alive".

But there was another important thing: "His last book ... made a point of describing the love affairs of the Warsaw ghetto: the 'marvellous things' that happened and the ecstatic moments of happiness, when terrified and lonely people were thrown together. Man was naturally a beast but love could overwhelm him and love could be taught."

For Nolan, "his mother had told him, when he was three and crying with frustration, that she liked him just as he was. From that point, 'he [fanned] the only spark he saw, his being alive'."

It was his mother who, with love, kept that spark alive and made it possible for him to make a blaze. She cradled his head while he picked out a letter at a time on a typewriter with a rubber-tipped stick tied to his head, taking up to 15 minutes to write a word. She did that from when he was 11 till his death.

He wrote astonishing poetry. His autobiography won Whitbread book of the year. He lived a big life from inside a narrow cage.

He and Edelman teach that there are no automatic meanings. There is only a life. They each -- one put through a living hell as a young man, the other extremely limited by a bad birth -- made the most of what they were given.

That is a Christmas message: look for what can be done not what can't be done.

Edelman seemingly bore no grudges: he "refused to express open hatred for the Nazis". Instead there was a "quiet thoughtfulness". That, too, is a Christmas message.

Nolan once "threw out his left arm in a great arc to give Christ two fingers because he was to blame". The "he" was not the actual Christ but his representation, in religion, of the caprice of forces humans cannot yet command and so seek to give a name and a form to. Christ would have agreed with the Christmas message implicit in Nolan's gesture: that no one -- and especially no child -- deserves ill luck, ill health, ill treatment or ill will.

Edelman's and Nolan's lives point up the conundrum of Christmas: the bad and good of humans, the darkness and the beauty. Christ's resolution of that conundrum was to invite us to promote the good of humans and not to trade in the bad.

It's an enduring message. One day humans might all get it.

--

Colin James, Synapsis Ltd, P O Box 9494, Wellington 6141
Ph (64)-4-384 7030, Mobile (64)-21-438 434, Fax (64)-4-384 9175
Webpage http://www.ColinJames.co.nz

Surfing Dolphins, Catlins, New Zealand

2009-11-08T17:09:00.001-08:00

Surfing Dolphins, Catlins, New Zealand, originally uploaded by *amy&kimball.

this is a remarkable photo

Thomas's birthday Volcano

2009-10-10T16:46:00.001-07:00

The picture doesn't do justice to this work of imagination and ingenuity!

ArcGIS - how can I use it?

2009-09-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

After a week's intensive training in ArcGIS - what next!?

This chap says we have forsaken 'all' to live at bottom of SI!!

2009-09-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

here's my reply!

Help, Mike! - I need you to tell me what it is I have forsaken to live on the southernmost coast!

Truly I love your article but is there really something I haven't thought of, that I am missing out on?

I have spent half my life here - for the earlier half I lived and worked on four continents, learned six languages after English, attended or was employed by five universities, also four transnational corporates, including in the biggest worst cities such as Johannesburg and Sao Paulo.

I've been to 'The Uttermost part of the Earth' (Tierra del Fuego), hitched across Sudan, ridden horses in such as the wild Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and Medellin (Colombia), kayaked on Bowen Island off Vancouver, hiked to Glacier Gray (Parque del Paine, Chile), climbed Mount Kenya twice, am I going on too long? There's lots more!

Right now I'm sitting in blazing sunshine with door open, no sound except birds, trees blossoming fit to bust, calves and lambs littering my pastoral heaven. Family is coming and going on relaxed Sunday jobs - I'm expecting visitors from Bethesda, Maryland, another place I know a little.

I've had the delight of National Radio interviews - Saturday and Sunday are so often a major source of satisfaction.

I can look up the entire contents of the collective human brain via the magic of Google and its sisters, and if I want to read a particular book for bedtime I can order through the library.

I'm in touch with people from all of those distant places that are part of my past.

For entertainment - you should see the amount of local activities there are to choose from - then there is Invercargill half an hour away with the whole gamut of possibilities - as long as you take up the offerings when they come - there isn't a ballet performance every night, that's for sure.

My friends and neighbours include Canadians, a Norwegian, South Africans, British, Dutch, and a lady from Leeston.

What about our children, what have they forsaken? Oh well Thomas drove from Perth to Brisbane at 17, worked in a Post Office in deepest darkest London, on big machinery helped flatten an old coal bing in central Scotland, drove across the Canadian Rockies, circuited Nova Scotia, seen NYC, Washington, Las Vegas, Los Angeles - oh and Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, UK, Bali. He is an engineer and designer in metal, wood, electronics, water supply and a quiet gentle stockman. He is happily married to a beautiful girl from Auckland - who looks as good in overalls and gumboots as in her high heels.

Our daughter took about five years to get her 'OE' - a year in Norway, 18 months in Scotland, a season with cattle and horses in Aussie's hot wet tropics, another season shearing sheep in South Australia. She's a trained vet nurse, a trained travel agent, a trained dairy inseminator, now a successful real estate agent, living in Invercargill.

I haven't mentioned how our summers are full of visitors from all over the world. Our mantra is 'Strangers are just friends we haven't met'. After twenty years of having people to stay we still look forward to making a welcome and having a good conversation.

Yes, all right, Mike, there are times I feel a bit isolated. That's when I think it's up to me to become more self-sufficient. The opportunities for stimulation are always there. Eg your article has stimulated me to respond in a lively fashion. :) Now I've neglected the lunch!

Thanks again for writing about us and about Waipapa Point historic Lighthouse and the tragedy of the Tararua. By the way there is an 'Opening' on 10th October, of 'improvements' made by DoC - car park, toilets, interpretation, a new walkway. It has tamed the wild landscape, somewhat to my regret.

'Remoteness is a state of mind'.

Do please call in and visit when next you venture south!

Very best wishes

Christine J McKenzie

Christine & Colin McKenzie
476 Fortrose-Otara Road
RD5 Invercargill NZ 9875
Ph/Fx 0064 3 246 9526
Catlins Community website

And his response - 'remoteness -pah!

Dear Christine

Many thanks for your exhilirating letter. Feedback to my magazine column is always fun (even when it takes me to task) but your response was a sheer joy to read. I love to hear of someone who has done so many interesting things and can still feel enraptured about Home.

Perhaps everything is relative, after all. Surely most readers would find your area remote, compared to their mostly suburban wildernesses. However, I tend to agree with you, that isolation has become an outdated concept since modern communications brought the world so close.

I lived in Southland for three years and explored your coast and the Catlins before it became fashionable (or the road sealed) _ in the early 1970s. It is "one of my favourite places", though not, I fear, one where I would want to live. Like many interesting places, it is nice to know it is there and to be able to go back and savour it from time to time. Perhaps you feel the same way about Christchurch, and I couldn't blame you.

Certainly, I would love to stop for a chat next time I venture south.

Regards

Mike Crean'

Waipapa Point, Catlin Coast

2009-04-15T00:45:00.001-07:00

Waipapa Point, Catlin Coast, originally uploaded by Nepturamus.

Dead Alien?

Southland Clouds

2009-04-10T17:50:00.001-07:00

Southland Clouds, originally uploaded by The Roaming Radiographer (andrew_mrt1976).

Photo on Flickr Uploaded by The Roaming Radiographer (andrew_mrt1976) on 10 Apr 09, 2.06 PDT.

My more up to date sites -- always practising!

2008-11-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

http://seafarmer.blogspot.com

or http://www.fortrose.org.nz

or http://sites.google.com/site/fortrosenz/

http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Southland/Catlins/blog-419897.html

Fortrose Academy article in Ross-shire Journal 30 May 2008

2008-05-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4012/Ties_that_bind,_far_from_home.html

And hello everyone else from Fortrose Academy -- all good wishes round the world.. Janette and Les are off round the Top End with their camper at the moment.. enjoying that 'big sandy playground across the ditch'.

As for us -- this is the weekend when half a million dairy cows get trucked to their winter playground for about ten weeks' holiday - we have 1000 or so on our sandhills by the sea.. 'Club Med for Cows'. They do seem to enjoy the change, have an occasional gallop, just like m'self. XX CJM

PS reminds me of fav silly joke “What do you get if you cross an elephant with a kangaroo?”

Ans: Holes all over Australia.

2008-05-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

It's a jungle out there

This is our wonderful stone Tuatara at the Mouth of the Mataura River. Isn't he magnifique!

This is the Mouth of the Mataura River facing west to Bluff.

Second pic - lileum giganteum syn. Cardiocrinum giganteum.

First pic taken with digital camera Olympus FE240 - now Carolyn's. Early December 2007, doesn't it look dark.. I think early morning.

Fabulous Catlins photos found on flickr

2008-05-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/overton/sets/72157603704425901/show/with/2188705053/

The Routeburn Classic

2008-05-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

The two lassies pictured below have excelled themselves by completing a 38km run over the mountains in the Routeburn Classic.. and what's more they are game to do it again!

2008-05-10T16:47:00.001-07:00

New blog is http://seafarmer.wordpress.com with some doggerel for fun

Glamorous bridesmaids and Roasted pumpkin seeds

2008-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

This was at Amy's wedding in Queenstown, a beautiful day for all of us. Carolyn and Jocelyn were the bridesmaids.

Well yesterday was suddenly pretty cold and there were threatening clouds on the horizon so on went the first of the year's pumpkin soups - yum.. I looked up what to do with the seeds and learned they should be cleaned, boiled, salted and roasted so I did all that, and have been chewing them but they taste mostly of wood (the herb salt is good though!) and are pretty fibrous.

At five am we were all awake with a monster thunder and lightning and hail storm, thoughts of horses and cattle running through fences kept me awake so I tried to watch TV - brave eh? The power finally went off at 0800 and so I spent the morning producing hot water on the gas barbecue .. a waste of time, just an excuse for no housework.. not that one could :) with no water or power.

Thomas's heifers (famous for their nightly stampedes last winter) did indeed burst through a fence, I think all other mobs behaved themselves.

It's a little ironic that winter has arrived with such a vengeance just as we have delivered our woodburner to town for a refit.

Letters from Scotland to New Zealand 1879

2008-04-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

Letters from Scotland to New Zealand held at Waikawa Museum. A series of letters between McKenzie family members from Stornoway and Ullapool, to relations in Southland, dating from 1879 to 1915, are held at the museum.. I am transcribing to www so they may be more widely available. Here is the first:

***************************************************************************
WW97 1114F

1879 October 8 Glasgow Scotland

My Dear Uncle, Aunt and cousins

I write you these few lines in order to let you no that I am in good health hoping and wishing ______ this will find you all enjoying the same.
I had a letter from my father from Stornoway since a fortnight and there all able to go about in their Usual Health.
Dear Uncle I got your address in my father’s letter for me to write to you ___ then I am taking the Pleasure to let you no that I am your nephew I am shure you don’t no anything about me but I wish to let me knownt to you uncle and also to my cousins. I may tell you that I came to Glasgow about three years ago and I am Serving my time to be a Mason for the long Period of five years. I am now in my Fourth years at the Trade and may let you no that this city is done for. My Trade Building is almost stoped hear together in fact other Trades as well as building is slack in Glasgow at the Present time but I have to tell you that this Place was _ good for workmen when I came to it at first about 7 years ago. I wish you to let me no Dear Uncle if you would advise me to go out to that part of the country or to Australia. I don’t think I will stop here after my time is out but I would like to get your advice.
And also to give me news of the Place and let me no is there building going on in Dunedin.
Dear Uncle I may tell you that my only Brother is in America this four years. I dind hear from him but once but my father is hearing from him very often. I wish to no how is my Aunt Georgina keeping and I woud like very well to have the Pleasure of _______ (seeying?) you uncle and aunt together in health.
I also wish to see my cousins that I can’t name. I wish they will write me and give me all the news of the Place. My father and sisters wished me to remember them kindling unto you all and all my cousins at home as well and also sends there respects to you Dear uncle and aunt and cousins. I must come to an end with these lines and I now wish my best respects to you I remain yours Truly nephew Alick McKenzie
57 Carrick Street
Anderston
Glasgow.

Ps Please write soon and give my respects to Malcolm and _(David?) Watt.

Ww97 1114F
************************************************************************

here is the second:
****************************
WW97 1114I
Tasdale Stornoway Lewis
July 7 1881

My Dear Brother
Your very Kind favour of the 13th May to hand two days ago.. by which I was very happy to hear that you and Family and My only and Dearest sister was in good Bodily health.

I am very thankful to say that Myself and Family and all other Friends here about is in the same state of health in the present time. I am glad to hear that Georgina is getting her health so well since she came to stay with you last

Our herring season here is almost over for this year and we had a visit from a good few of the mainland Friends during the time it was going on I am sorry to say that it was a very poor fishing we had but its to be hoped that it will turn out better on the east coast than here that would do good for the many poor people that depends on it as there living.

I may tell you that I have retired ___ from the fishing trade altogether and indeed it was time many’s the dreary night I had passed at it.

I may tell you that ?Kenneth? my son who was engaged by the Hudsons Bay Company for the last five years has returned home this years and he is presently engaged by Murdoch McKenzie his cousin learning to be a plasterer.

I ?hear? from my other son occasionally and I have sent your letter to him so that he could see what you stated about his trade in the Colonies. Trade here is very dull and I am sure poor Alex is like many others thinking that the Colonies is better but it seems from what you say that Mason work is not going on atall. that the Buildings are all made of Wood , __ I am glad to hear that you here from ?John? Donald ___. Indeed it’s a very great shame for him the way he has forgotten his Friends at home. He has no excuse for not writting if he had the mind to do it.

I enclose the card de visit as requested and I am sure you would not think that I had failed off so much but I must say that I suffered a great deal of sickness this year through a bad Cold indeed I am sorry that MacLeod did such a low turn for Murdo’s ?Trunk? ?Friends? but it seems there’s no much use of minding on it again.

Please give my compliments to all the Friends there and more especially to Georgina my sister. I wish you could send to your Friends a portrait of yourself and your family so that we could see your ---?sons? in case we may never have the opportunity of seeing them personally.

hopping you will return an answer by the return of post.
Concluding with Best love I am your ---?very true? Brother Alexanander McKenzie

WW97 1114I

***********************************************************

2008-04-14T00:22:00.000-07:00

Zamon and Jen's daughter Terina at one year old has her own website full of pictures of whanau in NZ and canada...
http://web.mac.com/terina_maya/iWeb/Site/Winter%202008.html

Fiordland

2008-04-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

Wearing The Ring

NZ Herald 27 Nov 2000 Farmstay and homegrown food

2007-12-26T02:15:00.000-08:00

What is the most value you can add to a kilo of lamb?

How about the pockets-full of dollars brought into New Zealand when the consumer comes to this country in order to share the table of the farmer who grew it.

The concept also applies to New Zealand’s beautiful fresh home-grown vegetables, fish, fruit, beef and venison.

Food is one of the big selling points of the growing ‘Farmstay’ market. To those who have not tasted tender lamb or robust hogget straight from the farm kitchen, it’s worth explaining that it is an entirely different taste sensation to that of supermarket meat. The animal has not been stressed by transport, the meat has been aged in the traditional way, and of course only the best is kept for the household.

Sadly we have got ourselves into a barbed-wire tangle of regulation regarding who can consume home-killed meat or recreational catch. Keep in mind that this applies to whitebait, blue cod, paua and the other recreationally-caught delicacies of the different regions. The Animal Products Act dictates that the farmer, his household and his employees can consume home-killed or caught food and so can a paying guest who has partaken in catching it. Other paying guests cannot however, so at this moment thousands of farmstay hosts are risking fines of five figures, probably without even being conscious of it. If they are conscious of it they think it is too silly to deserve attention.

Why did we get into this complicated mess?

Not for food safety reasons, that’s clear because it’s legal to supply your own family, household, and farm workers with home-prepared meat. Not for export integrity reasons, because the food does not leave the farmhouse. One must conclude that it is for purely bureaucratic reasons, in that the crossing of palms with silver makes a convenient demarcation, on one side of which home-prepared meat can be eaten, on the other side not.

We’ve had this trouble before with serving wine to guests with their meal. Should we be required to hold a liquor licence? How daft. But there are lobby groups against farmstays, notably hotel and motel associations who complain that they should be much more regulated and licensed.

That is unfortunate, because both market and product are completely different from motels and hotels. The main point is that farmstay is a shared, two-way experience. The hosts give of themselves as well as of their table, their homes and environment. Farmstay is a small sideline for an increasing number of farmers, who get a tiny pecuniary reward but a huge boost in enjoyment of life by sharing their environs with visitors. Each home is different, and this is part of the attraction. More regulation means more standardisation and the loss of many of the charms of a farmstay holiday.

Down here in South Catlins there are no hotels, no motels, but a dozen farm families who have smartened the quality of their guest bedrooms, learned about promoting themselves and their area, shared great conversations with overseas visitors and earned thousands of warm fuzzies by hearing others rave about the beauty of the region they call home.

It is a shame to clobber this win-win trade - the value added to that kilo of lamb includes much more than dollars. Let’s not make the visitor experience become bland and tasteless through our national habit of over-regulation.

Article for ‘Rural Delivery’ column, NZ Herald, c/o Philippa Stevenson.
From Christine McKenzie, Fortrose RD5 Invercargill 19 October 2000. Pub 27 11 00.

NZ Herald 7 July 2000 Organics What does it mean?

2007-12-26T02:14:00.000-08:00

Organically grown. What on earth does that mean! According to my Chambers dictionary, organic means a) containing carbon; b) pertaining to an organ (in any sense); c) instrumental; d) organised; e) structural as in the etymological structure of a word.

Its meaning nowadays conveys a vague idea that it means ‘food grown without man-made chemicals’.

Scientifically speaking, organics as currently practised under western standards, raises many questions about land sustainability, animal welfare and also about food safety. If your children got nits or worms, you’d treat them, wouldn’t you?

Those questions apart, ‘organic’ as a brand name for New Zealand food exports quite honestly stinks. It’s used willy nilly by all kinds of producers in many countries. How much trust do consumers really have in it? And how much will they trust it in the future as everyone gets on the bandwagon?

As a farmer I don’t have much faith in ‘organics’ at all. Particularly as a brand on our products heading overseas..

Yes the principles are great - that’s what New Zealand has built its good name on - producing with hardly any artificial aids. The thing is, we already have an established brand, and what’s more we own it, which means no-one else can degrade it.

It’s NZ Natural, or Naturally New Zealand, or any phrase that includes NZ. This is our established brand world wide.. Let’s face it Naturally NZ is unequivocal: it means all the images of NZ that have been built up over 120 years of exporting.

It’s no accident that our meat and dairy products are the cleanest anywhere - our customers demanded it over the years. The blood sweat and tears of complying with USDA and EU regulations have paid off in the reputation which we have built up.

Further, the last five years have seen a much closer relationship between customers and individual companies meaning their demands have been built into our systems, such as Alliance Group’s Farm Assurance Programme.. Traceability is the key. Every movement of animals on and off farm is recorded, every farm is audited and expected to record every remedy used such as worm drench. Codes of animal welfare, of fertiliser application, of health and safety are widely applied.

This has been accomplished in a relatively pain free way for farmers but is a huge leap forward for our marketing people, who are now grappling with the extraordinary global buying power of the continually merging supermarket sector. Their demands will continue to evolve but by the price and demand exhibited for our lamb in particular, it seems they are satisfied with the standard of food safety, animal welfare and environmental sustainability expressed in the New Zealand brand.

Those who are enthusiastically embracing the concept of ‘organics’ right now are motivated by the right sentiments but haven’t perhaps appreciated the strength of the the reputation we have, and that the commercial reality of the alternative doesn’t stack up..at least one supermarket megacorp has already announced price-levelling for all organic and non-organic produce.

Put together the commercial realities with the serious scientific questions over such practices as ploughing vs zero-tilling, it makes more sense to continue down the track of following best practice, building our wholesome and uniquely New Zealand reputation, than by attempting to rebrand our products with such a fragile generic name as ‘organic’.

NZ Herald 8 May 2000 Planet Southland

2007-12-26T02:11:00.000-08:00

Hello Hello Planet Southland here, calling Planet Auckland.

We need more people. You have lots of people. Could you send us some please?

That is the gist of my message… Here is my sales pitch:-

This May Monday morning the sun is pouring onto a landscape so bright and clear that it makes my eyes hurt. The vivid green of the autumn pastures is only matched by the sapphire of the Ocean. I can see the mountains of Western Southland eighty miles away. The garden is literally vibrant with birdsong.

If I get in the car and go down to the lighthouse at Waipapa, I can join in with the sealions as they loll and socialise in their equivalent of Club Med. If I go up to Curio Bay I can spot a yellow-eyed penguin, or a pod of Hector’s dolphin. I can walk along the coast and see petrified tree trunks, and reefs that were rivers frozen into stone long before Gondwana drifted north.

How’s the sales pitch doing? But isn’t it freezing, you say? I’ve seen snow twice in twenty-two years..It’s certainly cooler than Auckland. Latitude at Slope Point is equivalent to Nantes, a city well south of Paris. You really know you’re alive, out in the sweet fresh air. That’s how it is so clear, and so healthy for people, plants and animals alike. Bad for bugs.

Rainfall? Less than Auckland, actually. That is apart from Fiordland where you can’t live anyway as it’s all National Park. Yes about two thirds of this province is Conservation land, a lot of it classed as World Heritage. Great opportunities to lose and find oneself in the bush. Another selling point?

Landscape and climate -OK - but what about society and economics? Yes you get real people down here - people who look you in the eye and mean it when they say Gidday, How’ve you been? Variety - you get to know all sorts, all ages, all walks of life.

You get to go to meetings too, oh boy do you get to go to meetings. Everything is DIY from ambulance driving to tourism development, and we are so democratic we get ‘consulted’ on everything..hence the need for more people - we are getting meeting-ed out!

Now to the economics. Two sides to making ends meet: expenditure and income.

Expenditure, yes housing is unbelievably cheap and of good quality. The cost of a coffee and sandwich is about a third the Ponsonby price, schooling, transport, rates, tradesmen, entertainment, sports clubs, yes all are far cheaper. Not quite so many choices in entertainment but plenty of everything else.
Travel -hmm - that’s a weak point. It does cost a wee bit to vist the ageing parents or the kids at varsity.

Income - The crunchy bit. Not so many six-figure salaries, but there are a few. We have major meat, dairy, fishing and forestry processing enterprises, an aluminium smelter, an enterprising Polytechnic, and a number of engineering/manufacturing companies.

Farming itself can make a very decent income, so long as the scale and efficiencies are present. Those dairy farmers who have migrated from Waikato and Taranaki in recent years have been pleasantly amazed by the immediate increases in production.

Then there is horticulture which has vast untapped potential. We’ve got things going there with the Crops for Southland movement which is trialling dozens of potential new crops and at the same time doing a detailed soil and temperature map of the province. Just let us get those transport costs down!

Next is tourism a fast-developing industry. And what about tele-commuting?

Do you see why we need you? Climate, landscape, a varied society and the economic opportunities are all there for those with imagination, skills and attitude. Above all, what a great place to raise a family.

And it’s not really another planet, so come on down and see for yourself.

Southland Times Farm Review May 2000 'Bring your spade'

2007-12-26T01:39:00.000-08:00

Item for John Cutt: Southland Times Farm Review due 12 May 2000
From Christine McKenzie Fortrose _______________________________________________________

‘Bring your spade, we’re going to rescue Jen’s garden.’

The bulldozers have already ripped up the entire farm. Next week they will finally clear all remnants of a century and a half of family living. The house and sheds have been sold and moved, the mature trees will be pushed over, only the young moveable rhododendrons and the roses can be saved.

This scenario has played out not once but a dozen times in Southern Southland this year.

Family farms are falling like skittles to the big industrial forestry companies as they buy up a huge swathe of country to plant trees for chips and fibreboard.

While Governments no doubt think of the ‘carbon credits’ they will be able to claim in the future,those scattered farmers remaining in the district have been protesting about losing neighbours with the consequent drop in community viability, but there is no law against planting trees on farms. There is no effective law against foreign ownership of land either.

Forestry is not the job-rich industry it once was. The eucalypts already planted on Jen’s farm will not be touched until 2015 when they will be clear-felled.

Meantime there is no-one going up and down the road - the gravel road.

The gravel road has a lot to answer for. These are not ‘marginal’ farms as many people would believe. They grow eucalypts at a record rate, just as they grew beautiful sheep and cattle.

The reason the foresters could buy this land is not because of low productivity, but low saleability, because it’s just too far away from facilities for the modern family. People are nowadays not prepared to live so far from access to sports, entertainment, supermarkets and off farm jobs for partners. The same land near Invercargill, Gore or Winton would change hands far more readily and be priced well out of reach of bargain-hunters.

Our problem began fifty years ago when other areas were sealing their roads, and developing services. Somehow we never got to the point where we had enough population to demand modern amenities. We were too self-sufficient for our own good.

Nowadays with privatised infrastructure it’s more difficult still. For example we have been trying to get Telecom to consider our requests for cellular service but they are not interested. Why would they bother about big poorly populated areas like ours, unless Government forces them to?

Perhaps the ‘urban drift’ applies to many more places than just our little district but it hurts just the same, to see those loved homestead gardens disappear under ripped landscape leaving only ghosts that flicker in the minds of those who still pass by.

CJM 10 May 2000.

Southland Times Supplement 21 May 1999 'Olden days of dairying in Waikawa'

2007-12-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

Expansion of dairy farming ignores coastal potential.

In 1899 a pool of 300 cows was enough to open an export cheese factory, now it’s hardly enough to operate a family farm.
Down at Waikawa on the South Coast there is a museum with a display on the dairy industry that once existed in the area. Indeed it was dairy farming that followed the first clearing of the land.
The Otara factory sent its first cheese to Great Britain in 1882, the same year as the first shipment of frozen meat from Dunedin. Then, it ran on 500 gallons of milk per day although that was only a fraction of its capacity. It survived through the years - with ups and downs- until the early 1950s and the wool boom. The old building that still stands on the bank of the Tokanui Stream dates from 1919. In those days of big families and manual milking it was a sociable and busy life - one can imagine the race to be first at the factory with the horse and dray each morning.
Waikawa Valley, Tokanui and Haldane factories opened in the 1890s. When one looks at the fresh paint and proud lettering ‘DAIRY FACTORY’ on the buildings in the old photographs, with the founding farmers lined up in the foreground, one is tempted to reflect on the hopes, energies, ambitions and struggles of times past and how that aspect at least is little changed in the farming world.
So what is the status of dairying in the area now? There are only three dairy farms, all at Otara. There is however a good deal of black and white to be seen especially in winter, as graziers look after other people’s cows on the grassy dunes of the coast where it is dry underfoot all year round.
One can understand, with the emphasis today being on intensive per hectare production, that the Central Southland plain with its deep fertility and flat ground is the target of the dairy land rush.
However it is somewhat of a puzzle that as the plains get more swallowed up and prices rise, that the coastal belt hasn’t been part of the dairy expansion picture, so far. The carrying capacity of the land is easily competitive with the rest of Southland outside the plains, and the extraordinary drought this season has shown its reliability compared with the northern part of the province.
As well, it is just about frost-free and although the winter rains can be bitter, behind a decent shelter belt almost anything can be grown. The proximity of the sandy soils round the coast are a bonus for wintering, and the entire area is only between 35 and 75 km from the Edendale factory.
It’s also been clear of TB for many years and may even consider enhancing its TB-free status by declaring itself a ‘protected area’.
So why has the entire area been so neglected in the Southland dairy expansion? Is it just that people have forgotten its history, or is it that even today, one truly needs a pioneering spirit in order to be happy living on the southernmost coast?

Southland Times 21 May 1999 Extreme Scene

2007-12-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

Southland Times 8 June 1998 Three threads are drawing NZ farming towards the future.."

2007-12-26T01:09:00.001-08:00

Article for Southland Times for Monday 11 June 98 from Christine McKenzie Fortrose 5RD Invercargill.

"Continuous Improvement must be the aim of farmers in the south"

Three threads are drawing New Zealand farming towards the future, exposed as it is to the enormous forces of world food supply and trade. If you are a farmer who does not see continuous improvement as part of your farming philosophy, read no further.
First is the overseas customers’ requirements for reassurance that the food they eat is safe, tasty, natural and wholesome. They have had a lot of frightening stories (not from New Zealand products, touch wood), over the last year or two.
Second is the ‘community’s’ perceptions of what farming is all about and what is acceptable practice. Its perceptions are translated into law such as the Resource Management Act, the Biosecurity Act, various Codes of Animal Welfare and local authority Plans. The debate is loosely termed ‘The Right to Farm’.
Third is the evolving world of international trade agreements and the threat of nontariff barriers, not to mention cheaper producers, in an era of free trade. There are losses as well as gains for New Zealand in the medium term.
These three threads all mean more accountability on the part of farmers. If we want to stay at the top end of all our markets we need quality assurance all the way back to the farm, and strong statements about animal health , welfare, use of chemicals etc. Many non-farming people both here and in our markets, think that for instance we routinely use antibiotics on our animals just as they do in piggeries in Europe, chicken farms in USA and fish farms in Japan. We need to get more forceful in explaining that we do not use such methods because our systems do not need them.
The ‘Right to Farm’ includes other issues such as looking after the landscape and environment. It’s been a bigger issue for European farmers than for us because of the pressure of population on the open space available. However it is getting to be more of an issue here too. The extreme view, which now looks pretty old-fashioned, stated that a freehold landowner should be able to do exactly as he wishes with his soil, water, plant cover and buildings. The RMA among other things, gives the landowner responsibility to consider the effects he might have on others and on future generations.
There will always be debate about the level of freedom farmers should have to manage their own landscape. The beauty of the RMA is that the debate is brought down to local level so that each region works out its own set of rules according to the prevailing local ethic. What’s required in Waikato is different from what’s required in Wairarapapa, Marlborough, or Southland.
The third thread, the evolution of the rules for world trade in food, also pulls us in the direction of continuous improvement. We have had favourable quotas for lamb, beef and dairy products in various high-paying markets - that will disappear in the future. There are other places where the costs of production are potentially lower than ours. Think of Eastern Europe - Hungary, Poland etc, and South America. We have built historic advantages by keeping clear of diseases like foot-and-mouth, and by developing reliable infrastructures to process, market and ship the products. Those other places may finally get their act together. How do we keep ahead? Again we have to aim for a premium product that will attract a higher price. Once more, that means the customer experience must be safe, reliable, tasty, nutritious, and guilt-free. If it’s associated with a breath of fresh air and beauteous landscape, so much the better.
There is a great future for farming in Southland , proven by the ravages of El Nino to be the most reliable part of New Zealand, but only for farmers who plan to get better results each year than the last, who positively love their farming and relish the chance to demonstrate sound, sustainable management of their land and animals.

Southland Times 13 April 1998 Who was William Cargill?

2007-12-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

A Monday article from Christine McKenzie Fortrose for 13 April 1998 Southland Times

InverCargill -- the values of Wm Cargill

Coming from near Inverness, one had heard that Inver means ‘river mouth’.

But who was this chap Cargill? How did he come to have a city named after him? He’s not been a subject of everyday conversation, not even in our current celebrations of 150 years of settlement. I went to a book called ‘And Captain of their Souls’ by Tom Brooking, and found that he was indeed a character to remember, and one who provides links across time and space.

One of the interesting things about Cargill is that he set sail for New Zealand when he was about 63, when most people in those days would be thinking of carpet slippers and pipe.

He had already had two careers, one as an army officer fighting in Spain with the Iron Duke against Napoleon. He’d recovered from horrific wounds at the age of 26, soldiered on for some years, sold his commission and gone on to become a banker.

Not only had he had two careers, but his marvellous wife Mary Ann, like Queen Anne, had 17 children. Unlike Queen Anne, who lost every one in infancy, Mrs Cargill reared 12 of hers to adulthood.

Most men would then have retired satisfied to have their grandchildren climbing on their knees. But Cargill was a restless Scot who had strong ideas about right and wrong, especially about religion. There were many aspects of life in Britain that were unwholesome to him. There was a lot going on in the 1840s.

He really started pursuing the idea of a Scottish settlement for Southern ‘Middle Island’ of NZ in 1842 but it wasn’t till 1847 that the two ships Philip Laing and John Wickliffe set sail with their cargo of settlers. He had built on ideas and worked with many others over those five years but it is fair to say that he was the one with the tenacity to see it through to the end.

His co-leader when they finally set sail was the Reverend Thomas Burns, nephew of the Robert Burns and the poet’s exact opposite in attitude to life. Cargill was a man with strict ideas but he was a liberal compared to Thomas Burns. They were both Free Church which frowned on just about anything that constituted fun or ceremony, even instrumental music. They didn’t even celebrate Christmas or Easter.

Cargill’s title was Superintendent of Dunedin. It became a large Scottish settlement with 7500 people having arrived by 1860. They had an uneasy relationship with the ruling group in Auckland headed by Governor Grey. They also had an uneasy relationship with Southland which was in the throes of breaking away from Otago in 1859, when Cargill visited Invercargill for the first and last time, to try to stop the separation.

The collective memory of Cargill is probably coloured by the age he was when he got to New Zealand. Our city’s name, through him, takes us back further than the 1850s, back to the late 1700s when he was born, then to the Napoleonic wars. Through his name we are taken not only back in time but across the world to Scotland. We are reminded of the kind of people who first settled the south: educated, strictly Christian, hard-working and practical.

Cargill above all wanted to run his own show, and by tenacity and doggedness, he succeeded to a large extent. His dream of a self-sustaining southern Scottish settlement was realised, in that while he couldn’t keep it isolated and separate for very long, he had brought in a core of people who gave the south and its people the character for which they are still known.

What I find after reading Cargill’s story is that settlement would not have happened that way without his dreams and his actions. So we can fairly call him the father of the Scottishness of the south with its egalitarianism and family values, the soft burr of its accents and the practical hands-on attitude of its people.

Invercargill is, after all, well-named.

***************

Southland Times 29 Dec 1997 Tradition vs Innovation

2007-12-26T01:03:00.000-08:00

Tradition vs Innovation

It’s marvellous for young Kiwis to set off on their ‘OE’ (overseas experience) to enjoy the sights and sounds of much older cultures. They see the art and architecture with such fresh eyes and marvel at the thousands of years of history in those places. They don’t care about the terrible crowds, the dirty streets, the gridlocked traffic, the unfriendly people because ‘it’s all happening’ for them and they don’t expect to be there for ever.

Underneath the visible aspects of all the things we see both at home and abroad, is that mysterious thing called Culture. That word means different things to different people. For me, it is simply a system of values, a set of priorities about what society thinks is most important. And here is a fruitful never-ending source of argument.

Each person has an individual set of priorities. Somehow they have to fit in with the general direction of the others around them. Along the stream of time there is always a letting-go of the old and a picking up of the new. In that process there is doubt and uncertainty, and argument and therefore some pain.

This is what makes Europe so different from New Zealand, there is so much past history built into the landscape and into people’s minds that there’s little space for the new. They are stuck in 2000 years of civilisation, surrounded by monuments, stratified into social classes, ruled by a million precedents.

There are times, like Princess Diana’s funeral, when the value of tradition is seen. The organisation was like clockwork and everything fell into place, creating an unforgettable spectacle of sight and sound.

There are other good things about tradition and institutions. For instance it can be a source of comfort for people to know where they stand, and systems evolve which keep things clean and functional, harder to corrupt. Another example of the value of institutions is our own civil service where government functions continue even when government itself is struggling through a major change of process.

In a changing world there is always the problem of what to keep and what to change, what to value - what was worthy yesterday, is it still worthy today? You can see it at a personal level, some of us gather enormous amounts of memorabilia as we travel through life, others keep little to remind them of the past. Some have very rigid ideas of how things should be done, others are very laid back about protocol. Some people love the old buildings of Invercargill, others would bulldoze them.

The beauty of New Zealand life is that there are often no precedents, indeed Kiwis are known as innovators , they have had to be - think of the number eight wire legend. Here is the space to build from scratch, to expand on new ideas, to experiment, to fail, to keep changing, and still to value many things from the past. In fact our tradition IS innovation.

So it’s really good to welcome those young Kiwis home when they’ve had their fill of seeing the world. They have to travel to understand how exceedingly lucky they are. The unique ‘Culture’ that is New Zealand will grow and change because of the sights they have seen, and so it will continue to be a vibrant interesting little set of islands.How about making your New Year’s resolution to be more appreciative of differences? It’s sure going to be mine.

Southland Times 16 Feb 1998 "An open letter encouraging a Scottish family to Southland"

2007-12-26T00:58:00.000-08:00

Monday article for Southland Times 16 February 1998.

from Christine McKenzie
Fortrose 5RD Invercargill

AN OPEN LETTER TO A YOUNG FARMING FAMILY IN SCOTLAND

Dear farming folks

So you have had it up to here with farming in Scotland with all the red tape and bureaucracy. How about moving out to Southland, New Zealand?

There are quite a few farms for sale near us. The land is fertile and healthy, the air is sparkling clear, the neighbours are friendly and most of all you can farm to your heart’s content, instead of getting up in the morning to ‘milk the subsidies’.

Over here you’d soon forget the frustration of filling in all those forms for every acre, every crop and every head of livestock - and there’s no satellite overhead measuring how many acres or animals you’re claiming for, because you’re not claiming for anything.

You’d be made very welcome in New Zealand. The people here mostly have Scottish background so you would feel at home straight away. For sheep farming you need about 2500 ewes nowadays to make a living. It sounds a lot compared to the 800 you are farming but the systems here along with the climate allow you to do it quite well and still have time for the bagpipes. The local pipe band, by the way, is top of Grade Two at present so is worthy of your talent. They have just been touring in Japan, and in August will be in Edinburgh at the Tattoo.

The other thing about sheep farming is that there is definitely progress to be made. It’s not a standstill business. I know that you have farming in your blood and here you’d be living among the top sheep farmers anywhere. Think of the challenge. Of course you’d be like the rest of us, driven by debt. That’s where you have to look at the downside - you might have to sacrifice a bit of that discretionary income the government gives you in Scotland - there are no set-aside payments here!

But that’s what I was saying - this is a place you can make your decisions according to your own piece of dirt and its microclimate and your own inclinations. You’ll be buying your own freehold and it’ll probably take your whole lifetime, but here it’s not called Freehold for nothing.

I daresay you will worry about the thought of leaving your ageing parents , and all the children’s cousins, but look I flew back to UK this year and it only cost $2000 return, that’s 800 pounds sterling. Invercargill to Inverness is only 36 hours or (think of it) you can go by Bali and take a week.

And once you get established here you’ll have a stream of visitors and plenty of space for them all.

You don’t have to worry about the children settling in. This has got to be the best place in the world to give children the freedom they really need. I noticed on my visit to England this year how my brother kept his eye on his children as they played in their garden. Even a locked gate didn’t keep them safe from strange people. Well here they will be able to call the place their own, they can ride horses and bikes till they drop, they can help you two, they can play sport on Saturdays and grow up independent, free, fit and responsible.

So are you tempted? I don’t mean to make it sound like Heaven because it’s not, it’s just a wonderful part of Earth with its own little niggles but overall a great quality of life. Let us know what you think of the idea. Bye for now....

*******************************

Southland Times 10 Nov 1997 "..to put oomph into the economy"

2007-12-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

Monday article for Southland Times 10 November 1997

I spent the winter of 1989 researching the need for an economic development unit in Southland. At the time there were many grass-roots bodies attempting to put some Oomph into the economy.
There was Project Southland, which ran a competition for a Southland flag; Southland Employment Resource Centre which aimed to be a one-stop shop to facilitate job creation; Southland Promotions which concerned itself mainly with the visitor industry; many local promotions group including Gore who planted lily bulbs and specialist vegetables.
There were a myriad of product groups from cashmere producers to home hosters, from organics to crafts to farm forestry.
There was even a South Island Marketing Co-op which aimed to market anything and everything.
The brand new Southland District Council was advertising for its very first Rural Enterprise Adviser, having been offered financial assistance from government to do so.

All of that activity reflected the various energies and enthusiasms of Southlanders picking themselves up after the deep shocks of Rogernomics.

It was agreed by all at that time that an overall regional identity was desirable, however the trick was going to be how to co-ordinate all that activity without robbing the groups of their energy, initiative and ownership.

Eight years later we are still working on it! The groups themselves have evolved, some into strong professional bodies like Tourism Southland and Crops for Southland, others have quietly folded but all left their mark, for example the Southland flag still flies above some buildings, although a new banner graces the main streets.

Other bodies have come and gone. The Southland Rural Strategy Group began as a result of a Southland Times conference, beavered away for six or so years (backed by Southland District Council, Bank of New Zealand, Federated Farmers and MAF), then amalgamated with the Chamber of Commerce to become Focus Southland. The latter has successfully combined local business energy with research institute expertise and District Council credibility. The result is an impressive list of projects, and ability to source external funds. The only missing ingredient has been Invercargill City Council.

This is why it is ironic that Mr Harrington’s economic summit group wants to create a new body funded by all the councils and is piqued that Focus Southland says, ‘Look, just join ours. We’ve wanted you all along.’ So the result of the October series of meetings, ie a declaration of intent to centralise an economic development office within two years, has been a compromise less than satisfactory on all sides. The best part of the outcome will be an expanded mayoral forum, now to include some business leaders, hopefully to strategise at a regional level. And so we make progress, slowly.

In the meantime the various officers of the SDC and ICC will continue to co-operate at a functional level as before, backed by the resources of their own councils.
The many other special-purpose groups will continue with their work. Just to compare with 1989 here are some of them:
Tourism Southland, funded by all three districts;
Crops for Southland, supported by SDC and to a lesser extent by ICC;
‘Southland Spirit of a Nation’ regional branding strategy, supported by all councils.
Vibrant City, formed to upgrade Invercargill city centre, supported by ICC.
Education Southland bringing foreign students to Polytech and schools; supported by council membership.
Celebration of Southland, preparing for 1998 being the 150th birthday of the province;
SF2000 aiming to boost sheep farming productivity, supported short-term by SDC;
21 local area promotions groups throughout Southland, supported by SDC and Tourism Southland.
This is not all of them by any means but what that list shows is the degree of co-operation already existing between local groups and councils, and between the four councils themselves.
So while there is some grumbling and mumbling between town and country, the truth is more reassuring: underneath it all a lot of solid effective work is being done.
*********************************************
Christine McKenzie
Fortrose 5RD Invercargill

Southland Times 22 Sep 1997 "Southland leads as the world centre for sheep farming"

2007-12-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

For Southland Times
Monday article 22 9 97 from Christine McKenzie
Southland - sheep capital of the world.

There’s an ancient French saying ‘let’s get back to our sheep’. It means, ‘Let’s get back to the subject’.

The subject, in any debate about Southland’s economy has surely got to be the sheep.

The big beautiful Southland ewe and her six million companions make this province the world centre of sheep-farming. There is nowhere else in the world that so many miles of pasture are dotted with so many white woolly jumpers.

By month’s end, counting ewes, lambs and hoggets there will be about 15 million mouths busily turning grass into meat, milk and wool which will, within a year, have translated into (in round numbers) $6oo million lovely dollars.

That’s twice as much as dairy, beef, deer, arable and horticulture combined, and it’s about $6000 for every man, woman and child in Southland.

What makes those dollars so lovely is that most of them stay in Southland, at least the first time round.

What’s even better is that there will be another $600 or so million next year and the year after, because we are not gutting the soil to earn it.
Sheep farming is an extraordinarily clean and sustainable way of utilising land. Sheep feet don’t pug the soil like cattle. Clover, not chemicals, provides the source of nitrogen for grass growth. Permanent pastures protect the soil from erosion by wind and rain, and they don’t need fungicides, insecticides or weedicides.

Mind you, it’s not simple to be the best sheep farmers in the world. Given the starting points of excellent soils and climate, there are still many variables to juggle: there is always the weather which makes every season different; feed budgeting, breeds of sheep, new varieties of pasture plants, different fertilisers and trace elements, new research findings, market signals, each has an effect which must be managed against each farmer’s own piece of land, and there is always the drive to do better.

So there can be no resting on the laurels, we have broken through many barriers in the past and are about to break through some new ones. The clear message from the market is now to aim for 15-17.5 kg Y grade lambs, consistent as peas in a pod. Lambing percentage and lamb growth rate are the twin targets for increasing on-farm profit.There are new tools like pregnancy scanning, crossbreeding with recently-introduced genetics, specialist grasses, all to be evaluated against the circumstances of each farm. There is always new research to consider on particular topics, such as endophyte levels and trace element interaction.

Other clear messages from the market include the need for traceability of meat back to the farm, leading to declarations from farmers about their adherence to principles of animal health, welfare and witholding periods. This trend has been hastened by the increase in chilled meat shipments which if we get it wrong even once is potential ‘dynamite’. In fact safety systems need to be as failsafe as those on jumbo jets, and the farm is where they start. In addition, the customer is looking for meat from animals which have led a natural life without artificial food or drugs or undue confinement. This is where we have the advantage over chicken and pork which are reared in vast quantities under very artificial conditions.

Talking as ‘Southland Inc’ it was sensible and logical to have spread our business risk by diversifying into new products from our large land resource. However it is fair to remind ourselves now and again just how much we owe to the sheep and how much pride we can take in doing our ‘core business’ better than anyone else.

Have a growthy spring!

Southland Times August 4 1997 Fortrose is Humming

2007-12-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

Southland Times June 16 1997 Travelling the world without leaving your home patch

2007-12-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

For Southland Times - June 97

I’ve read lately that 500 million people will take an overseas flight this year. I hope they don’t all come to New Zealand!

Flying is extraordinarily cheap today as long as you stick to well-trodden routes.
For about the average monthly wage you can buy a round-the-world ticket, complete with extras.
I had great plans for travel, I thought that once the children were grown etc I would head off again overlanding as in my younger days.

However for the past two summer seasons we have been globetrotting without leaving home. It is comfortable, inexpensive, exciting and rewarding.

How do we retain the comforts of home and enjoy the wonders of Planet Earth at the same time?

We have visitors, lots of them, from all continents, all ages (mostly young), all backgrounds. We never know who is going to come through the front door, we only know someone is.

Some come as paying guests, some come as ‘farm helpers’ to live as part of the family and take part in everyday farming life.
Some of those come from farms themselves, maybe central Alberta or Denmark or northern Ireland. Others have never been on a farm and have to learn from scratch.

If you said Chiang Mai to me last year I would have thought of opium, jungles and child prostitution. Now I think of a young man called Saran and the life he described as he sat at our kitchen table: except for the servants it sounded pretty familiar. I remember too the meal he cooked which was an adventure for us to eat as well as for him to cook.
I remember him in a tearing hurry to catch up with Colin one morning when he’d slept late - off he went on the pushbike without waiting for breakfast. - ‘So much fun drenching lambs’.

If you said Shikoku to me last year I would have remembered with difficulty that it is one of the four main islands of Japan. It is actually tucked in south of the main island and has still got much of the traditional way of life which is disappearing in the big cities.
Kazumi was the delightful girl who told us about it. She had spent a year at school in Nashville which was where she met the people who years later, sent her to us. She had a deep knowledge of traditional Japan as well as a real understanding of Western people, both of which are missing in some of the young urban Japanese we have met.

Dozens of others have crossed our threshold. Every one has contributed something to opening doors in our minds. Sometimes we have needed patience. Sometimes we have been stuck for something for them to do, sometimes we’ve needed a little time on our own, but always the rewards have far outweighed the effort. The best reward is being reminded how incredibly lucky we are to live in the wide open spaces of Southland with miles of deserted beautiful beaches as our back door playground. Another reward is that we have excuses to spend time on the beach, to sit on the sand beside the sealions at Waipapa, to walk the fabulous coast along to Slope Point, to go to Curio Bay and watch penguins plodding over 180 million year old petrified logs, and dolphins cruising round ecstatic bathers.There is plenty of adventure to be had in Southland, - and you don’t need a passport! All you need is to keep company with a few enthusiastic visitors!

Christine McKenzie
Fortrose 5RD Invercargill

Southland Times April 1997 'Filtering the FITS'

2007-12-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

In Southland Times April 1997

Filtering the FITS

Some time about the turn of the millennium, the road through Catlins where Southland meets Otago on the East coast, will finally be sealed.
All residents in their right mind are looking forward to that day -- or are they?
It will bring us into the modern world, it is a sign of progress. At last we will be able to enjoy coachloads of tourists, which is no more than our wonderful coast deserves.
Once we’re opened up money will just flow, farmland will increase in value, options will multiply, everyone will want to live here.
There are some residents, still in their right mind, who have some fears about the imminent explosion.
What do they have to fear?
How about loss of wildness, loss of all the peace that keeps them here, loss of those rare animals that are the icing on the cake for the coastal landscape: the yellow eyed penguins, the Hooker’s sealions, the Hector’s dolphins, even loss of the petrified forest.
Many more facilities will be required : toilets, waste bins, ambulances, police, shops, accommodation, services.
This coast could turn into a copy of a thousand places world-wide, pretty scenery but tame.
Yet wildness is what millions of people yearn for. Fortunately they can’t all get here, only the keenest. Generally speaking the tourist industry calls them FITS, free independent travellers, and they filter through the gravel road south from Balclutha or north from Invercargill. Everyone else takes the high road, Highway 1, or they don’t come south at all.
The result is that we have a small tourist industry but a very rewarding one, in human terms. The people we meet are self-selected into an exclusive club, not because of wealth but because of their interest in finding things for themselves, in going off the beaten track. They have a sense of adventure, a need to test themselves, a keen sense of interest in natural processes - geology, biology etc., and they love to meet and talk to locals.
How then as residents can we have the best of both worlds, keep the peace and yet make progress?
Of course we want the road sealed, so how do we mitigate the effects of the inevitable flow of people?

The sensible thing to do is to plan ahead, at least for the infrastructural things like toilets, roading and rubbish, and for the protection of the fragile aspects like the wildlife, the forest, the beaches.
Fortunately planning, nowadays, is seen as a community responsibility, not the job of faceless bureaucrats from Wellington.
This is where our local bodies come into their own, they can hear what people say and have the muscle to get things done.
Southland District Council have had good practice in helping areas like Stewart Island, Riverton, Tuatapere to set up ‘Concept Development Plans’, and at last it is our turn, from Waikawa to Fortrose, to have a get-together as a community.
Tomorrow in fact, 29 April at Waikawa, we will have a collective ‘think’ about how we want the area to look in five, ten, twenty years’ time. There will be varying opinions about the priorities but we should come up with a few principles and key issues, and a plan of action. So to the rest of Southland, come and see us as we are now, while we still have a little wildness.....

Christine McKenzie
Fortrose 5RD
Invercargill