free outdoor pilates event in Redcliffs, Christchurch 28th Nov 2009

 

Do you wonder what Pilates is? What are its benefits?

Or if you do Pilates,do your friends ask you about it and

you have a hard time describing it? This is the answer to

those and other related questions.

GREEN PILATES

PILATES IN THE OPEN AIR

Free Community Pilates Open Mat Class

on the Redcliffs School Green.

Main Road, Redcliffs

4-5 pm on Saturday the 28th of November.

Rain date the 29th at 10 am

Please arrive at 3:30 to get a spot.

This has the possibility of being a very large event.

Bring a beach towel or mat, your friends and family.

It will be fun and educational.

Queries? Contact 384-8005/022-046-2009

or email charrette@gmail.com  www.greenpilates.co.nz

 

Kiwitravelwriter takes a Lord of the Rings tours

Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010 book  says (pg35)  “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and last time we checked the land of Maori and hobbits certainly didn’t need repairing. Once again New Zealand has been put in the top ten countries which you ‘ought to put on your agenda in 2010”

Having Middle-earth right on my doorstep, it seemed I too needed to drop in on the land of the hobbits and check out the Lord of the Rings Edoras Tour (www.hasslefree.co.nz) to see what all the fuss is about.

And here, I have to confess: until this trip I was a LotR virgin! True. As shocking as that may seem to some, I have not read the books nor seen the movies – it was almost a shameful secret – but now I know a little and I’m willing to share it with you. And, it seems these tours deep into Middle-earth are becoming more and more popular as time goes by.

The tour starts in Christchurch, and shortly after I was picked up in Cathedral Square, Rex, the driver and guide for the day, pointed out the school attended by the teenage murderers depicted in Heavenly Creatures

NZ has a great tradition of great movie making – The American Film Institute has called the New Zealand film industry “one of the wonders of the world… an unparalleled success story” see more here

It was appropriate to point out the school and site for some  of the shots used in the movie as that too was one of Peter Jacksons great pictures and Kate Winslet started her career in Heavenly Creatures:

As we drove out we watch a DVD about ‘the quest for the ring’ which gave someone like me a background to the day and the film. I also learnt Tolkien was born in South Africa ( to English parents) and that, as well as having to create a road to get to ‘Edoras’  and  the ‘rocky outcrop beside silver streams’ that Tolkien described in his books, Rex also tells us “the village took months to build, they were there filming for 3 weeks, then it was dismantled.”

So on we drove, past trout-filled lakes, through little country villages, over the Canterbury plains and glacial-formed braided rivers, passed tussock covered hills until we emerged in the ‘secret valley’; home of Mt. Sunday, 95 metres (over 600ft)  above sea-level and which was transformed into Edoras, capital city of the Rohan people for the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

As dramatic music soars in the vehicle we are welcomed: “Welcome to the Kingdom of Rohan in Middle earth” – our guide makes it a momentous occasion. read the rest of the article here

Note: Hassle-Free Tours (www.hasslefree.co.nz ) also run Christchurch city tours, and an Alpine Safari which includes a jet boat, 4×4 vehicles and the TranzAlpine train so check their website for up-to-date information.

by the kiwitravelwriter,  Heather Hapeta

Christchurch and the Rugby World Cup September 2011

Rugby World Cup Countdown

There is just two years until Rugby World Cup 2011 kicks off in Christchurch with the game between Argentina and England at Stadium Christchurch on Saturday 10 September 2011.

The previous day New Zealand will play Tonga in Auckland in the opening game of the New Zealand based Tournament.

To mark the start of the two year countdown, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker unveiled a countdown clock in the city today. The clock will soon be based in Cathedral Square where it will remain until the Tournament begins – but will also make appearances at major events around the region over the next two years.

Detail of the Chalice - public art in'the square'

“It’s a constant reminder of how long we have until we showcase our city and our region to the rest of the world in this amazing Tournament,” says Bob Parker.

“The clock is well and truly ticking.”

Bob Parker said that the city had now entered a new stage of preparation for the Tournament. “We’ve completed the planning and design phases of our Rugby World Cup campaign and are now moving on to the construction and infrastructure upgrade stages – where people will start to see things happening around the city.”

See more posts under MY CITY, and RUGBY,  in the categories section, and photos of Christchurch, NZ at the top of this page.

NZs paradise shelduck was called the painted duck by Cook

I saw my first Paradise ducklings of the season over this past weekend … these birds are unusual in they sometimes nest in trees, some 10 – 15 metres above the ground.

They are also the only birds in New Zealand who have increased in numbers since Cook arrived in NZ: he named them the painted duck.

female on Avon river

male paradise -- they pair for life

See other blogs I have written about NZs flightless birds and this website http://www.nzbirds.com/index2.html for more information.

rooms with views

This week (this was written a few years ago)I am writing from a room with a view. A  room in which various national and international ‘artists in residence’ have used to relax or work.

As I sit and await the muse to visit (surely there must be some residual energy from those other writers) I gaze out the window at the view.

The Peacock Fountain, in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, was built in cast iron in 1911, and is the background to many photographs travelling to all points of the compass. As people pose, it sprays it’s water regularly from the dolphins, and is well decorated with herons, lily leaves, and other undefined foliage.

I sit and think of other views, other places. Some from on high, others through a door or window.

A palm-roofed hut, just large enough to place a double-sized bed and still walk around it, produced a romantic view of white sands, palm trees, and blue skies. Idyllic – a genuine travel brochure scene.

The view from my downtown Manhattan hostel window – taxis abandoned in the middle of the street and only the top of the yellow-cabs roof showing through the snow.

The view from  a tower in Istanbul may have been amazing but I was too busy clinging to the building to appreciate it. It is hard to be a tourist or traveller with a  fear of heights!  Nevertheless I do recall seeing the busy Bosphorus and the skyline of minarets through adrenaline-impaired-vision.

Once I nearly got over my fear enough to inwardly consider urban rap-jumping from the Novotel in Auckland. I am pleased to report I recovered my senses enough to keep those thoughts to myself and remained firmly on top of the hotel and did not walk down the side of the building- face forward – and now own a Tee shirt that says; I wouldn’t dream of urban rap jumping. The view of downtown Auckland and the harbour was great: however I was not really appreciating it right then.

With these confessions of fears, you will be surprised to know that I have done a bungee jump – right in the heart of Wellington. I was really fearful as they tied my ankles, the soft towel to prevent ropeburn did not reassure me. I must be crazy I think. Ropes tied and tested I am under starters orders. “Move to the edge of the platform” he tells me and I shuffle forward, “A little more” I move imperceptibly more, my heart beating at an uncontrollable speed. The view is now clearly in front of me, the water is fast, cold looking and a long long way down. I still have time to back out of this but my pride won’t allow it. The countdown starts. Three. Two. One. Bungee! Over the edge I go, plummeting downwards, waterwards, my heart undecided if to climb out my throat  or smash through my ribs, I’m screaming. I bounce, up and down, down and up again swinging side-ways and slowly come to a gentle halt. They untie my legs as I wonder did I wet my pants? I slowly walk away. That may have only been virtual bungee at Te Papa but it was real enough for me!

Another memorable view from the top was in Scotland. Inveraray, a village built by the head of the powerful Clan Campbell (my clan) in 1745, has a bell-tower built, on top of a hill, as a memorial to the Campbell’s who have died in battle. I climbed, sometimes crawling on my knees, to the top for a fantastic view of the village below, the Clan Campbell castle (Inveraray Castle) and the beautiful Loch Fyne and the tiny village. It seems amazing that such a calm, peaceful setting was the training ground for some half a million troops prior to the D-Day landings in WW2.

My journal, written on top of that hill, notes my grief at my sons death some five years earlier, and how I had then thought I would die from the pain, yet now, on the date of his birth, I was enjoying the view from a hill in Scotland. Grief produces such paradoxes, out of pain, or perhaps because of it, growth and life and laughter happens. Just as Buddhists explain the lotus flower and how its beauty grows out from mud.

Maybe the muse that has been left in this room is a reflective one. One that looks out windows and wonders what’s it all about. I certainly don’t know, all I know is the more I know, the less I know, the less I need to know.

the good news and bad news about Canterbury NZ

This article by Heather Hapeta was originaly published in the Ecan magazine 2008

Canterbury plains are one of the worst examples of the loss of native plants in New Zealand’ Professor Ian Spellerberg tells me. ‘Less than 0.5% of native vegetation remains on our plains.’

When colleagues from Europe ask, as he drives them from the airport to Lincoln University, ‘where are your native plants’ he understands their surprise. Returning to Canterbury, he too was disappointed. Spellerberg had become used to UK landscapes with their hedgerows making great use of native plants and which are now some of the last bastions of habitat for wildlife.

However, there is good news about our plains: the Te Ara Kakariki Greenway Canterbury Trust has been formed and is encouraging us to increase native plant communities for all reasons – not just restoration, or beautification as some critics suggest, but for boundaries, shelter belts, crops, tourism, and ideas that we haven’t yet thought of. Its long-term vision, maybe taking hundreds of years, is to make connections between the mountains and sea by using corridors and stepping stones of native plant communities – and connecting existing patches. Another goal is a one-stop-shop for information: cost, availability, economic benefits, where to get natives, after-planting care and research – perhaps leading onto field days. Encouragingly, Motukarara Conservation Nursery says they can’t keep up with the demand for native plants.

The land between the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers gives the project an identity and all Cantabrians can be involved: country or city; on public and private land; for economic and ecological reasons, alongside roadsides, railway lines and rivers.

This year, (2008) in conjunction with Southern Woods Nursery, has seen 25 Selwyn schools being invited to design and plant a native plant community for their school.  Judging (November 08) will be around the knowledge pupils gained, not just the design. (Good luck to Southbridge, Templeton and Ladbrooks schools, and others, who Robyne Hyndman tells me have signed-up).

Spellerberg’s enthusiastic. ‘I have this dream of tourists coming to see Te Ara Kakariki, a Canterbury icon! Imagine native plant hedgerows on those long stretches of road. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? It’s the loss of associated native wildlife too: maybe we could re-introduce the Kakariki back to Canterbury.’

‘We underestimate the value of natives in an uncertain future. What’s the environment going to be in ten years? What about land use? Changes in weather? We have to think about what roles native plants will play then. It might be crops, better shelter belts – after all, these plants evolved to live in dry windy conditions.’

‘Why aren’t we proud of our native heritage of plants?’ he continues. ‘We owe an apology to nature for the devastation of our native plant communities. We should be celebrating them, they are our wealth.’

‘I’m putting my money on Te Ara Kakariki becoming an icon for Canterbury.’ I see tourists coming to see this landscape project which communities, schools, and other groups have created. A wonderful greenway of native plants and native plant communities.’

Books about natives for Canterbury

Native plant communities of the Canterbury plains (Dept of conservation)

Living with natives (2008) Canterbury University Press. Edited by Ian Spellerberg & Michele Frey. Available July-August.

Going native (2004) Canterbury University Press Edited by Ian Spellerberg & the late David Given.

Living with natives (2008) Canterbury University Press. Edited by Ian Spellerberg & Michele Frey. Available July-August.

Establishing shelter in Canterbury with nature conservation in mind. Available from ECan or the Isaac Centre for Nature Conservation.

Plant Nurseries for natives

Motukarara Conservation Nursery

Trees for Canterbury

Southern Woods

(& others)

Do you want to be involved?

Want advice for your property?

Have you got a case study or project idea?

Do you want to help with planting?

Would you like to make a donation?

Would you like to be involved in our Management Group?

Would you like to help with fundraising?

If you answer ‘Yes’ to any of these questions, or have other suggestions or questions, please contact the trust.

Professor Ian Spellerberg: re info or talks. Email: Spelleri AT lincoln.ac.nz

new zealand women have been voting for 116 years

New Zealand women get the vote in 1893

Women’s suffrage 1893: New Zealand is the first in the world to give women the vote.

Every 19th September  women in New Zealand celebrate and remembered with gratitude, the struggle for the right to vote.

(For more detailed information of this see online encyclopedia http://www.teara.govt.nz/ )

Here in Christchurch we are proud of the fact that Kate Shephard was a prime organiser of the 31,872-signature petition (collected over seven years) and every year we gather at the memorial (cnr Worcester Boulevard & Cambridge Terrace) which depicts the women and the wheelbarrow in which the petition  was taken to Parliament in Wellington.

Suffrage day is often also called White Camellia day, as women who supported enfranchisement wore a white camellia, yesterday women both wore the flowers and lay them at the wonderful memorial. The memorial was unveiled at the 100 year anniversary and a new camellia verity was also created then and named ‘Kate Sheppard’.  Today we celebrated 116  years of all NZ women being able to vote.

Kates home in Christchurch

So far, from my research, it seems only one of my ancestors,  my great-grandmother Elizabeth Rowe, (married Herbert Bunny) signed the petition and during that same year, 1893, her daughter, Mabel, my maternal grandmother was born.

One of the great things about the 1893 Electoral Bill was passed was that Maori women were given the vote too … not just women with land. Unfortunately Chinese women, in fact all Chinese people, did not get the vote until the early 1950s.

Don’t waste the courage and strength of those 19th century women – make sure you always vote.

pechakucha is alive and well in New Zealand

©Heather Hapeta 2009

Pecha Kucha Nights are a rapid fire presentation format that’s sort of speed dating about the work, ideas and passions of creative people.

Travelling virus-like around the world – not quite at the speed of SARS or swine flu – the nights started in 2003 by a couple of ex-pat designers Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Kein-Dytham Architecture in Tokyo, Japan. They devised a format that kept presentations concise in order to encourage audience attention and increase the number of presenters in the one night.

The format consists of a data slide-show of 20 images, each of which is shown for only 20 seconds, moving onto the next image whether the presenter is ready or not.It’s a great way to get lots of information to the audience without boring them: even if it’s a topic that of no interest to some of the audience, don’t worry, its all over in 6 minutes 40 seconds.

AQ on its blog (aqworks.com) says “The beauty of Pecha Kucha Night lies in the tension between the chaos of a full-blown party and the politeness of an art school critic, with the snappy pace holding it all together. Like any open-mic night, this is an intense fight for attention. In the red corner, the presenter “selling” his work to the audience, in the blue corner, the bar selling beer to the same audience. The better your presentation, the less beer the bar sells, and vice-versa!”

If you want to present at a PK evening I can guarantee their blog helps us creative people talk about creative things and avoid “death by Powerpoint.

Most nights have about 14 presenters, most of who are (and much of the audience too) from the design, architecture, photography, art, music, and other creative fields

Some presenters in Christchurch (and their topics) have included

• David Read  Photographer and publisher talking about being a skateboard photographer;
• Adi Tait  tells us about The Burning Man experience
• Bill de Friez, film maker among other skills,  is the man who nearly died of embarrassment
• Cara Gouvea  a student here in Christchurch gives us a love letter to Saint Petersburg  her city
• Flip Grater musician and writer, just back from her Cookbook Tour of Europe — takes us on a food and music trip across the continent.
• Heather Hapeta aka The Passionate Nomad, author, blogger, and photographer tells how she helped create 79 Buddhist monks,
• and Seth Wagoner had us ‘pimping your Firefox’ while immigrant Keinyo White, painter and illustrator shows us Aotearoa from an Af-Am perspective.

I go because I love passionate people talking about their passions: others tell me they look forward the evenings as they find out what others artists are doing; being introduced to new ideas; and of course supporting friends who are presenting.

The name derives from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit-chat”). A Pecha Kucha Night is a non-profit orientated event that is now part of an international network. According to Wikipedia, Pecha Kucha is usually pronounced in three syllables like “pe-chak-cha” but here in Christchurch we all seem to be saying it as two words each with two syllables!

It’s estimated that around 15,000 people in 200 cities –  from Aarhus, Adelaide, Amsterdam, Athens, Atlanta, Auckland, to Wellington, Worcester, Zagreb, Zaragoza, Zilina, and Zürich – attend Pecha Kucha nights each month, (in New Zealand its in Christchurch, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Nelson) making this one of the world’s biggest creative networks. As they say – Pecha Kucha is for content not profit, so, join the conversation!

See photos from the first Christchurch Pecha Kucha night http://www.flickr.com/photos/pechakuchanightchristchurch/sets/72157605889795110/

Other sites to check out:

http://pecha-kucha.org/

http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/

http://www.pechakucha.co.nz/

http://twitter.com/pechakuchanight

family fun in Christchurch

Family fun: Christchurch is great for both the visitor and local alike. Why? Because Christchurch caters for children with fabulous kids-fest events in the school holidays and has heaps of activities for them during the rest of the year too: many of them free, or for a donation, and I’m lucky enough to have a grandson that I can do these things with.

Museums and art galleries are great but need to be done on small doses with young ones: perhaps concentrate on one specialist area with each visit. The fabulous Christchurch Art Gallery always has special events during the school holidays – as does the long established museum.

Right beside the museum and Arts Centre are the Botanic Gardens, which has lots of space for running, picnic spots and of course a kid’s playground with a paddling pool. Still on the water theme is the Avon River and its iconic boatsheds – a trip to Christchurch without boating on the Avon seems unthinkable and its been a tradition for many families over generations to learn to row boats and paddle canoes on this stretch of river.

Remember to bring extra clothing when indulging in water sports – last time we went on the river we regretted not having dry clothes.

The Antarctic Centre is another must on this list of kid’s fun things. Twice voted New Zealand’s best attraction it’s appropriate it’s in Christchurch, long the jumping off place for Antarctic exploration and adventures.

Young ones, and sometimes us not-so-young-ones, are often greeted with a hug from a large penguin. When exploring the frozen spaces in the building you will be supplied with the thick warm coats and boots for all the family and they are certainly needed – especially if you brave the blast of cold air that lets you experience the frozen continents wind-chill factor. Children, adults, and spectators alike love the ice slide so give it a go.

After exploring the centre, it’s almost compulsory to finish off with a ride on the Hagglund. For fifteen mins you will enjoy, or scream, as you race around in doughnut style, swimming through water, over a crevasse, and up and down hills – just as vehicles like this do daily in the Antarctic.

Unless you have a fear of heights, another place on your list should be the Gondola. It will take to the top of the Port Hills – near the bridle path that many of our ancestors walked over in the 1800s.

Once at the top, after admiring the views all the way up I walk with my grandson through the time tunnel and see how the twin volcanoes shaped this area.

Another place that I believe visitors and locals alike need to visit is Willowbank Wildlife Reserve: the only place in New Zealand that you will see live kiwi – of the flightless bird variety – not behind glass. It’s also the place to experience KoTane, the fabulous Maori show that both informs and entertains people from all over the world as well as locals.

What else can you do in Christchurch? Ride the tram ( save by getting a combined ticket for it and the Gondola) ; visit Orana Park, the Air force museum; go ice-skating or roller-blading; see how quick you are at Laser Strike; and have fun as well as learning at Science Alive.

www.iceberg.co.nz

www.gondola.co.nz

www.tram.co.nz

www.willowbank.co.nz

NOTE This is a reprint of an article in the Christchurch Citizen newspaper and still valid! (http://www.kiwitravelwriter.com/pdf/family_fun_in_christchurch.pdf )

ENTRE

fancy some time on the river?

GO boating in New Zealand?

In 1850, swamp covered Christchurch, and settlers had to traverse bog to get home after shopping in the market.

Those early settlers must have been sorely disillusioned when they first saw the soggy land of their dreams,

Between 1000 and 1500, the indigenous Maori (who had arrived here from the Pacific) had a settlement here, called Puari. It stretched east from the Otakaro River, and was home for around 800 Waitaha people who gathered eels, whitebait, native trout, ducks, and flounder here.

The river was renamed the Avvon – after a Scottish river – then this too was changed to Avon, and the first bridge to span the river was a cart bridge in 1852. Ten years later the first public lamp was lit at the same market street bridge but kerosene was considered too expensive and the town lighting project was halted for two years.

A post and chain fence (some portions are still in use) was built along in the 1860s to save ‘innocent children and tipsy men alike’ from drowning, as some 30 people had drowned in what now seems an extremely placid river

Every weekend we Cantabrians (we who live in Canterbury, New Zealand) have holidays here in our own city. One of our time honoured ways of indulging in the warmer months here is boating on the Avon.

The centre of this fun is of course The Antigua Boat Sheds. Established in 1882 many generations of Christchurch people have spent time messing around in boats hired from them and I too learnt to row in the gentle waters of our river.

The boat-shed was built by a couple of boat builders and is one of Christchurch’s oldest buildings. Open all year, and with a cafe full of home-cooked food attached, it makes a great setting for all sorts of events – from weddings and cocktail parties to children’s parties- as well as a family fun day in the park.

Canoes and paddle boats are available for hire and you can also be punted upstream, through the beauty of the botanical gardens, – sipping champagne or tucking into a hamper of food is optional. You can also punt further downstream- leaving from the Kate Sheppard suffrage statue beside the Worcester Boulevard bridge down to the Manchester St area: restful and different ways to see our city.

The current owners of the Antigua Boat Sheds have enjoyed running this business since 1987. “It’s a life-style thing” I was told “our family loves not being confined to an office space”

The fame of the boat sheds have travelled wide and far and some tourists have even come directly to the boat sheds from the airport I’m told

So become a tourist in your own city, or welcome to our city, and go boating on our Avon River.