Jenny was asked to give some talks in Wellington, capital of NZ, and attend a ‘National Science Challenges Healthier Lives ‘ day. This coincided nicely with Purim as there is an orthodox shul there (but not in Dunedin). We flew up and stayed in a motel near the City centre. Much more noisy and lively than Dunedin, especially at night. I did lots of walking around. There is a nice harbour front, lots of cafes, great museums and cool shops. We went to the theatre and I did two bike rides outside the city. One on wooded hilly trails with great birdlife and scary cycling and one long distance ride along the river to outlying towns. I tried to find a disused railway, now a cycle track, but ran out of time. 

But I did see a pukeko.

At shul a good attendance in the evening for Purim (60-70, lots in proper fancy dress). Nice megillah followed by a big seudah and a really good magician. We both went for shacharit as well.

The shooting in Christchurch has really shocked people here. On the Shabbat the community were told the shul had to close so they davened in the rabbi’s house but couldn’t get a minyan and couldn’t leyen parshat Zachor, so the rabbi read it at Purim shacharit. All his sermons over Purim and the Shabbat following made reference to the event. He had gone to Christchurch to represent the Jewish community and then to Friday prayers at the Wellington mosque. We went to the Rabbi and Rebbetzen for dinner Friday night. Shabbat morning was very quiet: everyone had already been to shul once that week!  I did the haphtarah, chatted to people over Kiddush. Nice community, declining as you would expect, but younger than Northwood and with a kindergarten and shop.

We did a lot of walking around, good harbour front, lots of nice shops, good museum (Te Papa), and we went to see ‘Side by side by Sondheim’ at the theatre.

Flew back to Dunedin from Wellington: another week of lectures and writing a book chapter (for her), Pilates and housework for me. During one hot Pilates session we were listening to the ‘music’, waiting for the session to start, when people started signalling to us. Couldn’t work out what was going on until it became clear that the change in the music was in fact the fire alarm. We all had to go out to the street. Now 15 scantily-clad people (dressed for Pilates at 28^o) laughing themselves silly in central downtown Dunedin caused quite a stir. Fortunately, it was a lovely sunny day but we were soon surrounded by a crowd.

Thought it would make the local paper but it was eclipsed by the news that the Accident Compensation Board has reported a 5% increase in the number of hot water bottle related injuries to over 900, mostly in young women!

On Thursday we went in the evening to an isolated beach to see rare yellow-eyed penguins. There were three there and we got some good pics. Also saw some sea-lions with other naughty tourists getting too close. We hoped to get some pics of them being eaten but had to leave because it was sunset.

Moved house on Friday to Chalet Leithenthal. This is a little studio next to a bigger house. There are four sheep and chickens too. Beautifully appointed and a lovely host family who have already supplied us with apples, plums and beans from their 5 acre woods and garden. There is much less space but we are only 20 mins walk and 10 mins cycle from the University and it’s all flat!

Today, Shabbat, we were able to walk to the farmer’s market (only looking) and watch the National Pipe Band championships just to reinforce the fact that this is really Scotland, not NZ. Weather fabulous again. Have a schedule of bike rides to explore this side of Dunedin. 

The average car in NZ is 14 years old. In North Island there is no frost and no salt on the roads. If you are a young buck, you fettle your Honda or Subaru by lowering the suspension, enlarging the exhaust and spinning your wheels after every turn. These people are called w*nk*rs in the local dialect. In town the roads are hugely wide. There is a side road near us that is at least three lanes wide. It has no traffic. [Note from Jenny – when cycling on it yesterday, she was passed by two cars!]

Apart from the above, everyone drives in a totally civilised way, keeping rigidly to the speed limit with no aggressive braking or acceleration. This makes crossing the road or turning out from a side road really difficult. You often arrive at, say, a T-junction: you have to wait for traffic to clear before turning but there is not a car in sight. You can’t just turn out because a car might jump out at you. So you wait…still no cars. Finally, one comes into sight half a mile away and moving very slowly, so you wait for it to pass. Then there is one more going the other way equally slowly, so you have to wait for it to pass. In England you would have squeezed into a constant stream of cars accelerating towards you at illegal speed but in NZ you somehow can’t. It can take ages to turn out into an empty road.

All the main roads here are two lanes, one each way. The gradients, bends and camber have to be seen to be believed. But people don’t overtake. Perhaps their cars are programmed not to. If you are a tourist pottering along looking at the view you will often attract two or three cars full of ‘working people’: vets; farm machinery engineers; a Ute carrying four sheep, who stick behind you until there is a passing lane even if the road is straight and empty. People have obviously forgotten how to overtake.

We would strongly recommend the car hire company we have used (New Zealand Rent-a-Car). They do reduced rates for cars over three years old. Neither the ‘vintage’ Toyota, nor the ‘vintage’ Mazda we got have caused us the slightest problem. The company has a bizarre and unique way of doing business: they provide the car you booked; no-one checks your documents; no unexpected surcharges are levied and they don’t try to sell you unnecessary insurance waivers. You return the car at night and post the key through the letterbox. I phoned up the following day to see if everything was OK all prepared to argue about the new scratches they claimed to have found or the amount of cleaning they had to do: “No, everything’s fine, why shouldn’t it be?”

We’ve arrived in the bungee capital of the world! Don’t worry, we aren’t going to. First problem is parking: our accommodation (Mi-pad) has no Mi-parking. The roads that one can park on around here have a 20%+ gradient. Our car is now parked with the wheels turned firmly into the kerb and our walking boots used as chocks.

This is the most electronic place we’ve ever stayed in. The multicoloured mood lighting during the night sets the right atmosphere for…wakefullness. There are movement sensors that turn on safety lighting if you go to the toilet in the night…but if you keep too still on the toilet all the lights go off. There is free Mi-coffee, a rooftop Mi-chill lounge, a Mi-library but, positively, it’s in a quiet part of town. Tomorrow we aim for a whole day trail ride if my back and Jenny’s legs allow. Quiet Shabbat if such a thing is possible in Queenstown. We are the oldest and most fully clothed couple in the hotel.

National news in NZ: a second fruit fly has been detected in Auckland!!