Yesterday we moved to the house we have rented for a month in Maryhill. The clue’s in the name: the road outside where I’m sitting is at about 30 degrees! I walked to the university this morning, by a longer but flatter route that includes a diversion to go along the top of this ridge. On the way back, I decided to go the more direct route. Glenpark Avenue, where we’re staying is a straight road – on a 2D map. However, the undulations are by no means ‘gentle’ (Norwood cyclists will understand).

But during the walk, the views are amazing.

David has managed to fix the sound on their ‘very complicated – has everything – screen system’ so we are now listening to jazz, suitable for dancing to if I hadn’t walked 5 miles today!

It’s a sweet little house, owned by a young couple. The bed is comfortable; the carpet is very thick; there are small gardens front and back with very familiar plants.

Tomorrow (if I can move), I will stick to the ‘longer but flatter’ route. If not, I will take the bus!

Last week started badly. We were booked into a hostel, the only place we could find. We were rescued by Sandy, Jenny’s academic host, and ignominiously taken back to their place, where we have spent the last week. It’s very comfortable but we have displaced their five-year-old son from his bedroom again; he is currently occupying a bunk bed in his older sister’s room.

There has been a lot of ukulele-playing, ballet, chess, jigsaw puzzle, carpentry, running around outside, and cuddles. They were just rehearsing a Maori haka using batons, which has now morphed into a Queen concert rehearsal. They can be quite entertaining. 

Despite ‘Hogwartz’ (the hostel), it was a good week. Jenny and I both went into the University every day with Sandy. We both worked but me less intensively. I completed two legal reports; went to an excellent exhibition of contemporary Chinese Art; and started a Yoga / Pilates class with a great enrolment package of £20 for unlimited sessions in the first month (we’re only in Dunedin for another month). One Pilates class, one Yin yoga and a taxing bike ride yesterday later and I feel much better.

Jenny bought merino gloves last week, since when the weather has been wall-to-wall sunshine, no wind and no rain, 20 deg. Today, we’ve been to see the beach; taken the children on a scenic train journey;and are moving tomorrow into a house we now have for a month. Transport may be an issue. Report from the new house soon.

Found only two kosher items in the supermarket: (1) kashering salt (why??!!) and (2) vegan biltong which looks like coloured plastic. If it tastes similar I won’t bring any home. 

Locks turn the ‘wrong’ way! To lock a door, you turn the knob or key away from the door frame. To unlock it, you turn it towards the door frame. The only exceptions we’ve found so far have been at Sandy and Philip’s house – but she is from Croatia and he is from Canada. Maybe it’s a northern/ southern hemisphere thing?

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!!

I will write a future post about the TALES symposium and the weekend, spent with Sandy and her family, and for now will skip to our week’s holiday in the southwest of South Island.

Sunday morning 17^th Feb, we packed up (leaving two large suitcases in Sandy’s house) and set off for the Southern Alps. Having been warned to make sure we always had some food with us, as a lot of our trip would be through lovely scenery with no facilities at all, we stopped in Gore for coffee and shopping so we could picnic en route to Te Anau.

As we went through Lumsdon (a town of very few horses), we heard the air raid-type siren sound, and men running across the road to the volunteer fire service.

Despite the small volume of traffic, a long queue formed quickly when the road ahead was blocked. Initial rumours were of a crash, and we saw that fire tender rush past us. Later news was that a huge tree had come down, and the local firefighters’ chainsaw was too small, so it would be at least 2hr before a larger one materialised and the tree could be cut up and moved. (On the way to Wanaka three days later, we saw the remnants of the tree. Yes, it was very big!)

A kind biker told us about a metalled road about 4km back that would take us on a large detour to loop north and end up a few km along the main road, beyond the blockage. We found it. It was metalled – for the first two miles – but then was gravel. We learned quickly to close all windows as vehicles approached us, and leave them shut until the dust had died down. What we should have done, we realised on arrival in Te Anau (pronounced Tee-Ar-now), was leave them closed the whole time: even our cases in the boot were dusty. We assume it will rain before we return the car. If not, we will need to borrow Sandy and Philip’s hose.

Whoever named the roads in Te Anau had a sense of humour. The ‘high street’ is named ‘Town Centre’, and the road behind it is ‘Park Lane’. We found good, citrussy ales from southern South Island.

Our taxi ride to the station was a little hair-raising as we were not certain our cases would make it, as the taxi boot wasn’t large enough and they were balanced rather precariously – and we were driven up the ridiculously steep streets. .

Our Air New Zealand flight Sunday night (10^th Feb) was much more enjoyable – other than not sleeping enough. The layout of the plane was a much better design; the seats were more comfortable; the staff were extremely helpful – but they didn’t have the Mission Impossible film!

Alistair Woodward met us at Auckland airport and took us to the Te Ara Mua – Future Streets project intervention area in Mangere, to see how they have changed the infrastructure of local streets to facilitate walking and cycling.

We spent the rest of the day with Mo (now Dr Chaudhury – yay!) and we also met Mo’s PhD student Tamara Bozovic, a keen cyclist, before flying south to what Mo referred to as North Antarctica.

Dunedin is the first airport we have been to that smells of cows. Our luggage all arrived (as did we), and Sandy Mandic was there to collect us and take us to their home.

The next day, her husband Philip chauffeured us to see potential accommodation. Apart from being about a 45minute walk up and down hills to commute to the university, the only cooking facility was a microwave, and there wasn’t even a sink or a table. Unfortunately, excluding student digs and year-long rentals, every other place being advertised either had no furniture at all or no availability for our dates. I suggested hiring a motorhome instead of renting a flat plus a car when we go on our holiday trips. David thought I was joking!

Sandy and Philip’s house is a few minutes from green and blue space, with fabulous views over the harbour, ocean, hills and nearby villages. The roads are pretty empty, too, so their children are free-range, walking and cycling themselves to school and around the neighbourhood.

The Chinese calendar resembles the Jewish calendar in being primarily lunar but with adjustments to keep the seasons at the right time in the solar year. So the Chinese New Year is always on the same Hebrew date: Rosh Chodesh Adar (I), the new moon in February. Who knew?

In practice, this meant the presence of large numbers of people taking off the rest of the week for an extended holiday period, hence our more than two hour queue for the Victoria Peak tram on the Friday. We could have walked up and down at least twice in the time, despite the one in two gradient in places! The tram itself was most impressive, though the single cable mechanism was a concern.

The view at the top was marred by low cloud but it wasn’t as cold as the following two days: we had not expected it to be only 15^oC.

After a pleasant Shabbat at the JCC, we went to a much-hyped, overpriced, and disappointing vegetarian restaurant on the Saturday evening. Maybe we made the wrong choices. We spent Sunday morning wandering around mid-levels and visited the Dr Sun Yat-Sen museum in former Kom Tong Hall. We then visited the National Maritime Museum, at Pier 8 in the harbour, which was quite interesting, and had lunch there at Café 8 (run by an NGO that trains and employs people with learning disabilities http://www.nesbittcentre.org.hk/social-enterprises/cafe-8) before catching the train back to the airport.

Shorter than usual flight to HK (10 vs usual 12h) due either to new secret Chinese world-turning technology or to following wind due to volume of hot air coming out of USA and Europe at the moment.

It’s so much easier to sleep while lying down properly in business class. Or so we believe. Shame our seats weren’t there! Allocated front row seats in our cabin (I like but J doesn’t). First world question: is it acceptable for other passengers to step over your feet to get to the toilet or should they go round to a proper crossover point and not invade your personal space? Cathay Pacific had the wrong Mission Impossible on their list so we’ll have to keep taking flights until we find out how the latest one ends.

I have cleaned all my meat and parev cupboards ready for Pesach!

This will mean little to any non-Jewish readers but is a major achievement. The people staying in our house have agreed to have only dairy / vegetarian meals, so I have cleaned and tied up the other cupboards.

We have packed our small case for Hong Kong and David’s case for New Zealand. I’ll do mine tomorrow (I have been busy with kitchen cupboards). Not quite sure if it will all fit into one case, although I have been relatively abstemious. Judith and Julia pruned my planned clothes a little but I need to have two or three outfits for any weather between 5 and 20 degrees Celsius. And some extra just in case!