[travel] Visiting Greater Batmania
Closed out the con yesterday. Exhausting. I am off today with
Posted: 3:07 pm Mon September 06 2010 | Comments(0) |
[conventions] AussieCon 4, Day Four
Yesterday was great good fun. Had a panel on post-steampunk, spent time at BarCon, and, of course the Hugos. Even with a nap, I spent the pre-reception largely sitting down.
A combination of short sleep and morning commitments mean the usual blogging is deferred. I’m off in a bit for an interview, a kaffeeklatsch, and an informal signing. Then more BarCon, followed by Dead Dogging. Tourism tomorrow and Wednesday, after that we’re back home across the Big Water.
Posted: 4:12 pm Sun September 05 2010 | Comments(0) |
[conventions] AussieCon 4, Day One
Had a great time yesterday here in Melbourne, albeit running very much up against the limits of my energy. Spoon management, indeed.
I overslept amazingly. Hence yesterday’s paucity of blogging. Then I grabbed some breakfast and walked across the plaza to the convention center with danjite and khaybee. Saw about a zillion folks I know over there in the process of collecting badges, pro packet, etc. Eschewed programming in favor of laying fairly low for the day.
calendula_witch and I did go to lunch with John Scalzi over at the Crowne Plaza to check out the bar. (It was a bust.) Ran into gaaneden and Mr. Gaaneden there, along with several other friends both old and new. We then spent the afternoon loitering in the Hilton bar (despite my announcement of yesterday), followed by dinner with Diana Gill, John Scalzi, danjite and khaybee at the casino nearby. Pretty good Italian food.
Post-dinner, I went back to the room and collapsed while everyone else partied late in the Hilton bar.
Today I have a panel at noon and a reading at 4:30. Otherwise I’ll either be napping or in the Hilton bar again. (Detect a theme here?) Trying to manage energy and spoons so I can power through the evening parts of the Con. (Ahem, Hugos.) Ten or eleven weeks after chemo, this is still damned tough. Having a good time trying, though.
See some, all or none of you around the joint today.
Posted: 3:28 pm Thu September 02 2010 | Comments(0) |
[travel] In Oz
In Oz, at the Hilton South Wharf next to the convention center here in Melbourne. No time for the usual bloggery this morning. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves. I’ll report in when I can.
Posted: 3:59 pm Wed September 01 2010 | Comments(0) |
[travel] One more day in New Zealand, off to Australia this afternoon
Yesterday the four of us went to an oriental rug store in Petone, then to the outlet stores in Otaki. Shopping ensued, though none of the magnificent carpets caught calendula_witch’s eye. This also involved driving about through even more beautiful countryside and townscape. Plus some pretty decent lunch. Then home for a long nap (me) followed by a fascinating party in a rooftop apartment in downtown Wellington.
Some last minute-shopping in train for today, then we’re packing and off to Melbourne.
Posted: 1:24 pm Tue August 31 2010 | Comments(0) |
[travel] Sheep, Seals, and Bulldozers, oh my
As calendula_witch hath promised, here is a post about sheep, seals and bulldozers. Oh, my.
Yesterday the four of us headed out in danjite and khaybee’s state limo (a surplus stretch Volvo S90 retired from diplomatic service) and drove from Wellington to Cape Palliser. The trip went via the very winding, tiny Highway 2 through the Rimutakas, then into the charming town of Featherston, then to Greytown, where rugs and chocolate were purchased. From Greytown we drove to Martinborough for lunch, then on out Cape Palliser Road to Ngawi and then to the cape itself. The route, for them what is interested.
We saw a lot of beautiful countryside. Early flowers are in bloom, including daffodils, kowhai trees, and down by the coast, enormous lupens. The weather was increasingly gloomy as we progressed, but we always had good visibility. The road was increasingly grim as we progressed, but the state limo kept up to the bitter end. And it was beautiful. The Wairarapa Valley reminded me rather a lot of the Willamette Valley back in Oregon, but they’re at roughly the corresponding latitude, with similar rainfall and weather patterns, so this is unsurprising. The coast looked a bit like the Mendocino coast in California, except with more dramatic irruptions of volcanic rocks.
There were sheep. Lots of sheep. (I think I took about a hundred pictures of sheep.)
The lambs had just come in. Some were still orange with their afterbirth. Others staggered around in a state of surprise and wonderment. Others were dead, still born or weather-struck, providing a feast for the hawks.
Later, as we got to Ngawi, we saw a rare coastal bulldozer colony. (I took about hundred pictures there, too.)
Ngawi is a fishing village without a harbor, just a beach. When the boats come it, they’re set on handbuilt trailers and hauled up the beach by bulldozers. This is lieu of a launch ramp, or a jetty and moorage. Several dozen bulldozers line the road, each hooked to a largish fishing boat. Some of them are seriously antique, others quite modern. It’s a very curious sight, and an interesting solution to the obvious problem of protecting the boats from the chronically rough seas there.
Finally, on the last stretch of the road — one lane of gravel and mud — we saw the permanent colony of fur seals that live around Cape Palliser. (I took about a hundred pictures of seals as well.)
These are big seals, rather larger than the harbor seals I’m familiar with. It was a rainy day so a lot of them were up on the grass by the road, above the rocky beach. They were also quite indifferent to our presence. When I got out of the car and walked around with the camera several times, I was sharing their immediate space. Mostly I got a yawn and a blink. Things might have been different if I were wearing a coat made of fish or something.
It was a beautiful drive. We got to see a lovely slice of New Zealand, and some unusual things. Plus a long, fun day in the car. Today we lay a bit lower. Tomorrow we are off to Melbourne, Australia.
Also, due to bandwidth limitations here, I can’t upload the bulk of my photos yet. Watch for photo essays on sheep, seals and bulldozers to come.
Photographs © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 1:40 pm Mon August 30 2010 | Comments(1) |
[travel] A few random thoughts on being in New Zealand
- It’s cold here. Not just the weather, but inside the buildings.
- These Kiwis all drive on the wrong side of the road. Which is admittedly better than only some of them driving on the wrong side of the road. I’m finally learning to look the correct direction on street crossing.
- I have yet to meet a New Zealander I haven’t liked.
- There are more Americans here than I expected.
- Wellington is incredibly clean and pretty.
- The food here is quite good, if a tad pricey. And some of it is very different from what I’d find at home. That never surprises me in non-Anglo countries, but it has surprised me here.
- In another life, I could have lived here.
Posted: 12:37 pm Sun August 29 2010 | Comments(1) |
[conventions] Au Contraire Day Three
Had a good day today at Au Contraire. We were a little rushed in the morning getting out in time for breakfast prior to my 10 am workshop. The first two places we tried were closed, so I declared a punt and we went to eat the hotel. Food was mediocre, service was terrible. The workshop, however, went very well.
After a longish break spent chatting with the lovely and talented E— (whose LJ handle I will eventually dig out of my memory) and a sort-of light lunch at Southern Cross, we made it back for my kaffeklatsch, then my reading which I shared with Juliet Marillier. Ms. Marillier read a fantastic short piece which resonated very deeply for me. After that I’d thought we were going back to chez spector-khaybee for some down time, but due to a miscommunication calendula_witch and I were marooned in the hotel lobby for an extra 45 minutes. I pretty much collapsed then, and wound up dozing until we were rescued and brought home, where I slept some more.
calendula_witch is off now to a largish dinner with Our Hosts at someone else’s home, which I bowed out of due to exhaustion. We have plans to go a-touring through backcountry tomorrow, and I’d much rather have a quiet evening and an early bedtime so I can have suitable energy for that project. Having a great time, but the jet lag and the post-chemo fatigue are intersecting in some odd ways.
Wellington is lovely, I have yet to meet a New Zealander I dislike, and I’m very glad we’re here.
Posted: 11:08 pm Sat August 28 2010 | Comments(3) |
[conventions] Au Contraire Day One
We arrived safely if exhausted in Wellington, NZ yesterday, to be met at the airport by
Good stuff, though the cranberry and camembert pizza was a bit different. After that
Afterwards we attended opening ceremonies, where I saw and spoke to a raft more of US writerdom and fandom. I was so jet lagged that I will not be able to recapture all the names, but off the top of my head,
Then it was home to ded-and-bed.
Off now to brunch, then I have an auction to run, and some panels to empanellate at. See some, all or none of you there.
Photo © 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 2:18 pm Fri August 27 2010 | Comments(1) |
[travel] In New Zealand
Having arrived, we went out to eat, then to Au Contraire. Have not seen a bed in days. Ded nao.
Posted: 2:07 am Fri August 27 2010 | Comments(1) |