the things we come up with

Cup stacking. At first I thought it was a 'cool party trick' some friend of mine had come up with but no, this is serious, competitive and a world-wide phenomenon!

Unbelievable - it really astounds me the things that humans find to do for entertainment and to prove our skills in the most obscure activities. I'm not sure if it was some bored waiter that came up with this sport but it is taking over and to my shame I'm getting sucked in!

For some mint speed stacking action watch here This kid holds 3 of the world records for different variations of stacking.

Dictator Hunter

I went out tonight with a friend and watched a couple of Human Rights Festival Films. As a pleasant surprise following the films there was a panel discussion with an Auckland Uni lecturer in Human Rights and a promiment engineer originally from Mali. The film was amateur in terms of the camera work and narrative but the story itself (in doco style) is intriguing... about a man committed to bringing justice to the former Chad dictator: Hissène Habré. This guy was responsible for the torturing and death of thousands of his own people and has been living in a removed paradise amongst his riches in Senegal. As a result of the main characters efforts this dictator is to be tried and hopefully, despite all the political obstacles an example will be made of him so that other sick dictators get the message! Click here to see the Dictator Hunter synopsis and book tickets. Unfortunately there's no trailer to preview.

I have huge respect for a man such as this lawyer, who can give so many years of his life to bring about justice and to fight for those who only have quiet voices in the international scheme of things.

Material things

This is a cute little clip from Oxfam to remind us about how much STUFF we really need and the effect it has on the rest of the planet... dedicated to all my fellow hoarders out there. Be human

100km later

I took part in the Oxfam 100km Trailwalker fundraising event in the weekend. Good fun, challenge and the scenery was absolutely stunning... We took 21.43 hours, ran a bit and hobbled a bit too after the knee pains kicked in at 80k!

Tongariro Crossing. One year later

Less than a year after my previous shot at the Tongariro Crossing I decided I was overdue for another walk of the famous crossing. This time I went with a group of 17 although we all split up into our various paces... Tackling the scree up Ngarahoe was an adventure in itself, I discovered there was a faster route up the solid rocks - duh Anna! The view was fantastic, I ran the round rim of the crater - spot me on the other side of the crater rim photo.

Sliding down the scree of Ngarahoe I managed to give myself a gash on the volcanic rock and a few bruises to show my effort! From there on I ran most of the track, up to the Tongariro summit then to the end of the Ketetahi end of the track. My knees were not to happy with the downhill descent but the rush was worth it. The weather turned out to be amazing; even though gale force winds and rain was expected it was only low cloud and calm.

Next to come: another ruapehu summit and round the mountain track - watch this space.

Earth Hour

I heard about this sacred Earth hour and think it's a pretty cool idea, 1 hour doesn't achieve an awful lot when I think about it but at the same time it makes some sort of statement that we are aware of how we're treating the planet and it's in the little things like turning off our lights where we can affect our environment collectively.

29.03.08 at 8pm Local Time

Turn off your lights. Do what you can. See the promo on youtube

Stop Cluster BOMBS

There's not a whole lot more to say than stop them! They indiscriminately destroy the lives of civilians and should be banned everywhere for ever. There's a good NZ site with a bit of education about their use and the NZ cluster munitions coalition. Click here to have a look.

Graduating

I've just arrived back in Auckland after 7 weeks in Waiouru, a tropical holiday park in the centre of NZ... more like a desolate desert at altitude with no shortage of tussocks. Overall I had a great time, it was a fantastic group of people and I'm already missing it in a way. Graduation day consisted of a formal parade followed by a dinner and then the 'pinning of the pips' which is where I became a 2nd Lieutenant. My Grandma and Gareth made it to the big day and Grandma pinned on my pips which was pretty special.


Here's a few images that captured the day. I hope to get some more warry photos of us actually out in the training area all cammed up on here soon. Click on the photos for a big view in a new window. Thanks to all my family for the support, letters and gifts you gave me throughout my stint in Waiouru.

Christmas and all that craziness....

Firstly, I say the obligatory "Merry Christmas" to all my friends and whanau who have tuned into my blog over the year (as scarce as it has been). This will be my last post before I head off to kaikoura for a New Years family reunion then straight to Waiouru for the NZ Army TF Commissioning course. It'll be tough and I'm hoping my body doesn't pack out because its always a possibility with the injuries I've had this year. It's going to be wild and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I leave you with this thought from Bono (thanks to Uncle Steve):

“a child born in straw poverty, in shit and straw … a child …the poetry … unknowable love, unknowable power, describes itself as the most vulnerable… love , needs to find form, intimacy needs to be whispered. To me it makes sense. It’s actually logical. It’s pure logic. Love has to become an action or something concrete. It would have to happen. There must be an incarnation. Love must be made flesh.”

Photos and stories will be rampant at the end of february when I return.

Peace.

swimming in circles

After a few injuries setting me back in my running ambitions I decided to take up swimming and a couple of weeks ago I thought the Auckland harbour swim would be a great little challenge. I didn't think it was such a great idea as I got into the water at Stanley bay but I gave it a go anyway! I swam in large zigzags across the harbour (it was meant to be straight but i was slightly disorientated) along with 1200 other swimmers. Great event which I would love to do again, perhaps swimming a bit more direct to the shore. I just got sent a charming photo of me running up with finishing ramp, I was swaying like a drunken sailor after jumping out of the water!