The moral atheist

I thought this was rather interesting as it sums up what I stand for quite well.

http://www.iamanatheist.com/rights.html

NZ Holiday - Day 14 - Wild Animal Attacks prevented by High Fence and The Self-destructing Plane Engine.

Our last day in NZ threatened to be a fizzer. Kicked out of our motel rooms at 10am and with an early afternoon flight looming we could either wait around aimlessly to go to the airport or we could... go to a safari park. It was close to the airport so it seemed like a good idea at the time. The park was huge and as usual we had to rush through to see all the good stuff. One day we will learn to take the time to see things properly. We left the park and I tried to get the Ford airborne on a particularly steep hump in the road. I think Nita dropped her Tim Tam.

I was a bit concerned as I went to the Budget desk to drop off the Avis’ car keys. It had all the hallmarks of a long, drawn-out procedure. We had no paperwork, proof of rental or previous damage report either. The desk was unattended so I threw the keys into a box and ran away. It’s their problem now. With any luck we won’t be charged. Oh wait, we pre-paid.

We hustled through the interminable lines of customs once again only to find our plane’s engine had shit itself and we would be delayed. Many, many hours later food vouchers were handed out that we could spend at the one lonely (expensive) coffee shop. There was no-one else in the airport.

People were starting to get comfortable on the floor when they finally scraped out all the broken bits of airplane and siliconed up the holes. Strangely I had no qualms about boarding and flying over several thousand Km’s of ocean. I didn’t even check my life preserver.

I am totally and utterly resigned to being fed through the wringer at the Aussie customs end of the flight. I was accosted while joining the end of the second huge line when an official glanced at our passports and said “go straight through”. We did. Straight out! All the non-Aussies were diverted to the strip search, cattle dip line.

Happy, happy, happy. Cept for my ear holes. They were not happy. But we were home again.

THE END

Go back to Day 1- The Airport/Customs/Flight/Airport/Customs Horror.

NZ Holiday - Day 12-13 - Beery Tram Rides and Surviving the Howling Gondola Gale

We left Lake Tekapo way too soon. Another night would have allowed us to explore Mt Cook and the surrounding area, but it wasn’t to be.

On our way back to Christchurch we knew we HAD to stop in Geraldine. One of the finest collections of Vintage and Veteran Cars, Tractors and Machinery in the Southern Hemisphere is here; and you know what, they weren’t lying.

It really pissed me off having to rush through the exhibits, but once again time was getting the better of us. There was so much interesting shit to look at in the dozen inter-connected sheds. Eric’s explanations of the equipment he’d seen and worked with over the years brought the more obscure gear to life.

We reluctantly left the museum and continued on to Christchurch.

Our schedule here came to a full stop allowing us several days to wind down and check out the city properly. We started at Cathedral Square and bought hop-on hop-off tickets to ride an ancient set of 4 trams which circulated continually around the heart of the city. One was a well preserved 100 years old rattler. Another was an original Sydney Tram. The Tram drivers commentary varied with each different one, I think we tried them all. One stand-out guy gave us a few laughs along the way.

We ducked into a modern art gallery for some reason and left in disgust at the waste of space. Wanky, self-important charlatans according to Eric, (interpreted by Coops).

A hippie market caught my particular attention. Organic beer! (Green Man). Some of which was brewed in old whiskey barrels. The couple selling this stuff were very friendly indeed, and insisted on sharing a bottle with us before we were allowed to purchase any. I love them for the next hour of flooding warmth that sample brought on, and for a nights very deep sleep (after drinking the rest of the 500ml bottles).

The Gondola at Christchurch is a ripper. Doesn’t look as good as Queenstown’s, but the buffeting winds rocking us around on that spindly cable was, in itself, an interesting experience. The operator had thrown 3 x 60 litre containers of water on board to stabilise the capsule a bit. We congratulated ourselves that our current state of fatness did not warrant having water containers removed from the gondola car.

Magnificent views from the top brought a tear to the eye; or that may have been the freezing wind. We had a beer to celebrate surviving the trip up then went back down again.

Go to Day 14.

Go back to Day 1- The Airport/Customs/Flight/Airport/Customs Horror.

NZ Holiday - Day 11 - Playing with the Devil's (Beach) Balls

We left Dunedin late and headed north up the coast. I was feeling pushed for time as our next accommodation was a fair way off but we stopped at Moeraki to look at a big set of balls. These unusual boulders were strewn across the beach. Some were as big as a car but all were almost perfectly round. The tide was well in but I think we saw most of them. Check out the Wiki link if you are interested in their geology/history.

Now it was really getting late. We took a left into the heart of the South Island towards Twizel. Now we were looking at the backs of all the mountains we saw on the way down the West coast. A real reminder of how small NZ is when you can circle a mountain range in only a few days. The deserted road was like silk and stretched to the horizon. The largest wild animal you can hit in NZ is a possum so I floored the throttle and let the Ford’s potential shine.

There wasn’t much to see on the darkening prairie anyway. Not at 170kph.

We reached Lake Tekapo on dusk undented and unyelled at. Thankfully there are no cops in NZ. Our accommodation jinx got us again here. First we had to track down the owner (I suggested opening and shutting the unattended cash register a few times, which can really speed service along). Then we were told our room hadn’t been vacated as the people in it loved the place so much they extended their stay. While I banged my head on the counter Jules negotiated a FREE upgrade to an awesome room facing the beach.

OK we’ll accept that.No, I’ll carry my own bag. Get out of our room.

Go to Day 12 - 13.

Go back to Day 1- The Airport/Customs/Flight/Airport/Customs Horror.

NZ Holiday - Day 10 - The Chinese Garden Monstrosity, Steep Street of Impending Doom and Delightful Rich Dude's House

Dunedin. Wish we’d spent more time here. Historically rich and excellent winding roads for more of that ‘spirited’ driving.

Dunedin lays claim to the world’s steepest street. The Ford managed to crawl up and down this impressive 45^° obstacle with 4 adults on board! No-one in this area needs a Gym membership. A walk in the backyard would be like climbing Everest. Mark and Tamsin know all about this sort of terrain.

Excellent venison sausage and mash for lunch. Damn I love venison. Bambi sure does taste good. So many deer farms here. The 7 foot fencing must cost a fortune. Lots of sheep too, And field after field filled with some sort of smelly vegetable they use as a winter feed supplement.

Nita insisted on a visit Olverston, an enormous historic mansion which made me very angry cos there was no parking. The place was incredibly incredible though. The story behind it even more so. The owner left the house to the city of Dunedin fully furnished, right down to clothing and personal belongings. A beautifully restored 1922 Fiat limousine, originally purchased new by the owner, is in the garage.

Olverston is a unique time capsule showing how a very wealthy family lived in Dunedin during the early 1900’s. Their lifestyle and tastes are displayed by the paintings, sculptures, carvings and furniture they collected over some well-travelled years.

The modern conveniences incorporated into the house seemed ahead of their time. T’was almost as though the 4 story house was built recently and back-dated to look old. For instance the telephone and intercom service throughout the house; a lift, central heating, heated towel rails, modern conveniences abound, even for the servants.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to really appreciate the beautiful detail throughout, as the tour was fast paced by a prissy bitch to allow for a maximum of revenue returns. In essence we were booted out as quickly as possible, predictably into the gift shop. Well, whatever it cost it was worth it. I forget the entry fee as I’m not allowed to pay for anything.

We then went to a ‘famous’ Chinese Garden. This was a mistake after being surrounded by such historic grandeur at Olverston. We still might have been impressed with the Chinese Garden if it had been properly executed, but it was a plastic facsimile, with structures and landscaping so utterly false and contrived. Just frigging awful. Eric and I spent the whole time making fun of the polypropylene wood sculptures and shot-creted rockeries. Chinese people would cringe to see this commercial monstrosity.

Go to day 11.

Go back to Day 1- The Airport/Customs/Flight/Airport/Customs Horror.

NZ Holiday - Day 8-9 - The Monster Storm, Underground Terror and Deadly Frostbite (avoided).

Te Anau, our next port of call, was a nice little town, (even if we never did get the pronunciation right). We settled into our motel as a massive storm broke across the entire South Island. It pissed down all night.

Next morning our expensive Milford Sound Tour was cancelled. Flooded roads. BUT, they told us if we hurried we could upgrade to the Doubtful Sound Tour. The alternative was to watch TV all day. The Doubtful Sound sounded less doubtful.... so we took it.

Flowing water covered the road to Manapouri in several places, but the Ford aquaplaned across each one without killing itself (or us). We got to the Ticket Office and discovered the ‘upgrade’ was not complimentary. With further denuded wallets we crammed on board the ferry, and waited for a late coach load of tourists. I don’t particularly like waiting... or tourists. The extra 100 people made the seating acceptable for small children and Japanese. We were neither. (This is how we learned not to go cattle class. No choice in this case)

The boat ride across Lake Manapouri was pretty bloody good, despite the constant light rain. In fact we were lucky in a way, the hundreds of water-falls flowing in sheets down sheer cliff-faces in every direction were instantaneous and short-lived between rain showers.

I braved the howling gale and freezing rain on top of the boat. The deserted viewing deck was ideal to take it all in. And there were no tourists up there.

The ferry took 40 minutes to get to the Manapouri Power Station. We were herded aboard buses and taken to the underground entrance. I was fairly amazed when the bus kept going. Down the decline we went and I wondered what the hell was going on as squeezing past other buses and machinery coming up with bare centimetres to spare seemed unreasonable risky. This was part of the tour!

Turning an 11 metre bus in a 6 metre tunnel was an art-form our driver must have dabbled in a fair bit. He spared the paint and pulled up; in the decline, and we were invited off the coach to check out the machine hall. It may not sound too fascinating but the history behind it all was cool.

After a perfunctory head count to ensure most of us were back on board, the coach hauled us up the decline with our driver running an amusing commentary the entire time. It was a nice to sit and look out the window at endless waterfalls, sheer drops and thick rainforest. Despite my occupation I find the pleasure of this experience difficult to describe. ‘Very enjoyable’ will have to do.

So far we were still only being transported to the ‘real’ part of our tour! Incredibly we were getting our money’s worth. The gravel road down the mountain was the steepest, most expensive road ever built at the time. $1 per centimetre which we were challenged to come up with a final figure for. I did a quick equation in my head and came up with ‘can I have a Tim Tam’. Nita can always be counted on to have a spare Tim Tam handy.

Dammit this post is dragging on too long. River, lake cruise, food, beer, waterfalls, cold, fantastic, didn’t fall over board, frigging excellent, 1000 photos.

And then we were back at Manapouri. The lake had risen over a metre in the time we were away. Our car was still on ‘dry’ land so we jumped in and raced back to our motel.

Go to Day 10

Go back to Day 1- The Airport/Customs/Flight/Airport/Customs Horror.

Published!

I am now a published writer. My world should be complete... I guess.

Unfortunately the short story Antipodean SF published, Pod 5534, wasn't something I'm particularly fond of, nor do I think it is particularly clever. I regard it as forgettable; a passing milestone preceding the eventual world-wide publishing of my beloved SAM novel, and a notation of accomplishment to populate a fairly bare resume.

The story Pod 5534 is a mere intestine cut from a disemboweled 50,000 word dialogue-only compilation I wrote for Nanowrimo. This brain dump was very intense. I wrote around 40 short stories, one after another, using whatever came up from that strange, dark place inside me. I varnished a few of these stories and sent them off... mostly into editor's bins I suspect. The Pod story just happened to hit the right note with this editor.

So why write 50,000 words of pure dialogue?

Other than to annoy my sister by refusing to follow Nano's rules to the letter, I know how important descriptions are from a character's POV and I needed the practise. My character's minds are built from very obscure and indefinable 'stuff'. Articulating their beliefs and ego's so a reader can judge them is incredibly hard. Nano was a chance to allow a character's speech to flow without me butting in to twist their words into what I wanted them to say.

It was an interesting experience and a valuable technique. I will have to use it again sometime.