Up came a spider

As you can see from the size of my finger, this was a substantial spider. She had an eggsac beneath her, and was not intereted in moving at all. She hung out on the wall outside our back door for a day, then disappeared. I looked it up in a book on NZ spiders at the Arataki Visitor's Center (it was a big book!) and decided it was a wolf spider, but based on the size difference between the two as described by Landcare, lead me to think it is a nurseryweb spider.
We had a two week visit from Darin's mom, so we had fun taking her around to see the North Island. During our visit to the Northland (yes, again!!), we hit the historical highlights: the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the old stone store and missionary house in Kerikeri, and the museum in Russell. My favorite was the old stone store, where I learned that a horrendous Maori inter-tribe massacre followed the sale of guns by Samuel Marsden, the first missionary to give a sermon in NZ, to a Maori chief out for revenge. I found it ironic that a man who was there to spread Christianity also profited from tools of death. On further consideration, this isn't really too much of a surprise. Just look at what the European settlers did to the Native Americans. The Maori have survived and have a relatively intact culture in NZ, at least superficially. Given the violence of the past, our relatively peaceful coexistance is impressive.

Anyway, as I was saying, we had really nice weather again, despite rain forcasts. We loved the Kauri museum, which is off the main road back toward Auckland. This place is huge and has a robot cow that you can milk by pushing a button. The best part of that museum is the kauri gum display.

We're headed back up to Tutukaka this weekend for our second dive trip to the Poor Knights Islands, with our friend Roberta and two friends of hers from work. I've been busy at work, and will be glad to get underwater where I can focus on breathing in and out, slowly, deeply.

In bird news, we have only one Araucana left, which we really hope is a hen. We had started to hear crowing, and we can't keep roosters. Darin got up early and spent much time outside waiting to see which one crowed, and the rooster was moved with two suspected hens to my sister's house. We continued to hear crowing, however, and three more cockerels were identified. Two of them are in the freezer now, and the other went to join his mates at Barb's. Now we have the two rescues and one Araucana who might be a hen, and none are laying eggs. Any...day...now! Meanwhile, I've made feijoa and date loaf several times, with happy results. The photo is of feijoas.

Thinking about refugees, women, and freedom

I recently finished the book Infidel, which I was the first to read, from the Waitakere City Library. This biography is shocking and sad, but really opened my eyes. To a degree I knew what to expect, but to hear her tell of surviving what she did, and what she accomplished, is really inspiring. The book got me thinking about freedom, and what it means to women in countries where they get treated no better than, sometimes worse, than animals. Consider the practice of footbinding girls in China- causing lifelong deformity and pain. Then there's the child brides, who get traded like a sheep to settle debts or earn eternal salvation for the family (Mormons). For the most part, I like to ignore current events in far away places like Somalia, Chechnya, Rwanda, etc. Human rights violations are a way of life in these places, and what can I do about it? Easiest thing for me is to ignore it. But now that I live in a country full of immigrants from all over the world, it's worth considering what this country means to people less fortunate than myself. Here is a link to refugees in New Zealand. I was interested to learn about the refugees refused entry to Australia, being quietly accepted in New Zealand. This excerpt is from www.migrationinformation.org

Another significant policy difference between New Zealand and Australia that
emerged in 2001 was the response to the resettlement of a group of asylum
seekers from the Middle East and Afghanistan. These asylum seekers were picked
up (at the Australian government's request) by the Norwegian freighter, the
Tampa, while trying to reach Australia from Indonesia. The New Zealand
government accepted 150 of the Tampa refugees who had been temporarily housed on the central Pacific coral island of Nauru while their refugee status was
assessed by UNHCR. The Australian government was determined that none of these
"boat people" would be allowed to land in Australia.

Also, New Zealand was the first country to give women the right to vote. Good on ya, NZ!

I still have a lot to learn. Creating this blog has been helpful, and distracting. Other things I've been thinking about, and researching lately: the pet food recall and thousands of dead cats and dogs in the US, human food supply safety (next book to read: Diet for a Dead Planet), and the root of many of humanity's ills, overpopulation (though no one wants to talk about it).

OK, enough of this darkside stuff- time for Happy Tree Friends!

Caves and slips

Seeing as we're headed back up to the Northland this weekend, I figured I better finish the last blog entry about the north end of the north island of New Zealand.
On the way up to Paihia, we stopped at the Waipu caves for a look around. Before going in, we talked to some Kiwis who said prepare to get your feet wet. There is a shallow stream running through, and you can walk in the cave quite far. We changed into our sandals, but didn't make it very far, because it was very slippery in the mud. With flashlights off, you can see glowworms on the top of the cave, which are very pretty blue light. I hiked up around above the cave as well, and that felt very middle-earth-esque. It looked like the rubble of an old civilization, with huge boulders. I can't wait to go back!

The Northland had a "storm of the century" the end of March, with about 18 inches of rain falling in 36 hours. There was massive flooding and mudslides (aka slips). Many roads were closed, and we could see all the recent damage as we drove around on the recently re-opened roads during our Easter visit.

The road where this photo was taken is going through a steep forest, where we fortunately saw almost no other cars. Passing would have been a nightmare. The road had a lot of twists and was narrowed by the numerous slips, and on the other side was deep, steep jungle with no guardrail. If anything went over the side, you might never find it.
The other interesting experience we had up north was finding that our Toyota Corolla had a flat tire (spelled tyre here). We discovered this out on a remote, gravel road, after we'd driven I think 18 km to a parking lot for a hiking trail. Fortunately we had a full-sized spare, and Darin changed it. We had just paid $900 for new tires on the Surf, but that was back in Auckland. We'll be taking that vehicle on this next trip. Rain is expected so we'll want good traction.
In other news, one of our Araucana chickens started crowing, which sounded more like a sick baby yelling. Oddly he was not the one we expected to crow. He went with two siblings (hopefully hens) to my sister's house- she can keep roosters, but we can't. With the changing weather, the rescue hens have stopped laying, and the Araucanas haven't started yet. They love to eat the freshly cut grass clippings when Darin mows the lawn.
We have 3 feijoa trees in our yard, all dropping fruit. They are delicious, sort of pear-pineapple. They are great in a smoothie with banana and yogurt. There are plenty to share with coworkers and neighbors.