January: teaching and extracurriculars
5 Feb 2023
Back to the classroom (teaching two courses), plus judo tournaments and some skiing. Before that, we hiked Around the Mountain (Taranaki) in New Zealand.
Around the Mountain Circuit (Taranaki), January 2 to 5, 2023
4 Feb 2023
A walk around the mountain (Taranaki). Pretty chill except for day 3 which had super high winds and day 2 which had a short amount of muddy steep terrain.
December: start of summer / back to winter soon
21 Jan 2023
First conference (SPLASH) in three years (gave two talks) and South Island vacation. Also a bunch of service tasks, e.g. master’s thesis and PhD comprehensive exams. Submitted a paper!
Christmas on the South Island: Gillepsie, Mueller Hut, glacier kayaking, and rock climbing
20 Jan 2023
Christmas 2022 trip. Like everyone in New Zealand and many people from overseas, we flew in to Queenstown. Got away from the huge hordes by going to Wanaka (small hordes) and Mount Cook Village (some visitors). Did many of the things we’d been planning: Gillespie Circuit, glacier kayaking, Mueller Hut. Also went rock climbing in Wanaka. Featuring many pictures of Wanaka grebes.
Book review: Can't Get There from Here: New Zealand Passenger Rail Since 1920, by André Brett, maps by Sam van der Weerden
7 Jan 2023
A good (though detailed) read about the sad history of NZ passenger rail, with advocacy for a better future.
Places I've been in Aotearoa New Zealand
5 Jan 2023
Last updated: May 2024
I thought I’d put together a list of the (many!) places I’ve been to in Aotearoa New Zealand, along with capsule reviews.
Great Walks
We’ve so far done 10 of the Great Walks.
- Tongariro Northern Circuit (February 2021): volcanic leftovers, maybe our favourite scenery of the Great Walks, easiest (cheapest, closest) access from Wellington of any Great Walk.
- Heaphy (July 2020, post, pics): Long but relatively easy. Rainbows, one wet day, excellent last day, lots of birds even if we didn’t see takahe (sniff). Fourth day on the beach super-scenic even if we were rushing to catch the plane. Interesting to see mountain bikes.
- Routeburn (December 2020, pics): Routeburn Falls hut is the best we’ve stayed at. Day 2 and Conical Hill have great scenery. Could be done in a long day, but Conical Hill and Key summit would be unwise detours on such a day, which would miss out on a lot.
- Milford (December 2020, pics): Best overall quality. Mackinnon Pass is impressive, as are Sutherland Falls.
- Kepler (November/December 2020, pics): We zoomed up the first day to Luxmore (flash hut). The day 2 traverse with the keas was the best; days 1 and 2 have substantial above-treeline parts. Saw a kiwi in the wild at Iris Burn Hut. Our days 3 and 4 could be combined for a not-that-bad Moturau Hut to carpark, or one could get a shuttle out of Rainbow Reach.
- Paparoa (September 2021): exquisitely formed track, not boring to walk on like a sidewalk, but also no puddles. Whio sighting walking to Ces Clarke (super flash hut), then great views near the tops to Moonlight Tops and on to Pororari (long day). Eventually, impressive limestone walls near the Punakaiki walkers’ exit. Varied scenery. Used car relocation service, which required a bit of thought (where to get keybox? where was the car?), but managed OK.
- Hump Ridge (January 2021): soon to be a Great Walk even if not yet. Excellent views, swimming with Hector’s dolphins, well-appointed lodges, muddy when we went (no pig cull last year due to COVID)
- Rakiura (August 2020, pics): First day to Port William the best of the three. Otherwise perhaps our least-favourite Great Walk even without the bedbugs last summer (we were there before that problem). Not as many birds as we hoped for, though we did see kakariki on Ulva Island. Also Mason Bay was great, though not quite on this Great Walk. Day 2 is swampy.
- Abel Tasman Coastal Track (September 2020): harder than it seems! First-class track all the way and many views of beaches, though not so much beach walking. Easy to get in and out even if not cheap, via Golden Bay Air. Most people don’t seem to do it end-to-end, and there are water taxis to facilitate partial trips. One can also have super tasty food at the Awaroa Lodge.
- Whanganui Journey (March/April 2024): it’s not a walk, it’s a paddle! We got there on transit from Wellington, rented canoes from Taumarunui Canoe Hire, and paddled down the river from Taumarunui to Pipiriki. Heaps of welcome swallows on the first two days and far fewer after. Native forest. Cliffs along the sides. Bridge to Nowhere is worth walking to. Rapids were very Grade 1 on our trip and the 50/50 at the end was easy.
Remaining: Lake Waikaremoana (uh-oh)
Leaving Early: The Last Day of our South Island December 2022 trip
31 Dec 2022
A day in the life. Making and executing last-minute travel plans to get back to Wellington from the South Island.
November: winter is coming
3 Dec 2022
Whirlwind Canada tour, where I refereed judo tournaments, served on PhD committees, met up with a ton of people, and did not get COVID. Lots of service, some research, and ignoring teaching. Failed to hike the Round-the-Mountain Circuit around Taranaki due to rain.
Throwback: Aspect-Oriented Programming
2 Dec 2022
Aspect-Oriented Programming used to be trendy but never really got traction. Occasionally people talk about things where AOP would have helped.
Submission to Ontario's Proposed Amendments to the Greenbelt Plan
24 Nov 2022
Stop trying to mess with the GTA Greenbelt!
