Disqus - Latest Comments for Stephen Hope

Re: Queenstown

Stephen Hope — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:56:37 -0000

To see penguins in Dunedin, go out on the Peninsula. Take a quick look around the town centre (the Octogon) while you are there. Dunedin was one of NZ's "Wakefield Settlements", and was originally all Church of Scotland settlers, and it shows. Christchurch was mostly Church of England, it also shows (nice Cathedral), but not as much. In Christchurch if you have time, a place to look at is the Antarctic centre where the US bases are all supported from.

In Napier, take a at the McDonalds - it is Art Deco style. Had to be to fit in the town planning rules.

Re: Sounds Good

Stephen Hope — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 04:10:56 -0000

It's a pretty good road up the east side of South Island, a bit windy on the Kaikoura coast but not much choice. If you're looking for a quick trip north from Wellington, stay on the west coast for an hour or so until you get near Palmerston North, then cut across to Napier. The east coast down near Wellington is much windier and slower (but more picturesque).

While you are trying to arrange flights around the Pacific, you're correct that Fiji is one of the main hubs. Once you get more to Melanesia, though, also consider Queensland (Australia), PNG and the Solomon Islands, they have some odd connecting flights at times. The Solomon islands is a great place for diving - lots of old wrecks from WW2.

Re: First Church of Jesus Christ Christchurch

Stephen Hope — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 23:10:06 -0000

The most dangerous part is turning across traffic into a street. Because you are not following a lane around, when you see a traffic island or center line you will instinctively try and keep right. (oops)

Re: My Name is Matt Foley. I Am A Motivational Speaker. I am 35 Years Old, Divorced, and I Live In A Van Down In NEW ZEALAND

Stephen Hope — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 22:44:39 -0000

There are certainly similar rentals in Australia. One that has very noticeable vans is Wicked Campers, but many others exist. Also there is no road tax in Oz unlike NZ, though some vans come with km limits. Watch out for relocation fees and limits on where you can go. Also decide on your rough itinerary early, you may find it better to hire multiple times and fly between - Australia is almost as big as the lower 48, but much emptier in the middle.

In the UK you can get similar vehicles - and other parts of Europe. In fact, a common thing to do is hire a van in the UK, then cross the channel with it and use it all around Europe, returning to the UK with it. Another option, if you are going to be there long enough, is to buy a second-hand van and do the same thing. Then sell it when you're done - it can work out cheaper over-all. There used to be a known spot in London for buying/selling these vehicles on weekends, I don't know if it still happens there.

Re: McSamoa’s….or, Polynesians Got Back

Stephen Hope — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:33:51 -0000

There is another reason for this as well, also related to natural selection. The Polynesians like fat people. It is one of the few places in the world where "what fat calves you have" can be a compliment to a lady. This is gradually changing, but not quickly.

Re: Weekend in Samoa

Stephen Hope — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 04:53:24 -0000

This extended family thing is common all across the Pacific. A close relative/fellow villager is your "one-talk" - literally someone who speaks the same as you (in PNG where there are 700+ languages this makes more sense.) It is very hard to run a business in the western sense when your one-talks are around - because of the shared property thing, your stock will walk out the door, your capital get used for things other than developing the business, your relatives will expect to share your job if they need some cash for a while, etc.

How much it affects the society as a whole depends on how many outsiders there are. Samoa is too small, so no outsiders really exist. Fiji has a large indian and smaller chinese population, so they own a lot of business (which causes friction).

In PNG and the Solomon Islands, and to a lesser extent Vanuatu and New Caledonia, some-one who wants to run a business can go to a different area, where their own one-talks are not around, so while the system still holds, it doesn't have the same effect.

Re: Bye Bye Samoa

Stephen Hope — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:11:49 -0000

Ironically, one of the few remaining areas that probably will not be logged quickly in the Solomons is near the capital. This is because many of the old growth trees are spiked with shrapnel and bullets from the fierce fighting in WW2.

In PNG, I would try and visit the higlands (eg Mount Hagen) as they are quite different from the islands. The islands are much closer related to the Solomons in goegraphy and people. If you don't do that, try and at least get out of Port Moresby a bit by car/bus - maybe head down to the end of the Kokoda trail for a daytrip or something to get an idea of the mainland people.

Re: Au revoir la Nouvelle-Calédonie

Stephen Hope — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:17:42 -0000

I think you'll find Port Vila quite different to Noumea. I'll be interested to see your impression of the difference. I think the majority of Australian visitors to both places come by cruise ship. The people who fly to Noumea tend to leave the town quite quickly and go to a resort/hotel elsewhere, while the cruise ship passengers mostly just have a day (or half day), and don't get out of town much.

Re: 35,000 Feet Above The Pacific Ocean

Stephen Hope — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 23:04:16 -0000

Ah - the wonders of co-badged flights. Some of flights have been shared amongst airlines. They get two flight numbers, eg. an Solomon airlines one and a Qantas one. If you look in the airport, you sometimes see both displayed on the schedule boards. Often they just split the seats between the two and sell them separately, so one flight can be full but you can book on the other (sometimes at a different price) but still fly the same plane.

Re: Back..

Stephen Hope — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:25:27 -0000

Umm - your definition of a coconut cream pie must be different from mine. Here, we would assume that meant it was made with 'coconut cream', which comes from coconuts, not cows.

Re: The Curious Case of the Solomon Islands Moon Rock

Stephen Hope — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:27:25 -0000

I've passed this on to somebody who is trying to get something done about it - carefully. The main problem is tell the wrong person and it will just vanish.

Re: McDonald’s Noumea

Stephen Hope — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 04:40:54 -0000

There are a number of foods that I think of as Pacific (not just Polynesian). But they are not things that people tend to sell to visitors (or even to other locals, most of the time). It's stuff you'd pick in your own garden and eat. Most of my experience is with Melanesia, really.

The Hangi, Mumu, underground oven - whatever you call it - is a Pacific staple. But it's not often done for retail food - takes to long to cook. There also a number of greens (Ibeka, shoots from a lot of plants, palm hearts), sago, and sweet potato is (was) a major staple in places with enough land.

Re: Back..

Stephen Hope — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 19:10:19 -0000

I knew we must be talking about different things. I've never heard of anything called a cream pie. Here we'd call those either a meringue or custard pie, if we had them at all. I've never lived anywhere that has the fascination with pies that the US seems to have.

Coconut milk is the liquid in the centre of a coconut - tastes a bit fizzy in green coconuts, sour and bitter in mature ones. Coconut cream is pressed out of the flesh of the coconut, looks like cream and is sweet. It's often used to cook greens and fish in PNG & the Solomons(nice but fattening), and is sometimes used in vegetarian cooking to replace cream as long as it doesn't need whipping.

If you want a different take on Gilligan's Island (which I've seen maybe twice - it's never been on where I lived) try Gilligan's Island Conspiracy sometime.

Re: Cartographic Madness

Stephen Hope — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:43:02 -0000

It'd be interesting to compare the percentage of the globe you've covered (about 1/8 - 1/6th?) to the percentage of the landmass those countries are (maybe 2%?) - and almost all of that would be the Phillipines.

Re: Cartographic Madness

Stephen Hope — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 23:44:42 -0000

Oops - I missed the US mainland leg. That make a big difference.

Re: Transportation in the Philippines

Stephen Hope — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:06:46 -0000

The highly decorated vehicles are all through Asia, though the extent varies. In some places, the cargo trucks are actually the most decorated vehicles, in others it's the Jeepneys, some places its the rickshaws (or whatever the local variations of these are called.)

Some of the work is really spectacular.

Re: First Impressions of Brunei

Stephen Hope — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:18:04 -0000

Many years ago I used to have a specialised compass that came with a list of world cities and bearing - set the dial according to the number of beside the city you were in, make the needle line up with the markings and you were facing Mecca. Nowadays there are devices that do much the same thing, but use a GPS to figure out where they are.

I once sat down and used a globe and atlas to figure out how it worked, and it used great circle.

Re: That Is Some Good Java

Stephen Hope — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:11:55 -0000

Both the Bali bombing and the tsunami gave Indonesia a bad name for tourism. Which is a bit odd, because the tourist area that got badly hit in the tsunami was in Thailand, but Indonesia was badly hit as well, so it sort of got mixed together.

Australia is one of the main sources of tourists for that region, so the continuing saga of the Bali nine being brought up in the news all the time doesn't help either.

Re: First Impressions of Melbourne

Stephen Hope — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:09:21 -0000

The cricket season is starting to wrap up, but there are still some games around. The Aussie Rules season is just starting. The big league doesn't start for another month or so, but they start playing pre-season games now, so hunt around and you should find something. Victoria is the centre of Aussie rules, so there's a lot more games around there than anywhere else.

http://www.dangermouse.net/cricket/ is more than you'll ever want to know about cricket. However, the link "Is Cricket like Baseball?" on that page starts with baseball and explains cricket from there.

Aussie rules summary: - get the ball between the centre two posts - 6 points and a centre restart. Between the outside posts - 1 point and restart from the goal. You can't tackle someone without the ball, you can kick it, punch it, but not throw it, you can carry it if you bounce it every ten yards. If some-one kicks it and you catch it, you get to kick it yourself and they can't tackle or block you. Everything else is details.

Re: Getting Things Done

Stephen Hope — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:31:27 -0000

If you are going to try and see a lot of Australia in one car, then the basic question is do you want to cross the Nullabor? If not, your basic pattern is an arc up north. If so, it can be a circle.

If you are searching the net for help on this, as well as the normal tourist and backpacker sites, search for "grey nomads". That's the slang for retirees who pack up and spend months travelling around Australia. There are websites with recommended routes, stopping sites, travel times. You may not want to take as long as they do, but some of the info should still be useful.

Re: Man Without A Passport

Stephen Hope — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:08:25 -0000

While you're wandering around Australia, try and drop into most town/city halls or any CWA (Country Woman's Assoc.) You'll get to see the Queen looking at you.

Re: Mungo Ahoy!

Stephen Hope — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:45:22 -0000

I blame atlases. You generally get a double page spread of the entire Pacific, with Australia down in one corner. Even when you later see it on it's own page, there's that image in back of your mind making you think "small".

Re: Mungo Ahoy!

Stephen Hope — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:46:28 -0000

Oh, and I hope at some point you're going to try and get to Cooper Pedy or Lightning Ridge. Some of those outback mining towns are pretty fascinating.

Re: The Curious Case of the Solomon Islands Moon Rock

Stephen Hope — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:26:17 -0000

Even if that were true, that doesn't change the fact that moonrocks are worth what somebody will pay for them, which is considerably more than zip.

Re: Boy, Is My Face Red

Stephen Hope — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:39:26 -0000

Enjoy Canberra sightseeing - they designed the whole centre of the city with sight lines in mind, so it's different to a city that 'just grew'.

If you're going from Sydney to the Blue Mountains, you may want to stop in at Jenolan caves on the way. Even if you don't take one of the tours, it's still worth a quick look at the area, and it's an interesting drive. Just be aware that the road between Jenolan and the Blue Mountains is closed for part of the day so they can get coaches in and out without pushing cars off the road, which gives you an idea of how narrow the road is.

Re: Driving On The Left

Stephen Hope — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:47:18 -0000

Not all right hand drive cars have the turn signal on the right. Fords are mostly (all?) on the left, even on a right hand drive car. My fiancée and I have cars which are different, which means we have to keep changing if we drive the other car.

Re: My Walk Up The Sydney Harbor Bridge

Stephen Hope — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:17:27 -0000

People have been climbing the bridge for years. It just wasn't legal before. It was a little more difficult though - you had to have an in with one of the maintenance men with a key, or climb around the lower blocking fence.

Re: All Seriousness Aside…

Stephen Hope — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:50:33 -0000

I read your earlier comments about the Opera house and fully agree - it's designed to be seen from afar, not looked at up close.

The best thing about Sydney is the water - the harbour, the beaches, the Hawkesbury river just to the north, etc. If you haven't done so, I suggest you try and find some time to get out on the harbour for a bit. Even the ferry to Manly or similar lets you get out and look at the harbour a bit, just avoid the rush hour.

Re: Good Old North New South Wales

Stephen Hope — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:37:02 -0000

Holidays Are just about over in Qld, (started a week earlier than NSW) so it should get better here.

Re: The Banana Republic of Cairns

Stephen Hope — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:51:53 -0000

There's quite a lot of other crops, but mostly not by the highway. If you'd gone off the main road near Bundaberg, there is a lot of vegetable farms - backpackers often stop there for a while and do seasonal work to get some quick cash. Just north of Brisbane you would have driven through plantation timber.

But mostly we use the coastal strip for sugar cane and bananas because they both like it wet - and the coastal strip gets a lot of rain showers even in drought years. Go over the great divide, were the coastal showers don't reach, and it becomes more like you were expecting.

Just south of Innisfail, at Tully, we got hit by a Cat 5 hurricane a few months after Katrina. It took out more than half of Australia's banana crop for a few years.

Re: Reflections on Papua New Guinea

Stephen Hope — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:08:38 -0000

Pidgin is part English, part German, part local languages (balu is bird in one local language, pidgin for plane)

The sign roughly says "no kids on the bridge/wharf without an adult"

TOK SAVE - Information/Warning
I TAMBU [Its forbidden(taboo)] TRU [I mean it] LONG OL PIKININI {for children) NA MAN [with no man] NA MERI [(or) no woman] LONG GO LONG BRIS [to go on the bridge/wharf]

Re: Daily Travel Photo - Kimberly Region, Western Australia

Stephen Hope — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:08:10 -0000

They were probably burning off because it was a low danger time. Either that or some idiot translated "low fire danger" to mean "light a fire anywhere and ignore it".

Still a great picture. :)

Re: Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Stephen Hope — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:24:10 -0000

I remember you went to Uluru right in the middle of the coldest period we had in Brisbane all winter. There was a massive cold front that came up from the bight, and it got cold enough to snow just inland from us here. I've got to say that your timing seems to be excellent.