Celebrating Burns Night

Last saturday night 155 real and wannabe Scots lads and lassies packed the foyer at Puke Ariki to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robbie Burns. Any excuse for a party really. We were 'serenaded' on arrival by a pipe band, there was whiskey along with the wine on the tables. The haggis was piped in, addressed and then served with tatties and neeps (mashed potato & turnips). Dessert was Drunken Laird a seriously wicked trifle. There was entertainment as well, lots of songs and a tear or two shed during Flower of Scotland and Scotland the Brave.



And of course lots and lots of blokes in skirts.

I have wheels...

and an engine and seats and all the other bits that go to make up a car. It's a 10yr old Audi A4 and it's wonderful to have that feeling of freedom again. I am still walking to work but I can now start exploring the area on the weekends and generally do things beyond walking distance without having to rely on someone else.

Apart from buying a car it's been a busy couple of weeks. I have a jam packed meeting schedule and in between am still doing induction training and trying to get a handle on all the projects I seem to be involved in. Oh well, better than twiddling my thumbs wondering what to do next.

Becoming a festival junkie

A couple of weekends ago I went to the Festival of the Lights in Pukekura Park, yesterday I went out to the Parihaka Peace Festival and in March I'm going to go to Womad. I figured that if I try them all then I can work out what is worth doing again next year.

Puke Ariki had a site at Parihaka so technically I was working but it was to a backdrop of great music, food and speakers. The festival goes for 3 days and is held on the site of the original Pa (village). The reason it's a peace festival is that original community actively offered no resistance to the colonial troops who attacked and cleared the residents. If you are interested you can find our more at http://www.parihaka.com/

Anyway, I have photos. The day was incredibly windy but there were stunning views of the mountain and the countryside is full of almost comic book green hills. If you are staying at the festival you camp and some people had put their tents in the oddest places. Unfortunately the wind shut down the main stage but the music still went ahead on the second stage and in the speakers tent.

The site with the mountain in the background; the feather symbol of the festival

more banners and flags (you can see how strong the wind is)

Carving. They did 2 poles that will be put up on the Pa.

I'll definitely be back next year.

Sorry - I just had to do it

This is the view from the lunch room at work (the 'pole' is the Wind Wand, a kinetic sculpture)

and if you walk a couple of minutes past my place this is the view of Mt Taranaki (yes it is January and yes, that is snow)

Update on the girls

Just thought I'd give you a quick update on how the girls are settling in. These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago when I was still in full unpacking frenzy. As you can see McDuff is quite happy nesting in the packing paper and Jess is dreaming of the outside world.

How to take up a Hungi

On New Year's evening I was invited to a Hungi. I was only there for the 'taking up'. The 'putting down' started at 8am. Basically you collect river rocks and light a big fire over them. It takes about 4 hours (depending on how many rocks you have) to heat them enough to cook your dinner. While you are waiting you dig a big hole, this one was about 3 feet deep and line it with wet sacks. You also need to prepare the food. Everything gets parcelled up into cloth bags that are also soaked and put into a wire basket. When the rocks are hot enough you pile them into the bottom of the hole, put the basket on top, an old sheet (also soaked) on top of the basket then fold over the sacks to seal it all in. Then you pile the dirt back on top.

Leave for about 5 hours.

At the end of that this is what you have...

scraping away the dirt...

then unwrapping the basket...

Then unbagging the meat and veg...

And lastly a little Hungi first aid, even leather gloves aren't always enough.

There was enough in that basket to feed 40 people, most of us had seconds there was enough left over for meals the next day for the cooks and their families.

Happy New Year!

It was absolutely tipping down last night but today is bright and sunny and the girls are outside lying around relaxing. I'm inside lying around relaxing. I have done some unpacking though - having finally decided where my bookcases should go I have started the process of filling them and slowly getting rid of 20 boxes in the process. What can I say...books are an occupational hazard.

Yesterday I finally remembered to take my camera to work and get photos of the statues that sit outside. The lovely lady with her basket sits outside the library and the scary guy on the right sits outside the museum. He is actually 4 characters intertwined representing the 4 winds and while she has a definite back and front every way you look at him you see faces and arms and bodies. There is some serious body art going on there too.

Happy 2009!