Southland Times: Nelson Mandela's Reminder

17 June 2013 Current Affairs Comment

The realization that humans have a finite lifespan on a small window of youthful strenght
and education to know what to do with Life, has been brought home by the health of the
Ex South African President, Nelson Mandela.

Of all the struggles humans have. life span is one of the things that really puts dung in our Chardonnay!

It is surprising that there has been so little progress in this area apart from helping selected people become very old and sick...

... Contrasted to other parts of the world where the effort is to produce way too many new people as to
make them poor and sick.

Here is a crazy though... Perhaps maybe Humanity should focus on quality of life and making the best of the finite amount we each have. Because if they ever find a cure for aging it better be for a grand  purpose.

Air New Zealand - Kelper Birdsong Project

Hot Topic Section - Fiordland Advacate Newspaper - 13 June 2013

Sometimes it takes an Idea to tie a bunch of loose ends together and make something that helps everybody. I see one of the Fiordland Trails Trusts Ideas could do this for Te Anau, taking to need for a Winter Attraction an easy grade walkway, A family Cycle Way and showcase both the Kepler Birdsong and the Pomona Island Wildlife Restoration Projects while creating a better way of maintaining them.


It’s the Idea of Refurbishing the redundant and existing track line with plus a few new bits making a Cycleway from the Hidden lakes Warf , lake Te Anau to
the Pomona Isthmus at Hurricane Passage Lake Manapouri via the Forest Burn valley and Lake Westmere. 

Air New Zealand, who funds the Birdsong could hardly say no to not only making A Wonderful Winter Cycle Trail for Te Anau from beefing up it’s Trap-line Network But also giving work to the Seasonal Workers and Tourist Launches that would be required to Showcase their exceptional Bird Song Concept to the world. 

Kingston Flyer - the Patrons of '02

This Clipping is from the Southland Times of 2002

Where are it's Champions Today ?

America's War on Everyone - Bill Maher

Posted to Morning Report Radio New Zealand 11th June 2013

Subject America's electronic Spy Scandal in the News. 

Today we see the true futility of the War on Terror, with no real objective our “war” turns on us all.
I Wonder if Osama Bin Laden knew this all along? After all he was an Engineer and part of there training is to
Look carefully at how things work as well as Cause and Effect.

So now the War on Terror has Morphed into the cyber WAR ON EVERYONE, Perhaps not the best use of the *700 Billion it has cost us so far.
But it keeps people employed and as Modern Money exists entirely of cyber Electrons, the cost is literally immaterial.

Goodness Me, Our Only Tangable asset we have left is our Paranoia!

*a figure from Bill Maher’s Real Time

Hobbit Tourism Surge New Zealand

From Fairfax News NZ  5th June 2013

It's not just Bilbo journeying there and back again through Middle-earth - almost one in 10 international visitors are here for the same reason.

Tourism New Zealand figures published yesterday show overseas tourist arrivals were up 10 per cent from 2012 for the first four months of the year.

Of the one million international visitors in those months, 8.5 per cent said The Hobbit was a factor in their choice.

For one in eight tourists, a Middle-earth experience, such as visiting Hobbiton, near Matamata, was high on the to-do list.

Hobbiton manager Russell Alexander said the film set was "at the coalface" of the tourist boom, with January-March visitor numbers almost double the previous year's. "It's been a fantastic summer."

With the release of the second Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug, six months away, the boom looked here to stay, he said.

As the "middle of Middle-earth", Wellington was also enjoying the tourist surge. Wellington Rover Tours' Lord of the Rings trips were so popular this summer that people were turned away every day, guide Nathan Clear said. "We were looking at least 20 or 30 per cent up."

The continuing production and filming of the trilogy - a final 10-week shoot started in May - was also bringing in tourists.

"What you're getting now is a lot more general interest, rather than the big fans. Now you'll get people who've not seen the films, where friends or family members demand they do a tour because they couldn't come."

Weta Workshop, a popular stop on any Hobbit tour, is expecting an extra 40,000 people through its doors this year. "Middle-earth is popular in Europe, America, Asia, Latin America, Africa - it really has a global popularity," manager Tim Launder said.

Next month, Weta will collaborate with Tourism NZ at San Diego's Comic-Con to attract future Middle-earth travellers.

"New Zealand already has a wonderful image - [The Hobbit] pushes them over the line."

Prime Minister John Key said the latest figures were "further vindication" of the Government's efforts to keep the filming of The Hobbit trilogy in New Zealand.

"I expect increased visitor numbers and awareness of New Zealand will continue with the release of parts two and three."

Tourism NZ chief executive Kevin Bowler said The Hobbit already appeared to have surpassed the benchmark set by The Lord of The Rings, in terms of motivating international tourists.

Six per cent of travellers in 2004 said the original trilogy inspired them to visit. "To see that 8.5 per cent of people [were] motivated after only one film is a brilliant start."

*Sadly almost no money is being spent signposting Popular Hobbit Movie Locations in the South Island. 

D.O.C. Business Model NZ 2013 - ODT

Letter to the Editor Posted 17 May 2013 

It is great to see that the Department Of Conservation has brought competition to the Motor park industry in Southland and West Otago.
They have been very pleased with the numbers of tourists they have been getting in there upgraded camp sites and plan to build more.
I have always wrote that the Department should be more proactive with tourism in the Park and I think it would be great to apply this new found energy to
opening up some NEW attractions as opposed to going up against small businesses like motor parks or perhaps going up against the Big Players who are overcharging tourists Inside the D.O.C Estate itself.  I suppose campsites take the least imagination and effort than to run I mean to say a Proper Nature Trip on Doubtful Sound or
A Cycle Trail from the Hollyford to the Cascade or even the Grand Fiordland Track might strain the Imagination skills to get them up and running as Money Makers but only the Department has the staying Power to pull them off. The Big Private Tourism Players just don’t get it. They spoil everything for profit, take Milford Sound, They Spoiled it, and now people say they don’t like it any more. Yes the Figures Bear this out. It may still be Highly Scenic But it Sucks in the Ambience Department.
If DOC is doing a reshuffle, GET MORE VISIONARIES on board. Have a crack at it! That Competition would do us all good.

Duel Names for Aoraki Mount Cook

By Matthew Littlewood Fairfax News NZ.

Ngai Tahu's proposal for several new "dual names" in the Aoraki-Mt Cook region has received the formal sign-off.

Under the changes, "Mt Cook Range" would become "Kirikirikatata/Mt Cook Range", "Tasman Glacier" would change to "Haupapa/Tasman Glacier", while "Aroarokaehe Range" would be assigned to a currently unnamed section of the Southern Alps.

The New Zealand Geographic Board approved the changes at last week's meeting, after it received only three submissions on the proposal - all in favour. The three official names will be gazetted and publicly notified this month.

Ngai Tahu's submission said there was general acceptance of dual names that came about as a result of the 1998 Ngai Tahu Treaty settlement.

It hoped the proposal would accommodate what were considered the original Maori names.

Ngai Tahu kaiwhakahaere (chairman) Sir Mark Solomon was pleased with the decision.

"The Aoraki area is at the centre of our Ngai Tahu creation mythology and our tribal identity, and the formal recognition of our traditional names with Aoraki and its surrounding area is a decision we fully support," he said.

According to the background information provided in the submission, Kirikirikatata was the grandfather of Aoraki.

Both Aoraki and Kirikirikatata turned into a mountain (Aoraki-Mt Cook) and its associated range (Mt Cook Range).

Haupapa is a descriptive name for the ice on Tasman Glacier, which was passed on to an early recorder of Maori oral history, Herries Beattie, by a Ngai Tahu elder. The name is used widely throughout the Ngai Tahu community.

Aroarokaehe was the wife of Mauka Atua and, with Kirikirikatata and Aoraki, was a passenger on the Arai-te-Uru waka. Mauka Atua became a peak on the Ben Ohau Range, while Aroarokaehe was persuaded by Kirikirikatata to move next to himself and Aoraki.

In May last year, the New Zealand Geographic Board confirmed the one-kilometre-long ridge that runs from a snow col below Mt Haidinger to the summit of Douglas Peak, on the main divide, would be named Ayres Ridge after the late climber Harry Ayres.

In December 2011, Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson declared the South Ridge would be renamed Hillary Ridge, after the late Sir Edmund. The renaming became official last year, quashing a submission to name the High Peak of Mt Cook "Hillary Peak" for his 60th Anniversary.