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KiwiNewZ

NewsZine - February 2000

The independent NewsZine for the modern ecotraveller.

Well summer is kind of struggling in to our lives with a big snowfall on January 4th leaving a foot of snow at the base building of Coronet Peak and the last week leaving more deposits of unseasonal white stuff on the mountains.

A busy Waitangi weekend all around New Zealand with the Italian boat Prada taking out the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup in Auckland, Steve Gurney winning the longest day in the Coast to Coast and three major events in the Queenstown area.

Evan "still waiting for summer" Bloomfield

++ In this issue

Easter is looming with Warbirds over Wanaka 2000 and the Queenstown Gold Rush, the Coast to Coast - a Judkins legend, traffic waves while you sit in the rush hour, Friedrich Hundertwasser and his fab toilets, Queeners - bungy capital of the world, great airfares to New Zealand from USA, Queenstown to Sydney direct flights kick in and Queenstown events roll on.

== Warbirds over Wanaka 2000

Many of you will have heard of the mercurial Tim Wallis and his infamous collection of old aeroplanes based at the Fighter Pilots Museum at Wanaka. Polikarpov, Spitfire, Sea Fury, Corsair, Mustang. Kittyhawk..... they have all made an appearance at some time or another .... and now we have one of the most historic fighters of World War II the Hawker Hurricane MarkIIA debuting at one of the worlds best airshows - Warbirds over Wanaka 2000. Funny thing is that Tim's wife likens Tim's life to a Hurricane so it is fitting that he now has one :-)

Polikarpov I-16 Ishak. Photo © NZFPM

One of the most versatile fighters of World War II, the Hurricane was the first eight gun monoplane fighter to be produced by Britain and the first fighter to exceed 300 mph. It is widely accepted that the Hurricane was responsible for winning the Battle of Britain. Test flown on November 6, 1935, it was exceptionally manoeuvrable with a tight turning radii and excellent gun aiming stability.

P3351 as it is known is one of only six airworthy examples and served during the Battle of Britain in 1940. It has a strong local connection with Invercaergill pilots Bill ( Dusty ) Miller and the late Ness Polson flying it when they were stationed at Usworth near Newcastle on Tyne.

Hawker Hurricane Mark IIA. Photo © NZFPM

Seeing continuous service during the Battle of Britain P3351 was eventually shipped to Russia, where it was shot down during the winter of 1943 near Murmansk. It was recovered along with six others by an Englishman Jim Pierce in 1992 and Tim Wallis bought three of them. Rebuilt over a six year period the aircraft is resplendent in the colour scheme she wore in France whilst flying with 73 Squadron.

So if you are thinking of making an Easter pilgrimage to Queenstown and Wanaka then make sure you book in early. We are happy to help with enquiries about accommodation or rental vehicles. If you are combining your Warbirds pilgrimage with a tour of the south island then a campervan might even be your style. Just click here to email us for more details

Next NewsZine we will talk a bit more about the one of the other Easter events down this way ... the Queenstown Gold Rush "Race to the Sky"

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++ Coast to Coast - a Judkins Legend

Waitangi weekend saw the running of the classic New Zealand multi sport event the Speights Coast to Coast with over 800 competitors croozing the main divide from one side of New Zealand to the other. Starting in the early morning from Kumara Beach on the west coast of the South Island competitors run 2.8km run, cycle 58km , mountain run 26km , cycle 15km, kayak 67km and cycle 70km to finish on Sumner beach in Christchurch on the east coast for a long awaited can of Speights handed to them personally by none other than Mr Judkins.

Steve Gurney won his 6th "longest day" in a time of 11 hours 47 minutes with Julian Cahill from Queenstown just 9 minutes behind for second place. Ray Willet's from Te Anau was the oldest competitor at 63. He competed the two day individual event in 18 hours 8 minutes and commented after the race " it was marvellous ... I could go back and do it again". Go Ray. Hope I've got that much steam at 63!

Some of you Kiwis may have caught a pre race Morning News interview with Robin Judkins ( the wild man that developed this race back in 1983) prancing around in a pink pinafore and Steve Gurney in a long trench coast dressed as a bobby. Obviously enjoying themselves and keen to portray the fun side of the event Steve Gurney finished the interview by promptly dropping his trench coat and "bobbing" off in to the distance stark naked. Classic behaviour.

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++ Traffic Waves

Back in my university days in the midst of a heavy Stage 3 maths paper we learnt of an interesting little traffic phenomenon called "traffic waves". These waves travel forward and backward through traffic as cars speed up and slow down. We learnt how to model these waves and the impact they have on the flow of traffic.

Now here in Queenstown the closest we get to a traffic jam is the sprint up to Coronet Peak after a fresh fall of powder so I haven't had too much opportunity to dwell on this phenomena but those of you folk in a big city might identify with the following little snippit from William Beaty.

"PHYSICS FOR BORED COMMUTERS" by William Beaty

"I live in Seattle and my two daily commutes last about 45 minutes. (That's when I'm lucky; sometimes it's more like two hours each.) This has given me an immense amount of time for watching the interesting patterns in the cars. Boredom led me to fantasize about the traffic being like a flowing liquid, with cars acting as giant water molecules."

"Over many months I slowly realized that this was not just a fantasy. Why had I never noticed all the "traffic fluid dynamics" out there? Once my brain became sensitized to it, I started seeing quite a variety of interesting things occurring. Eventually I started using my car to poke at the flowing traffic. Observation eventually leads to experimentation, no? There are amazing things you can do as an amateur traffic dynamicist .....".

Now I am not to sure if you should be trying this on the Sydney harbour bridge or The Golden Gate but this is what William tried .........

"Rather than repeatedly rushing ahead with everyone else, only to come to a halt, I decided to try to drive at the average speed of the traffic. I let a huge gap open up ahead of me, and timed things so I was arriving at the next "stop-wave" just as the last red brakelights were turning off ahead of me."

So if you are a daily commuter and want to find out a bit more about why the traffic slows and flows check out Williams site with some funky little graphics to help explain it all;
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/amateur/traffic/traffic1.html

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== Bungy Capital of the World?

Well I am often quite sceptical when I see places claiming to be the capital of this or the capital of that. Heck look at Gore just South of Queenstown. Better known for its petrol heads that cause chaos in neighbouring towns ( Ouch! Sorry Gore but it's true. ) Gore claims to be the capital of Country and Western, the capital of Brown Trout and the capital of Romney sheep! Hmmmm.

So it is with a little trepidation that we call Queenstown the Bungy Capital of the world. Oh OK Adventure Capital if you like but whatever you call it their is no doubt that a lot of bungy goes down in Queeners. Heck, an English chap paid $4 500 for the privilege of being the first person to jump in to the new millennium!

Now many visitors ask " Is this where it all started? " when they visit the Kawarau Suspension Bridge just out of Queenstown and generally the answer is yes ... but not really. See the first commercial bungy operation was actually in Ohakune, off the Hapuawhenua Railway Viaduct. AJ and Henry operated for 3 weekends before setting sail for Queenstown and throwing a lifeline to the dilapidated Kawarau Suspension Bridge. At that stage the Department of Conservation had no money for restoration and were seriously considering demolishing it!

And what a long way we have come in those 11 short years since it all started. Recent proposals include Balloon Bungy and Para Bungy. Now Para Bungy sounds a bit too much like paraplegic for me but the idea is you bungy jump from a parachute towed behind a boat :-) We've been through heli bungy, yes yes from a helicopter, but this was banned over a year ago by Civil Aviation. So now we just have to make do with land based bungy .... five of them.

Kawarau, Skippers, The Ledge, Pipeline and the new kid on the block the Nevis Highwire. And what a block. Designed by Art Tyndall from Christchurch this construction really has to be seen to be believed. This is a super funky, shining silver gondola arrangement suspended high above the Nevis river set up in a classic central Otago moonscape. Oh yeah.

So in conjunction with AJ Hackett Bungy we are happy to announce your chance to win a Free Nevis Highwire Bungy worth NZ$149. Now don't go running off in to the corner muttering " won't get me off that silly thing " or some such. If you don't / can't / won't do the jump yourself that's fine. This prize is fully transferable so you can give it to your best friend ... or better still your mother :-)

All you have to do to enter is visit our Kawarau Bungy Cam page and fill out the form answering one little question about the Nevis Highwire. That's it! So get on over now, check out some of the latest live shots direct from Queenstown Bungy Cam and put your name down to win a Nevis Highwire Bungy. Competition closes February 29 so click here now to enter.

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++ Thanks to our sponsors - Kiwi Wilderness Walks

Picture yourself in the Southern most Island of New Zealand wandering under a stadium of stars to try your luck at native kiwi spotting.

Stewart Island offers the best chance most people will ever have to see New Zealand's national bird, the Kiwi, in its natural environment. Join us on our all inclusive guided walk and sea kayak across Stewart Island.

For a copy of the award winning brochure click here or visit the Kiwi Wilderness Walks website.
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++ Freidrich Hundertwasser

Ever since my family had a brilliant 1974 Conservation Week poster drawn by Hundertwasser hanging in our hallway I have followed the progress of this eclectic artist.

Living for much of the year in the Bay of Islands the Austrian born designer is well known for his innovative architecture in Europe. The first building he designed, Hundertwasser House in Vienna attracts more than a million visitors a year. He also designed a superb New Zealand flag with shades of green and Koru swirl. And now he has added his colourful artwork to a new toilet block in Kawakawa, a few hours north of Auckland.

The toilet design includes Hundertwasser's trade mark grass roof, curves, 11 ceramic pillars, two domes, windows made from coloured used wine bottles and a stunning array of brightly coloured odd shaped tiles. Cool.

"Paradise destroyed by the straight line", Hundertwasser describes his style as organic. "An ecologist without a conscience is doomed to failure, and the same is true of an artist who does not bow to the laws of nature."

The crowning glory for the toilet block was introduced by some " green " minded locals who planted a crop of dope on the grass roof. Police were un impressed and removed several cannabis plants. Hundertwasser says he was amused by the stunt, and it has generated more publicity for the building, which has to be a good thing for Kawakawa. So if you are travelling North of Auckland and happen to go through Kawakawa check out their toilets or surf on over to his web site;
http://www.hundertwasser.de/english/mainindex.htm

Or how about this live webcam of the Martin-Luther-Gymnasium
http://www.wittenberg.de/seiten/landkreis/lifecam/lifecam.html

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Flying from the US of A?
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Air New Zealand have come out with a super dooper deal for flights from Los Angeles to Auckland - just US$719! Now that the lowest fare I have seen for a longggg time and there is even less of an excuse to postpone your trip down under. Plan early and save :-)

Now for the fine print. This is a return fare from Los Angeles ( other cities available ). You must ticket before March 13, 2000 and travel must commence between April 17, 2000 - August 23, 2000 and finish by 21 September. If you are interested ring Air New Zealand toll free at 1-877-843-3936. So don't delay!

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Queenstown to Ozzzieeeeee for NZ$399 return!
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So QANTAS is starting up their weekly flights to and from Sydney and because its the first flight and they don't have any return passengers its el cheapo - just NZ$399 return from Queenstown.

Departing on 03 June only, stay for a maximum of 21 days, sales are only until 13 March. Any Queenstown residents out there keen to do a bit of retail therapy in Sydney?

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== Queenstown's busy event calendar

A busy Waitangi weekend in the Queenstown area with three major events in the district. First off was the Queenstown Wine and Food Festival with 13 Central Otago vineyards and many local restaurants offering up a wide array of tasty treats. Set in the stunning Queenstown Gardens on a beautiful summers day all reports were stupendous.

Then there was " Waitangi 2000 ". Now late last year the Queenstown Council decided that millennium madness had gone too far, high priced entertainers and service providers were going to stretch their meagre year 2000 funds too far so they decided to celebrate the dawning of the new century on Waitangi weekend. So there! Drive in movies in the park, Teddy Bears Picnic and Swing under the Stars with Wentworth Brewster and John Grenell.

And finally the Rippon 2000 concert in Wanaka. Top acts including The Feelers, Stella, Salmonela Dub and hip hop artist King Capasi beat out the tunes on this steep little amphitheatre on the shores of Lake Wanaka. Apart from an annoying wind whipping up a bit of sand blasting dust in the afternoon the populous went off. Nice spot for some great Kiwi music.

And don't stop there. The Doobie Brothers and Boney M play at Millbrook on Sunday 13th February and the Arrowtown Autumn festival runs for a week from March 24th. Then of course Easter with the AJ Hackett Bungy Fat Tyre Festival celebrating all things mountain biking, the Queenstown Gold Rush Hill Climb spitting out the dust up in the Cardrona valley and Warbirds over Wanaka with the ultimate in toys for the boys screaming ( or should that be growling ) around the sky.

== Tell a friend

Go ON. Spread the word about KiwiNewZ! Seriously, tell a friend, print off an issue, pass it around, email it across. If it weren't for you, who'd be reading this? Help me spread the word about Aotearoa.

== Back Issues

Last month we talked about;

Queenstown floods and photos and we all get wet, be a virtual spectator at the America's Cup, what's a quokka, win a free kiwi key ring, what's the 17th man, a study on Stewart Island Robins, the shoe fence and land of the last light.

Click here to go to the index for our previous issues online.

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== That's all folks

Thanks for joining us and see ya next month. Remember we live on feedback, suggestions, requests, comments etc. We try to answer every one personally. Just email us.

This NewsZine is assembled from our own observations and reports from others and while every effort is made to get it right we can not attest to the accuracy or otherwise. Happy tripping. If you like what you read please forward this on to your friends ( reduce, re use, re cycle ). If you are reading someone else's and you like what we offer, please subscribe! It's easy and free. Just click here.

== Contact Information

Evan and Jane Bloomfield
Queenstown
AOTEAROA
fx +64 3 442 8342
E-mail: evan@KiwiNewZ.com